Feb 18, 2007 6 min read

HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Game Commission and National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), along with wildlife officials in Ohio and New York, are continuing their joint four-year study to estimate the harvest rates of spring gobblers in each of the three states. “As we enter the second year of the study, each state has again received 300 bands to place on male turkeys this winter, before the spring hunting seasons,” said Mary Jo Casalena, Game Commission wild turkey biologist. “We are very grateful the NWTF is covering the cost of the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Penn State to coordinate the tri-state effort and analyze the data.

“Although winter turkey trapping conditions were difficult in 2006, because of the mild weather conditions, 709 gobblers were captured and banded. The capture goal was 900 – 300 per state – and, despite the unfavorable trapping conditions, we succeeded in reaching 79 percent of the three-state goal. In Pennsylvania, we achieved 82 percent of the goal, as we banded 246 gobblers, consisting of 139 adults, and 107 juveniles.”

Casalena noted that this study will allow comparisons of harvest and survival rates among the three states, with their varying harvests, hunter numbers and hunter densities.

“Age-specific harvest rate information will enable the state agencies to predict the effect of spring turkey seasons on the age-structure of the male turkey population,” Casalena said. “Recent research has found that harvest rates vary among age classes of wild turkeys and can greatly influence the number of adult gobblers in the spring harvest.”

Casalena noted that hens caught during the trapping efforts would not be part of the study. However, she noted that the Game Commission is taking the opportunity to gather breast feathers from both male and female turkeys for the Northeast Wildlife DNA Laboratory at East Stroudsburg University. The feathers will be used to help build a forensic DNA database and will be placed in a long-term DNA archive for future studies.

During the spring 2006 turkey season, 196 gobblers were reported harvested in the three states; 74 in Pennsylvania. So far, a total of $11,600 has been paid in rewards, including $4,100 paid to Pennsylvania hunters ($100/reward). From the Pennsylvania harvests, 15 were harvested on public lands; two were harvested during the spring youth day hunt; three were harvested by youth hunters during the regular season (was the first turkey harvest for two), and one youth harvested a reward banded bird and his dad got a non-reward bird two weeks later.

“Even though this winter is gearing up to be another mild one, turkey trapping teams are confident we’ll reach our quota of 300 gobblers statewide, 50 per region,” Casalena said. “We began trapping in mid-January, which is earlier than last year, because we didn’t know if we could wait for snow to fall. The knowledge we gained from last year about what worked and what didn’t work in the mild conditions should help us have better success this year.”

Each year, Game Commission wild turkey banding teams will focus attention in different locations than previous years to spread out the sample across all of the state’s 22 Wildlife Management Units. However, this spring, New York researchers determined that several harvested gobblers traveled at least 20 miles from where they were banded.

“Although we’ve only completed our first year of a four-year study – and the data hasn’t been analyzed in detail yet – preliminary results indicate that the retention rate of aluminum butt-end bands may be unsatisfactory,” Casalena said. “Of the 196 turkeys recovered from the 709 turkeys that were banded with both the rivet and butt-end bands (one band per leg), seven standard aluminum bands were missing, 14 enameled bands were missing, and eight anodized aluminum bands were missing. Only two stainless steel bands were missing. As additional birds are banded and harvested, we will be able to estimate band retention over time.”

All three participating states have fall turkey-hunting seasons. In Pennsylvania, six fall harvests were reported. New York hunters reported six banded turkeys harvested in the fall and an additional one from the spring season, and no banded birds were reported from Ohio.

The Game Commission is providing personnel and equipment to capture, band and release where caught 300 birds each year for the four years of the study. The agency’s annual goal is to capture, band and release 50 wild turkeys in each of the state’s six geographic regions. The Pennsylvania Chapter of the NWTF is contributing funds to cover the cost of equipment and bait.

Each aluminum leg band will be secured to a male turkey’s leg, and each band has a unique letter-number combination. All bands are imprinted with a toll-free telephone number with which to report a harvest or recovery of a band.

“Perhaps the most exciting news for spring turkey hunters is that half of the birds being banded also will have information on the band indicating that a reward of $100 will be paid if the band is reported,” Casalena noted. “Though the chance of harvesting a bird wearing a $100 band is low, the information being gathered is nonetheless significant.”

Casalena noted that the NWTF also is covering the cost of the rewards. In Pennsylvania, 150 of the 300 tagged birds, 25 in each region, will be wearing these special incentive bands.

Dr. Duane Diefenbach, who is heading up the study at the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit, said that the study will enable the team to estimate reporting rates by comparing the number of $100 reward bands reported to the number of non-reward bands reported. Reporting rate estimates help biologists determine harvests and may enable them to compare results from previous studies not using rewards.

“For many game species we have estimates of how many animals are harvested, but what we typically lack is knowing the harvest rate – the percentage of the population taken by hunters – because we lack population estimates,” Diefenbach said. “This study, for the first time, will provide an estimate of harvest rates for turkey gobblers in Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania.

“In addition to estimating harvest rates of male turkeys during the spring season, the research also will enable the Game Commission to estimate annual survival rates of male turkeys and provide a better estimate of the statewide population.”

Casalena also points out that the multi-state approach provides a larger sample and, ultimately, a better understanding of the variability in harvest rates.