Mar 25, 2007 By W.Va. Dnr 2 min read

The man often called “the godfather of modern wild turkey management” and “the dean of turkey hunters,” West Virginia native Wayne Bailey died Feb. 27, 2007, at his home in Danville, Va, at the age of 88. Bailey was a lifelong conservationist and was responsible for the methods that have reintroduced the wild turkey to many states where the native populations had nearly disappeared.

It was Bailey who, in the 1950s, started the process of live-trapping wild turkeys and relocating them elsewhere to restore populations.

Wayne Bailey was born in 1918 in the town of Rock in Mercer County, W. Va.

He worked from 1945 to 1970 as a biologist for the West Virginia Conservation Commission and the later West Virginia Department of Natural Resources before moving to North Carolina for a similar job.

He was a founding father of the National Wild Turkey Federation in 1973. He served in several capacities with the NWTF and was the first recipient of the NWTF Conservationist of the Year Award in 1978.

“First and foremost, Wayne was more responsible for the restoration of the wild turkey in our nation than any other biologist,” said retired WVDNR turkey biologist Jim Pack, who worked with Bailey on many turkey-related projects.

He helped with turkey restoration in other states, including Ohio, Illinois, New Hampshire, Vermont and Pennsylvania. He conducted a 10-year research study on the population dynamics of the wild turkey.