EDGEFIELD, S.C. — Through its National Request for Proposals Program (RFP), the NWTF is helping fund research involving translocated Eastern wild turkeys across east Texas. Researchers are using GPS data and state-specific breeding, nesting and roosting information to provide habitat management recommendations at a scale that can support Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Eastern Wild Turkey Super Stocking Project and broader wild turkey conservation efforts.
Thanks to support from dedicated partners — such as the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund, Mossy Oak and NWTF state chapters — the RFP program is an aggressive, annual effort to fund critical wild turkey research projects nationwide.
“Across the southeastern United States, we are seeing a decline in wild turkeys, especially in this zone of eastern Texas,” said Nicholas Bakner, post-doctoral researcher at the Tennessee Technological University. “For the past few years, Texas has been reintroducing birds from other states to reestablish populations in these areas.”
Bakner and his team want to see how translocated female birds from other states are responding to existing habitat conditions, which will help identify suitable release areas. Through this work, they will be able to identify critical habitats, their availability and the potential for habitat restoration to increase turkey distribution and abundance in the region. This project will also be identifying areas where habitat limitations exist, enabling researchers to implement more effective habitat management strategies.
Using data collected over the past decade, researchers can develop a comprehensive habitat suitability model for wild turkeys in east Texas. When wild turkeys were captured and processed using rocket nets baited with cracked corn between January and March of 2016 through 2024, all individuals, regardless of age or sex, were given a leg band and a GPS transmitter that took one location nightly at midnight, and hourly locations between 5:00 a.m. and 8 p.m. until the battery died or the unit was recovered.
Researchers also conducted nest and brood surveys of any banded females suspected to have had brood success to gather survey data that will be used, along with other relevant variable data, to evaluate habitat suitability.
“When it comes down to looking at habitat suitability, this model identifies critical areas,” said Bakner. “We know from GPS data from across the southeastern United States, that there is a limitation in brooding habitat. Only about 7% of hens are successfully producing a brood, and we’re seeing as low as 10% nesting success in some of these areas. We need reproduction in order to supplement a population, which is why the brooding and nesting portion of this habitat suitability model are important. If we could use this model to identify areas of improved nesting habitat, this would help our efforts in recruiting new birds into the population.”
The research for this project is being conducted on both private and public lands.
“I hope that we find areas that are pocketed with different types of brooding and nesting habitat,” said Bakner. “We can write all these scientific papers, but I want to able to integrate it into management. I’m hoping that we can find those pockets, identify what’s critical in those areas, and then transfer that to on-the-ground habitat management.”
About the National Wild Turkey Federation
Since 1973, the National Wild Turkey Federation has invested over half a billion dollars into wildlife conservation and has positively impacted over 24 million acres of critical wildlife habitat. The NWTF has also invested over $10 million into wild turkey research to guide the management of the wild turkey population and to ensure sustainable populations into perpetuity. The organization continues to deliver its mission by working across boundaries on a landscape scale through its Four Shared Values: clean and abundant water, healthy forests and wildlife habitat, resilient communities, and robust recreational opportunities. With the help of its dedicated members, partners and staff, the NWTF continues its work to provide Healthy Habitats. and Healthy Harvests. for future generations.
