Posted By: gobbler
turkey research - 09/27/21 01:33 PM
Looks like things are getting finalized for a new turkey research project in cooperation between Auburn University, Alabama Wildlife Federation and Turkeys for Tomorrow. AWF and TFT will provide funding for 2 projects starting this winter. Since The Hunting Public has provided some funding to Mike Chamberlain for a project using Autonomous Recording Units (ARU’s) on some Alabama Management Areas, AWF and TFT decided to replicate this (AU is working in cooperation with Chamberlain) on some comparable areas of private land to see if there are any differences.
These units record gobbling in set time frames and the collected and analyzed information will be able to compare timing of gobbling activity, how gobbling changes based on hunting pressure and the effects of habitat and predator management on gobbling activity (good comparison with private/public land), as well as the effects of woodland composition (pine/hardwood/fields, etc) on gobbling.
One of these sites will also have a large number of hens gps radio-tagged to look at nesting and brood success as well as habitat utilization. Again, these will be excellent opportunities to compare public land with private land as well as be able to look at how management activities like burning, thinning, timber composition, predator control, etc effect nesting success and brood survival and how these differ on private land. We can start to compare management practices and see why some properties have good turkey numbers and some lower.
The final part of these projects (and where yall come in!) will be to collect testes from hunter harvested birds throughout the state. This will directly look at whether all or only a portion of the adult gobblers (and jakes) are fertile and does that change through the season. We are all, obviously, concerned about reproduction and recruitment of young turkeys into the population and have all heard that possibly only a small segment of the adult gobblers are doing the breeding. This will directly address this. If the majority of gobblers are fertile then no individual gobbler is any more important than any other. If it is a small portion of the population then early season gobbler harvest may be a problem.
Stay tuned! This is what Dave Owens was referring to and hats off to both AWF and TFT for stepping up to the plate to fund AU on what may be the largest scale turkey research project to date. Both of these groups are raising funds from private sources, mostly private landowners and companies. I am excited to see how this research pans out! For that matter, hats off the THP for getting it started in the State!
These units record gobbling in set time frames and the collected and analyzed information will be able to compare timing of gobbling activity, how gobbling changes based on hunting pressure and the effects of habitat and predator management on gobbling activity (good comparison with private/public land), as well as the effects of woodland composition (pine/hardwood/fields, etc) on gobbling.
One of these sites will also have a large number of hens gps radio-tagged to look at nesting and brood success as well as habitat utilization. Again, these will be excellent opportunities to compare public land with private land as well as be able to look at how management activities like burning, thinning, timber composition, predator control, etc effect nesting success and brood survival and how these differ on private land. We can start to compare management practices and see why some properties have good turkey numbers and some lower.
The final part of these projects (and where yall come in!) will be to collect testes from hunter harvested birds throughout the state. This will directly look at whether all or only a portion of the adult gobblers (and jakes) are fertile and does that change through the season. We are all, obviously, concerned about reproduction and recruitment of young turkeys into the population and have all heard that possibly only a small segment of the adult gobblers are doing the breeding. This will directly address this. If the majority of gobblers are fertile then no individual gobbler is any more important than any other. If it is a small portion of the population then early season gobbler harvest may be a problem.
Stay tuned! This is what Dave Owens was referring to and hats off to both AWF and TFT for stepping up to the plate to fund AU on what may be the largest scale turkey research project to date. Both of these groups are raising funds from private sources, mostly private landowners and companies. I am excited to see how this research pans out! For that matter, hats off the THP for getting it started in the State!
