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NWTF
1,958
Number of wild turkeys relocated to suitable habitat in 2009 700 Number of birds relocated in Utah alone 358 Number of jakes and gobblers captured by Pennsylvania Game Commission personnel and NWTF volunteers in 2009 for a statewide study of gobbler harvest rates and survival.
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More on Making Tracks
Making Tracks is a cooperative program between the NWTF and state, federal and provincial wildlife agencies to restore wild turkeys to all suitable habitats across North America. Since the 1950s, more than 195,000 wild turkeys have been moved into appropriate habitat.
Projects completed through the Making Tracks program in the last year include:
Alberta — 39 Merriam’s wild turkeys were moved within the province in 2008 and 2009. The Eastern Slopes Turkey Trackers NWTF Chapter moved the birds from the Lees Lake area near Pincher Creek to a site on private land near Turner Valley, which is close to Wildlife Management Unit 406.
Arizona — 69 Gould’s wild turkeys were transferred to southeastern Arizona’s Pinaleño Mountains and Galiuro Wilderness Area. This was the largest number of Gould’s wild turkeys ever transferred within the state. Forty-nine of the turkeys were released into the Galiuro Wilderness Area and 20 were trapped in the Chiricahua Mountains and released in the Pinaleño Mountains.
Arizona — 34 Merriam’s wild turkeys were transferred within Yavapai County, Ariz.
Arizona — 85 Rios were captured in Utah and released on Game Management Unit 13B in northwesternArizona’s Mohave County.
Arkansas — 46 Eastern wild turkeys were captured and moved in-state.
California — 193 Rios were trapped in suburban areas and moved to sites with existing turkey populations including the Knoxville Wildlife Area in Napa County, Spenceville Wildlife Area in Nevada and Yuba counties and Cache Creek Wildlife Area in Lake and Colusa counties. Fifty-nine wild turkeys also were moved to multiple sites in Nevada.
Colorado — 67 Merriam’s wild turkeys and 26 Rios were moved within the state.
Idaho — 156 Merriam’s wild turkeys that were trapped in the Panhandle region of Idaho and 23 Merriam’s that were trapped in southwestern Idaho were sent to the Cecil Andrus Wildlife Management Area in Washington County. Eleven hens were fitted with collars to help with a hen mortality study conducted by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
Kansas — The NWTF and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks conducted a research project involving approximately 90 wild turkeys in the Lovewell, Webster and Cedar Bluff wildlife areas. The Lovewell Wildlife Area is located in northern Kansas’ Jewell County; the Webster Wildlife Area is in northwestern Rooks County; and the Cedar Bluff Wildlife Area is in western Trego County.
Maine — 47 Eastern wild turkeys were trapped and transferred in-state. Sixteen of those birds were released in Machiasport; 31 were released in Ashland; and 14 were released on the Butler Island Wildlife Management Area.
Maryland — 22 Eastern wild turkeys were moved to Cecil County, an area with a low-density population.
Minnesota — 26 Eastern wild turkeys were trapped near Baldwin, Wis., and transported to northwesternMinnesota near Erskine.
Mississippi — 127 Eastern wild turkeys were captured in-state and released in Coahoma and Quitman counties in the Mississippi River Delta region in conjunction with a research project conducted by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and Mississippi State University.
Montana — 89 Merriam’s wild turkeys were transferred to sites along the Milk River, west of Glasgow in Valley County and to sites near Chinook in Blaine County, Havre and the Choteau County area.
Nevada — 59 Rios were released in Carson Valley, Douglas County, Nev. Bob Klotz, NWTF California State Board of Directors member, trapped the turkeys in California.
New Mexico — 12 Merriam’s wild turkeys were moved within New Mexico from the Sacramento Mountains to Guadalupe Mountain in Lincoln National Forest.
Oregon — 273 birds were trapped and released in suitable occupied habitat.
Pennsylvania — Pennsylvania Game Commission personnel and NWTF volunteers captured 358 jakes and gobblers in 2009 for a statewide study of gobbler harvest rates and survival. The turkeys were trapped and released at their capture sites in more than 50 counties. This was the fourth and final year of the research project.
South Dakota — 65 Merriam’s wild turkeys were trapped for research and released in the northern Black Hills region of South Dakota in Lawrence and Pennington Counties. Forty-one hens and 14 gobblers were trapped in Grant County and released in Clark County.
Tennessee — 41 Eastern wild turkeys were moved within Tennessee. Of those birds, 11 jakes, nine hens and one longbeard were trapped in Rutherford County and transferred to Meigs County. In Clarksville in Montgomery County, 10 gobblers, eight hens and two jakes were trapped and were released in northeastern Montgomery County.
Texas — 19 Rios were moved from Concho County to habitat near Brownsville in Cameron County, Texas.
Utah — 700 turkeys were moved to bolster existing populations and expand into currently unoccupied habitat.
Wyoming — The NWTF assisted in trapping and releasing Merriam’s wild turkeys in Crook and Weston counties and fitting an additional 60 to 70 gobblers with radio transmitters as part of an ongoing gobbler mortality study in the Black Hills region of Wyoming.