The face of the NWTF:2045 and beyond
 |
The mission of the NWTF was the same 35 years ago as it is today: to conserve the wild turkey and preserve our hunting heritage. |
In February 1975, Henry Mosby delivered a report on the status of the wild turkey at the third National Wild Turkey Symposium in San Antonio, Texas. Mosby, a professor of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, reported a nationwide population of 1.3 million wild turkeys and an annual harvest of about 137,000. He also reported that, "the turkey is not faring well everywhere, however, and trouble spots exist." There were not enough turkeys for a hunting season in 11 states.
The NWTF was two years old and had 6,500 members at the time. But our mission was the same back then as it is today: to conserve the wild turkey and preserve our hunting heritage.
We had a lot of work ahead of us in 1975.
Thirty-five years later, state and federal wildlife agencies, working with the NWTF, have restored the wild turkey to most of its native range and expanded populations to provide hunting in 49 states. This winter, Texas will release the 200,000th turkey as part of this nationwide effort. Some would say the work of the NWTF is finished. I believe we have just begun.
Where will we be in another 35 years? Where will we hunt? Who will we be hunting with? Will they be old friends or our grandchildren?
While threats to our hunting heritage from anti-hunters and rampant urban development will continue, I believe we will still have plenty of turkeys and opportunities to hunt them. Why? Because of NWTF volunteers.
We will tirelessly raise money, buy land and donate it to state wildlife agencies to ensure places to hunt.
We will continue to work with the USDA Forest Service to identify landlocked public land and create access to these areas.
We will still take our kids and neighbors on hunts, and hopefully allow a few old-timers to tag along.
We will cast our votes for elected officials who value clean water and wildlands as much as good roads and health care.
We will fund management to expand wild turkey popluations on shrinking habitats. We will fund habitat improvement projects on wildlife management areas and biologists to help landowners manage their property.
We will hold JAKES, Women in the Outdoors and Wheelin' Sportsmen events to educate friends and co-workers who have never experienced a crisp fall day following a bird dog or a still April morning when the woods wake up.
The spring dawn in 2045 will still be shattered by a wild turkey gobble because we will continue our mission in the name of wildlife and the hunters who care for it.
I believe all these things will happen because I have known the dedicated volunteers of the NWTF for more than 30 years. We would never sit quietly and let these treasures slip away without a fight.
Our nation's population will no doubt increase in the next 35 years, and farms and woodlands will be lost to our need for homes, shopping centers, schools and highways. But we have foresight to set aside land and protect our traditions so we will always have impassioned hunters that will do what is necessary for themselves, their children and future generations.
What will the NWTF look like in 35 years? That depends on us.
Thirty five years ago, a small group forged a strong partnership between state wildlife agencies and turkey hunters with a single goal in mind: to learn all we could about the life history and the management of the wild turkey, and use that knowledge to restore the wild turkey to all suitable habitats in North America.
That partnership succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.
The golden age of wild turkey hunting is now. Let's do what we can to maintain what we have earned through our hard work and dedication.
If we take it for granted, we will lose it.— James Earl Kennamer, Ph.D.