Book Description

Historically, eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) occupied an estimated 12 million ha in east Texas, but overharvesting of both turkeys and timber led to their near extirpation from the region by 1900. Despite >70 years of restoration efforts, including translocation of >7,000 wild-captured eastern turkeys from >10 states since the late 1970s, estimated east Texas turkey densities remain low. Moreover, regional research has reported poor reproductive performance of translocated turkeys, heightening concerns regarding long-term stability, expansion, and permanence of turkey populations in east Texas. Although previous restoration attempts have involved traditional block-stocking and supplemental-stocking approaches (i.e., release of 15--20 turkeys per site), the use of larger release sizes (i.e., 'super-stocking'; 70 turkeys per site), may be more successful. During 2007 and 2008, 37 resident female turkeys were captured at two sites within the region, fitted with transmitters, and released at respective capture sites. An additional 347 eastern wild turkeys were captured in South Carolina and Tennessee and translocated to four sites in east Texas to evaluate the effectiveness of super-stocking in regional turkey restoration. Prior to release, 178 (115 females/63 males) turkeys were fitted with radio-transmitters and divided among sites; release sizes varied from 83--94, with approximately 45 transmittered turkeys per site. Specifically, the objectives of this research were to quantify survival, home range size, habitat selection, and reproductive ecology of both resident and translocated wild turkeys. Annual survival of resident female turkeys ranged between 0.38--0.68. Annual survival of translocated turkeys during the release year ranged from 0.55--0.71 (x̄ = 0.63) and from 0.73--1.00 (x¯ = 0.85) among sites for female and male turkeys, respectively. Female survival tended to increase in the second year following release (range: 0.63--0.82; x¯ = 0.73), while male survival tended to decrease (range: 0.47--0.66; x¯ = 0.54). Most mortality of resident and translocated females occurred during spring; male mortality was nearly evenly distributed throughout the annual cycle. Resident turkey home ranges averaged 1,146 ha in spring and mean summer home range size ranged from 628--1,118 ha between sites. Spring home ranges of translocated turkeys (x¯ = 901 ha) were larger than summer (x¯ = 443 ha), and female (x¯ = 846 ha) and male (x¯ = 498 ha) home range sizes were similar. Burned and/or thinned pine forests, mixed forests, and herbaceous openings were preferred spring and summer habitats, whereas pre-thin pine forests and forested wetlands were used less frequently by both resident and translocated turkeys. Twenty-five and 74 nests were initiated by resident and translocated hens, respectively. Nesting and renesting rates of resident hens averaged 0.66 and 0.29, respectively. Nesting rates of translocated turkeys varied substantially (range: 0.15--0.77) among sites during the release year, but tended to increase the year following release (range: 0.69--0.92). Renesting rates of translocated hens were considerably lower, averaging 0.21 across sites and years. Most nests of resident and translocated hens were located in thinned and/or burned pine forests, with nests generally having greater ground/screening cover and greater living woody vegetation (%)