Wild Wonderings

    As an avid outdoorsman, I look upon the end of deer season with a little disappointment.  I know that it will be a while before my heart races again, as I size up a mature buck for harvest.  However, in the short weeks to come, I know that spring will be heralded by the unmistakable gobble of the Rio Grande wild turkey.  My slate will be busy, as I try my best to call in a tom for my son, who is already an accomplished hunter at age 10.  We get a kick from being eyeball to eyeball with a big strutting gobbler.  In order to hear the gobble, land managers must also plan for great habitat that makes life easier for putting hens as they call to their broods.  Poor habitat leads to few broods and that means declining turkey populations.
 
    Several months ago, I began to work with Dr. Bret Collier, a wildlife researcher at Texas A&M University to take information from scientific journals and make it more useful to those of you who are actively managing wildlife populations across Texas.  My partners and I developed 2 publications geared towards Rio Grande wild turkey populations and habitat management.  They build on early studies, as well as the most current research conducted in the state today. Given the history, current popularity of turkey hunting and the wide distribution of the Rio Grande wild turkey, we offer tandem papers to help guide your management efforts.  The first publication is entitled Rio Grande Wild Turkey: Their Biology and Management and the second is called Habitat Appraisal Guide for Rio Grande Wild Turkey.  If you would like to have magazine-style copies, they can be purchased ($3.50) from the Texas Cooperative Bookstore (http://tcebookstore.org ), or electronic files can be downloaded at no cost at this same site.  Below, you will find a brief description of each publication.

    Rio Grande Wild Turkey: Their Biology and Management is an 18-page document, having 6 major sections, 3 graphs, 34 photos, 5 tables, and a glossary.  We wrote the document so that it would reinforce information for the more avid wildlife manager, as well as introduce information to those who may be newer to land management.

 
    The Introduction, provides perspective on the historical decline of Rios, their recovery, and challenges they currently face over their range.  The Life History section relates data regarding the physical characteristics of Rio Grande wild turkey.  Population Dynamics, has subsections on nesting ecology, reproduction, movements, survival, depredation effects, disease and parasites, and hunting effects on Rios. Habitat Requirements section, provides information on food, cover, and water important to this bird. Management Considerations provides suggestions on habitat management practices related to grazing, roost sites, brush, water development, farming practices, prescribed burning and predator management, and cultivated food plots and soil disturbance for native plants.

    Habitat Appraisal Guide for Rio Grande Wild Turkey is a 23-page document, having 4 major sections, 3 graphs, 20 photos, 3 tables, a key to conduct an evaluation of turkey habitat and then implement a management activity.  This publication was written for a wide audience, but specifically geared to those who intensively manage wildlife resources on private and public lands in Texas.

 
    The Introduction outlines the wide distribution of Rio Grande wild turkey and shows how that overlaps with the ecological regions within the state.  It also points out the recent decline of Rios in some parts of their range.  Section 2, Habitat Requirements explores this bird's need for useable space and interspersion of habitat types.  It reports the range and annual movements of Rio Grande wild turkeys necessary to meet life's requirements.  This section also reports research results relating to protective cover, especially roosting trees and structures.  Likewise, examples of nesting cover and its importance are highlighted.  Available information for brood habitat is presented here along with food habit information.  Water requirements are explored along with management recommendations.  Section 3, Habitat Management Tools provides research-based information for livestock grazing, prescribed burning, and brush control.  Information in the previous sections are put into use, in Section 4, Appraising Turkey Habitat.  Here, we describe the use of the habitat appraisal key and links to appropriate land management options that will enhance turkey habitat. 

    I hope you find these publications useful in your own efforts to enhance habitat for Rio Grande wild turkey and all of the other plants and animals that will benefit from your land stewardship.  

Article by Jim Cathey