Wildlife managers have released a new ten year management plan for wild turkeys.
As DNR Upland Wildlife Ecologist Scott Walter explains, it’s a more than 100-page document that guides decisions about hunting quotas and habitat conservation.
“The major programmatic goal is to protect the wild turkey resource," he said, "while maximizing recreational opportunities, and maintaining a positive public image of turkeys.”
Walter says it contains major updates to the last plan, which was written almost 20 years ago when turkeys were only found in the southern part of the state.
Among the plan’s objectives are to better understand how wild turkeys survive in northern Wisconsin, and what kind of habitat is important.
Walter says wild turkeys surprised everybody with how well they’ve done in the northern climate and landscape, and biologists want to know more about where the birds are distributed and why.
“Finding out exactly what habitat types are allowing turkeys to survive a harsh northern Wisconsin winter, and then doing what’s possible to make sure that habitat’s available on the landscape," Walter said.
The DNR is doing a survey to evaluate turkey distribution throughout the north, in a project that’s expected to wrap up this year.
Other goals within the plan include increasing turkey hunter access to private lands in certain parts of the state, and encouraging oak regeneration programs that can provide high quality food for turkeys.
The DNR held about a dozen meetings and conducted an online survey in 2012 to get public input on the new plan.
Walter says it’s written to be useful for managers as well as hunters and other members of the public.
