Turkey hunting in May can be very productive if you can take the warm temperatures and bugs. With hens beginning to nest, it’s a good time to find a gobbler looking for a companion. I’ve done a little road hunting but with no results. Since I don’t have a turkey hunting story, I thought I’d share a little about wild turkey history in Virginia.
When settlers first arrived in the Shenandoah Valley, wild turkeys and other wildlife were abundant in the extensive forests. Settlers depended on wild meat year-round as they began to clear the land for agricultural production and lumber for building. Professional market hunters soon arrived and sold wild game in quantities comparable to domestic animals, at a much cheaper price. By about 1900, with much of the forests gone and unlimited hunting, wild turkeys were almost gone. Realizing that something must be done, in 1912 the “Robin Bill” prohibited the sale of wild turkey in open markets. More restrictions were placed on hunting methods and bag limits but enforcement would not come along until 1916 with the creation of the Game Department. It’s ironic that the native American Indians lived off the land for 10,000 years with an abundance of game, and it took us less than 200 years to kill it off.
Seeing the need to bring back the turkey population, in 1929 the Game Commission began a restocking program using turkeys raised on game farms. Many modifications of breeding, raising and releasing game farm turkeys were tried but they all failed. By 1955 over 22,000 game farm turkeys had been released but were unable to survive or reproduce in the wild. So, why did this program fail? The only thing missing was the “wild”.
A wild turkey hen lays 9-13 eggs from mid-April to the first of May. This is triggered each year by the increase of daylight hours in the spring. The poults hatch about 28 days later and immediately imprints with the hen and mimics her behavior. Only about a third of these nests hatch and then only about 25% of the hatched poults survive the first 4 weeks, before they can fly up to roost. This loss is due to predators and the effects of cold, wet weather. Even after that, the death rate is around 50% per year. A turkey’s life span is typically 3-5 years. So, what puts the “wild” in wild turkey? Survival.
Sometime after 1955 a new method to rebuild the turkey population came into play. If you can’t make a game farm turkey “wild” then how about using the real thing. The Game Commission began trapping wild turkeys and transferring them to other parts of the state. This was a bit tricky because trapping enough wild turkeys to make a difference is difficult. Over time a successful method was perfected. Turkeys could be baited into a concentrated area. At the proper time a carefully prepared rocket or cannon net was shot over the flock so they could be caged and transferred to another location. A few turkeys would not survive the shock, but the end result was successful. Between 1955 and 1993, 900 wild turkeys were transferred to less densely populated areas of Virginia and the turkey population across the state has since revived.
So, what is the present-day status of wild turkeys in Rockingham County? According to DWR maps our county has a “low density” population. Why is that? I’ve never had a good answer. Maybe with the warmer temperatures and little rain this spring, we will have a good hatch and better hunting next year.
