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CONSERVATION CORNER
(For the week of November 17, 2008)
The Wild Turkey
by James L. Cummins

Next week we celebrate Thanksgiving and I thought it would be appropriate to discuss Mississippi's beautiful wild turkey.

Although turkey is the main cuisine of today’s Thanksgiving celebrations, these birds were NOT the most popular centerpieces on the first Thanksgiving tables in America. Other foods plentiful during that 1621 period were cod, duck, eel and lobster. One story tells of how roast goose was the traditional meal during this time in England and when the Pilgrims arrived in America, roasted turkey replaced roasted goose as the main cuisine because wild turkeys were more abundant and easier to find than geese.

But they have not always been abundant, especially in the Magnolia State. In 1928, Aldo Leopold, regarded as the father of game management in the United States, stated that, “Wild turkeys (in Mississippi) are steadily decreasing. They have been cleared out of the open ranges, and there is barely a seed stock left in the larger swamps.” Because of concern by landowners and the Mississippi Game and Fish Commission in the 1950s, an intensive live trapping and transplanting program began in Mississippi. Since that time, over 2,000 wild trapped turkeys have been stocked in all counties of Mississippi. This stocking of wild birds has been a tremendous success.

The wild turkey gobbler has a chestnut brown-chipped set of tail feathers. Most of the birds have large bodies and measure up to 50 inches in length with a wing span of approximately 55 inches. Gobblers are noted for their bristle-like beards that extend from the breast and continue to grow throughout the turkey’s life. Beards can reach up to 12 inches in length. Another characteristic of the gobbler is spurs on the inside of the legs near the feet. Spurs can reach a length of up to three-quarters of an inch. Gobblers are also known for their gobbling during spring mating.

Habitat for wild turkeys varies tremendously, but they do best in hardwoods with fairly open understories, small clearings, a water supply and little or no disturbances.

Once the turkey population has been established, protection in the nesting season from free ranging dogs is a must. If the necessary precautions are not taken, increases in turkey numbers will be prevented.

Another important ingredient in the recipe for a good turkey population is food. Clover, winter wheat and Bahia grass are a few species of plants that can be grown for food. And if carefully planned, borders around food plot openings can be used for nesting.