Wild Turkey Science – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In this episode, we discuss upcoming episodes on the horizon, including how cattle grazing affects turkey management, food plotting for turkeys, how much coyotes influence turkeys, bringing back Dr. Craig Harper to update us on his fire season study assessing plant response and turkey use, the importance of oaks for turkeys, and more. Do you have a topic you’d like us to cover? Leave us a review or send us an email at [email protected]!

Donate to wild turkey research: UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund 

Dr. Marcus Lashley @DrDisturbance, Publications

Dr. Will Gulsby @dr_will_gulsby, Publications

Turkeys for Tomorrow @turkeysfortomorrow 

UF DEER Lab @ufdeerlab, YouTube

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This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org. 

Help us help turkeys by rating this podcast and sharing it with your friends and family. 

Music by Artlist.io

Produced & edited by Charlotte Nowak

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In this episode, we take a step away from the scientific literature to ask a regen ag practitioner about their experiences and glean some interesting observations for future study. Jason Snavely, wildlife biologist and founder of Drop-Tine Wildlife Consulting, joins us to dive deep into the microbiology of soil health, trade-offs between conventional and regenerative practices, and how biomimicking nature could help us reach our objectives. 

Resources:

• O’donoghue, T., et al. (2022). Regenerative agriculture and its potential to improve farmscape function. Sustainability, 14(10), 5815.

Donate to wild turkey research: UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund 

Jason Snavely Drop-Tine Wildlife (Website), @DropTineWildlife (FB), DropTine Podcast 

Dr. Marcus Lashley @DrDisturbance, Publications

Dr. Will Gulsby @dr_will_gulsby, Publications

Turkeys for Tomorrow @turkeysfortomorrow 

UF DEER Lab @ufdeerlab, YouTube

Please help us by taking our (QUICK) listener survey - Thank you! 

Check out the NEW DrDisturbance YouTube channel! DrDisturbance YouTube

Watch these podcasts on YouTube

Leave a podcast rating for a chance to win free gear!

This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org. 

Help us help turkeys by rating this podcast and sharing it with your friends and family. 

Music by Artlist.io

Produced & edited by Charlotte Nowak

Does water on a hen make it more susceptible to predation? In this episode, we comb through the literature on olfactory camouflage, dissecting studies assessing correlations between nest survival, weather, and environmental conditions, and divulging into the complicated web of ecology dynamics. Strap on your science boots for this one, it’s gonna be dense…

Research papers referenced:

• Bakner, N. W., et al.  (2019). Incubation recess behaviors influence nest survival of Wild Turkeys. Ecology and Evolution, 9(24), 14053-14065.

• Boone, W. W., et al. (2024). Robust assessment of associations between weather and eastern wild turkey nest success. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 88(2), e22524.

• Braun, M. S., et al. (2018). Birds, feather-degrading bacteria and preen glands: the antimicrobial activity of preen gland secretions from turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) is amplified by keratinase. FEMS microbiology ecology, 94(9), fiy117.

• Conover, M. R. (2007). Predator-prey dynamics: the role of olfaction. CRC Press.

• Fluen, T. (2008). A comparative analysis of evolutionary changes in island birds. MSc Thesis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch.

• Grieves, L. A., et al. (2020). Food stress, but not experimental exposure to mercury, affects songbird preen oil composition. Ecotoxicology, 29, 275-285.

• Grieves, L. A., et al. (2022). Olfactory camouflage and communication in birds. Biological Reviews, 97(3), 1193-1209.

• Lehman, C. P., et al. (2010). Ground roost resource selection for Merriam's wild turkeys. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 74(2), 295-299.

• Lowrey, D. K., et al. (2001). Influences of selected weather variables on predation of wild turkey females and nest success. In Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium (Vol. 8, pp. 173-178).

• Potier, S., et al. (2018). Preen oil chemical composition encodes individuality, seasonal variation and kinship in black kites Milvus migrans. Journal of Avian Biology, 49(7), e01728.

• Reneerkens, J., et al. (2002). Sandpipers (Scolopacidae) switch from monoester to diester preen waxes during courtship and incubation, but why?. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 269(1505), 2135-2139.

• Reneerkens, J., et al. (2005). Switch to diester preen waxes may reduce avian nest predation by mammalian predators using olfactory cues. Journal of Experimental Biology, 208(22), 4199-4202.

• Reneerkens, J., et al. (2006). Discerning adaptive value of seasonal variation in preen waxes: comparative and experimental approaches. Acta Zoologica Sinica, 52, 272-275.

• Reneerkens, J., et al. (2007a). Parental role division predicts avian preen wax cycles. Ibis, 149(4), 721-729.

• Tuttle, E. M.,et al. (2014). Variation in preen oil composition pertaining to season,sex, and genotype in the polymorphic white-throated sparrow.Journal of ChemicalEcology40, 1025–1038.

• Whelan, R. J., et al. (2010). Short-chain carboxylic acids from gray catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) uropygial secretions vary with testosterone levels and photoperiod. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part B: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 156(3), 183-188.

• Webb, S. L., et al. (2012). Landscape features and weather influence nest survival of a ground-nesting bird of conservation concern, the greater sage-grouse, in human-altered environments. Ecological Processes, 1, 1-15.

Episodes referenced:

• Effectiveness of trapping across game bird species | #08

• Which vital rates are most important to turkey populations? | #13

• Brooding and nesting cover (Part 1/2) | #29

• Brooding and nesting cover (Part 2/2) | #30

Donate to wild turkey research:  UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund 

Dr. Marcus Lashley @DrDisturbance, Publications

Dr. Will Gulsby @dr_will_gulsby, Publications

Turkeys for Tomorrow @turkeysfortomorrow 

UF DEER Lab @ufdeerlab, YouTube

Please help us by taking our (QUICK) listener survey - Thank you! 

Check out the NEW DrDisturbance YouTube channel! DrDisturbance YouTube

Watch these podcasts on YouTube

Leave a podcast rating for a chance to win free gear!

This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org. 

Help us help turkeys by rating this podcast and sharing it with your friends and family. 

Music by Artlist.io

Produced & edited by Charlotte Nowak

Brent Rogers, wild turkey historian and collector extraordinaire, joins us to break down wild turkey history through the eyes of early naturalists and literature.. Learn how the culture and conservation concerns surrounding the wild turkey developed over time since the 17th century, what impacted transitions in knowledge and observation of wild turkey management, how restocking efforts have shifted throughout the decades, historical hunting practices, and more! 

Donate to wild turkey research: UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund 

Resources:

• Brent on MossyOak Gamekeepers Ep 88: History of the Wild Turkey

• Illumination in the Flatwoods, by Joe Hutto

• Illumination in the Flatwoods: Bottomland Book Club, by Brent Rogers

• Proceedings of the 1st National Wild Turkey Symposium (1959)

• The Colonel and the Fox

• Turkey Hunting History and Literature, by Brent Rogers

• Yelp & Gobble, Inc. by Brent Rogers

Brent Rogers @gobblegitr, Contact

Dr. Marcus Lashley @DrDisturbance, Publications

Dr. Will Gulsby @dr_will_gulsby, Publications

Turkeys for Tomorrow @turkeysfortomorrow 

UF DEER Lab @ufdeerlab, YouTube

Please help us by taking our (QUICK) listener survey - Thank you! 

Check out the NEW DrDisturbance YouTube channel! DrDisturbance YouTube

Watch these podcasts on YouTube

Leave a podcast rating for a chance to win free gear!

This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org. 

Help us help turkeys by rating this podcast and sharing it with your friends and family. 

Music by Artlist.io

Produced & edited by Charlotte Nowak 

Today we are joined by Dr. Chad Lehman, senior biologist for the South Dakota Department of Game Fish and Parks, and Dr. Chris Rota, associate professor of wildlife and fisheries resources at West Virginia University. We discuss their previous and ongoing research investigating harvest declines across South Dakota, major variables impacting hen survival and nest incubation, best management practices for SD private landowners, and more. 

Donate to wild turkey research: UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund 

Resources:

• Lehman, C. P., et al. (2022). Factors influencing rate of decline in a Merriam's wild turkey population. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 86(6), e22240.

• Quehl, J. O., et al. (2024). Assessing wild turkey productivity before and after a 14-day delay in the start date of the spring hunting season in Tennessee. Ecology and Evolution, 14, e11390.

• Tyl, R. M., et al. (2020). Factors influencing productivity of eastern wild turkeys in northeastern South Dakota. Ecology and Evolution, 10(16), 8838-8854.

• Tyl, R. M., et al. (2023). Factors influencing survival of female eastern wild turkeys in northeastern South Dakota. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 47(2), e1429.

Dr. Chris Rota Contact, Publications

Dr. Chad Lehman Contact, ResearchGate

Dr. Marcus Lashley @DrDisturbance, Publications

Dr. Will Gulsby @dr_will_gulsby, Publications

Turkeys for Tomorrow @turkeysfortomorrow 

UF DEER Lab @ufdeerlab, YouTube

Please help us by taking our (QUICK) listener survey - Thank you! 

Check out the NEW DrDisturbance YouTube channel! DrDisturbance YouTube

Watch these podcasts on YouTube

Leave a podcast rating for a chance to win free gear!

This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org. 

Help us help turkeys by rating this podcast and sharing it with your friends and family. 

Music by Artlist.io

Produced & edited by Charlotte Nowak

Ted DeVos, co-founder of Bach and DeVos Forestry and Wildlife Services, walks us from ground zero through the various ways in which to manage pine plantations for turkeys. Whether your goal is to increase turkey or timber productivity, this episode is jam-packed with information you don’t want to miss. 

Donate to wild turkey research: UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund 

Bach and DeVos Forestry and Wildlife Services Website, Facebook

Dr. Marcus Lashley @DrDisturbance, Publications

Dr. Will Gulsby @dr_will_gulsby, Publications

Turkeys for Tomorrow @turkeysfortomorrow 

UF DEER Lab @ufdeerlab, YouTube

Please help us by taking our (QUICK) listener survey - Thank you! 

Check out the NEW DrDisturbance YouTube channel! DrDisturbance YouTube

Watch these podcasts on YouTube

Leave a podcast rating for a chance to win free gear!

This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org. 

Help us help turkeys by rating this podcast and sharing it with your friends and family. 

Music by Artlist.io

Produced & edited by Charlotte Nowak

Dr. Bronson Strickland, co-director of the MSU Deer Lab and founder of the Deer University podcast, joins us to explain regenerative agriculture and break down their new experiment testing the differences in nutrient density and deer use between conventional and regenerative food plots. 

• Deer University Podcast

• Food plot experiment (Jacob Dykes)

• Ryegrass is not good

Donate to wild turkey research: UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund 

Dr. Bronson Strickland Website, Publications, @MSUDeerLab, @MSUDeerLabTV

Dr. Marcus Lashley @DrDisturbance, Publications

Dr. Will Gulsby @dr_will_gulsby, Publications

Turkeys for Tomorrow @turkeysfortomorrow 

UF DEER Lab @ufdeerlab, YouTube

Please help us by taking our (QUICK) listener survey - Thank you! 

Check out the NEW DrDisturbance YouTube channel! DrDisturbance YouTube

Watch these podcasts on YouTube

Leave a podcast rating for a chance to win free gear!

This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org. 

Help us help turkeys by rating this podcast and sharing it with your friends and family. 

Music by Artlist.io

Produced & edited by Charlotte Nowak 

After much feedback from our latest episode, we sit down to review through recent episodes and lay out the available data known to us. Covering season timing and reproduction to the predator-habitat complex, there’s no tiptoeing around the controversy in this one. 

• Isabelle, J. L., et al. (2018). Considerations for timing of spring wild turkey hunting seasons in the southeastern United States. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, 5, 106-113.

• Kurzejeski, Eric W., and L. D. Vangilder. "Population management." The wild turkey: biology and management. Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA (1992): 165-184.

• Londe, David W., et al. "Review of range‐wide vital rates quantifies eastern wild Turkey population trajectory." Ecology and Evolution 13.2 (2023): e9830.

• Quehl, J. O., et al. (2024). Assessing wild turkey productivity before and after a 14-day delay in the start date of the spring hunting season in Tennessee. Ecology and Evolution, 14, e11390.

• Vangilder, Larry D., and Eric W. Kurzejeski. "Population ecology of the eastern wild turkey in northern Missouri." Wildlife Monographs (1995): 3-50.

• Watts, C. R., & Stokes, A. W. (1971). The social order of turkeys. Scientific American, 224(6), 112-119.

Donate to wild turkey research: UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund 

Dr. Marcus Lashley @DrDisturbance, Publications

Dr. Will Gulsby @dr_will_gulsby, Publications

Turkeys for Tomorrow @turkeysfortomorrow 

UF DEER Lab @ufdeerlab, YouTube

Please help us by taking our (QUICK) listener survey - Thank you! 

Check out the NEW DrDisturbance YouTube channel! DrDisturbance YouTube

Watch these podcasts on YouTube

Leave a podcast rating for a chance to win free gear!

This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org. 

Help us help turkeys by rating this podcast and sharing it with your friends and family. 

Music by Artlist.io

Produced & edited by Charlotte Nowak

Dr. Craig Harper and Dr. Dave Buehler from the University of Tennessee join us to discuss results from their seven-year, robust before-after control-impact study assessing the role of experimental season date delays on turkey reproduction. Spoiler alert: Season delays had no effect on any of the 8 vital rates they measured. 

Quehl, J. O., et al. (2024). Assessing wild turkey productivity before and after a 14-day delay in the start date of the spring hunting season in Tennessee. Ecology and Evolution, 14, e11390.

Donate to wild turkey research: UF Turkey Donation Fund , Auburn Turkey Donation Fund 

Dr. Craig Harper Website, Publications

Dr. Dave Buehler Website, Publications

Dr. Marcus Lashley @DrDisturbance, Publications

Dr. Will Gulsby @dr_will_gulsby, Publications

Turkeys for Tomorrow @turkeysfortomorrow 

UF DEER Lab @ufdeerlab, YouTube

Please help us by taking our (QUICK) listener survey - Thank you! 

Check out the NEW DrDisturbance YouTube channel! DrDisturbance YouTube

Watch these podcasts on YouTube

Leave a podcast rating for a chance to win free gear!

This podcast is made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow, a grassroots organization dedicated to the wild turkey. To learn more about TFT, go to turkeysfortomorrow.org. 

Help us help turkeys by rating this podcast and sharing it with your friends and family. 

Music by Artlist.io

Produced & edited by Charlotte Nowak