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Wild turkey

Informally Refereed

Abstract

Wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) were once abundant throughout the southeast, but unregulated hunting and habitat destruction greatly reduced populations to a few thousand birds by 1930 (Hust and Dickson 1992). Though intensive restocking efforts beginning in the 1950s, protection from hunting, and reforestation, southeastern turkey populations have rebounded to an estimated one million birds (National Wild Turkey Federation 1986). Biologists once believed that wild turkey populations required large areas of remote, undisturbed forest( Mosby and Handley 1943; Hust and Dickson 1992). However, over the years, turkeys have proven adaptable to various types of habitats and now thrive in areas once thought only marginal (Little 1980).

Citation

Moore, William F.; Kilgo, John C.; Carlisle, William D.; Caudell, Michael B. 2005. Wild turkey. In: Kilgo, J.C.; Blake, J.I. eds. Ecology and management of a forested landscape. Washington, DC: Island Press. 359-366. Chapter 6.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/21315