(Jiir Liiu!}^ Rt'SDiines — Birds 



71 



After the early 1900's little change occuired 

 in wild turkey distribution and populations until 

 after World War 11 when resources were direct- 

 ed to restoring and managing the nation's 

 wildlife populations, including the wild turkey. 

 A technique that many state agencies believed 

 to be promising, but did not work, was artificial 

 propagation of game-farm or pen-raised 

 turkeys. Turkeys raised in captivity were not 

 properly imprinted on (recognition and attach- 

 ment) wild hens and did not have the experience 

 and survival skills necessaiy to live and repro- 

 duce in the wild. 



Restoration through trapping wild turkeys in 

 the wild and relocating them was the proper 

 solution, but this technique was not easily 

 accomplished with the wary bird. Development 

 of the rapidly propelled cannon net, originally 

 designed for capturing waterfowl, was a major 

 factor in relocating large numbers of wild 

 turkeys for restoration. Thousands of wild 

 turkeys were captured or moved with this tech- 

 nique or variations of it: in addition, drop nets 

 and immobilizing drugs were used. 



Several other factors contributed to the 

 return of the wild turkey: the maturing of the 

 eastern forests, which had been almost elimi- 

 nated: increased knowledge from research: 

 spread of sound management practices; and bet- 

 ter protection of new flocks vulnerable to 

 poaching. 



The restoration of the wild turkey is a great 

 wildlife management success story. In the early 

 part of this century only tens of thousands of 

 wild turkeys were found in a few remote areas. 

 By 1959 the total population approached one- 

 half million (Kennamer et al. 1992), and by 

 1994 almost all of the forested eastern United 



States and much of the forested West had been 

 restocked (Fig. 1 ), with the total population now 

 probably approaching 4 million (Fig. 2). At pre- 

 sent, there are viable wild turkey populations 

 with hunting seasons in every state but Alaska, 

 and the annual harvest exceeds one-half million 

 turkeys. The state wildlife management agen- 

 cies, aided by the National Wild Turkey 

 Federation and supported by sportmen's dollars, 

 undertook a tremendous task and achieved dra- 

 matically successful results (Dickson 1992). 

 Turkey hunting continues to be pursued by mil- 

 lions of dedicated hunters. 



Future population expansion is expected to 

 be somewhat limited. Most suitable turkey habi- 

 tat has been stocked, and, generally, populations 

 in these areas have already gone through their 

 high-productivity phase. Population expansion 

 is also limited because appropriate habitat will 

 be lost as the human population expands. 



References 



Dickson. J.G.. ed. 1992. Tlie wild turkey: biology and man- 

 agement. Stackpole Book>,. Hairisburg. PA. 46.^ pp. 

 Kennamer, J.E.. M. Kennamer. and R. Brenneman. 1992. 



History. Pages 6-17 iii J.G. Dickson, ed. The wild turkey; 



biology and management. Stackpole Books. Harrisburg, 



PA. 

 Mttshy. H.S.. and CO. Handley. I94.\ The wild turkey in 



Virginia: its status, life history and management. 



Virginia Division of Game and Inland Fisheries, 



Richmond. P-R Project. 281 pp. 

 Schorger. A.W. 1966. The wild turkey: its history and 



domestication. University of Oklahoma Press. Nonnan. 



62.5 pp. 

 Stangel, PW.. J.I. Smith, and P.L. Leberg. 1992. 



Systematics and population genetics. Pages 18-28 in J.G. 



Dickson, ed. The wild turkey: biology and management. 



Stackpole Books. Harrisburg, PA. 



59 70 80 86 90 

 Year 



Fig. 2. Estimated U.S. wild turkey 

 population, 1959-90 (from 

 Kennamer et al. 1992). 



For further information: 



James G. Dickson 



U.S. Forest Service 



Wildlife Habitat Laboratory 



PO Box 7600. SFA Station 



Nacogdoches, T.X 75962 



The mourning dove (Zenaida macwuni) is 

 one of the most widely distributed and 

 abundant birds in North America (Droege and 

 Sauer 1990). It is also the most important U.S. 

 game bird in terms of numbers harvested. The 

 U.S. fall population of mourning doves has 

 been estimated to be about 475 million 

 (Tomlinson et al. 1988: Tomlinson and Dunks 

 1993). 



The breeding range of the mourning dove 

 extends from the southern portions of the 

 Canadian Provinces throughout the continental 

 United States into Mexico, the islands near 

 Florida and Cuba, and scattered areas in Central 

 America ( Aldrich 1993: Fig. 1 1. Although some 

 mourning doves are nonmigratory, most 

 migrate south to winter in the United States 

 from northern California to Connecticut, south 

 throughout most of Mexico and Central 

 America to western Panama. 



Within the United States, three areas contain 



breeding, migrating, and wintering mourning 

 dove populations that are largely independent of 

 each other (Kiel 1959). In 1960 three areas were 

 established as separate management units: the 

 Eastern (EMU), Central (CMU), and Western 

 (WMU:Fig. 1). 



The two main tools used to manage mourn- 

 ing doves are an annual breeding population 

 survey (known as the Mourning Dove Call- 

 count Survey: Dolton 1993a, b) and harvest sur- 

 veys. The Call-count Survey provides an annu- 

 al index to population size as well as data for 

 determining long-term trends in dove popula- 

 tions. State harvest surveys and the National 

 Migratory Bird Harvest Information Program, 

 begun in 1992, estimate dove harvest. In addi- 

 tion, recoveries from banded doves have pro- 

 vided vital information for managing the 

 species (Hayne 1975: Dunks et al. 1982; 

 Tomlinson et al. 



Mourning 

 Doves 



by 



David D. Dolton 

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 



