Big Game 193 



Wild Turkey Study. The following outline for a turkey study applies 

 to Missouri, but will illustrate the paucity of knowledge of this bird: 



Determine by banding of all released stock (and later by banding trapped 

 stock) what drift occurs from State refuges in what periods of time. Determine 

 by banding what is the comparative survival value of half -wild and pure-wild 

 planting stock. 



What kind, amount, and arrangement of cover is best for turkeys? Have 

 they any special requirements for roosting, nesting, or refuge? How do fires, 

 grazing, and lumbering affect these cover requirements? What modifications of 

 forestry practice would improve turkey cover conditions? 



What foods do turkeys eat at various seasons? What foods enable the 

 gobblers to be fat in spring? How are turkey foods affected by fire, grazing, lum- 

 bering, farming? What are the best crops for food patches? How big and how 

 frequent should the patches be? Do turkeys suffer food shortage during winter 

 storms? 



What diseases and parasites affect wild turkeys? How does the disease risk 

 vary with (1) contact with tame turkeys? (2) weather? (3) season? (4) den- 

 sity of population? (5) contact with other animals? 



What predators kill turkeys and rob nests? What evidences identify the 

 work of various predators on (1) nests? (2) kills? How do predator losses vary 

 with density of (1) turkey populations? (2) predator populations? What per- 

 centage of nests "get by" with or without predator control? How are predator 

 losses affected by vigor or disease? 



What is the normal sex ratio in turkeys? What departures from normal 

 occur? When? Why? What is the minimum of males necessary for produc- 

 tivity? What are the flocking habits at various seasons of the two sexes? Does 

 the sex ratio affect the radius of spread from refuges? Is there a saturation point 

 in turkey populations? A cycle? What turkey and quail populations are com- 

 patible with each other on the same range? 



WHITETAIL DEER 



Original Distribution ; Northward Shift. This species was indigenous 

 to the entire region except the north shore of Lake Superior, where it was absent, 

 and the south shore, where it occurred in summer only. Shiras (1921) records 

 the fact that: 



"In the early days there were neither moose nor deer and very few caribou 

 (on the Sault Ste. Marie River) .... The whitetail, while now quite abund- 

 ant, was unknown on the north shore ... in 1870 . . . On the south 

 shore of Lake Superior, including all of Michigan and Wisconsin, there existed 

 a spring and fall movement of deer which possessed all the characteristics of a 

 true migration. . . . This habit was abandoned more than 35 years ago." 



The invasion of the north shore of Lake Superior by deer must have been 

 rapid, for in each of years from 1879 to 1881, 10 years after the invasion begun, 

 Shiras records the killing of 80,000 deer. The exact area which this figure is sup- 

 posed to cover is not clear, but he says that "most of these were within 10 miles 

 of Lake Superior." 



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