Originally posted by Cyclic-Rivers:
Do they have anything to point the finger at or is the issue a multitude of factors?
I have definitely noticed fewer turkeys as everytime else I know.
I do my part to help out by being a bad hunter.
They do Charlie. They say the reasons for the decline are caused by changes in habitat, higher predator populations, wet weather during the nesting season, and the harvest of hens during the fall hunting seasons.
I was looking into it online a while back, and came across an article stating that they've found something called Lymphoproliferative disease in wild turkeys.
Some of the birds tested showed lesions on their head and feet, but most that tested positive, were asymptomatic. They don't know a lot about the disease in wild birds at this point, but they said it seems to be spreading throughout the eastern US.
They did say that some of the birds that tested positive had tumors growing around, and over their eyes, that would cause them to slowly lose their sight, making them more vulnerable to predators, and others had them in their throats, which would prevent them from eating, and to eventually starve.
Michael Schiavone, a NYSDEC wildlife biologist, said since they've started looking for the disease, It's turned up everywhere in the state. Biologists in other eastern states have had the same findings.
Mr. Schiavone stated that some of what appear to be healthy birds killed by hunters, have tested positive, so they're not sure what to think of it right now.
I know we have a healthy coyote population here, along with raccoons, and we seem to have more fisher and bobcats every year, in places where we haven't had them in years past.
I saw over twenty birds in different fields around my house at the same time, during the last week of season last year, and I'm sure there were a few others around, that I didn't see at the time.
The birds don't stay up here on top of the mountain during the winter, but they've always come back to those same fields each spring. I could literally count the birds that I've seen in those fields this year, on one hand.
I thought for sure, that that big of a decline had to have been due to the bad winter we had here. It just seemed like too many birds to have been lost over the course of one winter, for other reasons. I still think it played a part, but there seems to be more to it than that at this point.
What ever the cause, or combination of causes, I hope they get it figured out and are able to do something about it. Springtime without gobbling turkeys, is a pretty depressing thought for me.
Bob
Topic: DEC's Turkey Hunting Proposal (Read 1434 times)
