Amazing New Turkey Study

Bperry

Six Pointer
I went to the SC NWTF State Board meeting at Edisto Island last week and saw a presentation from the SCDNR Turkey Biologist Charles Ruth. Great Guy

They are in the process of a new turkey study. I must say it was amazing. They have placed GPS transmitters on about 21 birds.

There were several slides showing the transmitted date that were unbelievable. They are in the process of putting transmitters on more birds.

Though a small sample size of the 12 hens they have transmitting data only 6 attempted nesting and of those 6 only 3 were successful. The later they nested the lower the survival.
The gobblers which were tagged many times travelled over 2 miles in a day. Some days they hardly moved but it really wasn’t related to the weather.

The other cool slide showed an approximately 40 acre tract of land in the middle of several of the gobblers home range. There were thousands of GPS tracking dots on the areal map around the tract and not a single one in this 40 acres block. It was so dramatic Charles said they thought it was an error. Why do you ask-Habitat. The tract was a thick pine desert.

They gave hunters GPS trackers and then overlaid the hunters track with the birds they were hunting. It’s unbelievable how the birds reacted.
 

bowhuntingrook

Old Mossy Horns
That would be really cool to see. Would be nice to know where NOT to sit so you know better then to try and call one through a thick pine desert
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
I went to the SC NWTF State Board meeting at Edisto Island last week and saw a presentation from the SCDNR Turkey Biologist Charles Ruth. Great Guy

They are in the process of a new turkey study. I must say it was amazing. They have placed GPS transmitters on about 21 birds.

There were several slides showing the transmitted date that were unbelievable. They are in the process of putting transmitters on more birds.

Though a small sample size of the 12 hens they have transmitting data only 6 attempted nesting and of those 6 only 3 were successful. The later they nested the lower the survival.
The gobblers which were tagged many times travelled over 2 miles in a day. Some days they hardly moved but it really wasn’t related to the weather.

The other cool slide showed an approximately 40 acre tract of land in the middle of several of the gobblers home range. There were thousands of GPS tracking dots on the areal map around the tract and not a single one in this 40 acres block. It was so dramatic Charles said they thought it was an error. Why do you ask-Habitat. The tract was a thick pine desert.

They gave hunters GPS trackers and then overlaid the hunters track with the birds they were hunting. It’s unbelievable how the birds reacted.

what did the birds do?
 

Bperry

Six Pointer
They are in the early stages of the study but Charles may have data he can share. The possibilities with what I saw were pretty impressive. They will eventually be able to cross movements, gobbling, hunter interaction, nesting and success with great accuracy. Not sure that would have been possible without recent technology. One of the reasons they are pushing the study is a 35% decrease in harvest. They tried to reduce their limit this year in the low country but it was killed due to someone not liking the tele-check system they were also trying to add in at the last minute.

What the birds did is what everyone wants to know. When they get through with this study I think it will be as valuable to turkey hunters as it is for the scientific data.
The slides I saw were one of two things. The bird would come in but not to close and then go straight away or they would come in circle and then go straight away. It’s like what we already know but seeing it on an aerial map was something else. No stupid ones in the slides I saw.

Also FYI the new state Turkey/Upland Game Biologist is Chris Kreh form District 7 Surry County. He will be taking over the turkey responsibilities for NC. Met him two weeks ago at the NCNWTF board meeting in Elkin.
 

hawglips

Old Mossy Horns
This info is going to be fascinating. But its going to cause folks to kill more turkeys. So I've got mixed feelings.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
After this data is eventually widely known on internet turkey forums, you reckon the discussions about patience will change any?

the way i read dhsten's article, they respond to pressure so the new standard of waiting them out in a blind will become even more widely used and justified.
 

hawglips

Old Mossy Horns
the way i read dhsten's article, they respond to pressure so the new standard of waiting them out in a blind will become even more widely used and justified.

I thought this talk of altering his hunting style to being more "proactive" and "aggressive" and needing to "move in on them" because of what he was seeing in the study was very interesting....

The answers are just now starting to take shape, but already there’s enough data to make Conley reconsider his own hunting methods. Growing up in Mississippi, he chased turkeys with a Remington 870 and took a conservative approach. Tracking Rio Grandes with GPS equipment, he tells me, has changed how he thinks about turkey hunting. He’s watched dozens of birds sit tight for day after day. “I’m definitely going to be more proactive,” he said. “My dad and I talked about this, and last year he worked out, got in shape, was much more aggressive, and killed two birds in Missouri. He’s convinced he needs to move in on them, and it paid off.”
 
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dhsten

Ten Pointer
I thought this talk of altering his hunting style to being more "proactive" and "aggressive" and needing to "move in on them" because of what he was seeing in the study was very interesting....

For me, I am going to be more aggressive reading some of this info. I think some folks could read it and think to sit still in a blind and not pressure birds.
 

hawglips

Old Mossy Horns
For me, I am going to be more aggressive reading some of this info. I think some folks could read it and think to sit still in a blind and not pressure birds.

I have read where outfitters discovered that as they required folks to sit in blinds instead of allowing them to run all over the property, the gobbling intensity of the birds stayed higher all season. It makes perfect sense to me that humans' presence would push birds away in general, like the graphic in that article showed for that one bird. For me personally, there's a lot of room for me to be more conservative in my approach, but not much room for moving in on birds more. I take a lot of chances on birds I know are there, but figure the odds are in my favor or I wouldn't do it that way. I probably bump a lot of birds that I never knew were there though.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
i sent him an email asking for info the general public could get regarding his work.

Mr. Ruth emailed me then followed up with a call.
On the specific question of how the birds reacted to pressure he related an instance of a dawn hunt where the hunter got within 120 yds of each other, but then the bird went off straight away from the hunter. The bird came back in the same way that evening and roosted within a few ft of where he did the night before. At this point you can make all kinds of conclusions. I'll leave that for us to discuss.

Even more interesting to me is his plans on a gobbling activity study where remote sound devices( think audio trail cams) are mounted high enough to record gobbling activity. They are going to measure activity at an unhunted area, a moderately hunted area and a heavily hunted area. The devices are ones developed years ago to try and confirm the existence of the ivory billed woodpecker. I cannot wait to see how that plays out.

As Mr. Perry says he is truly a gentleman and a scholar. and a turkey hunter himself.
 
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hawglips

Old Mossy Horns
Mr. Ruth emailed me then followed up with a call.
On the specific question of how the birds reacted to pressure he related an instance of a dawn hunt where the hunter got within 120 yds of each other, but then the bird went off straight away from the hunter. The bird came back in the same way that evening and roosted within a few ft of where he did the night before. At this point you can make all kinds of conclusions. I'll leave that for us to discuss.

This kind of data is going to raise more questions than answers, and be good fodder for lots of heated arguments and name calling on internet forums. ;) I can hear me saying "but you're not taking into consideration the subordinate dominant hierarchy thing" already. I hunted a bird last year that acted like that. He ran away but would gobble at me. And every time I'd get in a new position and call, he'd turn and go 180 degrees away from me again. It was almost comical. After working up a sweat and wearing myself out, I finally gave up and went after a some more distant gobbles. And he wasn't the first one to do that. We already know that some birds do that - the question is, why?

I'm also convinced that human activity in places where they are not accustomed to it pushes birds away, and reduces gobbling frequency; but the results of a bonafide gobbling activity study will also be fascinating to see.

This is exciting.
 

Randy

Ten Pointer
"This kind of data is going to raise more questions than answers"

I can definitely see this happening.

As my now 94 yr. old Dad always told me, a turkey gobbler sure is an interested old bird to hunt.
 
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