Wild Turkeys in NW Minnesota

[DonBo]

Wild turkeys doing well in northwest Minnesota

Initial release efforts produce established population, proving the birds can survive harsher winters

By: Brad Dokken, Grand Forks Herald

An experiment to see if wild turkeys could survive in northwest Minnesota has worked, and the birds now are providing hunting opportunities that didn’t exist just a few years ago.

According to Doug Franke, area wildlife supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Thief River Falls, wild turkeys now are doing well from Park Rapids northwest to Red Lake Falls and Thief River Falls.

The DNR stopped releasing wild turkeys about five years ago, and northwest Minnesota was among the last places to receive birds, Franke said.

“They’re not expanding as far outside the release areas as we thought, but they’re making it,” Franke said.

The Team Camo Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation in Crookston partnered with the DNR on the northwest release project.

One surprise, Franke said, is that the birds haven’t expanded along the Red Lake River corridor, which is rich in the wooded, riparian habitat wild turkeys find attractive in other places.

“There’s a lot of habitat there, but we hear of very few sightings of birds east of (U.S. Highway) 59,” Franke said. “Most everything is west of 59 along the beach ridges.”

Initial releases

The DNR initially transplanted wild turkeys in 2006, releasing 80 eastern-strain birds — 59 females, 21 males — from southeast Minnesota at two sites: southwest of Thief River Falls and northeast of Red Lake Falls.

During the next three years, turkeys also were released at sites near Fertile, Erskine and Bagley, and East Park and New Maine wildlife management areas west of Middle River.

The DNR released a total of 206 wild turkeys in northwest Minnesota from 2006 to 2008.

Severe cold after the initial releases in January 2006 resulted in extensive mortality among the first batch of turkeys, Franke said, but since then, the birds have adapted to their surroundings.

“By the next year, the survival was extremely high, and they figured out how to survive and where to go because it’s such a foreign environment to them,” he said.

As the population grows, Franke said the birds also appear to be splitting into more but smaller wintering groups consisting of 40 to 50 birds. That’s a welcome change from one winter, when a landowner reported 300 turkeys in his yard.

“We like to see no more than 100 birds in one location,” Franke said. “That really puts a test to anyone’s willpower and tolerance. They get really brazen in winter, and they’ll come right into yards.

“Overall, it’s mostly getting along with people and people getting along with them. There’s not too many depredation complaints yet, but they’re starting to build, mostly with cattle operations or beet tailings or any kind of hay, corn or silage.”

Taking applications

The DNR in late November began accepting applications for the 2014 spring season, and the deadline to apply is Jan. 10. Two years ago, the DNR revised its permit boundaries from dozens of small blocks to 12 large areas throughout the bird’s range.

Northwest Minnesota is in Permit Area 509, which extends from the Red River to Detroit Lakes on the south and north to the Canadian border. The move has been popular among hunters, Franke said, and the northwest permit area has 40 licenses available for each of three spring seasons in April, when the bulk of the turkey harvest occurs. An unlimited number of licenses are available over the counter for each of five seasons throughout May.

In 2012, the DNR issued 244 permits in area 509, and hunters shot 111 turkeys, Franke said.

“A lot of people up here are tickled with them,” he said.

While wild turkeys haven’t populated the Red Lake River corridor east of Thief River Falls, Franke said they can be found as far east as the Randeen Ridge north of Grygla and other areas that are considered “Non-Range” for regulatory purposes, where hunting isn’t allowed.

Whether that means even more hunting opportunities down the road remains to be seen. Nothing would happen without a public comment process, Franke said.

“Stay tuned on that,” Franke said. “If they expand into areas we don’t consider turkey range what do you do with them? They’re not allowed to be legally harvested outside of that range, yet if they’re there and doing quite well, then what do we do?”

The DNR doesn’t do any on-the-ground population surveys, Franke said, instead relying on a survey given to deer hunters that includes a question about turkey sightings. The success of the release project certainly proves the birds can withstand northwest Minnesota’s severe winter weather.

“They can tolerate incredibly cold temperatures,” Franke said. “It doesn’t seem to faze them other than they need to eat more often.”

Deep snow that covers food supplies can hamper survival, but northwest Minnesota usually has enough windswept areas to provide forage, Franke said; they’ll even eat tree buds similar to what ruffed grouse do in the winter.

“They’ll do whatever they can to get food,” Franke said. “They’re one tough bird, that’s all I can say.”

[monstermoose78]

Awesome!

[rockman]

That is good news. I deer hunt on family owned land in that area. Having wild turkeys on the farm is fine by me.

[Musky Buck]

I liked the 100 in a yard etc. No doubt the flock crushing my bird feeder daily is at 41 birds lol, I'm surprised they can handle winter or surviving the coyotes,cold, etc anything that can kill them. They've been roosting in pine groves so I'd say plant a grove of pines for the future if you can, seedlings are cheap or free, you could even prepare your area and have a school field trip type activity take place which is what we did and those 10 year old trees are now good cover for rabbits,turkeys,pheasants,deer, you name it skunks lol, coons, possums, etc. but a great roosting spot for turkeys and keep it away from the NW winds of winter etc., we made sure it wouldn't be an ice box setting for them. Turkeys in the NW sounds good to me, just don't let them roost on your house like mine the buggers after the 1st feed of the day, then they roost up and then feed round 2 and my feeder is cleaned out then they walk across the road and scratch for corn till dark, at 5:00PM last night they finally went to roost and it was darn dark already, have fun with them.

[CANOPY SAM]

We've got a few flocks just a mile or two out west of us. It's nice to see them from time to time. Take away the ridiculously cold winters and I'm sure they'd flourish up here.

We've had birds come randomly walking thru on our river bottom property, but I always found it curious why they wouldn't take up residence along the river as well? Lots of big old trees to roost in, heavy cover, water, and just adjacent to crop lands. Perhaps the understory or ground cover is just too thick for them to walk thru? Like the DNR, I'd have to agree that the river woodlands would be the most logical place for them to live....but they're not there.

I've always thought, of all the animals on the earth today, a wild turkey is the one that looks most like a remnant of the dinosaur. Very cool birds!

[rockman]

It'll be interesting to see if the birds can flourish in the areas that are mostly aspen woods, and open farmland with crp fields mixed in. One of the area rivers starts on a family farm, and goes west to the Red River. Most of the deciduous trees on the bank(s)/river bottom(s) is a short distance from the farm, and there are wood lots nearby with some deciduous, and conifer tress. I heard a pheasant in a crp field next to my land a couple years ago, and that is the first one I have ever heard, or seen, there. If a pheasant can survive there, I sure hope wild turkeys can.

[CANOPY SAM]

How long can a wild Turkey live? I mean, how old can they get?

[rockman]

Average lifespan is 3-5 years, but I read that one bird was estimated to be 13 yrs old.

[CANOPY SAM]

Okay. Thanks rockman. I was just curious as it pertained to the earlier comment about pheasants. If I'm told correctly, most pheasants don't survive to be more then 2 years old. A 3 year old bird would be a really old one.

Was just curious if wild turkeys lived longer. Being a native species to north America certainly gives them a leg up on the pheasant.

Pretty sure I've seen young birds, or newly hatched birds in our local flocks of turkeys, but I can't say for absolute certainty.

[rockman]

I do realize that a pheasants lifespan is rather short. I was surprised to see a pheasant, that normally has a range much further south in MN, that far up north and west. To find one 1/2 hour NW of TRF, was a new one, for me. I guess one thing common between the turkeys, and pheasants, is the more southern range. I have hunted turkeys in SE MN, and it's a bit different terrain than the Red River valley area. Goes without saying. If turkeys reproduce in NW MN, and the population spreads into the area NW of TRF, it's all the better, for me.

[CANOPY SAM]

Amen brother! I'd love to see turkeys and pheasants take up permanent residence around here. I really doubt pheasants would make it though. For some reason our temps and weather are just too harsh here.

Although, we have family land out in central NoDak, and their winters are near just as bad as ours, but they get quite a few pheasants in their area.

I wonder if the bird you saw was a part of someone's locally grown and released brood? I know a few folks that do that around here each year. Don't suppose many, if any, survive the winters, but I think they just let em' go to hunt for the season. I think there's a hunt club, or two around here as well. I think there's one up by Middle River that releases a lot of pheasants for hunting each year?

I too have seen a rare pheasant in the area. Sure is cool to see a big basketball rooster, as well as a big wild turkey now and then.

[rockman]

Yea, could very well have been a bird that got away from someone's brood. I was a few miles west of Newfolden, so that is a fair distance from the Middle River area. One of my relatives mentioned something about a game farm in that area. I don't expect to see, or hear, that rooster this next year, but a nice tom, or hen turkey could certainly take it's place.

[HunterLee]

There are alot of turkeys in the newfolden area, my buddy's mom lives there and he does a fair amount of hunting and sees them quite often. They are doing real well in the fertile area, and its not uncommon to see fifty or so in a flock anymore, the last two years they have really upped their numbers and they are a fun hunt either in the spring or fall.

[rockman]

Outstanding! Thanks for that, Hunter Lee. That info. just made my day. That will tweak my plans for this next spring a bit.

[jentz]

Give them 10 years to accustom to the environment,now that they have come this far.Find what they prefer and ajust.I'm betting once they learn they'll take hold and spread.The early plantings are just now adjusting,The ones that survived anyway.Survival of the fittest.