11/25/2022
For : Pennsylvania’s Wild Turkey
The wild turkey’s range covered Bucks County and most of Pennsylvania until the coming of European settlers. William Penn praised the “Turkeys of the wood.” Benjamin Franklin thought the wild turkey was an incredible bird and proposed that it be our national symbol. But by the early 1800’s John James Audubon observed that wild turkeys were noticeably in trouble. Hastening their demise was overhunting and deforestation; and by the late 1800’s, it is presumed only a few thousand wild turkeys remained.
There was no effort to curb hunting pressure on turkeys until the PA Game Commission was created in 1895. Over time, the Com- mission successfully lobbied legislators to ban the use of dogs by turkey hunters; make turkey blinds unlawful; make it illegal to purchase wild turkey meat; eliminate nighttime hunting for roosting turkeys; and make the use of turkey calls illegal. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, restoration of forested habitat and fenced mating areas on state game lands began to rebuild turkey populations. By the 1950’s suddenly the turkey began to establish itself in areas which had been devoid of the species for many years. By 1980, Pennsylvania’s wild turkey trap and transfer program was the talk of the nation’s wildlife managers.
Sadly, turkeys have again declined in Pennsylvania, from a high of 280,000 twenty years ago (2001) to 159,000 last year (2021). Possible factors include loss of habitat, weather patterns, predators and disease, which the Commission is researching with the use of GPS transmitters to track hens. Happily, we can still observe wild turkeys in their Bucks County habitat. At Peace Valley Park visitors can see signs of these majestic birds including scratches, s**t, feathers, and the birds themselves, shown in these im- ages of wild turkeys by local photographer, Susan Supper.
Source: “A Look Back at Wild Turkeys,” Joe Kosack, Pennsylvania Game Commission Information Specialist
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