With wild turkeys thriving in Ind., it’s open season twice a year on the birds

The Dept. of Natural Resources reported last week that 610 wild turkeys were killed during the 2008 fall hunting season, a 4 percent increase in success since 2007.

Once completely wiped out from most of the Midwest, wild turkeys have fought their way back into Indiana’s backyard and now draw more than 50,000 hunters annually.

The historic bird was extricated from Indiana and many other Midwestern states in the late 19th century, when European pioneers cleared much of the forest that wild turkeys call home.

In addition to the habitat destruction that took place, subsistence hunting likely contributed to the eradication of the wild turkeys.

“Times were tight, and if you needed some meat for the pot, you didn’t go to the grocery store; you went out and pursued it,” said Steve Backs, wildlife research biologist with the Division of Fish and Wildlife.

Amazingly, after half a century of restoration efforts, the wild turkeys are back, with an estimated 125,000 birds in Indiana today.

The turkeys are a great success story in Indiana, said avid turkey hunter Steve Siscoe, property manager of Green-Sullivan State Forest.

Between 1956 and 2004, 2,795 turkeys were released in a total of 185 different sites.  Initially, the birds were transplanted from other states to the most habitable parts of southern Indiana.  Once those populations started to thrive, they were used to seed new populations all over the state.

“It’s been a special ride for those that have been involved,” said Randy Showalter, regional wildlife biologist for the National Wild Turkey Federation.

By 1970, three counties had enough wild turkeys to host Indiana’s premiere spring hunting season.  An estimated 62 hunters killed six birds over the course of the four-day season.

Today, 91 counties host more than 50,000 hunters that bring in a 10,000-plus harvest each spring.

Wild turkey hunting has become so popular and successful that in 2005 the state of Indiana decided to hold its first-ever fall season, boasting a harvest of 716 birds.

“Fall turkey hunting is vastly different from spring turkey hunting,” said Siscoe.
Among other differences, the fall season is restricted to archery and crossbow hunting until the last five days.  Furthermore, the birds behave differently in the fall than they do during the spring breeding season, Backs said.

“It takes a lot of work to find those small flocks of turkeys,” he said. “And they’re not as receptive to answering to calls as they are in the springtime.”

Nevertheless, the first fall hunting season has remained a success, with this past season bringing in another 610 birds.  While the harvest numbers have dipped slightly since the initial catch in 2005, this is likely due to dwindling interest, not decreases in turkey numbers, Backs said.

Still, wild turkey hunting remains primarily a spring sport.  The Division of Fish and Wildlife is going to continue to emphasize the spring turkey hunting opportunities, Backs said.  The fall season is really just a byproduct of having good turkey populations.

“These are the good old days when you look at some wildlife species,” Showalter said, referring to the successful restoration of not only wild turkeys, but whitetail deer, Canada geese, elk and others. “It’s kind of nice to be here at this time.”