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The Fifth Symposium honored Dr. Henry S. Mosby, the pioneer of modern turkey research, and showcased how far the wildlife management profession had come.
1. Expanding the Range
Reports confirmed successful reintroductions of wild turkeys in the Midwest and even parts of the Northeast and West. Restoration now included efforts in areas where rural habitats met suburban edges and farmland mosaics once considered unsuitable.
2. Ecology and Behavior
Research delved into nesting behavior, poult mortality, and seasonal movements. Studies linked weather and habitat diversity to poult survival. The role of flooding, drought, and temperature extremes on wild turkey individuals and populations was quantified for the first time.
3. Human Impacts
Papers addressed illegal hen harvest, which was increasingly problematic in those days, along with mortality from vehicle collisions, and the need for hunter education. Managers began to integrate social science with wildlife biology, which has become quite common now.
4. Health and Genetics
Biologists introduced the idea of “health management” for relocated turkeys—testing for diseases and parasites before birds were released. Interest grew in maintaining subspecies purity to protect regional genetics, which is a topic that became increasingly discussed in subsequent years.
5. Management Modeling
Researchers used early computer models to predict population responses to hunting and habitat changes, signaling the start of modern adaptive management.
6. Key Takeaway
By 1985, wild turkey restoration was largely complete in many states. The challenge had shifted in many areas from restoring wild turkeys to the landscape to now managing them wisely.
