Spatial Ecology and Survival of Male Wild Turkeys in a Bottomland Hardwood Forest

We examined ranges, movements, and survival of males, and found that home ranges varied from ~1900 acres in spring to 2400 acres in winter.  We didn’t see males shift their ranges before breeding season, which had been observed in some previous studies.  Not surprisingly, survival was lowest during spring at 43%, but we lost males to predation and disease in other seasons, and annual survival was 64%.  Harvest was less than 15%, which contributed to the relatively high annual survival we observed compared to other studies.