Habitat Emphasis Helping Midwest Wild Turkeys Thrive

The successes reflect the continued efforts by the National Wild Turkey Federation and state wildlife agencies who have worked together for decades, dating back to the days when wild turkeys were nearly extirpated in many regions.

Clayton Lenk, NWTF district biologist for Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, noted that population peaks came decades after restoration efforts began.

“All across the Midwest, wildlife professionals worked on restoration in the late 20th century,” Lenk said. “And the birds did their part, by establishing in those translocated areas and then dispersing into new areas previously thought to be unsuitable for turkeys. We saw big population increases, then the population stabilized when carrying capacity was reached.”

The Midwest’s good old days of turkey hunting aren’t over; in fact, turkey range expansion is continuing naturally in some areas and peaks may still be years away. Except for Ohio and Missouri, all Midwestern states are seeing stable spring harvest levels at or near all-time highs.

“Most of our Midwestern states have been fortunate with relatively stable harvest numbers and population estimates compared to other parts of the country,” said Ryan Boyer, NWTF district biologist for Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. “State wildlife agencies and biologists are well aware of neighboring trends and collectively recognize the need to update our population models with data from current research aimed at better understanding wild turkey population dynamics.”

Quality habitat is essential for thriving turkey populations. Fostering such habitat is a foundational cornerstone of NWTF conservation work.

John Burk, NWTF district biologist for Missouri, Iowa and Illinois, notes that the ideal habitat for the Eastern subspecies of wild turkeys is 60% open to 40% wooded.

“One of the last remaining populations in Missouri existed where vast, inaccessible expanses of the Ozarks allowed birds to persist, and early turkey biologists focused restoration efforts initially in landscapes with similar characteristics,” Burk said. “When restoration efforts were finally attempted on more open landscapes, those populations exploded. The highest turkey densities exist in mosaics of native grasslands, overseeded pastures, row crops and open woodlands. That describes much of the Midwest.”

Invasive terrestrial shrubs, like exotic honeysuckle, can create understory too thick for turkeys while eliminating native vegetation on the forest floor that provides critical nesting and brood-rearing habitat. According to United States Department of Agriculture data, Conservation Reserve Program acreage has dropped by one-third from the alltime program highs. Burk underscored the importance of early successional habitats to wild turkeys. Loss of grassland habitats, particularly when measured in hundreds of thousands of acres with programs and commodity prices changing, negatively impacts wild turkey populations.

Building and maintaining quality habitat is critically important to the future for Midwestern wild turkeys. NWTF is stepping up, collaborating with key partners on projects that improve both public and private lands.

“We are currently partnering with the Missouri Department of Conservation to address the turkey decline with the Turkey Habitat Initiative,” Burk said. “We’re planning a series of landowner workshops as well as a video series designed to educate landowners and resource professionals of the importance of early broodrearing habitat.”

In Minnesota, NWTF partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Conservation Corps of Minnesota to conduct nearly 5,000 acres of prescribed burning of oak savanna habitat on Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. This removed undesirable species and reinvigorated prairie grasses and forbs, resulting in better brooding habitat.

In Illinois, Iowa and Missouri, NWTF state chapters joined forces to purchase a CanAm UTV for the Fish and Wildlife Service to use during prescribed burns on their refuges. Each state now has a CanAm. More than 16,000 acres were burned last winter and this spring.

In western Michigan, the NWTF is leveraging funding through a stewardship agreement with the USDA Forest Service to conserve oak savannas on 3,500 acres of Forest Service lands, plus 700 acres of adjacent private lands. Since 2008, more than $3 million from 60 supporting entities made this work possible. Similar agreements on the Wayne National Forest in Ohio and Hoosier National Forest in Indiana are targeting similar work for wild turkeys.

Midwest turkey hunters could see a fantastic 2025. Widespread drought in 2023 created generally favorable conditions for ground-nesting birds by reducing nest loss. The cicada hatch of 2024 might also spike turkey production and satiate predators. According to Burk, the dry conditions, followed by a once-in-a-generation forage hatch could mean many jakes and mature gobblers in front of hunters in 2025.