Effects of Fall Hunting on Wild Turkey Populations in Virginia and West Virginia

Abstract

The effect of fall either-sex hunting on eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) populations is a common concern of wildlife agencies. We examined the effect of fall either-sex hunting on survival of radiotagged female wild turkeys from 1989 to 1994 in Virginia and West Virginia. We tested the hypothesis that survival of female wild turkeys did not differ among areas closed to fall hunting, open to a 4-week fall season, or open to an. 8- or 9-week fall hunting season. Mean annual survival rates were higher in the area closed to fall hunting than in regions where fall hunting occurred (P = 0.05). Mean annual survival rates varied within years (P ≤ 0.05). Differences in annual survival rate among areas were attributed to legal hunting (P ≤ 0.01). Poaching was a major mortality factor. Juvenile, yearling, and adult hens had similar survival rates in the areas closed to fall hunting and with 4 weeks of fall hunting (P = 0.39), but survival rates of juveniles were lower (P = 0.03) than those of yearling and adult females in the area with an 8-9-week fall hunting season. Harvest rates of female turkeys averaged 4.3% in the 4-week fall hunted area and 12.3% on the 8-9-week fall hunted area. Higher harvests were achieved on the study area opened only to spring hunting than the combined fall-spring harvests on the other study areas. Total harvest was negatively associated with survival (r s =- 0.90, P = 0.04) on the 8-9-week fall hunted area and positively associated with survival (r s = 0.90, P = 0.04) in the area closed to fall hunting. Spring gobbler-only hunting is suggested for maximum growth in a wild turkey population. Guidelines are presented for fall harvest programs.