Some Comments on a Wild Turkey Brood Study

Abstract

Prior to the hunting season of 1951-52, the Virginia Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries abandoned the practice of approximating the wild turkey kill by game-warden estimates and initiated a compulsory inspection at designated checking stations of all wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) bagged. During the first season in which this regulation was in effect (1951-52), 2,148 wild turkeys were inspected at checking stations. This was the lowest kill figure heretofore released by the Commission. During the open hunting season of 1952-53, only 1,606 wild turkeys were reported. The Commission, concerned by this decline in reported kills, instigated a study of the wild turkey through the Virginia Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit to determine the status of the bird in the Commonwealth. The results of the complete study (McDowell, 1956) will not be discussed in this paper; rather discussion will be restricted to the analysis and appropriateness of the collected brood data in providing information on the status of the turkeys. The collection of brood data was only a small facet of the project of determining whether or not an over-all state decline in the Virginia turkey population was occurring. Brood sizes can be classified into two primary categories: studies of brood sizes at a specific time, and studies of trends through a period of time. The correct categorization of a specific brood study depends upon the objectives of the experimenter in collecting the brood data.