Talking Turkey

Turkey numbers on the rise, management is a balancing act

If you hear a turkey gobble during a cool Montana spring mountain morning, you’re hearing the sound of one of our nation’s greatest conservation success stories, and a growing management task for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

Wild turkeys are present in 49 states (sorry Alaska). In Montana, turkey numbers are hard to pin down, but our best guess is somewhere around 140,000 birds across the state. They reside in every FWP region, and you can find them from lush river bottoms to arid sagebrush coulees.

In Montana, we officially have Merriam turkeys, but rumors of an illegal introduction of eastern turkeys persists in northwest Montana. You can hunt turkeys in both the spring and fall here, though regulations differ from region to region, so make sure you are familiar with regulations before you go hunting.

At the June 19 Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting FWP will propose a few changes to this fall's turkey regulations to help provide more hunting opportunities and to also address game damage concerns due to expanding populations.

The proposal before the commission would introduce a fall turkey season in Fergus and Petroleum Counties in Region 4; allow hunters to use an unfilled spring turkey license for the fall season in FWP Region 5; and add a third turkey license for private land only in FWP Region 7. 

Managing success

Though turkeys aren’t native to Montana, that’s not uncommon for birds that are popular with hunters. Ring-necked pheasants, grey partridge, chukars and turkeys are all non-native to Montana, but they are all also popular with hunters.

The success of turkey populations around the country are in part due to the fact that when the conditions are right, populations can grow rapidly, said Brian Wakeling, game management bureau chief for FWP.

“If turkeys are in a place where they can have good access to food during winter months, then you can see numbers really take off,” Wakeling said.

Montana is seeing numbers in several parts of the state flourish due to a few easier winters and access to food. However, some of that food turkeys have keyed in on is from agriculture operations.

The proposals FWP is bringing to the Fish and Wildlife Commission are in response to game damage concerns in the areas where opportunities are expanding.

Like other species that can cause problems for landowners, FWP can respond when turkeys become a nuisance for landowners and agriculture operations. Typically, the response is to find a way to provide specific hunting opportunities to target the nuisance birds. FWP can also apply site specific hunt opportunities where problems with turkeys cannot be adequately addressed by the general turkey season regulations set by the Fish and Wildlife Commission.

For Wakeling, turkeys really exemplify FWP’s focus of both managing the resource for hunting opportunities and responding to issue and concerns from landowners.

“Conservation and management are always a balance,” Wakeling said. “Turkeys can be great in the right places. When they cause problems, we have tools to deal with that too.”