Post by Woody Williams on May 13, 2009 8:38:27 GMT -5
I was in a discussion on another board when a member stated that "50% of the jakes would die in their second year" and we should all pass jakes. He and anotehr member cited a study done by George Wright of Kentucky.
His rationale was to provide gobbling two year olds for next year and that any hunter harvest, on top of a natural mortaluity really hurts the population of gobblers.
Now I know that jakes are not thw smartest critter in thw woods, but I could not see a 50% mortality on any critter that had made it trough their first year. So I did a little research and found this from Adam Butler – who is the Mississippi DWFP Wild Turkey Program Biologist
There is movement in some states for a state mandated "protect the jakes". It appears to me that the deer "trophy managment" is making it's way into turkey hunting.
YOUR THOUGHTS??
His rationale was to provide gobbling two year olds for next year and that any hunter harvest, on top of a natural mortaluity really hurts the population of gobblers.
Now I know that jakes are not thw smartest critter in thw woods, but I could not see a 50% mortality on any critter that had made it trough their first year. So I did a little research and found this from Adam Butler – who is the Mississippi DWFP Wild Turkey Program Biologist
There have been many other studies that have investigated gobbler survival, and several of those have been here in Mississippi. As Dave mentioned, Larry Vangilder has a chapter on population dynamics in "The Wild Turkey: Biology and Management." His chapter summarizes survival rates from numerous studies. Overall the book is a wonderful resource, and I'd recommend it if you are interested in turkey biology.
Studies that suggest that natural gobbler mortality is low, and that jakes have similar survival to adults include:
Wiene, B.J. 2001. Juvenile survival, cause-specific mortality, and selected harvest trends of male eastern wild turkeys in Mississippi. M.S. Thesis, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS.
- This was a research project that looked at jake survival on 4 public lands in Mississippi: Noxubee NWR, Sunflower WMA, Leaf River WMA, and Caston Creek WMA.
- Jake annual survival averaged 69 % across 3 years.
- Several birds were illegally killed. When these illegal kills were excluded from the analysis, annual survival jumped to 79 %.
- These percentages are similar to what others have reported for adult gobblers outside the hunting season.
Lint, J.R., G.A. Hurst, B.D. Leopold, and K.J. Gribben. 1995. Population size and survival rates of wild turkey gobblers in central Mississippi. Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium 7: 33-38.
- They looked at survival rates of gobblers on Tallahalla WMA.
- Survival averaged 70 %, and they found no difference in survival between jakes and adults, although they report that adults were more susceptible to harvest (the study was conducted prior to the no-jake rule).
Ielmini, M.R., A.S. Johnson, and P.E. Hale. 1992. Habitat and mortality relationships of wild turkey gobblers in the Georgia Piedmont. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the SE Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 46: 128-137.
- Studied survival on a population in which jakes were legal for harvest during the spring season.
- Adult annual survival (included hunter harvests): 36 %; jake annual survival (included hunter harvests): 63 %.
- They did not report a separate survival estimate that only included natural mortality, but they state that only 3 of their 36 radioed gobblers were killed by predators over the study's two years, leading the reader to assume that natural mortality rates must have been very low.
- The difference in the survival rates of adults and jakes was attributed to jakes being less susceptible to harvest.
(This is the George Wight study referenced by the poster)
Wright, G.A. and L.D. Vangilder. 2001. Survival of eastern wild turkey males in western Kentucky. Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium 8: 187-194.
- Monitored 366 radioed males from 1995-1999. In this population, jakes could be harvested by hunters.
- Annual survival differed by age class (Jake = 55%, Adult = 26%), but only because of differences in susceptibility to hunting.
- There was no statistical difference in natural mortality rates (Jakes = 20%, Adults = 25 %) between jakes and adults, and survival outside the hunting season was identical between both groups.
Several other papers exist that illustrate low natural mortality rates for gobblers, and also suggest that little difference exists in survival rates of juvenile and adult birds. However, if you dig enough, you will find some research that shows much higher natural mortality rates than the studies I've listed, but nearly all of that data comes from Midwestern and Northeastern states that have much more conservative hunting seasons than we do here in the Southeast.
Bottom line is that research conducted in the Southeast has lead us to believe that if a jake can be protected during his first year he stands an excellent chance of making it to the next spring and becoming one of the 2-year-old birds that do most of the gobbling and give hunters the most excitement.
"All turkeys. All the time."
MDWFP Wild Turkey Program Biologist
Studies that suggest that natural gobbler mortality is low, and that jakes have similar survival to adults include:
Wiene, B.J. 2001. Juvenile survival, cause-specific mortality, and selected harvest trends of male eastern wild turkeys in Mississippi. M.S. Thesis, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS.
- This was a research project that looked at jake survival on 4 public lands in Mississippi: Noxubee NWR, Sunflower WMA, Leaf River WMA, and Caston Creek WMA.
- Jake annual survival averaged 69 % across 3 years.
- Several birds were illegally killed. When these illegal kills were excluded from the analysis, annual survival jumped to 79 %.
- These percentages are similar to what others have reported for adult gobblers outside the hunting season.
Lint, J.R., G.A. Hurst, B.D. Leopold, and K.J. Gribben. 1995. Population size and survival rates of wild turkey gobblers in central Mississippi. Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium 7: 33-38.
- They looked at survival rates of gobblers on Tallahalla WMA.
- Survival averaged 70 %, and they found no difference in survival between jakes and adults, although they report that adults were more susceptible to harvest (the study was conducted prior to the no-jake rule).
Ielmini, M.R., A.S. Johnson, and P.E. Hale. 1992. Habitat and mortality relationships of wild turkey gobblers in the Georgia Piedmont. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the SE Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 46: 128-137.
- Studied survival on a population in which jakes were legal for harvest during the spring season.
- Adult annual survival (included hunter harvests): 36 %; jake annual survival (included hunter harvests): 63 %.
- They did not report a separate survival estimate that only included natural mortality, but they state that only 3 of their 36 radioed gobblers were killed by predators over the study's two years, leading the reader to assume that natural mortality rates must have been very low.
- The difference in the survival rates of adults and jakes was attributed to jakes being less susceptible to harvest.
(This is the George Wight study referenced by the poster)
Wright, G.A. and L.D. Vangilder. 2001. Survival of eastern wild turkey males in western Kentucky. Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium 8: 187-194.
- Monitored 366 radioed males from 1995-1999. In this population, jakes could be harvested by hunters.
- Annual survival differed by age class (Jake = 55%, Adult = 26%), but only because of differences in susceptibility to hunting.
- There was no statistical difference in natural mortality rates (Jakes = 20%, Adults = 25 %) between jakes and adults, and survival outside the hunting season was identical between both groups.
Several other papers exist that illustrate low natural mortality rates for gobblers, and also suggest that little difference exists in survival rates of juvenile and adult birds. However, if you dig enough, you will find some research that shows much higher natural mortality rates than the studies I've listed, but nearly all of that data comes from Midwestern and Northeastern states that have much more conservative hunting seasons than we do here in the Southeast.
Bottom line is that research conducted in the Southeast has lead us to believe that if a jake can be protected during his first year he stands an excellent chance of making it to the next spring and becoming one of the 2-year-old birds that do most of the gobbling and give hunters the most excitement.
"All turkeys. All the time."
MDWFP Wild Turkey Program Biologist
There is movement in some states for a state mandated "protect the jakes". It appears to me that the deer "trophy managment" is making it's way into turkey hunting.
YOUR THOUGHTS??
