By Mike Dye/DWR and Leah Card/DWR
الصور لميغان ماركيتي/دي دبليو آر
Myth: Raccoon populations have exploded across Virginia and are responsible for the decline of turkey and other gamebirds.
Reality: Available data does not indicate an increase in the raccoon population, rather the population appears stable with normal fluctuations from year to year. While biologists cannot rule out population increases on localized scales, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) data does not show substantial increases in overall raccoon populations. It should be noted that one of the factors that we routinely see is the perception of increased raccoon presence due to feeding near trail camera sites. Placing food will attract raccoons and may provide the perception that raccoon populations are out of sync with the habitat.
While raccoons are an effective nest predator, they rarely kill adult gamebirds. Their presence on the landscape does not limit turkey populations in most cases, except where habitat is limiting nesting turkeys. While focused trapping can temporarily reduce raccoon populations, habitat modifications to improve turkey nesting cover are more likely to provide longer term improvements in nesting success.
Care should also be taken to avoid attracting raccoons to your property if turkey nesting is a priority. Activities such as feeding wildlife can artificially increase raccoon populations or may encourage raccoons from neighboring habitats to come into that area. While some may believe they are benefiting wildlife by providing food, feeding can actually harm wildlife in a number of ways (e.g., increasing disease/parasite transmission, increasing human-wildlife interactions) and may be harming gamebird nesting success.
Myth: Predators are killing so many turkeys that populations cannot grow.
Reality: While there are several predators of adult turkeys (primarily bobcats, coyotes, and great horned owls), humans are still the greatest source of mortality for adult gobblers. Past research in Virginia indicated that only 25 percent of all mortality of gobblers was due to predation. By contrast, hunters accounted for 46 percent of mortalities and illegal kills (outside of hunting seasons) accounted for an additional 17 percent of mortality events. These data suggest that an adult gobbler is far more likely to be killed by a human than a predator.
Hens, on the other hand, tend to have slightly lower survival and higher predation rates. Typically, less than 50 percent of adult hens will survive to the next year. Research indicates that predation is often the leading cause of mortality for hens. Mortality for hens tends to be focused during the spring and early summer due to the fact that they increase movements during the pre-nesting period (looking for ideal nesting cover) and the extensive time that hens spend incubating nests (up to 20-22 hours per day). This time spent on the ground does make them more susceptible to predation during these periods.
While it can be tempting to blame predators for these issues, these mortalities are often a symptom of a larger issue—poor habitat. If hens are forced to nest in poor locations or have to increase movements to find suitable nesting, this puts them at greater mortality risk. By increasing the amount and quality of nesting cover, hens can move less frequently and typically see higher nesting success as a result.
While there are areas of the state with declining turkey populations, there are other areas of Virginia where populations are increasing. Turkey populations fluctuate depending on conditions during nesting, overwinter food supplies, and other environmental factors. These shifts in abundance can be frustrating to managers and hunters, but these population changes occur regardless of predator abundance. While turkey populations may be suppressed in some areas, it tends to be more related to habitat or environmental conditions rather than predator populations. Areas where turkeys are doing well are doing so in spite of existing predators, typically because there is sufficient habitat to balance the turkey’s population and local predator dynamics.
While targeted trapping can have some benefits, these benefits are maximized when there is adequate nesting and brood rearing cover nearby. Simply trapping predators in low quality habitat is not likely to yield desired results. These lower quality habitats will always be subject to increased fluctuations due to environmental and nutritional demands.
Myth: Turkeys only gobble on the roost due to coyote presence
Reality: Gobbling intensity is influenced by many things including weather, barometric pressure, turkey density, stage of the breeding season, and hunting pressure. Many of us have encountered situations where turkeys will gobble on the roost but won’t respond once they hit the ground, prompting us to consider the impact of potential predators such as coyotes. The theory makes sense—a turkey announcing his presence on the ground may lure a predator that cues off auditory signals. The theory suggests that coyote presence alone causes turkeys to learn to stop gobbling when they hit the ground. The reality, however, is more complex.
Often the biggest factor in a turkey’s gobbling intensity and behavior is the presence and breeding stage of hens in his immediate proximity. Many turkeys that gobble on the roost and proceed to fall silent have roosted near hens. When he hits the ground, he has no need to continue announcing his presence. These hens are typically actively being bred and quite honestly, he’s preoccupied and does not have a need to attract any additional attention. These situations tend to occur more during the early portions of the season as hens are often still being bred through the first one to two weeks of the season.
One of the other biggest impacts to gobbling intensity is hunting pressure itself. Research in the Southeastern U.S. has recently shown that gobbling often decreases dramatically as soon as hunting season starts. One such study looked at sites on hunted and un-hunted locations. The turkeys on the un-hunted property continued to gobble normally throughout the hunting season, whereas the hunted turkeys began gobbling less frequently as soon as hunting pressure began. Both of these sites had coyotes present and human pressure was the main factor that changed. So, while we often look at predators as a major impact, hunting and hunting pressure may be playing just as big if not a bigger role in how turkeys are behaving. At this point, there is little evidence that coyotes alone are driving changes in turkey gobbling.
Myth: Trapping predators is a waste of time
Reality: Trapping is a time-honored tradition that requires extensive woodsmanship, skill, and technical know-how to be successful. There are numerous reasons to learn the art and skill of trapping in Virginia. Trapping is also an important tool for wildlife and habitat management, as it is used for wildlife monitoring and population management, can provide protection for threatened wildlife species and habitats, and can help prevent and resolve human-wildlife conflicts. While trapping alone is not often an answer to turkey or gamebird population declines, it does serve an important function and should not be overlooked as a piece of the puzzle. However, making sure that the area has firm habitat foundations should always be a primary focus. If you are interested in learning more about trapping in Virginia, go to the trapping section of the DWR website or the Virginia Trappers Association website.
Mike Dye is the Upland Game Bird Biologist for the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR), while Leah Card is DWR’s Furbearer Project Leader.
