Michigan turkey numbers soar due to conservation efforts
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Michigan’s wild turkey population has bounced back and the Department of Natural Resources says conservation efforts were crucial in restoring the birds to the state.
The symbol of Thanksgiving almost disappeared in Michigan.
“They’re a species that was once what we would call extirpated from Michigan, that means removed, due to habitat loss and unregulated hunting,” said Adam Bump, an upland game bird specialist with the Michigan DNR.
Bump said state wildlife specialists were able to reverse the declines and there are now about 200,000 wild turkeys.
“The population initially was believed to have been lost in Michigan around 1900 and there was a number of unsuccessful attempts to reintroduce turkeys in the state, but it wasn’t until the 1950s where we had our first successful reintroductions and one of the first successful reintroduction sites was in Allegan County,” Bump said.
The birds thrived in places the DNR reintroduced them throughout the state.
“We would capture birds from those locations and spread them out throughout the state and we brought some other birds in from some other states to get some genetic diversity. Making sure that we had a robust turkey population and just gradually we were able to expand just by turkeys moving naturally and then also by us capturing and relocating birds,” Bump said.
About 35,000 turkeys are taken in the spring season with a very limited fall season taking less than 4,000 turkeys.
“The major season for turkeys in most of the United States including Michigan is a spring turkey season so we have about 100,000 people participate in a spring season,” Bump said.
As for having a wild turkey for a Thanksgiving meal, that’s more of a challenge since there’s currently no active season.
“I think there’s probably a few hunters that save them in the freezer to do that but because of the season timing and the unpredictability of whether you’re gonna actually be successful at getting a turkey. I think even turkey hunters a lot of times probably will buy a store-bought turkey for their Thanksgiving meal,” Bump said.
While the population remains strong in the state, the DNR is closely monitoring the number of birds.
“We are seeing declines in turkey populations in most of the eastern United States. Right now Michigan looks like we’re remaining stable. We’re not. We don’t think we’re seeing much of a decline but we have started putting more resources into gaining more information about Michigan turkeys,” Bump said.
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