The Demise of The Wild Turkey

It’s no secret that I love to turkey hunt and the demise of this great bird is scandalous. I can no longer sit by and allow this to happen without saying something. I stumbled on to this a few years ago while talking to an old North Carolina farmer and since then I’ve talked to a number of people that support this story.

My understanding is that a number of years ago Turkey Vultures were a rare if not a non existing specie in this state and the black vulture was the buzzard you might see. It’s no secret that with the significant rise in the wild turkey population of the past couple of decades a similar trend has happened in the buzzard world the arrival of the turkey vulture. The wild turkey benefited from restocking efforts by State Wildlife and national conservation groups like the National Wild Turkey Federation. Areas with a good turkey population had some of their birds captured and moved to seed other parts of the state. Wildlife agencies traded other abundant species like coyotes, skunks, and possums for turkeys with other states that had low populations of those species.
The Vulture, much maligned specie, did not enjoy the benefits of having conservation groups name after it or having small children and presidents opening boxes and releasing them into new areas in front of throngs of media outlets. The vulture resorted to the only thing it could and that was surviving off the demise of another.
I believe the turkey vulture is a result of the black buzzard crossbreeding with the wild turkey and that is why the sudden rise in turkey vultures across the state that coincides with rising turkey populations.
So what if some of these birds do crossbreed what’s the big deal? Well for one it moves them from being classified under state law as “Big Game” and moves them into “Federally protected Migratory Bird of Prey” which then grants them protection and eliminates hunting of them. Why are we not hearing about this from the state biologists? I believe that there is enough evidence to suggest that the federal government like in the OLF case has issued gag orders to prevent this topic from being discussed. It’s no secrete that the US Fish & Wildlife is seeing significant species coming off the endangered species list and they need to stop the bleeding before many within their agency are out of a job.

North Carolina Wildlife has made a significant change in hunting regulations for 2008 that may help stem the tide for a little bit by lifting the beard requirement for killing a gobbler. Vultures do not have beards so it’s believed that law change may help eliminate some of the birds with buzzard genes.

I know for new turkey hunters this information maybe extremely disturbing because who wants to mistakenly feed a buzzard to their family? Here is some tips to help you in the field. Now more then ever it is important for you to shower before you hunt. Secondly you’ll here a lot of stories and here tips about gobblers trying to circle you while you’re calling. If that circling starts above the tree tops you might want to let that bird go. The killing of a vulture like any bird of prey is highly illegal.

I hope everyone has a great April Fools Day and takes a moment to laugh

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