Wild turkeys have become an increasingly common sight across much of Minnesota. With the exception of the heavy forest north of U.S. Highway 2, you're likely to spot the eastern wild turkey just about anywhere.
The expansion of the wild turkey's original range is a wildlife management success story. Caused by loss of hardwood forest habitat in the valleys of the Mississippi, Minnesota, Rock and Des Moines rivers and unregulated hunting, Minnesota's last native turkey was spotted in 1880.
After several re-introduction attempts dating back the 1920s, successful trap and transplant efforts began in 1971 with trapped wild turkeys from Missouri. A favorable habitat mix has pushed the wild turkey range well beyond its pre-settlement location, which was limited to southern Minnesota.
The ancestral range of eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) is believed to have included extreme southern Minnesota. Turkeys were extirpated from Minnesota after 1880, because of the removal of forested habitats during settlement and unregulated hunting.
The first attempts to re-establish wild turkeys in Minnesota occurred in the mid-1920s when hundreds of pen-reared birds were released throughout southern and central Minnesota. In 1926 approximately 250 pen-reared birds from Maryland, Pennsylvania and Texas were released in 11 Minnesota counties. In 1957, 37 pen-reared turkeys purchased from the Alleghany Turkey Farm in Pennsylvania were released in the Whitewater Wildlife Management Area in Winona County.
All attempts using pen-raised turkeys failed.
Efforts using live-trapped wild turkeys to re-establish a Minnesota turkey population began in the 1960s. Between 1964-1968, 39 Merriam’s wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo merriami) and eastern wild turkeys live-trapped in Nebraska, South Dakota and Arkansas were released in the Whitewater WMA. The Merriam’s subspecies was not well adapted to Minnesota's forest habitat.
In 1971 and 1973, 29 eastern wild turkeys – trapped in Missouri and released in Houston County – demonstrated the potential of this subspecies to quickly expand in an area with proper habitat and develop a population that could sustain annual spring and fall hunting seasons.
Minnesota's present wild turkey population is a direct result of releases in which only wildtrapped eastern wild turkeys were used.
Today, the establishment of wild turkeys throughout more than half of southern and western Minnesota is considered to be a wildlife management success story. The DNR has released wild turkeys throughout much of Minnesota using live-trapped turkeys introduced from Missouri, New York, Illinois and other states, as well as translocating thousands of birds from within Minnesota.
The rapid range expansion of wild turkey within Minnesota is a result of the excellent habitat provided by a mix of forest and agricultural land. Research has resulted in a broader understanding of turkey ecology in Minnesota and improved management techniques.
DNR wildlife managers work to improve existing habitats to increase wild turkey numbers and identify new areas that can naturally sustain wild turkeys without negatively impacting other wildlife management efforts. Several decades of research in Minnesota have provided valuable information about the wild turkey’s requirements for life and ability to survive Minnesota's harsh winters.
Wooded landscapes, interspersed with agricultural land, are the key to healthy wild turkey populations. Timberlands provide roosting sites and year-round cover. Forest edges and openings provide cover for nesting and brood rearing. Agricultural land provides an important and reliable food source. Additional DNR research showed that turkeys could survive winter temperatures in Minnesota provided they could find food.
- 1959: New game bird, new problems
- 1975: Turkeys take off
- 1982: The hybrid threat
- Today: Turkeys make themselves at home
- Future: Long-range plan
In the 1940s, eastern and osceola turkey populations remained only in remote areas of extensive timberland. These areas supported turkeys because topography made them inaccessible and kept legal and illegal hunting to a minimum. Inaccessibility also made logging and agriculture difficult so these areas remained forested. As a result, biologists began to associate the wild turkey with big timber, but that wasn't exactly accurate.
Once timbered areas were re-populated with wild turkeys, trap-and-transfer programs began and wildlife managers began experimenting with turkey transplants in other areas. Turkey populations blossomed throughout the United States and, with up-to-date research, biologists and conservation managers identified important ecosystems that provide optimal wild turkey habitat:
- Riparian zones around rivers and streams.
- Oaks and grasslands, pine savannas, forest clearings, meadows and pastures.
- Trees: Provide food, daytime resting and escape cover, and most importantly, nighttime roost sites.
- Grasses: Provide food for adults and are especially important to poults as environment in which they can forage for insects.
- Moisture: A direct and indirect key feature to wild turkey survival and reproduction.
- Lateral cover: Areas with a well-developed understory full of vegetation.
- Overhead cover: Areas with a canopy layer to camouflage wild turkeys and nests from avian predators.
- An insect-rich environment for efficient foraging.
- Habitat that permits frequent foraging throughout the day.
- An area that provides enough cover to hide but allows the adult female unobstructed vision for protection from predation.
- Food: Eating is critical to continued growth of young and the building of fat deposits by young and adults. Mast (pine seed, acorns and other fruits) is the principal food during this time.
- Roosting cover: Turkeys increase their use of forested cover during the fall and winter and decrease their use of open spaces in an effort to seek protection from adverse weather.
Whether it’s your own backyard or the back forty, you can make a difference – today and for future generations - by managing your own habitat and following these tips on managing your woodlands for wild turkeys.
Permit area 507 health assessment: After a number of wild turkeys with lesions on their heads tested postive for two diseases – one known to circulate in Minnesota and the other not known to circulate – DNR wildlife researchers sought turkey hunters' help in a pilot project to assess wild turkey health.
- Spring & fall turkey hunting
- Living with wild turkeys
Report sick turkeys
The DNR wildlife health program is tracking reports of sick turkeys. If you see a sick turkey, please report the event with as much detail as possible to [email protected].