Hen turkey study yielding reassuring information

Hen harvest rates have ranged from 2 percent to 9 percent of the estimated hen population for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 hunting seasons. This is good news, because previous research has indicated that fall harvest rates of hens should be kept below 10 percent to prevent population declines. UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. What level of fall wild turkey harvest by hunters causes population declines? That's what researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences are learning midway through a five-year study of the birds. The research, supported by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, U.S. Geological Survey, the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) and the Pennsylvania Chapter NWTF, is estimating harvest rates of hen turkeys and assessing the importance of fall hunting-season length in managing turkey populations. The fall harvest, during which hunters can take birds of either sex, is the easiest way to manipulate turkey population trends. If fewer hens are killed in the fall, then it is expected that more hens survive to reproduce the next spring.