Turkey Population Soars In Western U.S.

Sun., March 23, 1997

When the National Wild Turkey Federation was founded in 1973, surveys pegged the wild turkey population in the United States at 1.3 million.

This year, the number is about 4.3 million.

“We’ve spent about $62 million since 1977 on turkey relocations and habitat,” said Pete Elkins, federation spokesman. In that same time, the number of turkey hunters has grown from 1.5 million to 2.5 million.

Turkeys have been restored to almost all of their original range in the United States, plus many areas where they are not native.

“To the best of our knowledge, there were no turkeys in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, Utah and Hawaii until relocation programs were started,” Elkins said.

The federation has a goal of establishing wild turkeys in every acre of suitable habitat by the year 2000.

“The Western states are probably the brightest spots in reaching that goal,” he said.

Hunters can stay in the mainstream of turkey hunting techniques and conservation efforts by joining one of the Wild Turkey Federation chapters that have been formed in every state except Alaska.

For information on the Inland Empire Chapter, call Rich Reathaford, 484-4931, ext. 241.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: Wild turkeys in Washington and Idaho

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