re: Turkey Popul. Decline Explained

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trapping and fur trade has got to be a huge factor.

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It doesn’t help, but predators are a symptom not a cause. Changes in agriculture, invasive grasses, and timber management have dramatically reduced habitat. Herbicide and no-till drilling has replaced fire and mechanical site prep.

Turkey science podcast discussed this extensively and summed it up as such; poult rearing cover is practically nonexistent, adult quail and turkey poults are the same size and need the same things. We don’t have wild quail in any abundence, so do the math. You can eliminate every predator in the state, and still see high brood failure if there’s not a place for poults to feed and grow past the point of being able to thermoregulate.