The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is working to track turkey populations, and they need the public's help!

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Turkeys in Indiana

The history surrounding turkeys in the Hoosier state is actually quite fascinating.  At one point in time, turkeys were essentially extinct in the state of Indiana.  This happened around the early 1900s, but thanks to efforts from wildlife agencies, the population has since been restored.

Wild turkeys were extirpated from Indiana around the 1900s due to loss of forested habitats and unregulated, subsistence hunting for food. As late as 1945, it appeared that they might be a vanishing species in the United States. As marginal farmland returned to forest and conservation practices were applied to our plundered land, the state was set for turkey revival. Where wild turkeys were extirpated, state wildlife agencies were able to successfully restore the appropriate subspecies by solely using wild trapped turkeys from residual wild populations and transplanting them to areas of suitable habitat.

 

Talk Turkey to the Indiana DNR

Okay, I'm sorry I HAD TO.  Please keep reading.

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources recently took to Facebook to ask that the public help them out, by reporting wild turkey brood sightings in the state. Indiana DNR is currently working to track wild turkey populations across the state, and they hope to have 3,000 reports from throughout the state.

 Help us track Indiana wild turkey populations by sharing your observations. Throughout July and August, DNR is collecting wild turkey brood sightings of hens with and without poults (young turkeys). We aim to collect 3,000 observations throughout the state (at least 25 per county) to determine Indiana’s wild turkey population. Learn more at https://bit.ly/3NANDZ2. Report your observations at on.IN.gov/turkeybrood.

Just this morning I spotted 3 wild turkeys in Evansville, so I went ahead and reported my findings to Indiana DNR, if you happen to see any turkeys, be sure to let them know!