Wild Turkey Specialist Robert Sanford announced today. While this represents a 20 percent decrease from the 7,801 turkeys reported taken in 1997, it remains the fifth highest fall reported take on record. Fall turkey harvests are influenced by both the size of turkey populations and by environmental factors such as food supply. Acorns, beech nuts, and berries such as wild grapes are important fall and winter food sources for many species of wildlife, including wild turkeys.
Weather can have a tremendous effect on both nesting success and poult survival.
This is most apparent in spring and early summer, when the young poults have difficulty maintaining their own body temperature and are therefore most subject to chilling. Weather conditions during the spring and early summer of 1998 were cold and wet, which resulted in low nesting success for wild turkeys. Fall food supplies were highly variable with some areas reporting very abundant natural food supplies. This combination of conditions resulted in a fall turkey harvest that declined very sharply in some areas, while holding stable in others. Recent fall turkey harvests in New York have fluctuated widely from year to year.