Pines and turkey numbers in the southeast

[Shiloh]

I have had very similar experiences to Panola.  We have the luxury to manage how we want unlike many people with leases.  Diversity is the key as far as I can tell.  I almost ran over some chicks yesterday that couldn't even fly they were so small.  These chicks are living in a 12 year old pine plantation.  The difference in it and many others is that it had a slow, backing fire run through it in April. 

[Tail Feathers]

This is by far the biggest reason for the turkey population decline in the Southeast IMO.  Timber Harvest.

Then why the exponential increase of birds through the 90s and early 2000s as timber harvest increased? And why the similar decline in places like western North Carolina where there's been no timber harvest to speak of, particularly pines, in any of that timeframe? I'm not saying I don't think it's played a role. I do. But I don't know that I believe it's the biggest cause of decline.

I agree.  I live in the pine timber country of E. Texas.  My county and the county I hunt are in the darkest green on those maps, indicating high levels of pine timber.  The companies have created a pine monoculture for the most part.  SMZ's mean little to them, if they can get to it, the cut it.  Easterns have not done well here, it's been an ongoing issue for 20 years or more.  I can't help but think it's partly the timber management practices and a heavy population of wild pigs who destroy nests and habitat.

I couldn't say for sure, but I would suspect the problems created by timber management practices are a function of the intensity of those programs (as shown on the maps).  The more timber companies move towards monocultural practices without regard for maintaining habitat conditions for wildlife, the more that wildlife is unable to survive there. 

The basic tenet of wildlife management is "food, water, cover".  If any of those things is missing (or, in this case, removed through increasingly intense timber practices) wildlife is going to suffer.  Yes, turkeys can survive on wisely-managed timber operations,....operations that understand that they have to leave enough suitable habitat on the landscape for wildlife to have something to eat. 

I suspect there is a direct correlation between turkey numbers and the availability of adequate food sources on those high-intensity, monocultural timber tracts. I would also suspect that correlation is a function of the timber companies owner/manager's concern for wildlife as opposed to putting dollars in their pockets.   

[Dtrkyman]

I hunted planted pines in Wisconsin this past spring, initially avoided those areas when I got there, soon found out birds were in the pines.

They definitely preferred a certain age pine stand and also like it butting to hardwood, but it was primarily pine and there were lots of birds!


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