Have there been any studies reflecting turkeys being a causation of the decline of grouse? Gil
Gil, it's a complicated issue. Many of us have seen turkey numbers increase while grouse numbers decline in the same area. Habitat changes, more nest predators (like raccoons) due to a decrease in trapping pressure, the impact of West Nile virus on grouse . . . there are a lot of factors. But because turkeys are so common in areas where there were none relatively recently, it's easy to point the finger at them as the sole (or major) cause in the decline of grouse numbers.
Game biologists will tell you that turkeys don't have a negative impact on grouse. And, in general, DNR's like to point to the reintroduction of wild turkeys as a modern day success story in wildlife management. (Turkey hunting is also in the best interest of state wildlife agencies, because there are special licenses involved, which = additional revenue.) But those same biologists didn't expect turkey numbers to explode the way they have . . . nor, for example, that turkeys would inhabit parts of the country (like northern WI/MN and the UP) where they either were not found historically or else were only present in very limited numbers. So it's gone beyond what they expected to see from the reintroduction.
But turkeys are an overly simple explanation for what is almost certainly the more complex issue of declining grouse numbers.
Last edited by L. Brown; 05/28/18 10:36 AM.
