Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency recently enacted the wild turkey gobbler banding program.

As some areas of the state have thriving populations, other areas seem to be struggling.

The program hopes to gather data similar to the waterfowl banding program.

The goal is to learn as much as possible about wild turkey gobbler population all over the state in relation to harvest and survival numbers.

Learning about the harvest is one way the TWRA gathers data to better set bag limits and estimate flock population.

The preferred method of trapping was the setting up of bait stations where the gobblers were trapped with rocket nets. The bearded birds were targeted for tagging and any hens trapped were released immediately.

The bands being used is a riveted type and if a hunter is successful in harvesting a banded bird, he or she will be instructed to call a number to report harvest information or go to a website tnturkeyband.com.

The program is statewide and many hunters might actually harvest a banded bird in the near future especially as the number of banded birds increases over the years.

 

By ALLEN EARL

allen.earl@claiborneprogress.net