Southern AZ Turkey Translocation 2012
Please enjoy the 2012 capture video... try to see how many turkeys you can count...
February 2012 Gould's Turkey Capture
29 birds total was shared between 2 sky islands in southern Arizona where an increase bird population was needed.
Now say "TURKEY"
Upcoming captures aim to widen wild- turkey range in AZ
2011-01-31 Upcoming captures aim to widen wild- turkey range in AZ
January 31, 2011 12:00 am • Tony Davis Arizona Daily Star
Forty wild turkeys will soon get new homes in the Catalina and Santa Rita mountains near Tucson.
Next Monday through Feb. 9, the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the National Wild Turkey Federation will use rocket-propelled nets to trap 40 Gould's wild turkeys in O'Donnell Canyon, south of Elgin, at the edge of the Huachuca Mountains.
The turkeys will be taken by truck to Gardner Canyon, north of Sonoita in the Santa Ritas, and to the Bear Wallow area near Mount Bigelow in the Catalinas.
The purpose is to try to expand the region's turkey population by moving turkeys into areas where the birds used to live but don't anymore.
One of these transplanted birds will be what the turkey federation says is the 200,000th transfer of a wild turkey in the United States. The federation sees the recovery of the wild turkey as a major national conservation success story. The wild turkey population has dramatically rebounded across the country since the turn of the 20th century due to hunting restrictions and efforts such as this one to expand wild populations, the federation says.
This February transplant is part of a continuing series of releases led by Game and Fish and the turkey federation since the 1980s and early '90s of wild turkeys into the Sky Island mountain ranges across Southern Arizona, said Jim Heffelfinger, a Game and Fish regional game specialist in Tucson.
When the latest releases are finished, the state will have moved about 100 wild turkeys each into the Catalina, Santa Rita, Galiuro and Pinaleno mountain ranges. The Chiricahua Mountains got fewer than 50 transplanted turkeys.
The Huachucas were themselves the recipient of transplanted wild turkeys from Mexico in the 1980s. Today, that population is doing so well, exceeding 300, that its turkeys are used as a source population for transplants elsewhere, Heffelfinger said. The Chiricahua population "absolutely exploded," said Heffelfinger, and also is being used as a source.
The Gould's, the largest of five wild-turkey subspecies, is believed to be native to the Sky Islands. All five transplant populations outside the Huachucas are doing well, Heffelfinger said. The total Gould's wild turkey population in Southern Arizona could easily exceed 1,000, he said.
The department continues to supplement the existing populations with transplants to ensure that the areas will have a good gene pool, Heffelfinger said. While the state has probably done most of its turkey release work, it will continue to do more, filling in areas of good turkey habitat, he said.
Nationally, the wild turkey population is estimated at more than 7 million, compared with 30,000 back in the 1930s, the federation said. "We've gone from an animal on the edge of extinction to probably the second most popular game animal hunted in the U.S. after deer," said Josh Fleming, a federation spokesman.
Did you know
Gould's turkeys are found in portions of Arizona and New Mexico, as well as northern Mexico. The bird was first described by J. Gould in 1856 during his travels in Mexico.
Source: National Wild Turkey Federation
2011-01-31 Upcoming captures aim to widen wild- turkey range in AZ
January 31, 2011 12:00 am • Tony Davis Arizona Daily Star
Forty wild turkeys will soon get new homes in the Catalina and Santa Rita mountains near Tucson.
Next Monday through Feb. 9, the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the National Wild Turkey Federation will use rocket-propelled nets to trap 40 Gould's wild turkeys in O'Donnell Canyon, south of Elgin, at the edge of the Huachuca Mountains.
The turkeys will be taken by truck to Gardner Canyon, north of Sonoita in the Santa Ritas, and to the Bear Wallow area near Mount Bigelow in the Catalinas.
The purpose is to try to expand the region's turkey population by moving turkeys into areas where the birds used to live but don't anymore.
One of these transplanted birds will be what the turkey federation says is the 200,000th transfer of a wild turkey in the United States. The federation sees the recovery of the wild turkey as a major national conservation success story. The wild turkey population has dramatically rebounded across the country since the turn of the 20th century due to hunting restrictions and efforts such as this one to expand wild populations, the federation says.
This February transplant is part of a continuing series of releases led by Game and Fish and the turkey federation since the 1980s and early '90s of wild turkeys into the Sky Island mountain ranges across Southern Arizona, said Jim Heffelfinger, a Game and Fish regional game specialist in Tucson.
When the latest releases are finished, the state will have moved about 100 wild turkeys each into the Catalina, Santa Rita, Galiuro and Pinaleno mountain ranges. The Chiricahua Mountains got fewer than 50 transplanted turkeys.
The Huachucas were themselves the recipient of transplanted wild turkeys from Mexico in the 1980s. Today, that population is doing so well, exceeding 300, that its turkeys are used as a source population for transplants elsewhere, Heffelfinger said. The Chiricahua population "absolutely exploded," said Heffelfinger, and also is being used as a source.
The Gould's, the largest of five wild-turkey subspecies, is believed to be native to the Sky Islands. All five transplant populations outside the Huachucas are doing well, Heffelfinger said. The total Gould's wild turkey population in Southern Arizona could easily exceed 1,000, he said.
The department continues to supplement the existing populations with transplants to ensure that the areas will have a good gene pool, Heffelfinger said. While the state has probably done most of its turkey release work, it will continue to do more, filling in areas of good turkey habitat, he said.
Nationally, the wild turkey population is estimated at more than 7 million, compared with 30,000 back in the 1930s, the federation said. "We've gone from an animal on the edge of extinction to probably the second most popular game animal hunted in the U.S. after deer," said Josh Fleming, a federation spokesman.
Did you know
Gould's turkeys are found in portions of Arizona and New Mexico, as well as northern Mexico. The bird was first described by J. Gould in 1856 during his travels in Mexico.
Source: National Wild Turkey Federation