Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 27, 1995 TAG: 9503010009
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN/OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Give up some hunting in the fall, he says - enough to lower the annual fall kill by 57 percent - and the turkey population will increase by up to 88 percent in five years; up to 312 percent in 10 years.
Norman is the upland game birds research biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
These are the kind of growth figures you might expect from a financial adviser, not a wildlife biologist. Biologists tend to be conservative, and in Norman's case, even a bit shy. But there are the figures, in bold size, on the handouts Norman is distributing.
There's more, too.
The 57 percent reduction in the fall kill will mean up to a 120 percent increase in the spring kill in five years, the figures promise. Up to 382 percent in 10 years.
And while there will be a short-term decrease in the fall kill, within 10 years it will have increased by up to 77 percent.
The projections are from an intensive five-year study headed by Norman, one that has included input from biologists in West Virginia and elsewhere.
It has involved high-tech wildlife research, including the use of computer models and the tracking of more than 1,000 turkeys equipped with radio transmitters.
"It is probably the most significant piece of turkey research that ever has been done," said Norman's boss, David Steffen, a research biologist supervisor for the department. "It is something the sportsmen should be proud of."
But is it the kind of proposal hunters will accept?
Fall turkey hunting is a deep-seated tradition in Virginia. It has been around longer than the spring season, longer than Norman, longer even than modern wildlife management.
"We have had a mixed reaction to it," Norman said of his proposal to cut back on fall hunting. "I think a lot of people are apprehensive about any loss of turkey-hunting opportunity. But I think they like the idea of higher turkey populations and a higher harvest."
Norman is scheduled to present the results of the turkey study during a public meeting 7 p.m. March 8 at the Vinton War Memorial. An overview of grouse and quail populations also will be presented.
Additional meetings on the turkey research are scheduled March 7 at the Buffalo Gap High School near Staunton, and March 9 at Marion High School in Marion. They begin at 7 p.m.
Following these meetings, wildlife biologists are expected to ask the board of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to shorten next fall's turkey season. That request will come during a public hearing March 16-17 in Richmond.
Norman isn't ready to say what will be recommended to obtain that hoped-for 57 percent reduction in the fall kill.
"One way of getting at that would be trying to separate turkey hunting from deer hunting," he said. In some counties, 30 percent of the turkey kill occurs the first week of the deer season. The second week of the deer season comes close to that pace. Several counties already have regulations that prohibit turkey hunting the opening week of deer season.
Game officials are aware that many hunters, especially those with limited time, covet the opportunity to kill either a deer or turkey when afield. What do you say to them?
"I would say that it is our objective to manage turkeys in the future in Virginia to improve the turkey population and provide better hunting, and some sacrifices would have to be made," Norman said. "It is unfortunate that the deer hunter might be the one that would be asked to make that sacrifice."
Even if Virginia's nine-week fall hunting season was reduced by two weeks, it still would be the longest in the Eastern United States, said Norman.
"Most states are moving toward restricting fall hunting," he said. "They are showing some very high turkey densities, considerably higher when their best turkey habitat is compared with our best turkey habitat."
Virginia's current turkey regulations aren't endangering the population, Norman said. They range from being stable to increasing slightly, but there is potential for rapid groth that could fill niches where numbers are low.
"Evidence points to fall hunting as being a limiting factor," he said.
Last fall's kill was 14,681, the second highest on record. Norman would like to see the fall kill more in line with the spring kill. Last spring, hunters reported killing a record 8,981 gobblers.
It isn't a matter of favoring spring hunters over fall hunters, as some critics have suggested, Norman said.
"The bottom line is that males and females are being killed in the fall at roughly a 50-50 rate. If you decrease the fall harvest, the females are going to be spared in the fall and they are going to be breeding in the spring and bolstering the population."
Steffen underscores that point, recognizing it is a sensitive issue.
"When we say we want to cut back in the fall, it really is to cut back on the hen harvest," he said. "It is to carry those hens into the spring. That is the primary objective for less fall hunting. You aren't saving turkeys from the fall season for spring hunters. You are increasing the turkey population. It is not the spring harvest that we are trying to promote, it is the spring population."
If that is accomplished, the fall kill will climb even under a shorter season, he said.
Fall regulations are about the only parameter biologists have for adjusting turkey populations, Norman said. Predation accounts for nearly half the turkey mortality. The other half is evenly split between legal hunting and poaching, which is another eye-opener from the study.
Of the hens that make it to the reproduction season, only one-third are successful at hatching eggs. And only about one-half of the poults produced will make it past four weeks.
"This suggests that if more hens are put into the population, the result will be population growth," Norman said.
by CNB