# Turkeys are finding new homes...



## hawglips (Aug 23, 2013)

While most folks have been enjoying the holidays and wintry weather pursuits, the DWR, with the help of their friends Eclectic and a couple other NWTF volunteers, have been introducing about 200 turkeys to their new homes around the state.

So if you find them in a new locale this spring, you know how they got there!























Here's a Eclectic showing his hooking skills.









All boxed up and ready to travel.


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## hawglips (Aug 23, 2013)




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## Eclectic (Jun 9, 2014)

Your tax dollars and NWTF banquet dollars at work - ha! Seriously, we turkey enthusiasts appreciate the often thankless job that our dedicated Division Biologists do on a daily basis. The Regions have been inundated with complaints of "problem" overwintering flocks, and it's not an easy endeavor to promptly remedy the issue. Kudos from our corner of the state to Theresa Griffin, Riley Peck, Vance Mumford and Jim Lamb for their exceptional efforts to get "overfriendly" wintering turkeys off haystacks and sidewalks and into more remote areas where we get to enjoy them...and thanks for allowing us to help out! Thanks for posting, Hawg!


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

Are they being moved to any new areas for turkeys or just moved to locations with existing turkeys? I assume they are staying in southern Utah.


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## Idratherbehunting (Jul 17, 2013)

This is pretty awesome. I hope to be able to help with some of these efforts one of these days.


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## hawglips (Aug 23, 2013)

toasty said:


> Are they being moved to any new areas for turkeys or just moved to locations with existing turkeys? I assume they are staying in southern Utah.


My understanding is some of both, in places on the DWR's planned list. But I'm not privy to where those locations are. Eclectic, correct me if I'm wrong about moving both to new as well as beefing up existing areas.


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

Hopefully they take in the new areas. They have tried a couple different times in some spots in central utah and they go for a couple years and then move up a canyon to breed in the spring and never come back. I figure they get intermingled with other turkeys and follow them down the other side of the mountain.


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## Christine (Mar 13, 2013)

They moved over 100 in this area too. I helped with two releases and mostly they were just trying to get them off private land and onto huntable public areas.


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## Eclectic (Jun 9, 2014)

Hawg is correct, most were transplanted to new areas without turkeys, and the rest supplemented pre-existing flocks. And yes, Toasty, they all went to central Utah. I contend that another reason we seem to lose some of our transplants is that the birds die off due to their inability to survive in their new home. We still have some areas in lower elevations where our original Texas and Kansas Rio Grande flocks do well. When these birds get transplanted into areas of marginal habitat with higher annual snowfall, they tend not to survive; for example, Last Chance/Fishlake, Solomon Basin/Thousand Lakes, Monroe Mt. and Beaver Mt. Norm Bowden and Floyd Coles, the 2 most prolific turkey trappers in Utah history frequently stated that turkeys with a significant amount of Merriams blood do much better in the mountains of Central Utah, and in fact, ALL but the lower elevation turkeys there DO now contain Merriams blood. In reality, one would be hard pressed to find many successful turkey populations in our state north of Washington County where pure Rios still exist.


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## Eclectic (Jun 9, 2014)

Christine, from what area did you take your trapping picture?


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## Christine (Mar 13, 2013)

Juab county


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## Eclectic (Jun 9, 2014)

Very nice!


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

Christine said:


> They moved over 100 in this area too. I helped with two releases and mostly they were just trying to get them off private land and onto huntable public areas.


I like this philosophy from the DWR, it is good for turkey hunters in the state, however, I have a feeling that there will be 100 less birds on the property I hunt in Juab county. Hopefully it will result in very lonely Toms during May.


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