By Katie Keen 

Michigan Department of Natural Resources

The comeback of the wild turkey is one of the country’s greatest wildlife conservation success stories. While more than 7 million wild turkeys can be found in the United States today, there was a time when the sighting of one of these birds in this country was rare.

Wild turkeys now can be found in parts of every county in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, plus areas of the Upper Peninsula. The expansion of the species in Michigan did not happen overnight, but rather, has unfolded over the last half-century.

Wild turkeys had been common in Michigan prior to the arrival of settlers. In fact, before settlement, it is estimated that more than 94,000 wild turkeys roamed the state. As habitat changed and turkey hunting went unregulated, turkeys disappeared, and conservationists set out to re-establish the species.

Many attempts to release turkeys into the wild were made in various locations.

By 1937, a national coalition of conservationists – virtually all of them hunters, backed by the sporting arms and ammunition industries – persuaded Congress to direct the receipts from an excise tax on those items into a special fund.

The proceeds from this fund would then be distributed to the states for wildlife restoration. Because of the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (also known as the Pittman- Robertson Act of 1937), conserving wild turkeys and other wildlife gained nationwide support and habitat management began.

 Since the 1980s, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, working with many partners, has completed numerous releases of trapped wild birds and has improved wild turkey habitat.

With the help of these efforts, the wild turkey population has expanded to historic levels, and with that expansion, there are more areas open to spring hunting now than at any time in Michigan history.

Over 4.5 million acres of DNR-managed public land are open to hunting. Millions of additional private-land acres are leased or enrolled in programs to allow hunting by all. Visit michigan.gov/hunting to find out where.

Managing the species

Managing wild turkeys in Michigan involves the complex interactions of turkey populations, their habitat and their relationship to people. Hunting plays an important role in this by regulating turkey numbers.

“The goal of the spring wild turkey hunting season is to maximize hunter opportunity while maintaining a satisfactory hunting experience,” said Al Stewart, DNR upland gamebird specialist.

“Limited to bearded turkeys only, this conservative harvest approach has allowed the continued growth and expansion of the wild turkey population in Michigan.

“Wild turkey hunting in the fall enables the DNR to stabilize or reduce wild turkey numbers in certain areas of the state to meet local goals based on biological, social and economic considerations.”

License quotas are developed for this hunt to take a desired number of turkeys to meet management goals. To help reach these goals, hunters are encouraged to take female turkeys during the fall season.

Mirroring the success measured on a national scale, the return of wild turkeys to Michigan has been aided greatly by deliberate species and habitat management.

The efforts of many have contributed to this achievement, a true recovery story that continues to unfold across the woodlands and open spaces of the Great Lakes State.

Learn more about wild turkeys and turkey hunting at michigan.gov/turkey. ###

Dave and Jan Malmo, of Howard City, toured Italy, Greece and Turkey in October. They saw all the highlights of those amazing countries including the 700-year-old Leaning Tower of Pisa. “It actually is the bell tower of the nearby cathedral, Il Duomo, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site,” they said. “It leans because it was built on soft ground and the tilt is now more than 5 meters off.” They also visited Ephesus, Turkey where the book of Ephesians (from the Bible) was written; visited the “house” the Apostle John built for Mary to live out her life; and the cave where John was inspired by God to write Revelations. Those were the highlights for the Malmos as well as the Sistine Chapel. “It was amazing!” they said.

Are you traveling during the holidays? Are you going on vacation? Take the Post with you and snap some photos. Then send them to us with some info to news@cedarspringspost.com or mail them to Post travels, PO Box 370, Cedar Springs, MI 49319. We will be looking for yours!

By Ranger Steve Mueller

Thanksgiving turkey smells stimulate stomach growls. Smell has a major impact for organism nature niche living and survival. Flowering plants release odors that attract pollinators that ensure plant species survive. An unintended byproduct is survival of people depending on plants. If insects did not smell the plant and pollination did not occur, the plant would not produce seeds or fruit people require.

We should offer thanksgiving for the insects that pollinate and provide for the continued production of plants. Insects taste a plant with feet (tarsi) to make sure it is the appropriate species to lay eggs on so offspring have a suitable plant to feed on when eggs hatch.

Mammals depend on senses for survival also, but few have the exacting smell and taste of insects because they are generalist feeders, unlike many insects that require very specific feeding requirements. It is to the benefit for mammals that smells do not need to be in a direct unimpeded line to catch attention. Odor molecules drift around obstacles like trees walls or other barriers to make it to animal noses. We can smell a turkey roasting from a neighboring room because molecules work their way around corners. Our sense of sight and that of wild animals depends on a direct line of light. If there was no odor working their way around corners to the living room, we would not know a turkey was baking in the kitchen based on sight. Light traveling in straight lines does not bend around corners.

Most mammals have a much keener sense of smell than people. Moles smell their way to worms in the darkness underground and do not depend on sight for their next meal. A great many mammals are nocturnal and depend on smell more than sight. Coyotes have a sense of smell tremendously more sensitive than anything we experience. Moisture is important to help with odor reception. Dogs lick their nose and it helps. Licking our nose does not help but having moisture inside our nostrils is important. Smells are more easily noticed in humid weather than in dry air.

When looking for wild raspberries or a dead animal to eat, bears and coyotes have a great advantage over us. Once drawn close by smell, they can use sight to zero in on the food. Molecules from the berries or the smell of a dead animal drift and make it possible for a mammal to work its way toward the greater concentration of molecules until the object is in sight.

People depend on sight to a greater degree than smell. That probably is not the case for many mammals. The use of the two senses together provide increased survival value. Add the sense of sound and it offers another aid to survival success and challenges. I was walking in an aspen forest with thigh high bracken ferns where I could not see or smell a deer bedded ahead of me. It stayed hidden until I was about ten feet from it. It was listening to my approach and rose in front of me like a giant scaring me half to death. It bounded into a thick conifer forest before I recovered from heart stopping startle.

Had I walked to its side, it might have remained quiet, still, hidden, and unnoticed to my sense of smell or sight.

Like insects, our sense of taste requires physical contact. Touching with our hands does not work for our sense of taste. Touching cannot be used to decide we do not want that taste in our mouth. Insects can touch with feet and decide not to place that taste in their mouth. Feeling objects has its own advantages we can use to evaluate food in the grocery or woods based on it how feels.

Smell gives us pleasure and/or disgust. It is important in reproduction for most species. It drives success and failure for many species. For now, simply enjoy the pleasure of Thanksgiving dinner and a full stomach.

Natural history questions or topic suggestions can be directed to Ranger Steve (Mueller) at odybrook@chartermi.net – Ody Brook Nature Sanctuary, 13010 Northland Dr. Cedar Springs, MI 49319 or call 616-696-1753.

The family was seated and enjoying a turkey dinner. Extended family brought additional side dishes and desserts. Traditional family gatherings are special events. My Cub Scout leader cut turkey shaped pieces of flat wood for our pack to paint and decorate for our mothers. That flat wood turkey given to my mother still survives even though she does not. The turkey decoration is now in my possession along with a coloring of a turkey with fantail made from the outline of my 3^rd grade hand.

The holiday season annually began at Thanksgiving by going to my cousin’s for dinner and watching The Wizard of Oz on a TV that got a full three channels. We gave thanks for family members no longer with us that lived happy, sad, joyous, and humorous lives. Those lives continue in our memories. I hope the tradition continues in my absence. Maybe someone will tell the story of a 21-turkey parade at Ody Brook.

It was Thanksgiving Day two years ago. We were eating when a turkey walked through the yard. My brother said it must know it is safe because we already have turkey on the table. Then another appeared followed by more. Like the Count from Sesame Street, we each counted until 18 ventured from the woods, across the drive, behind the landscape mound, reappeared at the other end and disappeared into the tall weeds and shrub thicket. Three more brought up the rear to finish the parade.

Our conversation shifted to wild turkeys. I told of a neighbor farmer that complained turkeys were eating his newly planted crops in the spring. The investigating DNR biologist told him it was not turkeys but deer. The farmer did not believe him because he often saw turkeys in the field feeding. The DNR biologist said deer feed at night and returned to his truck get a rifle. He shot a turkey, cut it open, examined the crop and stomach and showed the farmer it was insects and not young crop plants.

We all make assumptions that are logical and rational but are not supported by scientific evidence. We tend to believe what parents, grandparents, great grandparents, uncles, aunts, and friends tell us. I was trained as a scientist to require supporting evidence before making a conclusion. Like all, I make assumptions that scientists call hypotheses. These are just a first step in science reasoning and we need to study nature niches to gather evidence to learn if our assumptions (hypotheses) are correct.

How much turkey information is myth, fairytale, fact, or correct? Facts as we know them are often incorrect and get corrected was we gather more evidence. Wild turkeys were a staple food of Native Americans and numbers were not excessive due to harvest. Native American populations plummeted with the advent of small pox and other diseases introduced by European settlers. Turkey populations exploded with fewer Indians and collapsed again when market hunting eliminated them from most nature niches.

None survived in Michigan but fortunately some survived in the deep swamps of the southeast US. Environmental conservationists introduced laws to manage hunting practices. Turkeys were reintroduced to Michigan and today a healthy turkey population fluctuates between 100,000 and 200,000. Enjoy watching or hunting turkeys that filled the void vacated when turkeys were extirpated without thought for our children’s generations.

With younger generations that are following mine, we ate Thanksgiving dinner watching wild turkeys. I have satisfaction having been a part of the DNR release of Wild Turkeys back into the Rogue River State Game Area surrounding the Howard Christensen Nature Center about 1988. They thrive in the forest with scattered farm fields. Turkeys feed on grain left after fall harvest, acorns and other forest food. Some natural predators kill adult turkeys but humans remain their primarily predator. Skunks, raccoons, and foxes prey heavily on eggs. The presence of coyotes helps keep these predators in check.

Natural history questions or topic suggestions can be directed to Ranger Steve (Mueller) at odybrook@chartermi.net or Ody Brook, 13010 Northland Dr, Cedar Springs, MI 49319-8433.

David Marin had an unexpected guest for dinner at his home in Nelson Township earlier this month. This jake turkey decided that Marin’s bird feeder was the best thing on the menu.

According to the National Wild Turkey Federation, you can usually tell the difference between an adult male (a tom) and a juvenile male (a jake) turkey by looking at a turkey’s tail. All tail feathers of adult males are the same length. The feathers forming the center of a jake’s tail are usually longer than the rest of the feathers in the tail.

Do you have a wildlife photo you’d like to send us? Send it and a little information to us at news@cedarspringspost.com. We will print them as space allows.

Are you going to be one of the 1.33 million residents traveling 50 miles or more from home during the Thanksgiving holiday this week? That’s how many people AAA Michigan estimates will be on the road Wednesday, November 23 to Sunday, November 27. That’s nine percent more people traveling in Michigan this year than last year. Nationally, the number is up four percent, to 42.5 million.
“This is the first significant increase in any holiday travel this year,” noted AAA Michigan President Steve Wagner.  “Despite the uncertain economy, our projected increase shows more travelers are choosing visiting family and friends over frugality this holiday.”
Vehicle travel remains the most popular form of Thanksgiving transportation.    Ninety percent of Michigan travelers will go by vehicle, down from last year’s ninety-four percent.  Nationally, 90 percent of holiday travelers will also go by vehicle, a four percent increase.
Gasoline prices have fallen 15-20 cents over the last week, depending on where you live. In Cedar Springs, they were $3.26 at press time, and still about 50 cents higher than a year ago.
“Gasoline prices have continued their slow decline in the last week across a solid majority of the United States, with the national average sagging to its lowest level since this past February,” according to GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan. “Many motorists may be giving thanks for the lower gasoline prices until they realize that average prices will still easily exceed prior Thanksgiving Day records,” he added.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment is offering turkey hunting workshops in January in cooperation with Gander Mountain. These workshops are part of the Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) program.
BOW is a noncompetitive program in which each individual is encouraged to learn at her own pace. The emphasis is on the enjoyment, fun and camaraderie of outdoor activities, and sharing in the success of one another.
In each two-hour workshop, instructors will provide participants will all of the information needed to begin turkey hunting. The workshops include season rules and regulations, habitat, scouting, patterning, hunting technique and will cover different types of equipment needed for a successful hunt.
Participants must pre-register for this workshop as space is limited. Young hunters ages 10 and older are welcome when accompanied by an adult. The cost per person is $10 and includes all workshop materials, including a turkey call.
Workshop dates are:
*Saturday, Jan. 15, from 1-3 p.m. at Gander Mountain, 2890 Acquest Avenue, SE,
Grand Rapids, MI 49512. Registration deadline Jan. 12.
*Wednesday, Jan. 19, from 6-8:30 p.m. at Gander Mountain, 430 N. Marketplace, Lansing, MI  48917. Registration deadline Jan. 17.
For registration forms and information on this and other BOW programs, visit www.michigan.gov/bow, call 517-241-2225 or email dnr-outdoors-woman@michigan.gov.