Popcorn & Program: Wild Turkeys – An IL Conservation Success Story

They can fly 50 miles an hour, sprint at 25 miles an hour, and they play with squirrels and even deer. You’ve read the title of this article, so you know these are likely traits of wild turkeys, and you’re correct. Doesn’t sound much like the awkward creatures that amble about our region, in green spaces and backyards, does it? But that’s what the researchers claim. And though seeing one play with a squirrel may be a rare treat, if you get too close to one as you’re speeding down a road or into your driveway, you’ll see these bulky birds hit the skies at an amazing speed.

In the middle of our country’s semi sesquicentennial year, and with Thanksgiving and the fall hunting season around the corner, JDCF thought it would be a great time to do a program on these somewhat peculiar birds which figure so prominently in America’s story and which are, themselves, one of the great American and Illinois conservation stories.
Not to give too much of the program away, but when European settlers arrived, turkeys were wild across North America. There were also domesticated flocks. But by the turn of the 20th century, wild turkeys were extinct throughout Illinois.
The story of how these eclectic birds went from entirely gone to a prolific feature of our current landscape will be told by wildlife biologist Doug Dufford, who spent most of his career with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and did his Master’s these on wild turkeys. Also presenting will be Southern Illinois University graduate student, Chris Wemmer, who is part of a team of students doing research on wild turkey habitat at JDCF’s Mąą Pįį Preserve/Hess House Center for Science and Culture.

“It was once believed that wild turkeys would not survive in less than 20,000 contiguous acres of forest, but by the time I was in graduate school in the 1980’s, that thinking was changing,” Doug Dufford said. Doug will share insights from that research and later field work and bring us up to where we are today, when Jo Daviess is the leading Illinois county for turkey harvesting, that is, legal hunting.

Doug and Chris will also share fascinating factoids about wild turkeys’ social behavior. For example, have you ever wondered just exactly “who” these flocks are that you see — what sex, age and what are they up to? Well, Doug and Chris will fill us in.

JDCF invites the public to attend this free program, taking place at The Galena Territory’s social hall, 2000 Territory Drive, Galena. It will begin with a social hour at 6 pm, followed by the presentation at 7 pm. Complimentary popcorn and Potosi Beer, courtesy of The Potosi Foundation, will be served.  BYOB.

The Apple River State Bank/First Community Bank of Galena is generously sponsoring this event.