Effects of Recruitment, Oak Mast, and Fall-Season Format on Wild Turkey Harvest Rates in Virginia Author(s): Gary W. Norman and David E. Steffen Source: Wildlife Society Bulletin (1973-2006) , Summer, 2003 , Vol. 31, No. 2 (Summer, 2003), pp. 553-559 Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Wildlife Society Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3784338 REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3784338?seq=1&cid=pdf- reference#references_tab_contents You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Wiley and Wildlife Society are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Wildlife Society Bulletin (1973-2006) This content downloaded from 172.59.64.58 on Mon, 23 Oct 2023 20:14:15 +00:00 All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms MAST AND TURKEY HARVEST 553 Effects of recruitment, oak mast, and fall-season format on wild turkey harvest rates in Virginia Gary W Norman and David E. Steffen Abstract Knowledge of effects of recruitment, oak (Quercus spp.) mast production, and fall-season format on harvest rates of eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) is impor- tant for managers choosing to implement a maximum combined fall and spring harvest strategy. We used the ratio of fall:spring kill as an index to fall harvest rates and investi- gated its relationship to recruitment, oak-mast production, and fall-season format in Virginia between fall 1 973 and spring 2002. We grouped recruitment (juveniles per adult female in fall harvest) and oak-mast production (no. acorns/sample) indices into above- and below-average categories. We examined fall-season format using 2 categories, a long season (>47 days) that was concurrent with white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virgini- anus) firearms hunting seasons (1973-1994, n=22) and a shorter season (40 days) in which turkey hunting was separated from deer season (1995-2001, n=7). Fall harvest rate index varied with recruitment only in years with above-average mast conditions; no relationship was found in years with below-average oak mast. Fall harvest rate index var- ied among oak-mast production categories and season-format categories. Fall harvest rate index increased with below-average acorn production and with increased hunting pressure during concurrent turkey and deer firearms seasons. Changes in fall turkey har- vest were related to changes in oak-mast availability. Oak-mast surveys may help state wildlife agencies better understand dynamics of fall harvests and may be useful in harvest management models that attempt to stabilize fall harvest rates. Key words acorns, eastern wild turkey, fall harvest, harvest rate, Meleagris gallopavo silvestris, oak Quercus spp., recruitment, Virginia Healy and Powell (1999) outlined 3 basic harvest management scenarios for eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) management: 1) spring hunting for males; 2) spring hunting for males with limited either-sex fall harvest, and 3) maximal combined spring and fall harvests. Due to overharvest risks under the combined spring and fall strategy, they recommended the development of management models to stabilize harvest rates. Because variation in recruitment may be a critical demographic factor affecting annual change in wild turkey abundance (Roberts et al. 1996), Healy and Powell (1999) recommended that production be monitored. During years of low production, they recommended that hunting effort (permits or sea- son length) be regulated to reduce the potential for overharvest. Healy and Powell (1999) also suggest- ed that oak (Quercus spp.)-mast crops may affect Address for Gary W. Norman: Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, P.O. Box 996, Verona, VA 24467, US gnorman@dgif.state.va.us. Address for David E. Steffen: Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, 6701 Parkw Roanoke, VA 24018, USA. Wildlife Society Bulletin 2003, 31(2):553-559 Peer refereed This content downloaded from 172.59.64.58 on Mon, 23 Oct 2023 20:14:15 +00:00 All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 554 Wildlife Society Bulletin 2003, 31(2):553-559 fall harvest rates but did not recommend that oak- mast abundance be monitored. Fall and spring turkey hunting seasons are popu- lar in Virginia, and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has strived to maximize com- bined spring and fall seasons. HoweverVirginia has not attempted to stabilize fall harvest rates as sug- gested by Healy and Powell (1999). Fall turkey sea- sons in Virginia generally have been long (e.g., 9 weeks), sales of big-game licenses (deer [Odocoileus virginianus], bear [Ursus ameri- canus], and turkey combined) were not limited, and turkey harvest rates were generally high (firearms deer and turkey seasons were largely con- current). Under this harvest system, turkey popula- tions in Virginia generally were at low densities and growth rates were low or stable (Pack et al. 1999). After determining that fall hunting mortality was additive (Pack et al. 1999),Virginia's fall either-sex turkey season was reduced in 1995 to 6 weeks and separated from the firearms deer season to increase turkey densities and growth rates. Turkey harvest rates in Virginia likely have fluc- tuated with changes in recruitment, oak-mast pro- duction, and season format. Unfortunately, little documentation exists about the relative impor- tance of these factors on harvest rates. Therefore, we studied effects of recruitment, oak mast, and season format on an index of harvest rates in west- ern Virginia. Most studies of wild turkey harvest management systems have been limited in scale and duration (Little et al. 1991, Vangilder and Kurzejeski 1995, Pack et al. 1999); this study offers a unique examination of long-term data over a wide physiographic area and varying population levels. Acorns are important food for wild turkeys and other forest wildlife. Harvest rates of wild turkeys increase during years of mast failures. Study area We studied turkey harvests from 26 counties (23,325 kM2) in the Allegheny Mountain Range of the Ridge and Valley Province of western Virginia between 1973 and 2002. The region was mostly forested (66%), and primary forest types included oak (Quercus spp.), oak-hickory (Carya spp.), oak-pine (Pinus spp.), and yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). Fall season lengths from 1973-1994 varied from 47-61 days and were concurrent with deer firearms seasons (Season 1). Beginning in 1995, the season was split into 2 segments, separated from the deer firearms season and reduced to 40 days (Season 2). Methods Oak-mast production was monitored at 20 sites throughout the 26 counties in our study area between 1973 and 2001. A sample of 80 trees was selected at each site. The sample included 10 trees from the red-oak group and 10 trees from the white-oak group at 4 locations (low elevations or valleys, medium elevations from southern aspects, medium elevations from northern aspects, and high elevations). The red-oak group included northern and southern red oak (Quercus rubra spp.), black oak (Q. velutina), and scarlet oak (Q. coccinea). The white-oak group included white oak (Q. alba) and chestnut oak (Q. prinus). Trees initially ranged in size from 20-45-cm diameter at breast height. Substitute trees of the same group and size were selected as replacements as trees died or were destroyed. All acorns were counted on the last 60 cm of 10 randomly selected limbs per tree. Average mast production per tree at each site was deter- mined by dividing the total number of acorns from 800 limbs by 80 (trees). Study-area oak-mast pro- duction was the average of the 20 site values. Counts were tallied before acorn drop, during the last 2 weeks of August or first 2 weeks of September. We assumed that visual acorn counts were a good index of the number of acorns avail- able to wild turkeys. Koenig et al. (1994) found that visual surveys were a more reliable index to acorn crops than traps. They found that arboreal animals removed many acorns prior to acorn drop and biased estimates of acorn abundance where acorn traps were used. Although not widely studied, the predispersal loss of acorns to vertebrate predation This content downloaded from 172.59.64.58 on Mon, 23 Oct 2023 20:14:15 +00:00 All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Mast and turkey harvest * Norman and Steffen 555 can have a significant impact on number of acorns available for wildlife (Sharp 1958, Goodrum et al. 1971, Gribko et al. 2002). Insects also can damage acorn crops and potentially affect acorn suitability for food. Beck (1977) found that insect damage averaged 35% of the crop and ranged 29-67%. However, Beck (1977) and Healy et al. (1999) found that the proportion of insect damage was not ran- dom; abundant acorn crops had lower rates of insect damage. In summary, we concluded that visual surveys were a good index to available acorn crops but likely represented an overestimate of suit- ability due to insect damage. Bias arising from insect damage appeared to be consistent over time. Successful hunters were required to register wild turkeys at game check stations. The check station operator collected breast and wing feathers from fall-killed birds. We determined age and gender by examining breast feather coloration and primary feather replacement (Pelham and Dickson 1992). We analyzed harvest and recruitment data from fall of 1973 to spring of 2002. We used ratio of juve- niles per adult female in the fall harvest as an index to annual recruitment. For the juvenile:adult female ratio to be precise, variation in juvenile and adult female harvest rates should be consistent among age groups and there should be no interac- tion effect. However, Steffen et al. (2001) found an interaction between age harvest rates and mast conditions. Juvenile harvest rates were comparable under varying mast conditions, but hunting mortal- ity rates of adult females were significantly greater during years of poor oak-mast conditions (0.12) than in years of good mast crops (0.04). Because of potential bias in annual recruitment estimates due to differential harvest vulnerability of juveniles and Restoration of wild turkeys in Virginia and most of the United States has resulted in record populations. Photo by Jim Clay. adults under varying mast conditions (Steffen et al. 2001), we analyzed recruitment data separately for above- and below-average mast conditions. Evaluating effects of recruitment, oak mast, and season format on harvest rates was complicated by the growth in turkey populations and increases in spring (590%) and fall (174%) harvests during the 29-year study. To understand factors affecting year- to-year changes in fall harvest, the confounding effect of increasing turkey populations needed to be removed. Because a significant linear relation- ship between spring gobbler harvest and popula- tion size was reported in Mississippi (Lint et al. 1995), we made the assumption that spring gobbler harvests in Virginia were proportional to popula- tion size. We then standardized each fall harvest by dividing it by the subsequent spring harvest (e.g., 200 fall kill/100 spring kill= 2.0 fall:spring ratio). This ratio served as an index to fall harvest rate (legal kill/population size). To evaluate the ratio, we compared the fall harvest rate index to legal hunt- ing mortality rates from a telemetry study (Pack et al. 1999) using Spearman rank correlation analyses (PROC CORR, SAS Institute 1987). In this compari- son we excluded data from the first fall hunting season because of low sample sizes during the first 2 months of the study. We grouped recruitment and oak-mast years into above- and below-average categories. We used analysis of variance (ANOVA) to first test for effects of recruitment (juvenile:adult female) on fall har- vest rates in a 1-factor ANOVA (PROC GLM; SAS Institute 1987). Among above- and below-average mast years, we compared median harvest rates of years with above-average and below-average recruitment with the Wilcoxon 2-sample test with Z approximation (PROC NPAR1WAY; SAS Institute 1987). We then tested for effects of mast (above and below average) and fall-season format (Season 1 and Season 2) on fall harvest rate index in a com- plete randomized block design with a 2 x 2 factori- al arrangement of treatments (ANOVA, PROC GLM; SAS Institute 1987). We also examined effects of mast crops on per- centage change in fall harvest among years. We cat- egorized the change in mast crops between years into 4 groups based on above- (high) or below-aver- age (low) rankings: 1) high to high, 2) high to low, 3) low to high, and 4) low to low. We excluded data from 1995 in this analysis because of the reduction in fall-season length between Season 1 and 2. Data from the first year of the study (1973) were also This content downloaded from 172.59.64.58 on Mon, 23 Oct 2023 20:14:15 +00:00 All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 556 Wildlife Society Bulletin 2003, 31(2):553-559 8000- 7000 - 6000 -A A .~5000 4000- 3000 2000 1000 Fall Season 1 Fall Season 2 Fall Spring Figure. 1. Fall and spring wild turkey harvest in 26 Virginia counties, 1973-2002. excluded because mast data from the previous year were not available. We tested for effects of mast on percentage change in fall harvest in a 1-factor ANOVA (PROC GLM; SAS Institute 1987). We tested the hypothesis that changes in mast conditions affected the change in fall harvest with orthogonal contrasts (PROC GLM; SAS Institute 1987). We compared the following mast-availability classes: higher (group 3) vs. same (groups 1 and 4), vs. lower (group 2). Statistical tests were considered significant if P<0. 1. Results Mean acorn production ranged between 2.8 and 43.1 acorns per sample, and the average over the 29-year study was 16.9?9-.2 (+?SD) acorns per sam- ple. The average fall kill was 4,513 (range 0.2 2.5 018 0.16 2 0.14 X 8 0.12 1.5 C 0 en 0.1 U c 0.08 1./ ) 0.06 U. 0.04 0.5 O.02 0 0 1990 1991 1992 1993 M0Wortality rate -+Fal:Spring Harvest Ratio Figure. 2. Index to fall harvest wild turkeys in 26 Virginia cou ing mortality rates in Virgin Table 1. Effects of recruitment on median fall:spring harvest ratios of wild turkeys in Virginia under varying mast conditions, 1973-2002. Below-average Above-average recruitment recruitment Wilcoxon Acorn counts n Median n Median test (P) Below-average 9 2.3 6 2.5 0.500 Above-average 7 1.2 7 1.9 0.048 2,551-6,982; Figure 1). Mean spring harvest was 2,724?285 birds (range 1,002-6,909; Figure 1). The fall harvest rate index averaged 2.0 (range 0.4-3.6). The sample size of usable feathers collected annu- ally from fall turkey hunters generally exceeded 3,000. Annual recruitment averaged 4.0 juveniles per adult female (range 2.0-6.2) in the fall harvest. Using data from 4 hunting seasons (1991-1994), Spearman rank correlation analyses indicated a sig- nificant correlation between our fall harvest rate index and legal hunting mortality rates (r= 1.0, P= 0.001; Figure 2) and crude harvest rates (r= 1.0, P= 0.001) reported in Pack et al. (1999). During years of below-average mast production, we found that recruitment levels had no effect on fall harvest rate indices (Table 1). In contrast, dur- ing years of above-average mast condition, fall har- vest rate indices varied with recruitment (Table 1). Fall harvest rate index varied among acorn cate- gories (F1 28=6.53,P=0.017) and season-format cat- egories (F1 28=33 75, P<0.001;Table 2). Fall har- vest rate increased with below-average acorn counts and with longer turkey seasons that were concurrent with deer firearms seasons (Table 2). Percent change in fall harvest between years was related to change in mast availability (F3 26= 5.95, P =0.004;Table 3). There was little change in fall har- vest (%) between years when mast conditions were similar (high to high, or low to low; Table 3). Fall harvest increased (33.7%) between years when mast declined (high to low; Table 3). Conversely, when mast crops increased between years (low to high), fall harvest decreased (-14.4%; Table 3). Orthogonal contrast results indicated a significant difference (P=0.02) in percent change in fall har- vest among the 3 categories (mast increased, decreased, and no change). Discussion Healy and Powell (1999) suggested that harvest data can be used as an index to harvest rates. We This content downloaded from 172.59.64.58 on Mon, 23 Oct 2023 20:14:15 +00:00 All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Mast and turkey harvest * Norman and Steffen 557 Table 2. Effects of acorn counts and season length on fall:spring harvest ratios of wild turkeys in Virginia, 1973-2002. Acorn counts Below-average Above-average Combined Season format n x SE n x SE n x SE Season 1a 13 2.63 0.19 9 2.01 0.16 22 2.37 0.14 Season 2b 2 0.94 0.24 5 0.74 0.09 7 0.79 0.09 Combined 15 2.40 0.22 14 1.55 0.20 a Season 1 = fall turkey season length >47 hunting days and was concurrent wit deer firearms seasons. b Season 2 = fall turkey season length was 40 hunting days and season was sp into 2 segments that were separate from deer firearms seasons. evaluated the effectiveness of our empirically derived fall harvest rate index by comparing a sub- set of our index to population dynamics study data (Pack et al. 1999) in which legal hunting mortality and crude harvest rates were determined using a large sample of radiomarked birds from 1990 to 1994 (Figure 2). These results support the use of fall:spring harvest ratios as an index to legal hunt- ing mortality. Our results suggest that mast production and fall- season format (length/timing) had a significant effect on fall harvest rates of wild turkeys in Virginia. These findings agree with other research that found mast (Vangilder 1996, Steffen et al. 2001) and season format (Little et al. 1991, Pack et al. 1999) affect turkey survival and harvest rates. Our evaluation of effects of recruitment on har- vest rates was complicated by the apparent bias (Steffen et al. 2001) in estimates that may result from differential harvest rates of adult females under varying mast conditions. This bias results in an overestimate of recruitment in good mast years because adult females have lower legal hunting mortality rates than in years of mast failures. Table 3. Effects of change in mast conditions on change in fall turkey harvest (%) among years in Virginia, 1974-2002. Data from 1995 were excluded because of change in fall-season length. Change in oak mast n x SE Low to higha 7 -14.4 7.6 Low to low 7 4.6 12.3 High to high 6 1.0 3.7 High to low 7 33.7 6.3 a Low = below-average mast condition, high = above-aver- age mast conditions. Juveniles have similar legal hunt- ing mortality regardless of mast conditions. We therefore feel it may be important in oak-forest ecosystems to evaluate fall harvest recruitment indices separately based on oak-mast abundance. We found a relationship between fall harvest rates and recruitment under good mast con- ditions, but unexpectedly found no relationship when mast condi- tions were below average. Detecting recruitment effects using a ratio of juveniles:adult females in the fall under poor mast conditions may be difficult given the high legal hunting mortality rate of adult females and the overall higher total harvest. Little et al. (1991) also found that fall hunting mortality rates varied between age classes of wild turkeys in Iowa but attributed the difference to recruitment. In Iowa juvenile hunting mortality rates were similar among years, regardless of recruitment. However, adult hunting increased dur- ing years of poor reproduction. While varying mast crops were not reported, the 6-year study was con- ducted in an oak-hickory habitat type. Other agri- cultural food items (e.g., corn, soybeans) in the Iowa study area may have been more important and reliable food sources than acorns. Regardless of the cause (changing mast conditions or variation in recruitment), variable mortality rates between age classes have the potential to produce regional bias- es in production estimates from hunter-harvested birds. Lack of a uniform relationship between recruit- ment and harvest rates also may be confounded by a declining trend in recruitment. As Virginia's turkey population has increased, recruitment has tended to decline. Recruitment during the first 10 years of this study averaged 4.5 juveniles per adult female. During the second 10 years, the recruit- ment average declined to 3.9, and during the last 9 years, it averaged 3.5, suggesting that recruitment could be density-dependent. Additionally, we deter- mined production rates of radiomarked wild turkeys in Virginia and West Virginia between 1990 and 1994 and found they did not vary among regions or years, and overall rates were lower than highly productive agricultural sites in NewYork and Minnesota (Norman et al. 2001). This content downloaded from 172.59.64.58 on Mon, 23 Oct 2023 20:14:15 +00:00 All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 558 WikULfr Society Bulletin 2OO3,31(2):553-559 In summary, this study was supported by other telemetry-based studies (Vangilder 1996, Pack et al. 1999, Steffen et al. 2001), suggesting that turkey har- vest rates were primarily affected by oak-mast abundance and fall hunting pressure. The effects of recruitment on harvest rates were apparent only during years of good mast conditions; otherwise, high mortality rates from hunting for adult females and higher overall fall harvests may confound a rela- tionship during years of mast failures. Intensive telemetry studies that monitor wild turkey hunting mortality rates may offer the best information on harvest strategies for managers who seek to maximize fall and spring harvests. While preferable, these studies are difficult and expensive. Suitable alternatives to monitor harvest rates need to be identified and tested over time. We believe the fall harvest rate index offers a relatively simple and effective alternative to managers. A critical assumption to our study is that spring harvest rates were proportional to population size. The exact nature of the relationship is not critical to this assumption, only that the relationship remains fairly consistent over time. Some variation in harvest rates of males in spring can be expected. In Kentucky, for example, mortality rates of adult male turkeys from hunting averaged 0.65 and ranged from 0.55-0.74 (Wright and Vangilder 2001). To account for potential annual variation in male harvest rates, we recommend that fall harvest rate indices be averaged over 3-year periods. Management implications Healy and Powell (1999) emphasized monitoring reproduction to stabilize harvest rates in manage- ment programs designed to maximize combined harvests (fall and spring). While recruitment obvi- ously is an important consideration for managers, our results indicate that oak-mast availability has greater effects on fall harvest rates in oak forest ecosystems. We recommend annual surveys of acorn crops because of their potential influence on wild turkey harvest rates in oak forest types. The development of standardized mast surveys also would help managers compare harvest and mast relationships among states. Recruitment indices from fall hunter harvests had limited value in explaining variation in harvest rates in Virginia, but they should not be abandoned. Long-term moni- toring of recruitment may be useful to detect changes in production that could be related to pop- ulation densities (aenslty-Uepenclent reprocluc- tion). Production estimates, not subject to age-spe- cific hunting mortality interactions under varying mast conditions, may reduce the bias of differential mortality rates of adult females. Hunting traditions and methods also vary across turkey range and could affect vulnerability, thereby influencing har- vest production estimates (R. D. Applegate, person- al communication). Therefore, caution is recom- mended when comparing harvest production esti- mates across regions with different hunting tradi- tions. Production estimates based on summer brood or early fall observations may offer an alter- native. Under an ideal system, wildlife managers could regulate fall-season format (season length, permits) to stabilize harvest mortality rates using timely esti- mates of annual oak mast and recruitment in an adaptive management system (Williams et al. 1996). However, most state agencies require regulations to be set well in advance of dates that oak-mast and recruitment data become available. Some effort has been made to predict mast crops earlier, based on spring weather, but preliminary efforts have not proven reliable (G.W Norman, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, unpublished data). Pennsylvania has been the only state to implement a harvest management program that was respon- sive to annual variation in recruitment and mast conditions. However, the Pennsylvania model was unpopular with hunters because of the late notifi- cation of season changes. More practically, we sug- gest that state agencies interested in maximizing combined fall and spring harvest closely monitor fall harvest rate indices, mast crops, and recruit- ment on a 2-3-year basis to adjust fall-season for- mats accordingly. Knowledge of effects of changes in mast crops on fall harvests will help state agen- cies better explain changes in fall harvests. Acknowledgments. This project was funded by Virginia's (WE-99-R) Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Programs. J. L. Coggin and D. D. Martin supervised collection of the mast-survey data by numerous Department field staff. R. W Ellis and R. W Duncan provided administrative support for this project. We thank R. D. Applegate, S. E. Backs,W. FE Porter, L.D. Vangilder, and an anonymous reviewer for helpful critiques of earlier drafts of this manu- script. This content downloaded from 172.59.64.58 on Mon, 23 Oct 2023 20:14:15 +00:00 All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Mast and turkey harvest * Norman and Steffen 559 Literature cited BECK, D. E. 1977. Twelve-year acorn yield in southern Appalachian oaks. United States Forest Service Research Note SE-244. GOODRUM, P D.,V H. REIDAND C. E. BOYD. 1971. Acorn yields, char- acteristics, and management criteria for oaks for wildlife. Journal of Wildlife Management 35:520-532. GRIBKO, L. S. ,T M. SCHULER, AND W M. FORD. 2002. Biotic and abi- otic mechanisms in establishment of northern red oak seedlings: a review. United States Forest Service, Northeast Research Station, General Technical Report NE-295. HEALY,W M.,A. M. LEWISAND E. E BoOSE. 1999. Variation of red oak acorn production. Forest Ecology and Management 116: 1-11. HEALY, W M., AND S. M. POWELL. 1999. Wild turkey harvest man- agement: biology, strategies, and techniques. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Biological Technical Publication BTP-R5001- 1999. KOENIG,W D., R. L. MuMME,WJ. CARMEN,AND M.T STANBACK. 1994. Acorn production by oaks in central coastal California: Variation within and among years. Ecology 75:99-109. LINT, J. R., B. D. LEOPOLD, AND G. A. HURST. 1995. Comparison of abundance indexes and population estimates for wild turkey gobblers. Wildlife Society Bulletin 23:164-168. LITTLE,T.W,J. M. KIENZLER, AND G.A. HANSON. 1991. Effects of fall either-sex hunting on survival in an Iowa wild turkey popu- lation. Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium 6:119-125. NORMAN, G. W, J. C. PACK, C. I. TAYLOR, D. E. STEFFEN, AND K. H. POLLOCK. 2001. Reproduction in wild turkeys in Virginia and West Virginia. Journal of Wildlife Management 65:1-9. PACK,J. C., G.W, NORMAN, C. ITAYLOR, D. E. STEFFEN, D.A. SWANSON, K. H. POLLOCK, AND R.ALPIZAR-JARA. 1999. Effects of fall hunt- ing on wild turkey populations in Virginia and West Virginia. Journal of Wildlife Management 63:964-975. PELHAM, P. H., AND J. G. DICKSON. 1992. Physical characteristics. Pages 32-45 in J. G. Dickson, editor. The wild turkey: biology and management. Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, Pennsyl- vania, USA. ROBERTS, S. D.,J. M. COFFEY, AND W. E PORTER. 1996. Importance of demographic parameters to annual changes in wild turkey abundance. Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium 7:15-20. SAS INSTITUTE. 1987. SAS/STAT users guide. Release 6.03. SAS Institute, Cary, North Carolina, USA. SHARP, W M. 1958. Evaluating mast yields in the oaks. Bulletin 635. The Pennsylvania State University, Agricultural Experimental Station, University Park, USA. STEFFEN, D. E., N. L. LAFON, AND G. W NORMAN. 2001. Turkeys, acorns, and oaks. Pages 241-255 in W J. McShea and W M. Healy, editors. Oak forest ecosystems: ecology and manage- ment for wildlife. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. VANGILDER, L. D. 1996. Survival and cause-specific mortality of wild turkeys in the Missouri Ozarks. Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium 7:21-31. VANGILDER, L. D., AND E. W KURZEJESKI. 1995. Population ecology of the eastern wild turkey in northern Missouri. Wildlife Monographs 130. WILLIAMS, B. K., F A. JOHNSON, AND K. WILKINS. 1996. Uncertainty and the adaptive management of waterfowl harvests. Journal of Wildlife Management 60: 223-232. WRIGHT, G. A., AND L. D. VANGILDER. 2001. Survival of eastern wild turkey males in western Kentucky. Proceedings of the National Wild Turkey Symposium 8:187-195. Gary W > Nomn(et is thea; forest gamef birOdi pre~oj e vxCtb leaderfor Gary received a BlS. at West Virginia Universiy ad MS. Ia t Vigii Teh Preiosl he woke as a bilois wit the West VirginiaDivisl. . . .. _ . _ . His pirpoe |~~~~~~~~~~~~... .. .. .. ..R Garv theV Gar Virg Virg sion men tor Davi for Dep and Stat Wild The ics w appl Associate editor: Chamberlain $ This content downloaded from 172.59.64.58 on Mon, 23 Oct 2023 20:14:15 +00:00 All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms