UTILITY OF POULT‐HEN COUNTS TO INDEX PRODUCTIVITY OF RIO GRANDE WILD TURKEYS

Abstract

Many states use poult‐hen counts to index wild turkey ( Meleagris gallopavo ) population parameters such as reproduction, recruitment, and density. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) personnel have conducted poult‐hen counts of Rio Grande wild turkeys ( M. g. intermedia ) since 1978. In 2000, we began estimating recruitment and reproductive parameters at 3 study sites in the Texas Panhandle and 1 site in southwestern Kansas. During 2000–2004, we estimated reproductive parameters by intensively monitoring 374 radio‐tagged wild turkey hens. From annual January–March trapping efforts during 2000–2005, we used the percent of all captured wild turkeys that were juveniles (percent juveniles captured) to index recruitment for 1999–2004. We used the TPWD poult‐hen count data from 1999–2004 to estimate poults/hen for counties that contained our study sites. In 2002, we began conducting our own poult‐hen counts at the study sites in order to estimate poults/hen at a localized scale. Nesting success rate, mean number of eggs laid per hen, mean number of eggs hatched per hen, percent of juvenile females captured, and percent of juveniles captured were correlated ( r 2 > 0.349, 9 ≤ n ≤ 10, P < 0.05) to our poults/hen estimates. However, none of the reproductive or recruitment parameters were correlated to TPWD poults/hen estimates ( r 2 < 0.143, 13 ≤ n ≤ 16, P > 0.10). Our analyses suggested poulthen counts could index reproduction and recruitment at localized scales. However, on an ecoregion scale, TPWD poults/hen estimates were unable to index reproduction or recruitment ( r 2 < 0.299, 5 ≤ n ≤ 6, P > 0.15). The inability of the TPWD poults/hen estimates to index reproduction or recruitment at local or ecoregion scales may have resulted from small sample sizes used to calculate TPWD estimates and uneven and inadequate coverage of samples across the ecoregion. If TPWD poults/hen estimates are to be valuable indices at local or ecoregion scales, larger and evenly distributed samples from standardized and randomized surveys must be obtained.