Listen or Read: Highlights From the 13th National Wild Turkey Symposium
The symposium explored the science and strategies shaping modern wild turkey conservation, covering topics the broader turkey hunting community cares deeply about — from disease and predation to new technologies driving sustainable management of the bird we treasure.
For those looking to dive deeper, we’ve compiled a comprehensive recap of the event, including daily session overviews and a variety of podcast episodes featuring conversations with the researchers leading this work.
We hope these stories help you learn something new, spark curiosity and leave you inspired to continue conserving the wild turkey for generations to come.
Day One Recap
The opening day of the 13th National Wild Turkey Symposium set a collaborative tone for a pivotal week focused on the science, data and partnerships shaping the future of wild turkey conservation.
Day Two Recap
Attendees were eager for another round of presentations detailing the latest findings in wild turkey science on day two of the 13th National Wild Turkey Symposium. The day’s sessions opened with a deep exploration of habitat selection, how turkeys use the landscape, how those choices influence survival and how habitat relationships shift across regions and through time.
Day Three Recap
13th National Wild Turkey Symposium Podcast Playlist
Explore podcast episodes featuring researchers and conservation leaders discussing the science, challenges and innovations shaping the future of the wild turkey.
This episode includes summary talks from the "Welcome & Introductory Remarks" session that included Eric Kurzejeski's "Wild Turkey Research: A Look Back" and Dr. Bret Collier's "Wild Turkey Research: Present and Future."
Additional guests include the NWTF's John Burk and Doug Little.
This episode includes conversations with authors or presenters from papers included in the "Status, Brood Survey and Hen Survival" session:
"Status and Distribution of Wild Turkeys in the United States" — Dr. Bret Collier
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1621)
"A National Standardized Wild Turkey Brood Survey: The First 6 Years" — Zach Danks
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1641)
Additional guests include the NWTF's Jared McJunkin and Doug Derek Alkire.
This episode includes conversations with authors or presenters from papers included in the "Wild Turkey Genetics" session:
"Role of kinship in sociality of female eastern wild turkeys" — Chamberlain et al.
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1630)
"Genetic structuring and within-flock relatedness of eastern wild turkeys" — Watkins et al. (Presented by Chamberlain)
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1622)
Additional guests include the NWTF's Ricky Lackey.
This episode includes conversations with authors or presenters from papers included in the "Disease Ecology and Predation" session:
"Influence of lymphoproliferative disease virus on behaviors of female easter wild turkeys during reproductive periods" — Chamberlain et al.
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1632)
"The Notorious P.I.G.: Wild pigs are not primary predators of wild turkey nests" — Collier and Chamberlain
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1618)
Additional guests include the NWTF's Ricky Lackey.
This episode includes conversations with authors or presenters from papers included in the "Habitat Selection" session:
"Multi-scale evaluation of eastern wild turkey nest site selection and nest survival" — Moscicki et al.
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1635)
"Measuring congruence between available and selected vegetation at wild turkey nest sites" — Bakner et al.
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1626)
Additional guests include the NWTF's Ricky Lackey.
This episode includes conversations with authors or presenters from papers included in the "Habitat Selection" session:
"Effects of temperature and precipitation on wild turkey brood survival in the southeastern United States" — Boone et al. (Presented by Chris Moorman)
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.70003)
"Inter-annual lek fidelity in eastern wild turkey flocks" — Argabright et al.
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1638)
"Decreased female survival may explain wild turkey decline" — Lashley et al.
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1642)
Additional guests include the NWTF's John Burke and Kacie Bauman.
This episode includes a conversation with the author from the following paper included in the "Population Dynamics - A Regional Look Around the USA" session:
"Comparing nesting rate and space use between extant and translocated eastern wild turkeys" — Argabright et al.
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1626)
Additional guests include the NWTF's Annie Farrell.
This episode includes conversations with the authors from the following papers included in the "Human Dimensions and Hunting" session:
"Hunting impacts male wild turkey movement and resource selection: insights from a hunted and nonhunted population" — Wightman et al.
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1629)
"Geographical variation in male eastern wild turkey gobbling activity relative to female nesting chronology" — Moscicki et al.
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1627)
Additional guests include the NWTF's Ricky Lackey.
This episode includes a conversation with the presenter from the following paper included in the "Tools to Estimate Survival" session:
"Evaluating camera survey methods for estimating wild turkey abundance" — Buckley et al (Presented by Nick Bakner)
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1643)
Additional guest includes Kyle Hand, Statewide Game Bird Specialist for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
This episode includes a conversation with the authors and presenters from the following papers included in the "New and Emerging Tools" session:
"Investigating diel patterns of predation events in wild turkey using tri-axial accelerometer data" —- Wightman et al.
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1631)
"Use of LIDAR to examine habitat selection by incubating female wild turkeys in South Carolina" — Ulrey et al. (Presented by Nick Bakner)
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1628)
"Assessing the potential of unoccupied aerial vehicles and deep learning to survey wild turkey populations" — Schumacher et al. (Presented by Mike Byrnes)
(https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wsb.1639)
Additional guest includes the NWTF's Ricky Lackey.
Explore the full list of published works from the 13th National Wild Turkey Symposium.