Representatives and stakeholders from across the West gathered in Casper for a turkey conference to compare management strategies and share ideas.
“It’s really cool. Each state does things really differently, and it’s really beneficial to get everyone in the same room,” said Brandon Werner, wildlife management coordinator for Wyoming Game and Fish.
Among those in attendance was David Nikonow, a district biologist with the National Wild Turkey Federation covering Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. He says Wyoming’s turkey population remains strong.
“Wyoming is doing great as far as turkey populations, hunter opportunity, and access to those birds. Wyoming is a great state for wild turkey hunting,” said Nikonow.
Game and Fish officials agreed with his assessment.
“Turkey populations are doing extremely well. We’re providing a lot of hunting opportunities,” said Werner.
Officials are also monitoring urban turkey populations, which people in Casper have become accustomed to seeing around town.
“We’ll see what happens in the future, but the trapping and relocating we’ve been doing has been pretty successful,” said Werner.
Still, wildlife officials say they’re keeping an eye on several factors that could negatively impact turkey populations moving forward.
“This mild winter that we had meant a lack of snow on the landscape. In the future, we could potentially have some low reproduction,” explained Werner.
“We run into a lot of challenges with riparian conservation, like Russian olive expansion and cheatgrass issues. So that is one of my bigger concerns here in Wyoming,” added Nikonow.