Wild Turkey Reproduction Quiz

1. Which of these seasonal changes are the primary trigger for turkeys to begin breeding behavior in the spring?

Increase in day length
Onset of buds and leaf growth in roost trees
Increase in temperature

2. True or False: If you hear toms gobbling and see them strutting in February, that means hens are already getting bred.

True
False

3. Most hunters know jakes can’t successfully breed hens. Is this because:

Hens just don’t dig the younger guys
Jakes don’t even try to copulate with hens
Jakes don’t produce viable sperm

4. True or False: It’s opening day and you hunt a field with 3 longbeards and a couple hens. You harvest the most dominant gobbler. The hens will mate with the remaining adult birds right away.

True
False

5. You may have heard the term “predator swamping” when hunters and biologists talk about predator effects on young game animals. What does this term mean?

Having lots of little critters at the same time means they all get big enough to escape predators at about the same time, forcing predators to switch to other more easily captured prey items.
All of these.
When all the does drop their fawns at about the same time, it puts so many prey items on the ground at once that some survive just because the predators can only eat so many in a short time.
If all the turkey poults hatched this spring are able to fly up and roost in trees by early summer, more of them are likely to survive to the next spring.

6. What is the percent chance that a given turkey nest will successfully produce at least one surviving (lives to day 28) poult?

7%
50%
23%