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horse Creek southwest of Chadron. The birds wintered near the release sites but dispersed as the spring breeding and nesting season approached.
In their first nesting season, the 28 adult birds remained within five miles of the release sites and wintered broods in the same area. On Cottonwood Creek, where only juvenile toms were released, the flock increased from 20 to 91 in the first breeding season.
By the fourth year, turkeys had moved into Wyoming and South Dakota, and nesting birds and summer broods were reported in about 80 percent of the suitable habitat. In the fall of 1962, biologists estimated the Pine Ridge population had reached at least 3,000 birds. In the mid-1960s, the Pine Ridge turkey range apparently reached its carrying capacity, and the population of Merriam's turkeys in northwestern Nebraska reached a plateau.
A turkey trapping and transplanting program started in the winter of 1961 began the colonization of other pine-forested regions of Nebraska, with birds from the Cottonwood Creek flock serving as parent stock. By 1963, turkeys had been released in all areas of the state with natural stands of ponderosa pine. Releases along the Niobrara River succeeded, but those in the Wildcat Hills and Cheyenne escarpments south of the Pine Ridge were less successful.
Turkeys released along the eastern Niobrara River moved into areas dominated by hardwoods, and biologists began to consider deciduous habitat for additional releases. From 1963 to 1970, 19 additional sites were stocked. Increases occurred in most areas, regardless of the habitat type, and peak numbers were reached within three breeding seasons.
During that period, Merriam's turkeys along the lower Niobrara River and its feeder streams apparently crossed with game-farm stock, resulting in a comparatively successful establishment of hybrid birds. Previous stocking programs using birds reared on game farms had failed, but the hybrid birds were successful in the hardwood forest and cropland habitat of the lower Niobrara River and its drainages.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, hybrid birds from the eastern Niobrara region were released at scattered sites from Boyd County in northeastern Nebraska to Richardson County in the southeast, along the central Platte and Loup River drainages and at several sites along the Elkhorn River.
Nebraska's wild turkey range now includes most major river drainages and the Pine Ridge. Highest population densities occur in the Pine Ridge and the Niobrara River valley and in parts of the Republican River drainage. Turkeys also have adapted to many small, isolated woodlands, shelterbelts and thinly wooded stream courses.
Nebraska ranks about 48th in the nation in woodland acreage, but about 19th in the harvest of wild turkeys. Since the first wild turkey season in 1962, about 286,000 permit holders have taken more than 124,000 birds. The 1995 statewide harvest for the spring and fall shotgun and archery seasons was about 8,000 birds.
The future of Nebraska's wild turkeys appears stable, even worthy of cautious optimism. Habitat destruction and changing land-use patterns in prime turkey habitat could have significant effects, but the remarkable bird's ability to adapt and thrive should help the wild turkey meet the challenges of a new century.
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