Wild Turkey Troubles Helped with GPS Tracking
13 Aug 2019Troubles with wild turkey are afflicting Clarkston, Mendon, Paradise, Avon and other Northern Utah towns. They can be messy, noisy and have been known to ruffle some feathers.
Once it gets light outside, they wake you up with all their chattering, they’re chattering to one another and you can see them in your backyard, according to a Mendon resident, Carolyn Baker.
Neighbors frequently complain they leave droppings all over their yards and driveways. Because they’re so dirty it messes up everyone’s yards and driveways.
The Division of Wildlife realizes the challenges a wild turkey in a residential place presents, as crews have been capturing them and relocating them for over five years.
They come in and poop on people’s property or destroy their landscaping, being quite a nuisance to people, member of the Division of Wildlife Resources, Randal McBride said.
This year, the teams are monitoring migration to track the turkeys, using GPS tracking devices on some of the turkeys. The biologists can tell if the same turkeys visit the same locations by the backpacks that provide them with data.
McBride said they’ve been putting backpacks on the turkeys to determine their migration patterns.
Wildlife crews additionally made food sources and habitats outside of the towns, however, the birds seem to remain stubborn, staying in town. Because of DWR trapping for the past few years, there are substantially fewer turkeys in some areas. You can contact your local DWR region if you’re having problems with wild turkeys and would like a team to come out and place a trap on your property. Click here to contact DWR offices.
The turkeys are released in remote areas of Southern and Eastern Utah like Book Cliffs. Remember, if you prefer not to trap the turkeys, hunting is illegal inside city limits; therefore you can simply limit your food source.
They seem to like bird feeders and fruit trees and are fairly smart. They’ll knock the bird food from the feeders. If you’re having troubles, it’s suggested you remove feeders for some time.
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