Turkey Tuesday
Gobbling as a Group
This Turkey Tuesday is about calling as a group. The mating system of the wild turkey hinges on a form of lekking, which involves toms displaying together to attract attention
March 31, 2026
A series from Wild Turkey Lab exploring the history of wild turkey research and the people who made it a success, both current and past. This is the Spotlight on Lovett Williams with Dr. Mike Chamberlain and Brandon Smithwick from Wild Turkey Lab. It’s the first of several to come with information, facts, and stories that you’ll not want to miss.
We proudly partner with the National Wild Turkey Federation.
Stay tuned for updates. We have some really interesting and informative projects in the works together.
In the meantime, check out our newest project, the NWTF Symposia Archive!
Steven Rinella talks with Michael Chamberlain, Brody Henderson, Seth Morris, and Janis Putelis.
Topics discussed: Just how much is a unit of blood?; packin’ tourniquets; how Jani’s wife won’t give Steve weasel trapping permission; etymology; hunting turkeys with dogs; the kee-kee run; how many critters kill and eat turkeys?; the wild turkey Bermuda Triangle; more things that make a turkey gobble; mesomammals; lies your daddy told you about wildlife; song meters and gobbling data; some big turkeys get all of the love; will hunting go to hell?; having an incredible sense of place and a big home range; hatching into a social hierarchy; and more.
This Turkey Tuesday is about calling as a group. The mating system of the wild turkey hinges on a form of lekking, which involves toms displaying together to attract attention
This Turkey Tuesday is about the kaleidoscope of colors that appear on the plumage of toms. When toms strut for hens, it’s not just the display itself that’s designed to
This Turkey Tuesday is about the muscles involved in strutting. There isn’t much better as a turkey hunter than watching a tom strut as he approaches you – in many
We evaluated how toms used areas near familiar roost sites to determine whether site familiarity influenced risk of predation and harvest. Toms that hung around familiar roost sites were more
This Turkey Tuesday is about predictability – in this case predictability in the onset of nesting each year. Recently, southern parts of the wild turkey’s range have been blessed with
This Turkey Tuesday is my annual post about one of the biggest and longest running misconceptions in the wild turkey world – beard rot. The one tom in these images
This Turkey Tuesday is about hens strutting, which is a show you typically don’t expect from the ladies. Strutting is something that all wild turkeys do, starting when they’re a
We evaluated whether baited camera trap surveys are accurate for estimating wild turkey abundance by relocating birds to a site where no other birds existed, so we’d know the true
This Turkey Tuesday is about the interesting functions of the snood. The snood is a fleshy protuberance that basically sits between a tom’s eyes and hangs from his forehead. For
Lymphoproliferative disease virus (LPDV) has been detected in wild turkeys throughout the United States and Canada. High LPDV prevalence could be at least partially involved in regional population declines, but
We investigated genetic structure and relatedness of birds within and among flocks across sites in 3 states. We found that genetically, birds clustered separately by study site which was not
This Turkey Tuesday is about getting the cold shoulder. Throughout the wild turkey’s range, toms are already strutting their stuff, displaying when hens are around, and even gobbling when the
We used LiDAR‐derived estimates of forest structure and topographical features to evaluate selection of areas by hens during incubation on a site in South Carolina. LiDAR stands for light detection
We evaluated differences in space use and nesting rates of hens translocated to east Texas compared to hens already present at the release sites. We found that translocated hens had
We evaluated whether infection with lymphoproliferative disease virus (LPDV) influenced reproductive success or hen behaviors. We found that hens infected with the virus moved 16% more during the laying period,
The more time we spend in the company of wild turkeys, the more likely we’ll encounter an occasional weird-looking turkey or one with an odd condition. As a lay observer
This Turkey Tuesday is about jakes and the games they’re playing with spring on the horizon. During fall, jakes leave brood flocks that included mom, sisters, and some unrelated birds,
We used a combination of GPS and tri‐axial accelerometer data to investigate when wild turkeys were being killed by predators. We found that for hens, 43% of mortalities occurred at
Prioritize. None of us have the time necessary to address all of our land management goals, so sometimes prioritizing makes sense. If you’re going to be implementing prescribed fire soon,
This Turkey Tuesday is about trapping predators. Although we’re in the grips of winter, spring is coming, and with it, the reproductive season for wild turkeys. Predation is the primary
Winter disking – don’t overlook the opportunity to use beneficial management practices that will benefit your wild turkey population, even in the dead of winter. Lightly disking rank vegetation during
This Turkey Tuesday is about calling as a group. The mating system of the wild turkey hinges on a form of lekking, which involves toms
This Turkey Tuesday is about the kaleidoscope of colors that appear on the plumage of toms. When toms strut for hens, it’s not just the
This Turkey Tuesday is about the muscles involved in strutting. There isn’t much better as a turkey hunter than watching a tom strut as he
We evaluated how toms used areas near familiar roost sites to determine whether site familiarity influenced risk of predation and harvest. Toms that hung around
This Turkey Tuesday is about predictability – in this case predictability in the onset of nesting each year. Recently, southern parts of the wild turkey’s
This Turkey Tuesday is my annual post about one of the biggest and longest running misconceptions in the wild turkey world – beard rot. The
This Turkey Tuesday is about hens strutting, which is a show you typically don’t expect from the ladies. Strutting is something that all wild turkeys
We evaluated whether baited camera trap surveys are accurate for estimating wild turkey abundance by relocating birds to a site where no other birds existed,
This Turkey Tuesday is about the interesting functions of the snood. The snood is a fleshy protuberance that basically sits between a tom’s eyes and