Gobble Count Volunteers Needed

Are you looking for a way to get involved with Missouri’s wild turkey program? The Missouri Department of Conservation is looking for volunteers for a study of turkey gobbling. Five will win lifetime hunting permits.

Five lucky wild turkey aficionados will win Resident Lifetime Conservation Partner Permits in the next five years, according to Resource Scientist Jeff Beringer with the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Beringer is looking for up to 500 volunteers to take part in a five-year study of turkey gobbling habits. The objective is to discover when the peak periods of gobbling activity occur so the Conservation Department can time Missouri’s spring turkey season to coincide with the period when gobblers are most receptive to calling.

As an incentive for participating in the study, the George Clark Memorial Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, in cooperation with the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation, will hold a drawing among the volunteers each year of the study. Each of the winners will receive a lifetime small game hunting and fishing permit. Volunteers must be Missouri residents to qualify for the drawing, since nonresident lifetime permits are not available.

Volunteers will count the number of gobbles and the number of gobbling birds they hear during a 20 minute period before sunrise twice a week between March 15 and May 15. These volunteers will choose their listening locations.

The study will begin this spring and run through 2011. To sign up, email Beringer at [email protected]. Type "Gobble Study" in the subject line, and provide your name, address and county in the body of the email.

Tom turkeys are most vocal just before hens become receptive to mating and just after hens begin incubation their eggs. This creates two peaks in gobbling. Volunteer reports will help Beringer determine whether the current timing of spring turkey season meets the goal of putting hunters in the woods during the second peak in gobbling.

The study also seeks to discover any relationships between gobbling and other factors, such as weather and spring leaf out. The results will be published on the NWTF Missouri chapter’s website.