Wild Turkeys are Once Again Thriving
- 49 minutes ago
- 1 min read
by Debra Meyer-Myrum
Once nearly vanished from the state, the wild turkey has made a remarkable comeback in Minnesota—now standing as one of the state’s greatest conservation success stories.
Today, these large, striking birds are a common sight across southern, western, and central Minnesota. Often traveling in flocks, wild turkeys can be seen along wooded edges bordering farm fields and pastures, a testament to decades of careful wildlife management and habitat restoration.
From Disappearance to
Recovery
Wild turkeys, specifically the eastern subspecies (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris), once inhabited parts of southern Minnesota. However, by the late 1800s, they had disappeared entirely due to widespread deforestation and unregulated hunting.
Early efforts to bring them back in the 1920s and 1950s—using pen-raised birds—failed. It wasn’t until the 1960s and early 1970s that wildlife managers found success by releasing live-trapped wild turkeys from other states. In particular, birds brought from Missouri and released in southeastern Minnesota proved capable of adapting, reproducing, and expanding rapidly.
Modern populations are now the direct result of those successful reintroduction efforts using wild-trapped eastern turkeys...
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