Paul M. Elliott

Predicting Wild Turkey Harvest Levels

Reliable pre-season predictions for wild turkey harvests can be an important component of management plans where hunter and/or harvest quotas are used. Data collected in Florida from 1983-1989 included 9 demographic and 4 meteorological variables. Using regression analyses we identified those variables which were associated with spring turkey harvest and produced a "best" regression model for making preseason, spring harvest predictions from data collected during the previous year. Variables identified as most important included: harvest, total number of turkeys observed in late summer...