Spring survival of wild turkeys in Delaware

Abstract Understanding factors affecting population dynamics is necessary for setting appropriate harvest limits for game species, especially for reintroduced populations. Reintroduction of eastern wild turkeys ( Meleagris gallopavo silvestris ) in Delaware, USA, began in 1984 and the state provided public harvest opportunity beginning in 1991. To better understand factors affecting survival of wild turkeys in Delaware, we captured female wild turkeys from 2010–2012 and male wild turkeys from 2019–2021 in Delaware and monitored them throughout spring, 1 April–30 June. We equipped female wild turkeys with very‐high‐frequency (VHF) backpack transmitters and male wild turkeys with Global Positioning System (GPS) backpack transmitters. We monitored status of all individuals ≥ 1week. Spring survival of adult females in 2010, 2011, and 2012 was 0.56 (95% CI = 0.42–0.76), 0.77 (0.65–0.91), and 0.76 (0.61–0.95), respectively. Predation was the primary cause of female mortality (86.2%, n = 25 of 29 mortalities). Spring survival of adult males was consistent throughout the study (2019: 0.71, 95% CI = 0.55–0.94; 2020: 0.57, 0.41–0.79; 2021: 0.58, 0.41–0.82). Juvenile male spring survival was lower in 2019 (0.64, 95% CI = 0.49–0.85) than 2020 (0.91, 0.81–1.0) and 2021 (0.85, 0.67–1.0). Legal harvest during the spring hunting season was the primary cause of male mortality (61.9%, n = 26 of 42 mortalities). Overall, survival of adult wild turkeys in Delaware indicates a stable population with expected primary causes of mortality but low survival for adult female turkeys in 2010 was concerning, indicating that future investigation is needed to update demographic rates.