LINCOLN, Neb. - Nebraska Game and Parks is asking for the public’s help in maintaining a healthy and hunt-able Wild Turkey population.

To do that, they’re asking Nebraskans to report turkey sightings in July and August.

“Really appreciating any bit that people can participate and help us better understand the population and density of Wild Turkey in the state”

Carlie (Saline) Gizel is the Wild Turkey Program Manager for Game and Parks and says citizen reporting is crucial as it helps Game and Parks understand populations in areas they may not get to survey otherwise. She says the July-August period is good for surveys as it’s the period when hens are teaching poults how to forage, roost, and fend for themselves. It’s also easier to depict a hen from a poult.

“If you get into September-October, those poults are tall enough so it’s more difficult to distinguish from hens or toms when they’re not in strut from far away,” Gizel said.

When it comes to what Game and Parks hopes to learn, Gizel says they want to see high numbers of tom’s and poults.

“Even though turkeys are poliginous, meaning one tom can create birds with many females, it’s still important to have a high ratio of toms to hens to make sure that population isn’t getting too low,” Gizel said. “And the poults per hen… The more young of the year, the better odds it can mean for future population.”

To report a sighting, go to outdoornebraska.gov and search “Turkey Survey”