One of the birds I took in Wyoming this spring had a South Dakota band on his leg and here is the reply from the South Dakota fish and game on the turkey. I thought it was very interesting reading.
Thank you for your banded turkey report. SD Department of Game, Fish and Parks would be very interested in any further description of the location in which this bird was taken. Legal description or even GPS coordinates would be very helpful to the Department in trying to determine the travels of these birds so if you have further information beyond what you have already described, please forward it by return e-mail to me at your earliest convenience. The exact date and time of kill would also be of great help.
The male turkey banded with that number was trapped on February 28, 2003 near the small town of Edgemont, SD in the southwest corner of South Dakota by Game, Fish and Parks personnel. The bird was a member of a much larger group of turkeys that had collected on private land and were becoming a burden to the landowner. The bird was subsequently banded along with 22 other birds and transported to Section 9, Township 2 South, Range 5 East, Black Hills Meridian; in an area located close to the Willow Creek Group Horse Camp approximately 4 miles south and east of the town of Hill City, SD. It was released on February 28, 2003 at that location. It would appear, from your description, that the bird traveled in excess of 26 linear miles as the crow flies from the point of it' s release to the area where it was taken. You may be interested to know that another Minnesota turkey hunter took an adult male bird, involved in the same release, near Deerfield Lake and traveled approximately 20 linear miles over a period of 50 days. While these movements are a bit unusual, recent studies in the Black Hills tend to show that some turkeys routinely move these distances from winter to summer home range on an annual basis.
Thank you for your report and inquiry. I will be interested in hearing from you with regard to the date of kill and perhaps a little better location of it. Once again, thanks for your report and interest.
Banded SD Turkey in Wy
