The Bird Is The Word

BY GARY THOMAS

Illinois' modem-day turkey season dates back to 1970, when three counties were opened for a three-day hunt. There weren't many wild turkeys in the state back then, and there weren't many serious turkey hunters in the state either.

Wild turkeys now are found throughout the state, and the legion of turkey hunters continues to grow.

So does the National Wild Turkey Federation. Founded in 1973, the NWTF was started by a group of concerned sportsmen. Its presence has been an important part of the restoration of the wild turkey in Illinois.

Today, the NWTF has 1,600 chapters in all 50 states. With nearly 300,000 members, the NWTF is second only to Ducks Unlimited in membership for outdoor organizations dedicated to helping a species of wildlife.

But that is a little misleading, because while their name would indicate their main concern is the wild turkey, those birds are just part of their interest. "It's a lot more than just turkey hunting " says Frank Nix," region field supervisor for NWTF. "It's amazing to me how many of our members aren't even hunters. They are conservationists-people who just want to support a good program. When we're doing conservation work for turkeys, we're also helping a lot of other species."

Nix, who lives in Bloomington, says that only 10 to 15 percent of the turkey hunters in Illinois actually belong to the National Wild Turkey Federation.

"I think this is because a lot of turkey hunters just don't know how important it is to support programs like ours," he says.

Nix points out that the National Wild Turkey Federation is a very grass-roots oriented organization, just as interested in educating the public as they are about enhancing turkey numbers and habitat.

"We have a JAKES program, which stands for Juniors Acquiring Knowledge, Ethics and Sportsmanship," Nix says. "We currently have more than 80,000 youngsters 17 and younger receiving information about turkeys, outdoor ethics, responsible land management and conservation."

Nix says the NWTF's newest outreach program is called "Women in the Outdoors," and is geared toward getting more adult women into such things as shooting sports and learning more about conservation.

"There are a lot of women who don't spend much time in the outdoors who would truly enjoy it," Nix says. "When my daughter was 13, she wanted to go hunting with me. I got her into a hunter safety class and my wife decided to go along. I took them both deer hunting in 1991. My daughter wasn't too enthusiastic about the sport, but my wife got hooked, and she's now my hunting partner."

And if you think their national organization is a success story, wait J until you see what they have been able to do at the state level.

"Illinois is definitely one of the leading states in the NWTF," Nix says,"When I took over as regional field supervisor in 1993, I was responsible for both Illinois and Indiana. At the time we had 17 state chapters in Illinois and nine in Indiana. Today we have 75 chapters in Illinois and 52 in Indiana and I have four staff members to organize new chapters and work with existing ones."

Nix says they have signed up 15 new chapters in Illinois in the last four months, and he anticipates even more chapters being formed.

"The growth is just amazing," he says. "Our organization is about doing good things for people and for conservation."

Just as impressive is Illinois' JAKES organization. Two years ago Illinois ranked No. 5 in JAKES' membership. Last year it jumped to No. 1 with more than 20,000 members.

With about 1,500 members, Illinois also is No. 1 in Women in the Outdoors, and Nix expects to see this number really grow this year.

"We have some chapters that are doing some exceptional things in Illinois," Nix says. "The Little Egypt chapter in Williamson County was named best flew chapter in the nation two years ago, and this year they were recognized as the seventh best chapter in the nation, and that's out of more than 1,600 chapters."

Nix says that he stresses the importance of getting youngsters involved in outdoor sports.

Nix says he isn't singling out any particular chapters, because each is unique.

The life-blood of the organization is their annual banquets where they raise the dollars to fund projects.

"We raise money, but we're not in the money-making business," Nix says. "We're in the money spending business. We raise money and then put it back into the outdoors. We put our money where our mouth is. We work closely with the Department of Natural Resources. We fund numerous projects and buy equipment, fund habitat enhancement and research. We also fund scholarships for young people interested in pursuing a career in the outdoors."

Because the Illinois chapter of the NWTF has grown so rapidly, there are lots more dollars for those projects nowadays.

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Nix says more than a quarter of a million dollars will go into the Super Fund for projects in Illinois this year. These dollars fund an odd assortment of projects.

"We've purchased ATVs for biologists, trailers, trapping nets

and rocket charges, no-till planters, seed and fertilizer and materials for food plots and wildlife openings," Nix says. "We've hired people to trap and transplant birds, paid for educational brochures and posters and funded CD-Roms for distribution to schools. Currently, we're putting educational boxes into schools throughout the state. The boxes are actual cardboard turkey release boxes, and designed for 4th grade students. Inside there are posters, instructional booklets, CD-Roms, VHS tapes, rulers, pencils and bookmarks for kids, and actual turkey feathers."

The NWTF also funds hunter safety programs and wildlife research projects, and will fund more than $30,000 in scholarships in Illinois this year.

"We gave away $6,000 already in January," Nix says. "Each chapter
in Illinois has a $250 scholarship to give to a high school graduate who is going to college to study biology or a subject relating to the outdoors."

Nix says the scholarships are NWTF's investment in the future.

"I grew up hunting and trapping in southern Illinois, and I dreamed of being able to deer hunt in my state," Nix says. "I never actually thought I'd be able to hunt deer: it was a dream. I never even dared to dream that we'd have turkey hunting here, but in 1970 three southern Illinois counties opened to hunting.Today we have 84 counties open to hunting each spring. That's an amazing turn-around, and was the result of a lot of dollars and hard work by the Department of Natural Resources. The Wild Turkey Federation is here to support the DNR and help them any way we can, and to keep those dreams alive."

GETTING INVOLVED Membership in the National Wild Turkey Federation is $25 pel year and includes six issues of "Turkey Call" magazine and four issues of the "Caller" newspaper. Membership in Women in the Outdoors program is $25 and includes four issues of "Women in the Outdoors." JAKES membership is just $5 per year, including fpur issues of "Jakes." A Sponsorship membership costs $200,and includes all benefits as a regular membership, plus a lapel pin and annual incentive gift. Each membership includes a membership card and decal. Chapters are found throughout the state. For more information about the National Wild Turkey Federation, or to find a club near you, contact either Chad Franklin at (309) 888-9982 in Normal, Carl Spaeth at (847) 731-2940 in Zion, or write Frank Nix, P.O. Box 848, Bloomington, 111. 61702, call (309) 664-1162 or email: ilnwtf@aol.com.

Mel Thake, Bloomington, took this young gobbler at the Jim Edgar Panther Creek Fish and Wildlife Area in late April.

NWTF SUPER FUND PAYS BIG DIVIDENDS

While the National Wild Turkey Federation is a youngster compared to many of the older, more established organizations, it was one of the first organizations to provide support to the Illinois Conservation Foundation.

Due to an agreement signed in 1995, the Illinois State Chapter of the NWTF has agreed to contribute $200,000 to the Conservation Foundation for land acquisition. The agreement was instrumental in the DNR acquiring a 175-acre parcel in Effingham County and a 960-acre parcel in JoDaviess County.

But that's not their only accomplishment. Since 1985, more than $733,000 has been raised by Illinois chapters to be spent on projects in the state-including $190,000 in 1999. Organizers say they could put $250,000 into the fund in 2000.

Here's a sampling of what they've used those dollars for during the past 15 years:

• More than $230,000 has been spent ¦ on equipment, including more than a dozen ATVs, a number of trailers, tillers, rotary mowers, nets for trapping, trapping blinds, rockets for trapping, spotting scopes, no-till planters, herbicide sprayers, harrows, tree planters, cultivators, telemetry equipment, root plows, trigger locks, VCRs, tractors and burning equipment.

• Almost $135,000 was spent on habitat improvement projects, resulting in improvements to about 6,413 acres of land, and the renovation and maintenance of more than 1,000 acres of wildlife openings.

• Almost $45,000 was spent on wildlife management, most of which was allocated to turkey trapping for wild turkey restoration, and another $45,000 was spent for labor and mileage to trap turkeys for restoration.

• More than 1,200 acres of land have been purchased in areas throughout the state, plus the chapter has pledged payment for additional land purchases in the future.

• Almost $120,000 has been spent on educational programs and activities. This includes the purchase of more than 90,000 educational brochures and posters, more than 200 "Wildlife Forever" CDs for Illinois schools, funded 61 JAKES events, purchased almost 125 educational boxes, and supported the NWTF scholarship program.

• More than $20,000 to support the hunting heritage program.

• The organization also has funded more than $6,000 in reward programs, more than $8,000 in hunter safety, more than $6,000 in research and made donations totalling $5,500 to the women's program.

Heading in a New Direction The return of the wild turkey is one of Illinois' greatest wildlife restoration success stories. In fact, the program has been so successful, wildlife biologists say it's now time for a change. Starling with just 65 wild turkeys obtained from Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia, the birds were stocked into five locations in southern Illinois' Shawnee National Forest between 1959 and 1967. Since those initial stockings, more than 4,700 turkeys from the reintroduced Illinois flock have been trapped, transported and released at 278 sites throughout the state. Today, the wild turkey is successfully established in 99 of the state's 102 counties. Eighty-four of the counties were open to hunting during the 2000 season. More than 40,000 spring turkey permits, over 5.700 fall gun permits and about 12,000 fall archery permits are issued annually to more than 35,000 sportsmen who will take more than 11,000 birds during the spring season and over 1,900 turkeys during the fall hunts. During this past winter, the Division of Wildlife Resources reached a milestone. They completed the stocking of wild turkeys to the last of all targeted sites. With the fulfillment of this goal comes a change in management techniques. "Now that we've reached our goal of establishing wild turkeys in all suitable habitats in the state, it's time to commit ourselves to preserving all we have accomplished during the past 40 years," said Jeff VerSteeg, chief of the Division of Wildlife Resources. "We will be shifting our emphasis from population restoration to habitat restoration and management. Habitat loss could undo what has been accomplished, so we need to shift our resources to address these issues. We're going to focus more attention on research, monitoring and fine-tuning population management through permit issuance." VerSteeg said the change in management emphasis does not rule out future turkey stockings. "Supplemental turkey stockings may be needed in areas where populations are struggling or where newly stocked populations aren't moving into nearby suitable habitat," he said. "These releases will now be done on an as-needed basis.

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