Let's Talk Turkey

Frequently asked questions about the new turkey harvest reporting system.

There have been some changes in this year's Illinois wild turkey hunting season, the most significant being that hunters will no longer be required to check their turkeys in at a county check station. Instead, they will be required to report their harvest by telephoning a toll-free number.

That change has resulted in a few telephone calls from hunters with questions about the new system. In order to assist turkey hunters, the Department of Natural Resources has assembled a list of the more frequently asked questions and answers to them.

Question: Why did DNR adopt a new telephone system of checking in turkey harvest?

Answer: To improve its ability to manage the turkey population. The old system of checking in turkeys at county check stations had a number of drawbacks. A great deal of time was spent gathering up the check station tags from all the open counties and checking them for accuracy. Following that, all the information had to be sent to a vendor for entry into computer files for analysis. As a result, data were not available to biologists to analyze until well after the season ended, and in many cases, new regulations had to be proposed before any data were analyzed. With the new telephone call-in system, harvest information will be available immediately to both biologists and law enforcement personnel. Since harvest data now will be put into computer files as soon as it is called in. and several procedural steps are eliminated, there is no chance of misplacing or losing data, and biologists can base the following season's regulations on the best science available.

The new system also offers greater convenience to the hunter. Instead of having to drive to the county check station, hunters can check in their harvest by calling toll-free from their homes or any other convenient location.

The new system also will help DNR stay within its budget. The number of hunting licenses sold in Illinois has been declining and recently reached the lowest level since 1943, during World War II.

As hunter numbers decline, so does agency revenue. Meanwhile, the cost of doing business continues to increase, so whenever the Department is evaluating possible changes to programs, cost and savings must be a consideration.

Although recommended by some hunters, raising fees is not a popular option.

The telephone system is less costly than the previous system, and has the added benefit of freeing up manpower from administrative responsibilities related to check stations. This will allow biologists to spend more time actually managing wildlife populations. DNR staff believes that after the well-being of the wildlife resource has been ensured, it has a responsibility to the citizens of Illinois—and hunters in particular—to spend their money wisely and efficiently.

Question: Why isn't DNR giving away turkey pins to successful hunters?

Answer: Although the pins have been popular with many hunters, the primary reason turkey hunters go afield is not to obtain a pin. The DNR began giving turkey pins to successful turkey hunters during the 12th spring turkey season in 1981 to thank them for bringing their birds to the county check station. With the greater convenience of the new telephone system, a reward is no longer needed. In addition, giving pins to hunters for reporting harvest via telephone would tempt some hunters to call in and falsely report a turkey kill just to get a pin. This type of false reporting has been increasingly observed with the fall turkey season's mail-in reporting system. Such actions defeat the purpose of collecting harvest data, and impact the accuracy of our data just as much as harvested birds that are not reported.

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OutdoorIllinois

Changes in this year's turkey season eliminate the need for check stations. (Photo by Mark Lowder.)

In response to requests from individuals who collect pins, DNR is making them available for a small fee to anyone who wants to purchase one. This is not intended to be a money-maker, and the price of the pin simply covers the cost of continuing to offer it. If any profits are realized, they will go to help manage the wild turkey. DNR staff believes collectors and turkey hunters alike will support that effort.

Question: Won't the call-in system make it easier for poachers to illegally harvest turkeys?

Answer: The only difference in regulations is that harvest reporting will be done by telephone. Successful hunters are still required to tag their harvest immediately (which invalidates their permit), and must check their harvest via telephone by 2 p.m. on the day of kill. Leg tags that have been removed from the turkey permit and then reattached are not valid for hunting. After providing the harvest information on the telephone, hunters will be given a 10-digit confirmation number to verify that they checked in their harvest.

Individuals who do not tag or report their harvest will run the same risks of being arrested under the current system as they did under the old. We realize that the same people who did not check their birds under the old system will still not check them. However, there was no magic to the old county check stations that forced everyone to comply with the checking requirements. Honest hunters will remain so and those who were less than honest in the past will likely continue to be.

It's important to remember that the main reason for registering a turkey is to gather biological information necessary for proper turkey management. Law enforcement is necessary to ensure that good data are being collected, but enforcement is not the primary purpose of check stations. It is true that check station information may be useful for law enforcement purposes, but that same type of information will be available with a mandatory telephone system, and available more quickly.

The old check stations were a convenient place for turkey hunters to meet and socialize. However, that aspect of the previous system did not outweigh the three main benefits of the new system—more timely harvest data, greater hunter convenience and reduced costs.

We know that people often dislike change, but in today's technologically driven world, change is unavoidable. DNR's number-one priority is ensuring that a healthy and bountiful population of wild turkeys exists in our state. If this change in the reporting system jeopardizes the well-being of Illinois' wildlife, DNR will act quickly to correct that.

March 2001

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