The National Wild Turkey Federation classified six major regions across 738 million acres to best identify the urgent needs of wild turkeys across the country.
NWTF partnered with organizations and biologists across these regions to provide services and help to the wildlife in the ways needed most. The spent the past year documenting these regions to further public knowledge on what can be done to continue to help the wild turkey population.
Watch the first five of the six documentary shorts below.
America's Mid-South Rebirth | Eastern Turkey
On this episode of The Big Six, we follow the White Oak Initiative--an initiative that focuses on repopulating one of wildlife's most essential trees. "If it weren't for the White Oak, with that shaggy bark that we love so much, we wouldn't have the wildlife that we have today."
We follow a biologist, a logger, and a distillery on the natural and economic uses of the White Oak. Join the NWTF as they fight to bring back the oak forests of the South and fuel America's Mid-South Rebirth.
America's Crossroads | Eastern Turkey
In this episode of The Big Six, we travel to Wisconsin to discuss the urgency of recruiting new hunters and continuing the sport through the generations.
One of the best ways to recruit and retain new hunters is by introducing them to the Hunt for Food program and reinforcing the message of hunting for the wild game, not always just for a trophy.
America's Colonial Forests | Eastern Turkey
In 1977, 41 turkeys were brought to Maine from Vermont to repopulate the state. Now, in 2021, over 30% of Maine's population complains that there are "too many turkeys" in their area. The success in the wild turkey repopulation project has tremendously successful, and now Maine is feeling pressured to increase the state's turkey season and harvest numbers.
Here we follow a few Maine biologists as they band wild turkeys to apply science to population numbers and survival rates. From their careful research, they will be able to accurately pinpoint a safe harvest number for hunting seasons.
America's Southern Piney Woods | Eastern & Osceola
In 2018, Hurricane Michael devastated the Florida Panhandle as the strongest recorded hurricane to ever hit the area. The NWTF is helping landowners restore the land and forests back to their original state--a habitat full of the whistles of bobwhites and the gobbles of wild turkeys.
In this episode of "The Big Six," we follow the journey of the landowners and workers working to bring the turkey habitats of Florida back to life.
America's Great Open Spaces | Merriam's & Rio Grande
Here we travel to Wyoming, where we talk to NWTF Wildlife Biologic Collin Smith about the huge importance of riparian areas--areas that 70-80% of all plains species utilize at some point in their lifetime.
We also talk to Terrestrial Habitat Biologist Jerry Altermatt about the critical nature of cottonwood trees to the region and their increasingly concerning decline.
For more information on how NWTF is working to conserve the wild turkey population and habitats, visit their site at www.nwtf.org.
