Turkey-hunting permits increased to prevent nuisance in Cache Valley

Turkeys have long been centerpieces at Thanksgiving feasts, but have simultaneously become nuisances for residents of Cache Valley, Utah. Officials from the Division of Wildlife Resources have enacted a plan to benefit both.

Wild turkey permits in Utah increased five-fold in 2018, up to 2,500 permits for purchase, according to wildlife biologist Jim Christensen. The permits sold out before the season started in the spring.

By encouraging hunting in the Wellsville and Bear River mountain ranges, he said, there should be far less of a concern regarding nuisance turkeys in the city.

“They are smart birds; they will move when their friends get shot,” Christensen said. “Turkeys are very responsive to hunting pressures.”

Turkey season occurred in April, and Christensen said the division will know if hunting was effective by spring 2019.

“Hunting is still the best tool biologists have to manage wildlife populations,” said Jason Robinson, the upland game coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources.

The division also expanded the types of guns allowed in the hunt, and allows three turkeys per hunter. Robinson said this “will give avid turkey hunters more chances to get into the field and hunt.”

The division has already received multiple complaints of turkeys in residential areas in Mendon and Wellsville, Christensen said.

“But we are not going to wait as long; we are going to start trapping sooner,” he said.

When turkeys are trapped from Cache Valley, they are taken to the Book Cliffs, south of the Uinta mountain range, Christensen said.

“There is plenty of habitat up there, tons of open space,” Christensen said.

He said it is too early to tell if increasing hunting permits is effective, but the division is trying to “manage the problem before it is a problem.”

Applications are now open for 2019 turkey-hunting permits.

—carter.moore@aggiemail.usu.edu

@carterthegrreat