Fire timing and turkeys ft. Dr. Craig Harper | #120

Wild Turkey Science

Charlotte Nowak

Science, Natural Sciences

5.0 • 587 Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2025

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr. Craig Harper re-joins the podcast to share preliminary results from his on-going research comparing dormant, early-, mid-, and late-growing season fire treatments and assessing their effects on plant communities and wildlife, including turkeys and deer.

Resources:

Gruchy, J. P. (2007). An evaluation of field management practices to improve bobwhite habitat.

Gruchy, J. P., & Harper, C. A. (2014). Effects of field management practices on northern bobwhite habitat. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, 1(1), 133-141.

Harper, C. A., et al. (2016). Fire effects on wildlife in the Central Hardwoods and Appalachian regions, USA. Fire Ecology, 12, 127-159.

Johnson, V. M., et al. (2022). Nest site selection and survival of wild turkeys in Tennessee. Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, 9, 134-143.

Kilburg, E. L., et al. (2014). Wild turkey nest survival and nest‐site selection in the presence of growing‐season prescribed fire. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 78(6), 1033-1039.

Kilburg, E. L., et al. (2015). Wild turkey prenesting-resource selection in a landscape managed with frequent prescribed fire. Southeastern Naturalist, 14(1), 137-146.

McCord, J. M., et al. (2014). Brood cover and food resources for wild turkeys following silvicultural treatments in mature upland hardwoods. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 38(2), 265-272.

Powell, B. L., et al. (2025). Changes in Plant Composition Following Disturbance in Restored Native Early Successional Communities. Rangeland Ecology & Management, 98, 480-489.

Turner, M. A., et al. (2020). Improving coastal plain hardwoods for deer and turkeys with canopy reduction and fire. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 44(4), 705-712.

Turner, M. A., et al. (2025). Effect of growing season fire timing on oak regeneration. Fire Ecology, 21(1), 6.

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Dr. Craig Harper Website, Publications

Dr. Marcus Lashley @DrDisturbance, Publications

Dr. Will Gulsby @dr_will_gulsby, Publications

Turkeys for Tomorrow @turkeysfortomorrow

UF Game Lab @ufgamelab, YouTube

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Produced & edited by Charlotte Nowak

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Wild Turkey Science, a podcast made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow.
0:14.4	I'm Dr. Marcus Lashley, Professor of Wildlife Ecology at the University of Florida.
0:20.2	And I'm Dr. Will Gulsby, Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management at Auburn University.
0:26.0	We're both lifelong hunters and devoted scientists who are passionate about hunting,
0:30.7	managing, and researching wild turkeys.
0:33.4	In this podcast, we'll explore turkey research, speak to the experts in the field,
0:38.5	and address the difficult questions related to wild turkey ecology and management.
0:43.6	Our goal is to serve as your connection to wild turkey science.
1:00.3	Craig, we appreciate you taking some time to come talk to us again.
1:03.1	I'm glad to be with you.
1:04.5	All you got to do is ask.
1:09.2	I'm just sitting here doing nothing, you know, waiting for somebody to ask me to do another podcast.
1:13.4	Just sitting around on his hands.
1:20.0	He said, Marcus, he says all we have to do is ask, but I think we've been asking for a few months.
1:20.6	Yeah.
1:22.5	That's about June.
1:28.4	And our listeners, our listeners have been asking even longer than that to have him back on.
1:29.1	Yeah.
1:33.1	I don't understand, but I'm glad to be with you.
1:34.3	Yeah.
1:35.8	Well, we're glad to have you here.
1:41.8	I think a lot of our listeners have been following you around to other podcasts, so we've got to give them back. Mm-hmm.
	...

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