Welcome to Wild Turkey Science, a podcast made possible by Turkeys for Tomorrow.

I'm Dr. Marcus Lashley, Professor of Wildlife Ecology at the University of Florida.

And I'm Dr. Will Gulsby, Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management at Auburn University.

We're both lifelong hunters and devoted scientists who are passionate about hunting,

managing, and researching wild turkeys.

In this podcast, we'll explore turkey research, speak to the experts in the field,

and address the difficult questions related to wild turkey ecology and management.

Our goal is to serve as your connection to wild turkey science.

Well, let's get down to business, I guess.

So we've got a couple of guests with us today from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

We've got Hannah Plupton, who is the Upland-Gamer biologist, and we've got Chris Cray, who's the assistant chief.

So welcome to Wild Turkey Science, guys.

We're glad to have you all on.

Yeah, glad to be here.

Appreciate y'all having us on.

Glad to be here.

Yeah, excited to talk to you all.

It's been a while since I was working on turkeys in North Carolina, but I did a little bit during my PhD that, you know, you guys are probably familiar with down at Fort Bragg, so I'm happy

to be thinking about turkeys in North Carolina again. Nice to reminis. Yeah, Marcus, that's one of

the interesting things about North Carolina, too, and I'm sure we'll get into the discussion about it some today, but it's such a diverse state. And, you know, thinking about where you worked in Fort Bragg and the landscape there, but a lot of people, you know, are thinking about mountains when they think about North Carolina. So they've got that and everything in between, which is, you know, a significant challenge

when it comes to managing turkeys, I'm sure.

Yeah, I can imagine.

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