TFT, Hunt Regs, and the general public will work together to produce much-needed information for wild turkey research projects.
Wild turkey populations continue to decline, and hunters around the globe are taking notice. Because of this, Turkeys for Tomorrow (TFT) is partnering with Hunt Regs to help generate much-needed data for wild turkey research. With help from the turkey hunting public, they aim to advance important wild turkey studies and restoration projects.
What Is the Hunt Regs App?
Hunt Regs is an app-based platform that assists with hunting regulation compliance. Through partnerships with state wildlife agencies and department of natural resources (DNRs), it's educating hunters on even the most convoluted of hunting regs.
"I'm working with a lot of the state agencies," said Hunt Regs Founder Ben Martin. "Take Georgia, for example. They expressed to me that 70% of the tickets they write are to people who didn't even know they were breaking the rules. These were accidental, which is obviously a huge problem."
"Of course, you can't wake that deer or turkey back up if a mistake is made," Martin continued. "And even if people are breaking those rules accidentally, that still needs fixing. The overarching goal? Make sure that it's easy for people to understand the regulations. It's hard enough to be successful and actually take an animal. Knowing the regulations should be the easiest part."
Incredibly, Hunt Regulations provides a simplified regulation search. Ultimately, it sifts through vast hunting regulation guides and provides hunters with streamlined versions of relevant information. This includes license data, season dates, special regulations, potential restrictions, and much more, for your specific target animal in specific locations on specific dates.
For example, let's say you're standing on a spot of public ground or private ground. You need to know what, where, when, and how you can hunt. You merely use your georeferenced location to receive hunting license requirements, hunting regulation details, and more, for that exact geographic location. This is especially helpful for those who might hunt in areas with vast degrees of regulation differences over short distances. Even where hunting laws are more consistent and streamlined, it's an effective and necessary tool.
Hunt Regs also incorporates a journal that analyzes and simplifies mountains of data. Simply plug in a location, date, and time of a wildlife sighting or trail camera photo event. It then gauges the historical weather data for that location and timestamp, and over time, produces valuable scouting reports. You can analyze specific data point categories, and see patterns for specific target bucks, with detailed yet palatable reports of deer movements.
"You can filter it by a bunch of different variables," Martin said. "But it's your data. It's not using radio-collared deer studies from a big ranch. It's specific to your deer herd, turkey flock, or waterfowl sightings at your hunting locations. Because human pressure really is the biggest element in how animals move, every animal has its own unique personality (tendencies), and localized data is far more valuable. So, you're using your data from your specific animals to generate a pattern report."
How Can Turkey Hunters Provide Voluntary Data for Wild Turkey Research?
Turkeys for Tomorrow CEO Jason Lupardus is excited to announce a new partnership with Hunt Regulations. It's the foundation for the application of citizen science and procurement of much-needed data to study wild turkey population trends.
"This is a great partnership to help us solve the problem of wild turkey decline," Lupardus said. "Through this, we're garnering information from hunters across the United States. This is a means for us to engage in the true citizen science of anyone in the outdoors. So, if you're a hunter, there is opportunity to provide data on wild turkeys in any state."
In addition to benefitting wild turkey research, there are additional incentives for hunters to assist with data entries. Ultimately, TFT will offer special hunt drawings, and those who regularly enter information will be included in those.
Lupardus explains it like this — For example, maybe you're out there in deer season and you see a flock of turkeys. You'll jump in, enter in the information, and TFT puts you in for a chance at a fully guided Osceola turkey hunt in 2027. Or, if you're out waterfowl hunting and flush some hens, and you enter that in, you'll be entered in the drawing. Two weeks later, you're out with your bird dog quail hunting. You see a couple gobblers on the knoll. You enter that in really quickly, and receive yet another chance to win a hunt.
Examples of information types that hunters might provide:
- Wild turkey visual sightings
- Wild turkey sounds heard
- Numbers of adult turkeys
- Numbers of poults
- Sizes of winter flocks
- Behavior of turkeys
- And much more
"Each day that you enter data for us, we'll give you a chance at hunts," Lupardus said. "It's our goal to figure out, on the landscape level, and across state lines, what turkey populations look like. Where do we have robust turkey populations? Where do we have weak populations?
"All of this data is going to be used to help us in our research efforts," Lupardus continued. "All so that we can put more time and priorities in places where we don't have turkeys. In places where we do, it will help us understand how to maintain those levels over time. This will be the most robust data collection ever done by any entity since the advent of turkey restoration."
Those among the general public hoping to participate will be able to submit information and help generate much-needed data for wild turkey research. Lupardus says this will be done through an application on your phone or through the web.
"I think we're looking to save the wild turkey," Martin said. "We're taking more of a citizen science approach. We're mobilizing hunters and landowners to get involved so we can better and more accurately gather and study wild turkey data."
Turkey hunters aren't unique in the caring for their target animal. However, they are unique in their willing to act. They go the extra mile, and when the call comes in, they answer it and exceed expectation. These hunters invest in and take ownership of conservation efforts.
Become Part of the Modern Wild Turkey Restoration Movement
Lupardus and Martin both understand the challenge of accruing the needed data for meaningful wild turkey research. This is especially true for private lands. This is even truer with the current data collection strategies implemented by most wildlife agencies in the Southeast, and parts of other regions.
"I'm a diehard turkey hunter," Martin said. "I travel all over the place on public land to kill turkeys. And it's been really sad to see areas that, even three or four years ago, were wide open with turkeys all over the place. There just aren't as many birds today. So, we're definitely invested in making this work."
"It's pretty innovative technology," Lupardus said. "We're providing a FREE one-year membership subscription (IOS; Android) to Hunt Regs if you're a member of TFT. That's a $29 value."
"We have an online form on the website," Martin noted. "We will also direct people to the form from the app, social channels, and via e-blasts. Submit the relevant input data and hit the submit button. Then, the data is shared with TFT for research. It's very low friction. Fill out the form in 5 seconds and go."
Support TFT: Wild turkey populations are on the decline throughout the nation. Established in 2021, TFT is new to the landscape, but it's driven by highly trained professionals with decades of conservation experience. To support TFT, and the complete body of wild turkey research and conservation it's leading, become a member today. An Adult Annual Membership is $50, multi-year Team Turkey Membership is $250, and Life Membership is $2,500. Every dollar counts in the fight for wild turkey preservation.