Special WSB issue to feature wild turkey symposium presenters

The Wildlife Society Bulletin is accepting manuscripts for a special issue focused on research that will be presented at the National Wild Turkey Federation symposium in December 2025.

“The entire issue will be devoted to the turkey symposium,” said David Haukos, the editor for the special section.

The National Wild Turkey Federation has put on a symposium spotlighting the latest wild turkey research about every five years since 1959. At the most recent symposium in 2022, organizers decided to fast-track the next gathering, due to increased attention on the species as turkey populations in several states dwindle.

“There’s probably more wild turkey research going on right now in the country than there every has been,” said Mark Hatfield, director of conservation services for the NWTF. He hopes the symposium can help state wildlife agencies respond to dwindling populations.

“Many states are reinvigorating their research priorities and their focus,” he said.

For past symposiums, manuscripts were later published in standalone publications. After the 2022 symposium, manuscripts were compiled and published in the June 2022 issue of the Wildlife Society Bulletin. For the upcoming 13^th symposium in Kansas City, Missouri, the submission process for the first time includes both the symposium and the journal.

Researchers are invited to submit manuscripts on any topic related to wild turkey ecology and management for consideration by Nov. 1, 2024.

“Any individual who wants to present or provide an oral presentation at the symposium will have to have an accepted paper within the proceedings or within the special issue,” Haukos said. “If, for some reason, the submitted manuscript is not accepted for inclusion in this special issue, then the symposium organizers intend to reach out to those authors to provide poster presentations.”

Because articles in the WSB are now open access, presenters now have an “open exchange of information” they didn’t have in the past, Hatfield said. “This also helps with recognition of what’s going on with wild turkeys and their overall importance, and it can drive opportunities for further engagement.”