Rio Grande Turkeys Restored on the Rafter K Ranch

RUNNING IS THE TYPICAL retreat method for wild turkeys.

When spooked these big birds can move at impressive speeds but their flying ability is equally impressive.

As Wade Ledbetter of Spring Creek Outdoors opened a cardboard box marked National Wild Turkey Federation, a Rio Grande turkey hen flew out in a flash.

She flew quickly over a lush, green pasture and lit about 50 feet up a pig pine tree ¼ mile away.

“These turkeys are probably wondering why the trees are so big,” Ledbetter said.

These birds were captured under the careful permitting process of Texas Parks & Wildlife on a ranch in South Texas to help restore birds on the Rafter K Ranch near Madisonville.

“Some ranches have an overabundance of Rio Grande turkeys so occasionally we will get requests for stocking on ranches that have lower numbers. In this case, the ranch is on the edge of two ecological zones and stockings could have either been Eastern or Rio Grande turkeys,” said Spring Creek Outdoors founder Macey Ledbetter.

Rafter K Ranch owner Tucker Knight said the working cattle ranch is managed for not only livestock but wildlife.

“We’re so excited to have turkeys return here. We’ve been working on the habitat and have good populations of whitetail and have been involved in bobwhite quail restoration too,” Knight said.

Macey Ledbetter Knight and his crew have put hard work into this project and are seeing the fruits of their labor already.

“They are seeing the birds disperse on the ranch. They have installed elevated turkey feeders and the birds are actively using them,” he said.

The ideal wild turkey habitat is a mixture of hardwood bottomlands with good roosting trees, pasture, and open forest.

The Rafter K has all of the above, making it a great place for Rio Grande recovery on the fringe of their habitat.

Texas has more turkeys than any other state due to its incredible number (around 400,000) of Rio Grande turkeys along with about 10,000 Easterns in the Pineywoods and a few Merriam’s in the Trans Pecos.

There are gaps in turkey populations. Projects like this one on the Rafter K and ongoing TPWD Eastern turkey stockings are helping to fill those gaps.

Turkeys require healthy forests to thrive, so when properties are managed for them other creatures benefit.

Turkey restoration is not just about the birds themselves, but a healthy ecosystem.

And that’s something we all can get behind.

 

 

—story by CHESTER MOORE

 

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