BY ANNA KAMINSKI
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — The consistent, dramatic decline in Kansas’ wild turkey population prompted the state in 2023 to forbid hunting them in the fall.
Simultaneously, an influx of funding and research is attempting to reverse wild turkey losses.
The latest came recently when the Kansas state chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation approved more than $126,000 for habitat enhancement and hunting education projects. The federation promised an additional $730,000.
The funds will be dispersed across Kansas to boost invasive species removal efforts, a Boy Scout habitat project, turkey ecology and toxicology research at Kansas State University, scholarships, sponsorships and a habitat specialist position. The funding is fueled by volunteers who raise money at banquets and fundraisers, according to a Tuesday news release.
Annie Farrell, the federation’s district biologist for Kansas and three other states, commended the volunteers.
“These volunteers are our boots on the ground, putting their hard-earned dollars back on the landscape to support critical projects that will greatly benefit the wild turkey,” she said. “Thanks to their dedication, it’s going to be a great year for conservation in Kansas.”
The wild turkey encompasses five subspecies, including the Eastern and the Rio Grande, which are found in Kansas along with a hybrid of the two subspecies. Wild turkey can be found in nearly every county in Kansas.
The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks suspended the fall wild turkey hunting season in 2023 after years of restrictions.
Still, 13,862 turkeys were hunted and harvested in 2025, according to the department’s annual turkey harvest report.
In 2023, K-State received almost $2 million to conduct wild turkey research to deduce the root cause of the more than 40% decline since 2008.
Wild turkey populations were gravely diminished in the early 20th century because of human activity resulting in overhunting and habitat loss, according to the National Audubon Society.
The society’s annual Christmas Bird Count shows a steady increase in observations of wild turkey in Kansas beginning in the 1960s, when they were reintroduced into the state. Observations peaked in 2011 and have since declined to levels comparable to those of more than two decades ago.