II.

Habitat and Range

The wild turkey mainly lives in forested areas and marshlands, and it is native to northern Mexico and the eastern United States. Overhunting and habitat loss greatly reduced its numbers in many regions of the United States by 1900. Efforts to restore the wild turkey population began in the 1930s, but introducing turkeys raised in pens back into the wild was not very successful. The birds lacked needed survival skills. A more effective approach was to capture members of existing wild populations and relocate them to other areas. Wild turkeys are now found in all states except Alaska. They have also been introduced as game birds in New Zealand and Germany.