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Abstract
Eastern wild turkey restoration efforts in east Texas have been extensive since the early 1940s. However, restoration efforts have yielded mixed success, resulting in fragmented turkey populations across east Texas. In recent years, the primary objective of restoration has been to reconnect and supplement fragmented populations through continued use of translocation. Translocation is the process where an animal is captured in its current endemic habitat, transported, and then released into a new landscape. Restoration success is dependent on the ability of translocated wild turkeys to adapt and survive in this new landscape. Individual adaptation and survival are influenced by a suite of confounding biotic and abiotic factors (e.g., habitat types and availability, presence of conspecifics, reproduction, spatial structure, prescribed fire). This study investigated how these factors influenced translocation success of eastern wild turkeys. Furthermore, because restoration success is also dependent on fitness, and because translocation may influence reproduction, this study assessed reproductive ecology of translocated eastern wild turkeys. Therefore, results of this study increase our theoretical and applied knowledge of translocation and reproductive ecology of eastern wild turkeys in east Texas.