Wild turkeys cause little damage to row crops in Illinois.

Similar to much of the agricultural Midwest, Eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) populations have increased considerably in Illinois, making them more visible to landowners and occasionally being blamed for crop damage. We studied food habits of turkeys and wildlife damage to row crops to assess whether turkeys were causing damage to corn and soybeans in Illinois. Crops and gizzards were collected from 118 hunter-harvested turkeys during spring 2002. Corn and/or soybeans were found in >30% of samples, but these crops were consumed as waste grain and no young plants were detected. We sampled newly planted corn and soybean fields for wildlife damage during spring 2002 in areas where turkeys were present. Of 11,150 corn plants inspected, only 0.4% were damaged, and only 1 damaged plant was attributable to avian sources. Of 53,918 soybean plants sampled, 4.7% were damaged by wildlife, and none were attributable to turkeys. We sampled damage to 8,944 ears of corn during fall 2002; only 1.7% of ears were damaged, and none by turkeys. Similar to other studies in the agricultural Midwest, we found turkeys caused no definitive damage to row crops in Illinois.