The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has turned to the people in a bid to gather data on the state’s wild turkey population. They're calling on volunteers to play the part of citizen scientists this summer and participate in the wild turkey brood surveys. These surveys, integral to assessing reproductive success and population trends among turkeys, involve counting not only the poults but also the adult females and males.

During the survey, which runs through June, July, and August, is when volunteers are most needed. Each sighting, the IDNR asks to be accompanied by information such as the number of young turkeys, adult females, and adult males, as well as the county and date where the turkeys were spotted. Despite the simplicity of the task, the data collected by volunteers has proven to be significant. In fact, over the past five years, there has been a notable uptick in the number of poults per hen (PPH), which has jumped from 1.62 in 2019 to over 3.0 in recent years.

Submissions for the survey can easily be made through the department's electronic wild turkey survey, accessible via any internet browser or the Survey123 app. And for those without the means to go online, the IDNR offers postcards that can be mailed in with their findings. According to a statement on Illinois.gov , the IDNR's tracking over the last half-decade has also shown improvements in poult survival, with poults per brood (PPB) climbing from 3.69 to 4.23.