Exclusive Video: WGFD’s Trapping And Release Of Casper Turkeys

There is a good chance you've noticed a slight decline in the number of turkeys roaming around Casper, and there's a good reason why.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Over the last few weeks, Casper region wildlife biologists have had multiple successful sessions of live-trapping the birds to reduce the number roaming Casper's streets. The turkeys have been a topic of conversation and complaints flooding into the Game and Fish office for quite some time.

Wildlife Biologist Brandon Werner played a significant role in the trapping and says the goal isn't to remove every turkey from Casper but to reduce the overall number of birds. Warner says several turkeys were removed, but they expected the number to be bigger.

We ended up with 138 turkeys from Casper and the areas around the town. Honestly, I thought we were going to get more than we did. It's important to remember these birds are wild, and we set up the traps with it being such a mild winter these turkeys were just pretty dang hesitant of the traps. If it were a cold, snowy winter, these birds would've ran under the trap to get the feed.

The traps are large, 60' x 60' nets remotely released to capture the turkeys humanely. Once under the net, they cannot fly or run away, giving WGFD a chance to catch the bird, put it in its own box, and safely relocate it to a perfect area for the turkey to thrive. Some of those areas are in Niobrara and Converse counties. Some birds were moved to areas further from Casper in Natrona County.

Werner says that once the turkeys begin to breed, many will leave town near the end of March or early April. Removing some turkeys now should reduce the number of birds returning next winter.

The successful live-trapping has ended for this winter with zero birds being injured or killed.

WGFD has given me an exclusive video of the recent trapping and release from one of the live-trapping sessions this winter. The video below shows the net being dropped on the birds and their release into their new home.