Voices of Prois...It's In Our DNA!

By:  Prois Staffer and NJ State Coordinator, Cristina Jones

Let's face it, in some areas across the country the wild turkey is on the decline.  State agencies have instituted lesser bag limits, changed around the dates of the season to accommodate mating season and nesting season dates and many are several years into studies looking for answers to the notable decline.  In my own state of New Jersey, where I serve as president of the NJ Women in the Outdoors, NWTF Chapter and as the treasurer of the NJ State Chapter NWTF, we partnered with the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife to spearhead a three year turkey research project.  From funding to boots on the ground assistance in trapping and gathering data our chapters are committed to finding answers.  

All across the country there are folks just like me, and chapters just like ours working to gather data and hopefully learn how we can stop the decline and get the population expanding.  While down in Nashville in February for the National Wild Turkey Federation's National Convention and Sports Show, I sat in on a workshop about the Wild Turkey DNA project.  I had first heard of it last spring when it was launched and geared toward hunters who harvested unique birds, with differing plumage than the typical species.  If you haven't heard of this, I'd stop RIGHT HERE and head to wildturkeydna.com to see what I am talking about.  You can also follow them on social media to see updates. 

At the NWTF Convention, they announced they would be launching a new avenue to study.  Inviting hunters to request a kit to participate in the research.  Once a hunter harvested a bird, they would follow a few easy steps of submitting pictures and sending in a sample from the harvested turkeys tongue.  There was no doubt in my mind I would be requesting a kit!  Luckily, both my husband and I were chosen and received our kit in the mail.  Included were step by step instructions and everything we needed to participate, with the exception of a knife and a wild turkey harvest.  The purpose of this project is to better understand genetics including things like hybridization, genetic diversity and more.

I've spent the last 2.5 weeks playing cat and mouse with birds trying to help others fill tags, as well as myself, and today, it all came together.  The hunt itself was everything a turkey hunter could ask for, and to harvest a beautiful mature bird here in NJ is always a blessing. If I am being honest, I was most excited that I would be able to submit a sample to the Wild Turkey DNA project.  

Thanks to The Wild Turkey Lab, the National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited, the Low Country Game Bird Foundation, and the University of Texas at El Paso for making this project possible.  It is my hope that the research we are doing today leaves a lasting positive impact for future turkey hunters, so that everyone can experience what it's like to sit in the woods on a cool spring morning and hear that first gobble of the season.

Second only to my shotgun, my Prois gear is essential to a successful turkey season.  This spring alone I have utilized everything from Pradlann and Solas pants to my Greann Bibs to my Torai jacket, and always my Olann half zip!  Two things I never leave home without  are my Tintri neck gaiter and my Prois turkey vest.  From freezing morning temps, to hot mid-morning days Prois keeps me comfortable and able to keep going, even when the turkeys are being jerks.