Wisconsin Brings Wild Turkeys Back After 100-Year Absence

Fifty years ago this January, a small plane landed in La Crosse carrying 29 cardboard boxes with something Wisconsin hadn't seen in a century: wild turkeys. The team of biologists and local conservation club members waiting at the airport felt like expectant parents, ready to welcome home a native species that had been missing since 1881.

The story of Wisconsin's wild turkeys is one of patience and learning from failure. Between 1929 and 1957, the state released over 3,600 turkeys from game farms and Pennsylvania, but every single attempt flopped. These captive-bred birds simply lacked the survival skills to make it in the wild.

Everything changed when Wisconsin wildlife biologists looked to their neighbors for inspiration. Iowa had just succeeded with wild turkeys trapped in Missouri, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources struck a deal: three ruffed grouse for every Missouri wild turkey.

Ron Nicklaus, then 27 and leading the field team, remembers working seven days a week trapping enough grouse to earn their precious cargo. When those first 20 hens and nine gobblers finally arrived on that cold January morning, the conditions weren't exactly welcoming: 20 degrees, seven inches of snow on the ground. But these were wild birds, and they knew how to survive.

The success exceeded everyone's wildest predictions. Today, wild turkeys live in every single Wisconsin county, from remote forests to suburban parks. The National Wild Turkey Federation's former CEO Rob Keck calls it remarkable: "To go from zero to statewide and have decades of growth and stability, there is nothing like it."

The Ripple Effect

Wisconsin's turkey triumph became a blueprint for wildlife restoration across America. The project proved that using truly wild birds, not farm-raised ones, makes all the difference. It showed the power of partnerships between state agencies, conservation groups like the National Wild Turkey Federation, and private landowners willing to welcome wildlife back.

The success also taught conservationists worldwide a vital lesson: sometimes nature just needs a second chance with the right approach. What worked for turkeys inspired similar projects for other native species, creating a ripple of restoration efforts that continue today.

Ed Frank, now 92 and the DNR's upland game bird manager during the reintroduction, keeps it simple: "If Iowa could do it, so could we. We felt we had better turkey habitat here in Wisconsin." That confidence, combined with learning from past mistakes and respecting the wildness of wild animals, turned an extinct species into a conservation legend.

Those 29 birds that stepped off a plane 50 years ago proved that with science, partnership, and persistence, we can undo environmental damage and bring nature back home.