A sign for ODFW’s Hunt by Reservation Program is posted on a fence leading into private property.

CORVALLIS — For years, Matt Blakeley-Smith has wrestled with how to control flocks of pesky wild turkeys at Bald Hill Farm.

Greenbelt Land Trust purchased the 587-acre ranch near Corvallis in 2013. While a portion of the property is still used for cattle grazing, Blakeley-Smith, the organization’s stewardship director, is primarily focused on restoring native oak and prairie habitat for rare and endangered species.

Hundreds of non-native turkeys, however, have made that job all the more difficult.

Loads of feces pile up underneath 400-year-old oak trees where the birds roost. Plus, voracious turkeys will eat just about anything, including other birds and wildlife. In one case, Blakeley-Smith said he watched from his tractor as turkeys gobbled up seeds shortly after planting.

“(These) turkeys are a nightmare,” he said. “They’re directly having a financial impact on us.”

Looking for ways to reduce the population, Bald Hill Farm enrolled last year in the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Hunt by Reservation Program, which links hunters with farms and ranches experiencing wildlife damage.

The program started as a pilot in 2020 and is partially funded by Pheasants Forever, a nonprofit hunting and conservation group.

Brandon Dyches, program coordinator for ODFW, said the benefits are twofold. Not only does it create new opportunities for legal, regulated hunting, but also helps to manage healthy wildlife populations on private land and protect agricultural interests.

“I think it’s been a positive addition to our already strong access and habitat programs,” Dyches said. “It’s just a really smart way to open up new niches of access.”

Program growth

Since it was introduced, the Hunt by Reservation Program has grown in popularity.

Between 2020 and 2022, the number of registered acres statewide has increased nearly sixfold, from 1,529 to 8,823, according to statistics from ODFW. The number of hunter reservations went up from 64 to 332, and hunter days afield rose from 92 to 520.

Roughly 30% of hunters surveyed by ODFW who participated in the program last year said they harvested an animal during their trip — including 57 turkeys, up from 26 in 2021.

Blakeley-Smith, at Greenbelt Land Trust, said he is already considering enrolling more of their properties in the program.

Hunting always seemed like a logical solution for culling turkeys, but the land trust didn’t previously have the staff or expertise to pull it off, he said. With Hunt by Reservation, the logistics are handled by ODFW via an online platform.

“That hurdle, or barrier, to getting started just wasn’t there,” he said.

As a bonus, Blakeley-Smith said they are reaching a new audience of hunters who support the land trust’s mission.

“We all share the same interest in being outdoors and being in nature,” he said. “It just looks different to different people.”

Hunter success

The program is similarly getting rave reviews from some hunters.

Scotty Bethune, a lifelong hunter who lives in Oregon City, had never hunted turkeys before participating in Hunt by Reservation last fall. He harvested his first bird at a small, 20-acre farm near Albany and his first tom hunting at Bald Hill Farm the weekend after Thanksgiving.

“It was an awesome experience. We were on birds pretty much all day long,” Bethune said. “For me, it gave me access to properties I don’t think I would have had access to before.”

Hunt by Reservation also took out much of the guesswork, Bethune said. He didn’t have to knock on the landowner’s door first to ask for permission, and was given maps of the two properties before heading out that showed where he could set up.

Bethune said he is already making plans for his next turkey hunt this spring.

”I wish it was April already,” he said.

Dyches said ODFW’s contract with Pheasants Forever to support the Hunt by Reservation Program runs through February 2024. With another year of success, he hopes it could prompt state lawmakers to allocate funding that would make the program permanent.

”Last year was a major turning point,” Dyches said. “Just looking down the harvest statistics, we did really well there, especially with wild turkeys. … It is a high-quality opportunity.”

To learn more about ODFW’s Hunt by Reservation Program, or to apply for a Hunt by Reservation permit, visit https://myodfw.com/reserve-your-hunt.

Landowners interested in enrolling can contact program coordinator Brandon Dyches at brandon.c.dyches@odfw.oregon.gov.