So you think wildlife biology is a science? Sure it
is, if estimating wild turkey populations by counting the birds
that run across the road in front of your truck is “science.”
In Stalking the Big Bird, an
often-amusing tale of his 27 years with the Arizona Game and Fish
Department, biologist Harley Shaw reveals just how quirky the field
can be. Shaw takes the reader out for in-the-trenches turkey
research, where we learn not to point capture-net cannons in our
own direction, and discover that mountain lions sometimes respond
to turkey calls. We meet interesting characters, such as the
biologist who believes that eating drumsticks is a bona fide part
of turkey research.
Unfortunately, as Shaw points out,
wildlife biology is often subservient to politics: A trip to the
office reveals how the U.S. Forest Service often manages forests
for timber alone, ignoring the needs of wildlife for plant
biodiversity.
Shaw sums up his message with his own wry
humor: “Given the complexities created by multiple human desires,
the management of wildlife begins to look hopeless.”
Stalking the Big Bird: A Tale of Turkeys, Biologists and
Bureaucrats
Harley Shaw, 141 pages, softcover:
$17. 95: University of Arizona Press, 2004.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Sometimes it’s hard to tell who the turkeys are.
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