John K. Thomas

To determine the characteristics of wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) hunters in Texas, and their attitudes and preferences concerning turkey hunting and management, we developed and mailed a self-administered questionnaire to a sample of licensed turkey hunters in Texas and members of the Texas Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF). We sampled 3,500 turkey stamp purchasers and 2,345 members of the Texas Chapter of the NWTF. We received questionnaires from 1,300 (37%) of the turkey stamp purchasers and 748 (32%) of the members of the Texas Chapter of the NWTF. We refer to...

The goal of this study was to assess the law enforcement needs of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Data were obtained from several state agencies and a mail-out survey to Texas game wardens. Game wardens (N = 397) and their captains (N = 33) returned 685 of 690 mailed questionnaires (99% response rate). All 254 counties were represented. A regression model explained 78% of the total variation in the distribution of game wardens and estimated a statewide excess of 16 game wardens. In contrast, the game wardens indicated that 160 more game wardens were needed. Differences between the...