Motivation and Support for Regulatory Changes: A Typology of Tennessee Wild Turkey Hunters

Hunters form a diverse group with multiple motivations for seeking outdoor recreation experiences. A deeper understanding of hunters’ motivations may benefit wildlife managers in state agencies to cater services and regulations to meet the needs of this diverse group. To determine the motivations of wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) hunters in Tennessee, and their attitudes and preferences concerning turkey hunting and management, a self-administered questionnaire was developed and mailed to a sample of licensed Turkey hunters in Tennessee. A multivariate K-means cluster analysis was then applied to identify hunter typologies based on several motivation factors that were derived from the results of running a principal components analysis on motivation questions. The cluster analysis yielded three typologies of respondents: social harvesters (44%), experiential harvesters (22%), and social outdoor enthusiasts (34%). Hunters in these segments were then analyzed to compare the importance of, satisfactions with, and support for various hunting regulations such as season length, bag limits, and preference for management zones. Tennessee wild turkey hunters were overall very satisfied with regulations; however, harvest-oriented hunters were less receptive to regulations that would limit season lengths or bag limits while socially-oriented hunters were more accepting to these restrictive regulations. No significant differences were found between groups in terms of preference for management zones. Findings increase our understanding of typologies as a useful tool for assessing support for management regulations across large populations and may guide wildlife managers in designing effective and socially acceptable regulations for turkey hunting in Tennessee.