ST. LOUIS _ Missouri officials and university researchers, worried the state's wild turkey population is on the edge of calamity, are embarking on an extensive study of the fowl, even preparing to track the birds with GPS "backpacks."
Missouri turkeys were once a species on the rebound. But over the last several years scientists have seen signs of a pronounced decline: They're counting fewer young turkeys in the state's forests and fields. And that tally, nosediving toward record lows, is falling faster than experts predict, sagging inexplicably short of official forecasts that had proven reliable for decades.
