The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) recently announced how many turkeys were reported harvested during this year’s spring wild turkey hunting season.
2023 Tennessee Spring Turkey Harvest Reported
Learn more: https://t.co/0aWCIScxIU#tnwildlife #gooutdoorstennessee #turkeyhunting pic.twitter.com/8FvZucuOeF— TWRA (@tnwildlife) June 13, 2023
Compiled figures by the agency show that 31,802 turkeys were reported harvested during this year’s spring season, which ran from April 15 to May 28. This season’s total number of turkeys harvested is a 6 percent increase from 2022 (29,940) and a two percent decrease over the previous 5-year average (32,495), according to TWRA.
This year’s spring hunting season opened two weeks later than in previous years, and the bag limit was reduced from three birds to two birds, only one of which could be a juvenile or jake.
The changes to this year’s spring season, according to TWRA, were made by the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission to “benefit the state’s wild turkey population” after “hearing growing reports of decreasing turkey populations.”
TWRA attributed the new regulations for this year’s spring season to the fact that the harvest at the beginning of the season was “extremely high” and then “dropped considerably as the season progressed.”
“Harvest on private land during the 2-day Young Sportsman Hunt and the opening weekend were 71 percent and 45 percent higher than the respective 5-year averages, but by 20 days into the season, reported harvest was above the 5-year average by only 11 percent,” TWRA reports.
In a statement, TWRA Wild Turkey Program Coordinator Roger Shields added, “The steep drop-off in harvest as the season continued may be attributed to the lower bag limit. As hunters reached their 2-bird limit, they had to stop hunting. In the past, they may have continued hunting and harvested additional birds.”
Overall, 25,500 hunters reported harvesting at least one turkey during this year’s spring season, 20 percent greater than the five-year average of successful hunters, according to TWRA.
The region in which hunters reported the largest number of harvests was Region II (Middle Tennessee), with 11,662 turkeys harvested, according to the data compiled by TWRA. A total of 7,832 turkeys were harvested in Region I (West Tennessee), 6,157 were harvested in Region III (Upper Cumberland), and 6,150 were harvested in Region IV (East Tennessee).
A total of 2,227 turkeys were reported to be harvested on public land, while 29,575 were reported to be harvested on private land, TWRA notes.
The 2024 spring turkey season will be held from April 13 to May 26, with the Young Sportsman Hunt being held on April 6 and 7.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Turkeys” by Vlad Ioan.
Never thought it’s such a huge difference between # of harvested on private vs public land to be honest!