The West Virginia DNR reports the preliminary harvest figures for the 2013 spring gobbler season saw a significant jump from 2012.
Hunters killed 10,974 birds during the recently completed four-week season. The number is a 32% jump from the 2012 harvest and is 13% higher than the previous five-year average.
“Our biologists expected a higher harvest because of the carry-over of birds from last year’s lower harvest,” said DNR Wildlife Section Chief Curtis Taylor. “In addition, the weather was perfect for hunting, especially during opening week when the majority of hunters were in the woods.”
The number of turkeys bagged by hunters was the most successful spring since 2006 and ended a decline which began the following year in 2007.
“Because a significant portion of the harvest is composed of two-year-old birds, one factor that added to this year’s harvest was the successful poult production in 2011,” Taylor said. “We are hopeful that this spring will continue to provide moderate-to-average rainfall and we will have above-average reproduction, rebuilding the turkey population to levels we experienced a decade ago.”
Preston County led the spring harvest with 403 birds killed. The rest of the top ten in order were: Mason (360), Harrison (355), Kanawha (327), Ritchie (325), Jackson (312), Greenbrier (309), Wood (308), McDowell (305) and Marshall (301).