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The first gobble of the morning is a rush for spring hunters — Photo: National Wild Turkey Federation |
Turkey hunters can expect to have plenty of opportunities when the four-week spring gobbler season opens up April 28th.
"We’re forecasting that the gobbler kill will be higher than last year," said DNR Biologist Bill Igo. "We killed just less than ten-thousand last year and we ought to go over ten-thousand this year."
Igo bases that suggestion on brood reports from two years ago in West Virginia. The statewide brood count in 2006 was up, translating to a larger number of mature gobblers that will be in the woods of the Mountain State this spring. Igo is able to go a step further and say the gobbler kill for next year will likely be up as well, since last spring’s reproduction was also above average.
The season opens on the last Saturday in April and runs for four weeks. Some hunters often criticize that opening date as too late, but Igo counters it’s set purposely to guard the wild turkey population.
"Biologically what you want to do when you set a spring season is to set it on or near the peak of incubation,” Igo said in a recent edition of West Virginia Outdoors. "That means that most of your hens are setting."
West Virginia’s peak incubation historically falls in the first week of May. When hens are on the nest, it reduces the likelihood they’ll be killed accidentally or illegally.
"We set the season based on the fourth Monday of April, sometimes that falls like this year real late and some years the earliest it can be is April 22nd," said Igo.
A small number of hens actually have beards, making them legal for spring
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Photo: National Wild Turkey Federation |
harvest. Studies reveal that West Virginia has about a four-percent legal hen kill with the season set as it is today. The illegal kill is at about nine-percent. Virginia has an earlier opening date. Their illegal hen kill is more than double that of West Virginia.
"We figured running some population models in five years time statewide we would lower the population potential for West Virginia by nine-thousand birds if we open up the season earlier,” said Igo.
During the 1990’s spring turkey hunters enjoyed exploding growth in turkey numbers all across the state. The fruits of a trap and transfer program to spread turkeys across the state was just taking root. Turkeys were finding new territory, great habitat, and little to no competition for food. Their numbers exploded. Today, the population is well established in all 55-counties and the year-to-year turkey numbers are based on the normal factors of spring brooding success, mast, and habitat.