CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Across West Virginia the spring gobbler season gets started Monday, April 20. The season is open in every county. Mike Peters heads up the Wild Turkey and Migratory Waterfowl Project for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. He said a couple of factors are at play as for what hunters will find on the landscape for this season.
The first factor is last year’s brood counts were not impressive. The number of turkeys is fewer in all parts of the state in 2026.
“It was confirmed our brood counts were down last year. Last spring was kind of a cold spring and damp spring and apparently a lot of broods didn’t survive,” he explained.
Even in the southwestern counties where there was a cicada hatch, the brood counts were still down despite a huge lift in protein for the birds.
Most hunters kill birds that are 2-years old on average. That means the brood count from last spring, won’t necessarily impact this year’s harvest , but there was a noticeable drop in the fall harvest according to Peters. Although several other factors also contributed, he admitted the low brood count was a contributor. Last year’s cold, wet spring was one of the issues which really affected the young poults. A lot of rain and cold temperatures at the right time can be deadly for a young turkey.
“In the beginning when poults are first hatched they can’t keep themselves warm, so they’re really relying on hens to brood them, keep them warm and dry. They’re very vulnerable to weather conditions and that’s what happened last spring,” he explained.
The other factor which could impact this year’s harvest is the mast crop. Last year’s mast, especially acorns, was one of the best we’ve seen in years in West Virginia. It had a major impact on the deer season last fall and stands to reason it will impact turkey movement this spring. Because of the abundant mast, a lot of turkeys were able to make it through the winter in much better shape.
“This is crazy, I really don’t know what to say. The winter was relatively mild except for two weeks with ice. We did have a really decent mast year so I would think survival was good except for those two weeks,” he explained. “There’s still a lot of mast on the ground and I’m wondering how that will play into this spring season. I’m excited to see what happens here.”
The season opens up just as several students at WVU are starting to wind down research on wild turkeys here in West Virginia. It’s the first significant research since the agency did the famous hen study of the1990’s which reflected what had happened with the DNR’s trap and transfer program. The program was arguably one of the most successful conservation efforts in history.
“Thanks to my predecessors, we have turkeys in all 55 counties. But we don’t have abundance estimates. Our data is always kind of sketchy because we rely on harvest data. You’re right in the late 80’s and early 90’s our population was at peak level of abundance, based on harvest. Since then the harvest has come down, but the population seems to be stable,” he said.
The idea with the ongoing research, which included radio telemetry on wild turkeys in the state, was to try and replicate the famous hen study of the 1990’s and compare the data three decades later.
The hunting season runs until May 24. This weekend, April 18 and 19th are youth season hunting days for wild turkeys in West Virginia.