Turkey harvest Montgomery County
January 9th, 2006 by Administrator
Spring turkey harvest falls short of record - Montgomery County ranks fifth in state for wild gobblers harvested .Sixty years ago less than 100 wild turkeys could be found in Tennessee. Now, thanks to an aggressive and dedicated restoration effort, the state’s population of wild turkeys exceeds 317,000 and Tennessee is one of the best places in the nation to harvest a big gobbler.
Hunters harvest approximately 10 percent of the wild turkey population each year, yet the total population continues to grow, and the big birds can now be found in abundance in every county.
Abundance may be too much of a good thing according to Randy Huskey, wild turkey coordinator for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
“We are beginning to receive complaints that there are too many turkeys in some areas and they have become a nuisance,”î Huskey said. “Some deer hunters complain about the turkeys driving deer away from their hunting stands, and the birds sometimes compete with the deer for food in the winter.”î
Huskey said that fall surveys of the young turkey population (poults) indicate that nature may be taking care of the growing turkey population.
“Our poult counts were down this year, but that is not necessarily an indicator of trouble,” Huskey said. “We now have a lot of hens and that means a lot of poults. With an increase in poults, we also see an increase in predation. The more young birds you have running around, the easier it is for a predator to find one.”î
Although we now have fall turkey hunting in Tennessee, in which hens may be taken, the spring gobbler season is the primary hunting period for wild turkeys. The recently released harvest figures reveal that the 2005 spring harvest was not as good as expected.
The statewide gobbler harvest was 33,098, which was 902 birds less than the number of turkeys taken in 2004.
“There is a good reason for the lower harvest total in 2005,”î Huskey said. “We had terrible weather during the opening weekend of the season, and that resulted in a lower harvest total.”
Huskey said that in a normal year 50 percent of the total spring wild turkey harvest is taken during the first week of the season, and nearly half of that is taken on opening day.
“In 2004, we harvested more than 6,000 gobblers on opening day,” Huskey said. “But the bad weather on the opening day in 2005 resulted in a harvest of less than 4,000 birds.”î
The difference in the two opening days alone accounts for the decreased harvest in 2005.
Dickson County was the top county in the state in 2005 with 981 gobblers taken, an increase of 5.8 percent from 2004. Giles County was second with 943 (+7.2 percent), followed by Greene 898 (+15.7 percent), Wayne 885 (+9.8 percent), Montgomery 864 (-1.5 percent), Hardeman 739 (-22.4 percent), Hardin 722 (-8.7 percent), Hawkins 672 (+12.2 percent), Maury 649 (-12.4 percent) and Williamson 640 (+4.2 percent).
In the surrounding counties, Robertson County harvested 503 gobblers (+5.2 percent), Cheatham 413 (-4.6 percent), Houston 311 (+5.4 percent) and Stewart 401 (-19.3 percent).
Fort Campbell was the top wildlife management area with a harvest of 180 birds (-48.0 percent), followed by Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area 124 (-13.3 percent), Cherokee 112 (-27.3 percent), Catoosa 108 (-11.5 percent) and Chuck Swan 91 (-6.2 percent).
On local WMAs, Cheatham harvested 84 gobblers (-22.2 percent), Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge 1 (same as last year) and Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge 1 (-66.7 percent).
With the abundance of wild turkeys in Tennessee, the spring 2006 season that opens on April 1 should provide a good chance for most hunters to bag at least one gobbler. The weather will be the key to an early season success, so let’s all hope for good conditions.
Owen Schroeder