Turkey Harvest Up for Much Of Virginia

For many hunters in Virginia, this past spring gobbler season was good. VDGIF is reporting that the 2017 harvest figures statewide were up 9% from last season. In fact, it was the third highest harvest in recent times with 18,860 birds taken. During 2015 there were 20,580 birds taken for the top number. The second highest recent harvest was in 2013 with 19,365 birds taken.
Biologists report that overall, the state flock has increased 2.7% each year for the past ten years. That number has leveled off some in recent years. The best estimate that VDGIF has for our turkey population puts it between 185,000 and 195,000 birds statewide.
Weather plays a big role in annual recruitment of birds. This past spring hunters saw warm weather early followed by wet and cooler weather at the end of the season. Hopefully the rest of the spring will finish out with warm weather to assist the hatch.
BY THE NUMBERS:

• Saturday hunters took nearly a third of the harvest and Sunday hunters took 12% of the total.
  
• Youth and apprentice hunters took a total of 627 birds on their weekend of hunting opening the season.
  
• On the George Washington National Forest Land the harvest bumped up 26% and on the Jefferson National Forest, harvests  jumped a whopping 56%!
  
• Westmoreland County has the densest turkey population when viewing the harvest with 2.6 gobblers harvested per square mile. Nearby Northumberland had 2.1 per square mile. This helped the Tidewater Region have the highest harvest rates.
  

Interestingly, King George was an anomaly. Its five year  average is 120 birds. Last season the harvest was 124 birds but this season it was only 101 birds. That is the lowest it has been in awhile. Turkey hunters reported tough conditions and calling situations in King George the past two seasons. The drop was 18.5% this past season.
Caroline County went up 27%.