| Turkey
Harvest |
|
Turkey
Harvest
|
|
Spring
|
Fall
|
|
2006
|
11,869
|
|
|
2005
|
10,804
|
1,110
|
|
2004
|
10,573
|
1,357
|
|
2003
|
12,535
|
|
|
2002
|
13,385
|
2,808
|
|
2001
|
17,875
|
|
|
| Spring 2006
Turkey Harvest |
Sportsmen bagged
11,869 birds during the April 24-May
20 season, an increase of 8.3 percent from last
spring. The higher harvest was the second in
as many years, but state wildlife officials
don’t expect the trend to continue.
“From the statistics
I’m looking at, I’m not optimistic
that we’ll get another increase next year,”
said Curtis Taylor, the Division of Natural
Resources’ wildlife chief. “We won’t
have enough two-year-old birds coming into the
population.”
Past DNR studies have shown that the number
of two-year-old gobblers is the single greatest
contributor toward hunter success.
“Some of those counties,
especially those up in the mountains, were
getting kills like back in the old glory days,”
Taylor said.
Berkeley, Calhoun, Hampshire,
Hardy, Jefferson, McDowell, Mineral, Morgan,
Nicholas and Webster counties were those that
established five-year high-water marks.
Overall, the top 10 harvest
counties were Mason, 495; Wood, 406; Preston,
403; Jackson, 353; Ritchie, 316; Mercer, 316;
Monongalia, 310; Marshall, 306; Greenbrier,
298; and Hardy, 296.
|
