The Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) announced a harvest of 21,988 turkeys during the 2024 spring turkey season. While this represents a 10% decrease from the record harvest in 2023, this remains one of the highest spring turkey harvests in Virginia history (Figure 1). Ryan Brown, DWR Executive Director, stated “The continued high harvests over the last several years is a great sign for the future for Virginia’s hunters and wildlife enthusiasts. Further, numerous reports of hens with young poults already this spring provide hope that 2024 will be a year of strong productivity in Virginia’s wild turkey population.
DWR biologists anticipated the spring turkey harvest would decrease during the 2024 season for two primary reasons: back-to-back years of record harvests are not typical for the wild turkey, and brood survey results in 2022 were below average. The Department’s annual brood survey measures productivity and recruitment within Virginia’s turkey population. In 2022, the survey indicated below average recruitment of turkey poults across much of the state. These birds would be 2 years old this season, the age group that tends to make up the majority of the annual spring gobbler harvest. With fewer 2-year-old birds on the landscape, a drop in harvest was expected.
As in previous years, more birds were harvested East of the Blue Ridge (68%) than West of the Blue Ridge (32%). Adult gobblers (as defined in harvest records as those with a beard at least 7” in length) made up 91% of the total harvest, while juvenile gobblers, known as “jakes” (beard less than 7” in length), accounted for only 8% of the harvest. Turkey harvests occurred overwhelmingly in the morning (92%) versus the afternoon (7%).
The majority of the spring turkey harvest took place on private lands (93%). Public land hunters (both federal and state) accounted for 7% of the total spring harvest, which was an increase from the prior two years. National Forest lands accounted for the majority of public land harvests.
While the harvest across the Commonwealth continues to be very robust, there are areas of the state where turkey population metrics are falling below the objectives set in DWR’s Wild Turkey Management Plan. DWR biologists continue to monitor these areas for potential management solutions. Using best available science and stakeholder input, the agency has begun revising the Wild Turkey Management Plan and will provide more information as the process develops.
Figure 1: Spring turkey harvest, 1961–2024
