Joe Manchin III, Governor

Frank Jezioro, Director

News Release : May 31, 2006

Hoy Murphy, Public Information Officer (304) 558-3381 hoymurphy@wvdnr.gov

Contact: Curtis Taylor, Wildlife Resources Section Chief (304) 558-2771 wildlife@wvdnr.gov

2006 West Virginia Spring Gobbler Harvest Reported

  Hunters in West Virginia harvested 11,869 turkeys during the 2006 spring gobbler season, according to Curt is I. Taylor, Chief of the Wildlife Resources Section for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. Preliminary harvest figures indicate that the turkey kill was about 1,000 birds, or 8.3 percent, higher than last year's kill of 10,957 birds.

  The top six counties this spring were Mason (495), Wood (406), Preston (403), Jackson (353), Ritchie (316), and Mercer (316). Thirty-six of the state's 55 counties showed increases in the harvest this year, with most of the increase in the northern counties. Ten counties had their largest harvest of the past five spring gobbler seasons. The highest harvests were reported in DNR District 6 (2,518), followed by District 1 (2,454), District 4 (2,152), District 5 (1,958), District 3 (1,544), and District 2 (1,243). District 2 (46 percent higher) and District 3 (23 percent higher) had the largest percentage increases in harvest from 2005. See accompanying table for counties in each district.

  “We had predicted better gobbling and a higher harvest prior to the season since a good hatch occurred in 2004,” remarked Taylor . “Our biologists have found that the level of brood production accurately forecasts spring turkey harvests two years later.”

**DNR**