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Administration Home News/Information Contact Us DNR Home   

Joe Manchin III, Governor
Frank Jezioro, Director

News Release : December 14, 2007

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

Paul Johansen, Wildlife Resources Section Asst. Chief (304) 558-2771wildlife@wvdnr.gov

2007 Fall Wild Turkey Harvest Highest in Four Years

Preliminary harvest figures show a kill of 1,491 wild turkeys for the fall 2007 season. “This number should exceed 1,500 birds when the official count of game checking tags is tallied in early 2008,” reported Paul R. Johansen, Assistant Chief of Game Management for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. The harvest is currently 26 percent higher than the 1,186 recorded in 2006, and the highest in the past four years.

The top fall counties during the fall season were Monroe (181), Greenbrier (170), Summers (111), Pocahontas (106), and Nicholas (101). The harvest was 33 percent higher in the traditional fall hunt counties of the Mountains Region, located primarily in Districts 3 and 4 of the state. The kill was down 7 percent in the traditional fall hunt counties of the Eastern Panhandle.

“Our biologists had predicted a higher kill in the mountains region because of good brood counts and poor food conditions that tend to concentrate and expose turkeys, making them more vulnerable,” said Johansen. “In addition, our staff also expected a lower kill in the Eastern Panhandle because of good acorn crops that tend to scatter flocks into more remote areas, thus challenging hunters and lowering the harvest in that area.”

Also aiding in the increased harvest for 2007 was the addition of four new counties (Jackson, Mason, Monongalia and Summers) to a one-week fall season. “Information from past fall seasons and data from our ongoing gobbler population research study allowed for liberalizing our management strategy for opening counties for the fall hunting period,” stated Johansen. “This strategy formally permitted opening counties to fall hunting when they showed harvest of one gobbler per square mile for the preceding spring turkey kill; the new strategy was lowered to 0.75 toms per square mile.” The four new counties added 226 birds to the total count, lead by Summers County with a harvest of 111 turkeys.

**DNR**

FALL TURKEY HARVEST 2003-2007
County 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Barbour C C C C C
Brooke 18 12 10 5 8
Hancock 9 12 7 7 10
Harrison C C C C C
Marion C C C C C
Marshall 16 35 C 20 17
Monongalia 30 C C C 19
Ohio 21 17 15 10 14
Preston 126 125 107 137 90
Taylor C C C C C
Tucker 22 41 30 27 29
Dist. I Subtotal 242 242 169 206 187
Berkeley 30 42 13 24 22
Grant 65 73 59 59 57
Hampshire 116 135 74 68 56
Hardy 89 120 68 63 78
Mineral 38 62 34 59 30
Morgan 20 31 24 31 32
Pendleton 63 45 52 55 60
Dist. II Subtotal 421 508 324 359 335
Lewis C C C C C
Nicholas 81 106 82 67 101
Pocahontas 100 49 75 69 106
Randolph 81 69 73 98 95
Upshur C C C C C
Webster 31 55 43 48 51
Dist. III Subtotal 293 279 273 282 353
Greenbrier 245 165 108 139 170
Monroe 184 163 86 102 181
Summers C C 51 C 111
Dist. IV Subtotal 429 328 245 241 462
Kanawha C C C C C
Mason 97 C 74 C 59
Putnam C C C C C
Dist. V. Subtotal 97 0 74 0 59
Doddridge C C C C C
Jackson 100 C C C 37
Pleasants C C C C C
Ritchie 64 C C C C
Tyler 38 C C C C
Wirt 77 C 45 37 33
Wood 79 C C 60 25
Dist. VI Subtotal 358 0 45 97 95
Unknown 1 0 0 1 0
State Total 1,841 1,357 1,130 1,186 1,491

 



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