West Virginia spring turkey harvest declined in 2019

Preliminary data indicates spring turkey hunters harvested 11,210 gobblers in 2019, according to Mike Peters, Game Bird and Small Game Project Leader for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources.

Although nine-percent less than 2018, this harvest is still three percent above the five-year average and nine percent above the 10-year average, Peters reported.

Districts 4 and 5, encompassing the southern and southwestern counties, reported slight increases above last year’s harvests with the remaining districts harvesting fewer birds than last year.

Hunters in District 1 in the northern part of the state harvested 656 fewer birds than last year, a 20% decrease. However, the counties in District 1 harvested the most birds again this year (2,762), followed by District 6 (2,362), District 5 (1,839), District 3 (1,659), District 4 (1,521) and District 2 (1,067).

The five counties with the highest harvest were Mason (464), Preston (455), Jackson (447), Wood (362), and Harrison (347).

Youth hunters harvested 357 turkeys during the one-day youth season April 13, which was 74 fewer than last year. Those numbers are included in the table below with county totals.

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