West Virginia spring turkey harvest declined in 2019

By
Will Reedy, Contributing Editor
-
745
West Virginia spring turkey harvest declined in 2019
A hunter calls a gobbler during spring turkey season in West Virginia. Photo courtesy W.Va. Div. of Commerce.

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.

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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).

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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.

Spring harvest of wild turkeys in West Virginia, 2015-2019
County 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Barbour 127 165 204 250 202
Brooke 67 78 100 174 118
Hancock 89 98 106 87 109
Harrison 247 286 328 440 347
Marion 170 192 257 330 298
Marshall 174 207 256 417 311
Monongalia 199 197 267 346 263
Ohio 109 111 113 145 145
Preston 333 371 475 555 455
Taylor 72 101 135 189 142
Tucker 82 90 97 89 102
Wetzel 168 196 244 396 270
District 1 Subtotal 1,837 2,092 2,582 3,418 2,762
Berkeley 124 115 147 162 141
Grant 131 161 145 160 140
Hampshire 156 170 184 166 203
Hardy 116 132 132 151 142
Jefferson 82 79 115 115 125
Mineral 118 134 133 148 121
Morgan 64 54 64 65 83
Pendleton 94 88 112 112 112
District 2 Subtotal 885  933 1,032  1,079 1,067
Braxton 194 197 209 307 257
Clay 83 101 120 142 102
Lewis 194 211 249 289 232
Nicholas 213 330 311 287 260
Pocahontas 145 144 142 113 155
Randolph 225 250 247 207 258
Upshur 231 228 302 335 295
Webster 114 156 151 129 100
District 3 Subtotal 1,399 1,617 1,731 1,809  1,659
Fayette 239 292 278 247 257
Greenbrier 242 308 269 225 254
McDowell 218 200 177 132 105
Mercer 161 176 192 150 129
Monroe 181 184 192 183 231
Raleigh 231 283 280 213 205
Summers 199 219 209 170 158
Wyoming 257 320 262 197 182
District 4 Subtotal 1,728 1,982 1,859 1,517  1,521
Boone 138 157 157 25 132
Cabell 110 114 176 125 147
Kanawha 227 285 320 308 296
Lincoln 169 215 229 158 173
Logan 172 181 165 157 141
Mason 314 378 448 469 464
Mingo 91 131 143 106 118
Putnam 181 210 268 235 236
Wayne 108 139 186 129 132
District 5 Subtotal 1,510 1,810 2,092 1,812 1,839
Calhoun 128 145 164 190 164
Doddridge 118 137 160 216 178
Gilmer 124 132 143 170 142
Jackson 264 302 408 460 447
Pleasants 71 80 88 122 124
Ritchie 218 216 264 327 285
Roane 210 231 256 280 257
Tyler 144 182 181 250 217
Wirt 153 174 205 230 186
Wood 248 328 380 407 362
District 6 Subtotal 1,678 1,927 2,249 2,652 2,362
State Total 9,037 10,361 11,545 12,287 11,210

Related social media hashtags #wvhunt #wvdnr

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