West Virginia’s fall wild turkey season opens October 13

            SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The fall wild turkey hunting season in West Virginia opens October 13 in selected counties. The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) predicts the wild turkey harvest this fall will be similar to the 2011 fall hunting season, when hunters took 1,186 turkeys in 33 counties. This prediction is based on current mast conditions and wild turkey brood reports.

            “This year’s mast crop is spotty with some areas having abundant production and some areas with scarce mast conditions,” said Curtis I. Taylor, chief of the DNR Wildlife Resources Section. “The mast conditions will have wild turkey flocks spread out across the landscape, but hunters willing to scout or walk should have no problem locating flocks in areas of abundant mast.”

            A total of 36 counties in West Virginia will be open to wild turkey hunting this fall.  Counties open to fall turkey hunting include the following:

• Fourteen (14) traditional fall hunting counties will be open to a four-week spilt season (October 13 – October 20 and October 29 – November 17, 2012).
• Seven (7) counties will be open to a two-week split season (October 13 – October 20 and October 29 – November 3, 2012).
• Fifteen (15) counties will have a one-week season (October 13 – October 20, 2012).

            More information on the fall wild turkey season and other hunting regulations can be found in the 2012–2013 West Virginia Hunting and Trapping Regulations Summary.  Copies of this brochure are available at DNR offices, license agents, and on the agency’s website: www.wvdnr.gov.