During the fall of 2004, a total of 19 counties were opened to fall wild turkey hunting. Fifteen counties were opened to a two-four week season, and 4 were opened to one week. The number of counties open was 7 less than last year and 19 less than the high of 38 in 2001. The harvest (1,357) was 26% lower than the 2003 total of 1,841 (Table 4) and unfortunately, resulted in a decline in harvest for the third year in a row.

District 2 had a higher harvest than the previous year, and the harvest in District 1 was exactly the same as 2003. Districts 3 and 4 had lower reported totals, and Districts 5 and 6 were entirely closed to fall hunting in 2004. The traditional fall-hunted counties that are open from two-four weeks accounted for a majority of the fall kill (94%) with 1,281 birds reported. The top five counties during the fall 2004 season were Greenbrier (165), Monroe (163), Hampshire (135), Preston (125), and Hardy (120). The harvest by WMAs is illustrated in Table 5. WMA harvest (163) accounted for only 12% of the total kill versus 55% of the total during 2003. The top WMAs were Neola (26), Wardensville (24), Blackwater (15), Sleepy Creek (11), and Rimel (11).

Sixteen percent of the total fall kill occurred on opening Saturday of the fall season, and this was the only double digit day in terms of percentage of the 31 day season.

The opening week of the fall season accounted for 38% of the total kill which was much lower than the 57% reported in 2003 (Table 6). The last week of the season accounted for only 13% of the harvest. As observed last fall, hunters scouting for white-tailed deer did not take advantage of the fall turkey season, which was open the week prior to the deer gun season, or hunters just did not do much pre-season deer scouting.


Written by James C. Pack

Click On Links Below For PDF Versions of Tables 4-6.

Table 4. Fall Harvest of Wild Turkeys In West Virginia, 2000--2004.
(PDF format, 7.59KB)

Table 5. Fall Turkey Harvest By Locality In West Virginia, 2000-2004.
(PDF format, 8.61KB)

Table 6. Fall wild turkey harvest by week of season, 2004.
(PDF format, 6.52KB)

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