The 2004 spring gobbler harvest was 10,573 (Table 1). The total was 16% lower than the kill of the previous year (12,535). The model used to forecast kill projected the harvest within the range of 10,000-13,500, and the final total barely fell within the low end of this range. The drop in harvest was due largely to poor brood production in 2002 and 2003.

The top four counties in terms of harvest were Mason (400), Preston (348), Summers (316), Raleigh (299) with Mercer (294), and Roane (294) tied for fifth. Every District had a lower kill than 2003. District 1, in Northern West Virginia , had the highest harvest (2,384), followed by District 6 (2,106 in the western part of the State). The harvest changed little in District 2 (992 in 2003 to 940 in 2004) and District 4 (2,050 in 2003 to 1,966 in 2004). District 3 dropped 21 percent to 1,330. Illustrated in Table 2 is the harvest by wildlife management areas (WMAs). The top five areas were Wardensville (46), Bluestone (44), Potomac (39), Cranberry (26), and Hillcrest (25).

The opening day of the spring season accounted for 17% of the total spring harvest, and the harvest declined the next couple of days, picked up again and then dropped to a much lower level the second week through the end of the season. The minor peaks after the opening day of the season occurred during Saturdays.

During 2004, the first week amounted to 61% of the total kill, and this was similar to 2003 percentage of 63% (Table 3). The percent harvest during the other weeks of the season was also similar to 2003.

Written by James C. Pack

Click On Links Below For PDF Versions of Tables 1-3.

Table 1. Spring Harvest of Wild Turkeys In West Virginia, 2000-2004.
(PDF format, 7.90KB)

Table 2. Spring Turkey Harvest By Locality In West Virginia, 2000-2004.
(PDF format, 9.17KB)

Table 3. Spring wild turkey harvest by week of season, 2004.
(PDF format, 6.53KB)

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