It is going to be hard to beat the record spring gobbler take of last year, but we can try.
Last year, a new spring record was set with 3,136 gobblers or jakes taken, up by nine birds from the previous record of 3,127, set in 2002.
There is no way of predicting this spring season of April 18 through May 23 (April 15 for junior hunters) according to Bob Long, wild turkey and upland game bird project manager with the Department of Natural Resources.
Spring rains affect turkey movements and also hunter access and interest. Both directly affect the final take. Rain, particularly during nesting season and immediately thereafter, also affects future populations and hunting success, since cold wet springs reduce reproduction levels.
Without full feathers yet, poults get hypothermia. That?s what affected the recruitment of 2003 and 2004. High predation by raccoons, fox, coyote, opossums, rat snakes and cats also knock down the population of the young.
Today, we have turkeys in all 23 counties, with spring gobbler hunting allowed anywhere.
The least density, unfortunately in these days of high gas prices, is closest to urban areas ? the counties around Baltimore. That might change in the future, according to Long, since studies in other states show that turkeys gradually acclimate to humans, just as do deer. Two springs ago, a gobbler strolled through my suburban backyard, if that is any cause for hope.
Long said that the take this spring might be “about the same as last year, give or take a hundred birds.”
He notes that the best spots during the spring season are in the three Western counties of Garrett, Allegany and Washington, and on the lower Eastern shore, particularly Dorchester, Worcester, Wicomico and Somerset counties.
And if we set a record this year (possible, but perhaps unlikely) it won?t affect future hunting. Most turkeys have mated in the weeks prior to the spring season, and tom turkeys are not monogamous, if you get my drift. Hens are not legal, and we should have a bunch of poults running around in no time at all.
Compare that to 1970 when Maryland embarked on this turkey hunting success story. Then we only had about 1,000 turkeys statewide in the three Western counties, along with a few in Aberdeen Proving Grounds. The spring turkey season then netted 33 birds. Today, we have a record harvest almost 100 times that and about 35,000 birds in the state. Things are looking up.
C. Boyd Pfeiffer is an internationally-known sportsman, award-winning author, and has written more than 20 books on fishing and hunting.
