Tennessee turkey hunters again posted another successful spring season as the harvest for 2012 again nears 34,000 as reports continued to trickle in to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
The spring turkey statewide season came to a close on May 13. The harvest number stands at 33,789 just shy of last year’s total of 34,026. This year’s harvest currently ranks as the fourth highest on record. The record harvest of more than 37,000 birds came in 2010.
“The 2012 spring turkey season was another successful year for turkey hunters in Tennessee,” said Chris Hunter, TWRA Turkey Program Coordinator.
“Current figures for the spring stand at almost 34,000 which is right in line with the third best ever season from 2011. Tennessee seems to have hit a stable point in the turkey population and this is where we want to be. During the spring season, we harvested over 30,000 birds for the last 10 years and although small fluctuations have occurred, this is expected in a long-term stable turkey population.”
Maury County again was the top county with 1,036 birds harvested up from the 2011 total of 949. Greene County was again second with a total of 936, seeing an increase from 896 in 2011.
Dickson County, a past leader for the spring season, was again in third with 798. Rounding out the top 10 counties were Montgomery 771, Sumner 706, Henry 696, Rutherford 680, Bedford 670, Lincoln 670, and Giles 629. Wilson County just missed the top 10 with a harvest of 623.