The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) compiled statistics from the state’s recently completed 2025 spring wild turkey hunting season. The total reported harvest is 29,037, down 2,610 (8 percent decrease) from 2024 and a 13 percent decrease over the previous 5-year average (33,304).
“Going into the spring, I thought harvest this year might be down a bit due to the poor reproduction that occurred back in 2023,” said Roger Shields, TWRA Wild Turkey Program Coordinator. “The low productivity meant we would have fewer 2-year-old birds on the landscape than in years past.”
On top of that, this year was a very wet spring, which Shields said likely impacted the harvest, both for its effect on turkey behavior as well as hunter behavior. “We heard from a number of sources that birds were not as vocal this year and as hunters, if we’re not hearing birds, we’re often less inclined to keep heading to the woods, especially if it’s raining all the time,” he said. “We’ll have a better idea of how hunter effort changed and how that might have affected total harvest after we get results from our post-season hunter survey.”
A total of 23,785 hunters reported harvesting at least one turkey, 1 percent lower than the 5-year average of successful hunters (23,996). One turkey was harvested by 78 percent of the successful hunters and two birds were harvested by 22 percent of the successful hunters.
There were 25,797 gobblers and 3,066 jakes harvested from the five new turkey management units. The Central unit had a total reported harvest of 13,775, followed by the Northeast with 5,839, Midwest with 4,607, Southeast with 3,860, and West with 956.
The 2026 spring turkey season will be held April 11-May 24. The 2026 Young Sportsman Hunt is the weekend of April 4-5.
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The application period for the 2025-26 season long Waterfowl WMA hunts is open June 25 through July 16. The successful applicants will be notified by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) through email (sent to the email on their account) when the drawing is finalized.
The online application is available at www.gooutdoorstennessee.com. All hunters who are successfully chosen for a blind must claim their permit by Aug. 11. If there are any leftover permits by the application deadline, there will be a leftover drawing Aug. 21.
Only current Tennessee residents, Lifetime Sportsman License holders, and native Tennesseans (with an approved application) are eligible for the season long blinds. There is no application fee, but applicants must have a valid license to hunt waterfowl to apply.
Hunters can select up to 48 hunt choices. No person may apply more than once. Only parties of 4 to 8 members may apply for the drawing.
The next available application period will be Sept. 24-Oct. 14 for early segment duck quota hunts. The mid application dates are Oct. 22-Nov. 12 and the late application dates are Nov. 13-Dec. 3.