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Hunters take less time to break turkey record
A spring turkey harvest record was set even before the final weekend of hunting got under way.
Last Friday the harvest number hit 36,072 to pass the record of 35,877 set in 2006.
By Sunday, the final day of the spring season, the number climbed to 36,791.
That is 914 (2.5 percent) more birds than the previous record, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
"I remember 2006, that was as an extremely good year, and to be honest I didn't expect that record to be broken any time soon,'' said Mark Jackson, regional field supervisor for the National Wild Turkey Federation. "But this was a phenomenal season. There was an incredible increase of birds seen and birds heard from last year, and last year was not a bad year. Everywhere I hunted I saw a tremendous amount of birds."
The 2010 count is an increase of 4,710 (14.7 percent) turkeys over last year's 32,081.
"I knew after about the second week of the season we were going to have a banner year of turkey hunting," said Charles Tollett, senior regional director for the NWTF. "Not just from my own experiences, but I was talking to many other hunters who were experiencing the same thing, lots of gobbling toms."
The harvest in Middle Tennessee was larger than any other part of the state.
Maury County had the most with 1,022. Next were Montgomery (958), Henry (886), Greene (877), Dickson (846), Sumner (820), Giles (787), Rutherford (774), Hawkins (729) and Marshall (699).
Other local counties with robust harvests: Robertson (675), Wilson (671), Cheatham (644), Lincoln (620), and Wayne (608).
Nasty weather conditions on opening day got each of the last three hunting seasons off to slow starts and contributed to the dip in the harvest after 2006.
This year, other than the heavy rains on May 1 and 2, conditions were ideal for hunting through the spring. The average temperature in Nashville was 77 degrees.
"The weather was very cooperative and I'm sure that brought more hunters to the field and helped set this new harvest record," Tollett said. "We seemed to have more great spring mornings to get out this year without being plagued by rain and wind."
Fall turkey hunting season dates will be set today during the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission monthly meeting
[size][color:#CC0000]By Mike Organ � THE TENNESSEAN � May 20, 2010 [/color][/size]
A spring turkey harvest record was set even before the final weekend of hunting got under way.
Last Friday the harvest number hit 36,072 to pass the record of 35,877 set in 2006.
By Sunday, the final day of the spring season, the number climbed to 36,791.
That is 914 (2.5 percent) more birds than the previous record, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
"I remember 2006, that was as an extremely good year, and to be honest I didn't expect that record to be broken any time soon,'' said Mark Jackson, regional field supervisor for the National Wild Turkey Federation. "But this was a phenomenal season. There was an incredible increase of birds seen and birds heard from last year, and last year was not a bad year. Everywhere I hunted I saw a tremendous amount of birds."
The 2010 count is an increase of 4,710 (14.7 percent) turkeys over last year's 32,081.
"I knew after about the second week of the season we were going to have a banner year of turkey hunting," said Charles Tollett, senior regional director for the NWTF. "Not just from my own experiences, but I was talking to many other hunters who were experiencing the same thing, lots of gobbling toms."
The harvest in Middle Tennessee was larger than any other part of the state.
Maury County had the most with 1,022. Next were Montgomery (958), Henry (886), Greene (877), Dickson (846), Sumner (820), Giles (787), Rutherford (774), Hawkins (729) and Marshall (699).
Other local counties with robust harvests: Robertson (675), Wilson (671), Cheatham (644), Lincoln (620), and Wayne (608).
Nasty weather conditions on opening day got each of the last three hunting seasons off to slow starts and contributed to the dip in the harvest after 2006.
This year, other than the heavy rains on May 1 and 2, conditions were ideal for hunting through the spring. The average temperature in Nashville was 77 degrees.
"The weather was very cooperative and I'm sure that brought more hunters to the field and helped set this new harvest record," Tollett said. "We seemed to have more great spring mornings to get out this year without being plagued by rain and wind."
Fall turkey hunting season dates will be set today during the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Commission monthly meeting
[size][color:#CC0000]By Mike Organ � THE TENNESSEAN � May 20, 2010 [/color][/size]
