It’s official the 10,000 number is shattered Originally posted 5/06
[quote]“Finally!” biologist Mike Seamster said when the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission released the 2006 kill statistics.
North Carolina hunters broke through the 10,000 barrier. They broke through the 11,000-mark also, killing a record 11,706 turkeys during the month-long season that ended May 6.[/quote] The 10,000 milestone was expected to be broken in 2005 but was not but this year there was no doubt about it. Despite my inability to notch a tag I knew from talking to folks we were going to break the 10,000. [quote] Statewide, the increase was a whopping 19.1 percent.[/quote] North Carolina does not have anyway to track how many people actually go afield after turkeys but I think there was a lot more hunters out there. All 100 counties in the state had an open season for just the second year. There was a lot of interest in learning the sport; I helped out in two turkey schools, and I had a lot of first time hunters contacting me with questions. http://www.illinoiswaters.net/heartland/phpBB2/weblog_entry.php?e=601
I’m hearing mixed reports on the Jake population; I didn’t see a single one this season, but other hunters are reporting seeing good numbers of Jakes.
[quote] The typical statewide percentage of jakes in the kill is normally between 15 and 20.[/quote] [quote] jakes made up only 13 percent of the overall kill[/quote] That is a little bit of a drop, I suspect that there are pockets of areas that had better then average 2005 hatches that account for the mixed reports.
So what’s the outlook for next year?
[quote] Seamster said that it would probably take fantastic reproductive success this year for hunters to come close to the record level in next year’s spring season.
“We’ll probably come down to earth next year, because we won’t have that many 2-year-old birds in the woods, but a lot of that will depend on whether we have a good hatch this year,” Seamster said. “If we’re fortunate, we’ll have a lot of jakes in the woods next year. There will be some older birds, but there won’t be too many 2-year-olds.”[/quote]
Looks like a tough year but I’m confident that because the turkey population in the state has really taken off that despite a downturn there will still be some good hunting. Besides if it’s a rough year I’ll share some of my turkey tag soup recipes.
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137836217272&path=!sports&s=1037645509200
[...] year was record setting breaking the 11,000 mark will this year be another record setting year? I think with the hatch being off in many areas last [...]
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