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John's Journal... Entry 236, Day 2

THE TURKEY HATCH FOR 2004

What to Expect This Spring for Spring Turkey Hunting

Editor's Note: Long rainy periods impacted the turkey hatch in various parts of the country last year. However, most sections of the Midwest experienced a positive turkey hatch. Several western states, including Arizona, California and New Mexico reported good turkey hatches. But if you want to know what you can expect this year when you go into the woods to hunt spring turkeys, check out each state's predictions in the Hatch Report this week.

Hawaii:
West Hawaii Wildlife Biologist Miles Nakahara reported that the state had a fair 2003 hatch. In public areas this past spring, hunters harvested 29 turkeys. But since the state didn't monitor private hunting lands, Nakahara didn't know the numbers of turkeys harvested there. "Hawaii has a lot of turkeys, but since we don't monitor private-hunting lands, we can't give an estimate on the number of gobblers on those lands," Nakahara explains. "The island of Hawaii, also know as 'Big Island', had the best hatch of all the islands." The rest of the islands rated average in their harvests, with no particular island labeled as having the worst hatch. Nakahara predicted that hunters would harvest about 30 turkeys on public-hunting lands in the 2004 spring wild turkey season.

Idaho:
"Idaho had an excellent 2003 hatch due to good weather conditions for turkey production," reports Don Kenner, wildlife staff biologist. Since Idaho doesn't have a protocol to measure turkey brood counts, the state bases their guesses on hunters' and biologists' brood reports. The 2003 hatch may have fared better than the hatch in 2002 thanks to a more-consistent temperature and moisture pattern. According to Kenner, the northern and western sections of Idaho had the best productivity and had no report of any region that had a poor hatch. Kenner expected a very-productive year in 2004 for harvestable gobblers.

Illinois:
Hunters concluded the 2003 spring wild turkey hunting season by establishing a harvest record, bagging 14,631 birds compared to last year's total of 14,115 birds. The northern half of the state had the best hatch, instead of southern Illinois, which had the best hatch in 2002. Biologists couldn't predict the number of harvestable 2-year-old gobblers for 2004 because Illinois only separated birds into adults and juveniles for the state's evaluation.

Indiana:
Wildlife research biologist Steven Backs reports a 2-percent decrease for the 2003 turkey harvest, breaking a 20-year streak of increasing turkey harvests in Indiana and dropping from 10,575 birds to 10,366 birds. Backs speculates, "The decrease could be the result of lower turkey production, which was due to a cool and wet summer of 2002, hunter pressure, inclement hunting weather or a combination of these factors. The counties with older, more-established turkey populations that traditionally have the higher-harvest rates were the counties that reported decreases." The state had no prediction for the 2004 harvest at the time of publication.

Iowa:
Iowa's 2003 summer wild-turkey-brood survey showed a substantial decrease in production statewide compared to 2002, which had an exceptionally good hatch due to the dry warm spring. This year, Iowa had a wet spring, resulting in fewer successful broods, but the dry summer meant the poults that survived the nesting period did well. Northwest Iowa had the best hatch statewide, and the east-central region of the state had the worst hatch. Iowa had no 2004 harvest prediction at the time of publication.

Kansas:
Roger Applegate, a wild game biologist for Kansas, said the state had a good hatch in 2003, even though some flooding destroyed a few early nests. Despite the flooding, the 2003 hatch results resembled the 2002 results. Applegate named the northern and central counties as the best areas for the 2003 hatch and the southeastern half of the state as the worst region. Applegate predicted that Kansas hunters would take thousands of birds in the 2004 season.

Kentucky:
Kentucky had a fair 2003 hatch with 2.3 poults per hen, the second consecutive year the state's hatch had decreased. The 2003 hatch fell slightly from the hatch in 2002 when biologists reported 3 poults per hen, and the 2002 numbers fell from the 2001 numbers of 3.4 poults per hen. Jim Lane, wildlife-program coordinator for resources/turkey wildlife division, stated that rainfall and low temperatures caused an overall decline in the hatch. The best hatch areas for Kentucky included the eastern and the western parts of the state, reporting 2.5 poults per hen. The central part of the state reported 2 poults per hen, the worst hatch in the state. Lane had no prediction for the number of harvestable 2-year-old gobblers. However, Lane says, "Last year's jake harvest was down slightly, either due to hunter selectivity or a lower number of jakes in the turkey population. Because the 2002 hatch was good, even though it decreased from 2001, I expect there will be a good number of 2-year-old birds in the woods for the 2004 spring wild turkey season."

Louisiana:
Louisiana reported a good hatch in 2003. According to Danny Timmer, a turkey biologist for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife, the 2003 hatch decreased slightly from the 2002 hatch. The weather conditions caused this slight decrease in the hatch's quality for 2003. Reports showed that the western part of the state had the best hatch, while the southeastern region had the worst hatch. Timmer predicted that Louisiana would have 13,000 harvestable gobblers during the spring of 2004.

Maine:
Phil Bozenhard, a biologist for the state's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, rated Maine's 2003 hatch as fair and similar to the hatch reported in 2002. A cool, damp spring impacted the hatch's quality, resulting in numerous re-nests. No specific areas of Maine had a better hatch than others. Bozenhard noted hunter permit numbers should increase from 12,000 to 16,000 for 2004.

To learn addresses and websites where you can learn more about each state's turkey hunting seasons, go to www.nighthawkpublications.com/freetips/freetips18.htm.

TOMORROW: MORE STATES' SPRING FORECAST FOR TURKEY HUNTING

 

 

Check back each day this week for more about THE TURKEY HATCH FOR 2004 ...

Day 1 - The Spring Forecast
Day 2 - What to Expect This Spring for Spring Turkey Hunting
Day 3 - More States' Spring Forecast for Turkey Hunting
Day 4 - Learn More About How States' Spring Turkey Hunting Will Fare
Day 5 - See Turkey Hatch Reports from Several States


John's Journal