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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
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