According to preliminary data, turkey hunters in West Virginia harvested 12,274 gobblers this spring, which is a 15-year high and a 6 ercent increase over the 2017 harvest.
This year’s harvest also is more than 10 percent above the 10-year average, said Mike Peters, Game Bird and Small Game Project Leader.
All but two DNR districts reported an increase over 2017 harvest figures. Districts 4 and 5 were the only two districts with fewer harvested birds this year.
Counties in District 1 harvested the most birds again this year with 3,416, followed by District 6 (2,651), District 5 (1,811), District 4 (1,515), District 3 (1,805) and District 2 (1,076).
The five counties with the largest harvest were Preston (553), Mason (468), Jackson (460), Harrison (440) and Marshall (417).
Youth hunters harvested 431 turkeys during the one-day youth season on April 14.