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Fall Turkey Take by County

As described in DEC's Wild Turkey Management Plan (290 kb pdf), DEC has changed the way that seasonal turkey harvest is reported. In the past, DEC only summarized the number of birds actually reported by hunters. Now, the Department reports an estimated total turkey harvest based on surveys of approximately 12,000 turkey permit holders after the close of the hunting season. This results in a calculated harvest based on estimated reporting rates. This provides a more accurate harvest estimate and a more realistic assessment of the status of New York's wild turkey populations.

Estimated wild turkey harvest during fall 2007 was 12,654 birds. This represents an increase of 38% from 2006, and is the highest harvest since fall 2003, but is still below the 10-year average for fall harvests (about 16,000 from 1997-2006).

Harvest was up from 2006 in most counties (see table below), with the greatest increases observed in DEC Regions 4, 5, and 6 (east-central and northern NY). The exceptions to this were declines (7-40%) observed in Regions 8 and 9 (western NY).

Based on the above-average production observed during the 2007 summer sighting survey, we expected an increase in both the overall harvest and in the ratio of juvenile birds to adult hens in the fall harvest. While we did observe an increase in the overall harvest, this was not the case for the ratio of juvenile birds/adult hens. Since the summer survey started in 1996, this is only the second time that the trend in juveniles/adult hen from the fall harvest did not mirror the trend in poults/hen from the summer survey. One reason for this may be that there was a large proportion of 2+ year-old birds from the summer 2005 hatch and hunters actively selected these older birds. This idea may be supported by the decline in the overall juveniles/adult harvested over the last 3 years.

Although we observed an increase in harvest this fall, the number of turkey hunters continued to decline with an overall decrease of about 30% over the last five years. Despite this decline in participation, the hunter success rate has remained relatively stable at about 3 birds/100 days effort. Reasons for the decline in participation are uncertain, but may include changing demographics of New York's hunting population and the variety of other opportunities available to hunters in the fall.

New York State Estimated Fall Turkey Harvest
County 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Albany 394 126 380 191 312 246 161 156 153 n/a
Allegany 922 612 747 430 659 276 267 325 279 n/a
Broome 714 267 761 604 444 422 287 304 416 n/a
Cattaraugus 1537 880 1115 588 882 338 406 361 594 n/a
Cayuga 290 171 335 212 193 223 181 148 279 n/a
Chautauqua 1456 1037 1160 672 773 420 413 450 474 n/a
Chemung 186 94 129 128 134 110 83 82 87 n/a
Chenango 884 341 939 620 581 488 394 550 651 n/a
Clinton 54 25 24 8 43 81 9 19 29 n/a
Columbia 479 192 288 208 426 262 201 175 192 n/a
Cortland 439 143 399 214 234 266 201 182 291 n/a
Delaware 1625 484 1419 561 725 524 416 281 717 n/a
Dutchess 789 343 607 442 581 639 308 281 349 n/a
Erie 889 441 545 271 502 260 247 200 372 n/a
Essex 71 6 21 14 77 81 23 6 29 n/a
Franklin 46 69 35 14 53 24 107 13 70 n/a
Fulton 184 57 111 60 56 97 48 25 70 n/a
Genesee 151 126 25 15 50 48 42 38 48 n/a
Greene 507 146 473 172 300 225 190 167 145 n/a
Hamilton 125 12 40 2 24 20 37 0 37 n/a
Herkimer 615 202 513 263 368 304 247 116 265 n/a
Jefferson 532 272 278 160 429 699 434 312 529 n/a
Lewis 353 106 101 62 101 183 65 47 138 n/a
Livingston 180 112 112 78 65 76 54 82 68 n/a
Madison 778 341 556 261 228 217 204 213 305 n/a
Monroe 302 161 62 14 100 17 90 119 105 n/a
Montgomery 493 212 332 178 216 193 143 133 184 n/a
Niagara 336 223 60 20 125 39 73 91 55 n/a
Oneida 701 313 474 241 367 276 283 157 403 n/a
Onondaga 625 324 546 307 515 244 249 205 384 n/a
Ontario 352 210 118 56 174 36 74 94 93 n/a
Orange 557 316 530 393 503 462 362 471 325 n/a
Orleans 202 84 46 10 69 26 43 5 29 n/a
Oswego 695 217 253 80 263 97 163 76 179 n/a
Otsego 1523 495 1355 633 635 639 417 353 564 n/a
Putnam 139 47 112 96 78 115 54 57 87 n/a
Rensselaer 398 107 288 139 210 193 204 118 267 n/a
Rockland 7 5 6 20 6 8 0 4 4 n/a
St. Lawrence 640 265 228 131 260 447 149 169 244 n/a
Saratoga 249 93 186 64 139 177 62 110 109 n/a
Schenectady 214 49 134 59 90 68 50 46 79 n/a
Schoharie 904 278 796 277 443 377 305 315 302 n/a
Schuyler 213 94 182 127 146 57 108 70 65 n/a
Seneca 158 51 44 63 82 22 36 67 48 n/a
Steuben 815 447 685 399 521 288 271 329 325 n/a
Sullivan 713 135 761 290 228 225 287 285 313 n/a
Tioga 891 321 738 636 605 393 301 364 517 n/a
Tompkins 419 151 448 315 378 242 224 296 420 n/a
Ulster 707 220 460 287 258 238 179 194 291 n/a
Warren 96 12 53 12 15 89 19 3 29 n/a
Washington 807 307 582 340 623 427 309 270 329 n/a
Wayne 378 203 95 49 113 37 95 81 109 n/a
Westchester 61 55 29 23 24 56 32 11 16 n/a
Wyoming 376 204 262 153 206 107 149 78 111 n/a
Yates 329 196 122 138 168 86 56 98 81 n/a
Total 28,500 12,400 21,100 11,800 15,800 12,211 9,812 9,202 12,654 n/a