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Spring 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.

New York State Estimated Wild Turkey Harvest 1989-2009

Estimated wild turkey harvest during spring 2009 was 34,600 birds, close to the 10-year average (about 35,000). This is an increase of about 5% from spring 2008 and may be a result of a good nesting season during summer 2007. An above-average number of poults per hen in 2007 translated into a greater proportion of 2 year-old gobblers available to hunters in spring 2009 and likely contributed to the increase in the harvest.

The top five counties for estimated harvest were Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Steuben, Oneida, and Otsego (see table below). This is similar to last spring, with the exception of Erie County which fell from fourth in spring 2008 to 16th in 2009. We observed an increase in estimated harvest in roughly 64% of the counties in the state, a decrease in harvest in 24%, and about 13% of the counties were similar to last spring. We observed the greatest increases in harvest in east-central and northern New York (DEC Regions 4, 5, and 6). Most decreases in harvest from 2008 to 2009 were observed in western New York (DEC Regions 8 and 9).

As mentioned above, based on above-average production in summer 2007 and slightly below-average production in 2008, there was a smaller proportion of jakes (juvenile male turkeys) in the harvest this spring than last year. About 32% of the birds reported in 2009 were jakes. This is down from 2008 when about 40% of the birds reported were jakes.

Youth Turkey Hunt 2009 - the sixth annual Youth Turkey Hunt was held April 25-26, and was once again greeted with enthusiasm by young hunters and their adult mentors. Roughly 9,700 junior hunters harvested about 1,700 birds, a decrease in harvest of about 23% from the previous year. This decline may be related to several factors including fewer jakes available to hunters due to below-average production during summer 2008, and unseasonably warm weather in many regions during the two-day hunt.

New York State Estimated Spring Turkey Harvest
County 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Albany 634 732 678 513 372 453 416 571 358 384
Allegany 831 1297 1107 1313 623 630 762 1390 947 940
Broome 666 768 828 830 629 685 542 766 576 587
Cattaraugus 2230 2191 1918 1964 888 729 965 1764 1519 1,432
Cayuga 503 657 650 707 550 526 631 796 719 786
Chautauqua 1987 2127 1840 2115 1096 962 1143 1832 2016 2,012
Chemung 292 511 461 479 318 232 251 411 388 416
Chenango 943 1209 1190 983 736 876 902 1130 923 986
Clinton 260 348 318 195 258 133 235 262 151 285
Columbia 783 691 884 724 505 565 580 610 536 538
Cortland 460 664 506 486 393 522 458 589 489 572
Delaware 1433 1536 1435 1332 663 901 839 974 1038 1,182
Dutchess 1027 1245 1301 1205 954 927 797 1104 730 797
Erie 1522 1528 1519 1669 921 791 1036 1020 1365 809
Essex 130 333 227 252 158 183 204 247 227 289
Franklin 275 362 288 235 199 183 265 224 208 280
Fulton 245 338 233 168 254 170 183 224 162 187
Genesee 337 265 356 322 372 226 286 277 354 268
Greene 401 532 478 587 334 319 304 429 298 406
Hamilton 80 133 110 40 53 58 82 78 57 76
Herkimer 774 1108 857 737 531 673 668 856 803 984
Jefferson 1217 1805 1181 791 937 769 1036 934 897 1,158
Lewis 511 658 374 269 386 229 311 417 311 498
Livingston 371 295 482 389 250 270 344 520 506 567
Madison 897 1116 1150 650 500 500 566 761 726 820
Monroe 364 333 399 346 408 295 326 463 617 385
Montgomery 426 445 417 338 261 263 283 316 241 380
Niagara 348 347 263 276 259 159 267 432 444 220
Oneida 1141 1739 1146 804 654 701 787 1113 1026 1,225
Onondaga 729 1121 1102 920 629 497 632 761 703 1,024
Ontario 443 668 535 639 516 277 486 761 706 744
Orange 710 759 962 967 731 694 709 744 686 831
Orleans 245 233 202 266 212 151 198 231 283 159
Oswego 1060 1087 913 842 740 569 734 746 995 795
Otsego 1365 1609 1546 1015 787 871 839 1039 910 1,215
Putnam 181 154 172 254 231 237 154 203 140 150
Rensselaer 558 596 528 492 299 410 468 571 489 508
Rockland 36 32 28 32 21 13 14 4 27 8
St.Lawrence 1472 2123 1390 865 785 718 801 673 734 958
Saratoga 398 621 476 447 392 406 423 499 469 619
Schenectady 201 241 289 132 90 73 122 169 118 132
Schoharie 706 841 834 677 612 573 556 619 452 523
Schuyler 393 448 514 538 238 349 382 465 396 527
Seneca 304 360 291 380 300 221 350 398 405 265
Steuben 1156 1390 1323 1343 786 729 912 1477 1543 1,414
Sullivan 598 818 656 708 475 444 465 826 559 534
Tioga 650 900 667 856 513 654 548 632 585 707
Tompkins 461 682 698 620 556 503 648 679 605 677
Ulster 706 905 734 830 509 582 566 697 595 665
Warren 110 163 86 132 111 112 117 101 106 76
Washington 843 1172 814 854 685 666 596 792 693 850
Wayne 622 653 634 677 749 502 620 760 988 684
Westchester 133 100 145 159 107 73 73 147 84 102
Wyoming 621 872 599 792 427 367 484 588 539 492
Yates 511 539 566 644 343 284 379 533 494 536
Total 36,300 44,400 39,300 36,800 26,300 24,910 27,745 35,625 32,936 34,664