Spring hunting season underway
By Sam Waller
While the state-wide outlook for the spring turkey season is a little brighter than last year, prospects for Shackelford County are still down.
“It’s very poor,” game warden Jacob Mort said. “I know a lot of people are not allowing lease hunters to come. Lots of ranchers and hunters are not seeing the birds that historically Shackelford has had.”
The spring season for turkey in the north zone began Saturday, April 1 and runs through Sunday May 14. Two youth-only day remain – Saturday-Sunday, May 14-15.
While rainfall totals are up this spring compared to 2022, Mort said drought conditions are only part of the problem.
“A lot of it goes back to predators,” he said. It’s not just coyotes, bobcats and things like that. It’s also opossums, raccoons, which are very detrimental to turkeys.”
With that in mind, Mort said, it will take time for local turkey populations to recover.
“It’ll be a few years before it rebounds, even under great circumstances. Sometimes it seems like it’s like the stock market. Right now, we’re definitely in the down part.”
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists expect hunters will have the most luck in the Cross Timbers, Edwards Plateau and South Texas ecoregions.
“Much of the state had poor recruitment last spring and summer, but hunters should still expect to see quite a few 2-year-old and older gobblers,” said Jason Hardin, TPWD Wild Turkey Program leader. “The lack of juvenile hens may improve hunting conditions. Juvenile hens or jennies put little effort into nesting most years, and therefore are usually a distraction from hunters and their decoys. Once adult hens begin nesting, hunters should be able to find plenty of workable gobblers.”
The Rolling Plains has been a longtime destination for wild turkey hunters. Historically, this area has held very good numbers of birds along major and secondary watersheds like the Canadian River, the Salt Fork and the Red River.
The drought of 2022 has reduced overall turkey numbers, but there are still huntable populations across the Rolling Plains. The past decade has seen a decline in overall turkey numbers in parts of the ecoregion. TPWD biologists are hoping recent winter moisture will continue to set the stage for a good nesting season.
The Edwards Plateau has long been a stronghold for wild turkeys, providing some of Texas’ highest bird densities and annually producing some of the highest harvest numbers. This is especially true in the western portion of the region though, like the rest of the Rio Grande wild turkey range production and recruitment were down significantly in 2022, with very few poults produced.
The good news is there are still lots of mature birds on the landscape.The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission approved a digital tagging option for hunters who purchased a Super Combo license online.
All hunters who chose to use the digital tagging option must report their harvested wild turkey at the time of harvest. Rules and guidance associated with the new digital tagging option can be found on the TPWD website.
Hunters must possess an Upland Stamp Endorsement to hunt wild turkeys in Texas. The annual bag limit for turkey is four, no more than one of which may be an Eastern turkey. Bags may contain gobblers or bearded hens.
