JACKSON – Southwest Mississippi has long been one of the state’s best habitats for turkeys. This is indicative of harvesting trends in the region. In 2020, Adams County reported 273 gobblers harvested, Lincoln County had 221, Franklin had 263, Claiborne had 199, Jefferson had 191, and Wilkinson had 176 harvests according to data published in the MDWFP “Spittin ‘and Drummin’” Wild Turkey Report Every Year.
Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks turkey program director Adam Butler said the department conducts an annual summer brood survey in July and August to see how the breeding season went. hatching turkeys for the year. They use this data to estimate how many turkeys will be in a population two years later.
In 2020, 197 hens were observed in southwestern Mississippi. About 34% of those hens had a brood with a total of 273 poults produced according to the 2021 report. Southwest Mississippi had a rate of 1.4 poults per hen in 2020. This was 30% less than the five-year average for the season.
Spring Gobbler Hunting Survey hunters reported sightings of jakes, juvenile male turkeys, at a rate of 8.4 birds per 100 hours in the field in 2020. This was the lowest rate since 2014 for the region. . Data from SGHS and hatch records predict a tough spring season in 2022 for the southwest Mississippi region.
“Different parts of the Southeast are in decline,” Butler said. “I guess it’s a combination of things. Over the past couple of years there have been several reports of sick turkeys. It comes and goes in populations. In the long term, there may be changes in habitat. We don’t I don’t know why the number of turkeys goes up and down. I guess in the southwest region we had a succession of bad hatches. The stars all aligned naturally. I don’t think the sky is falling on us.
Help the turkey population
Since 2010, Southwest Mississippi hatch records have had seven years where the rate of poults per hen was less than two. Since 2000, there have been 14 years when the poult-to-hen rate was less than two.
Raccoons, coyotes and feral hogs negatively impact wild turkey populations, Butler encourages hunters to take advantage of trapping to help their turkey populations. The best practice to help a turkey population is good habitat management as it has the most long lasting effects.
“Ultimately, the turkeys we’re going to have are dictated by how private landowners manage their property. We need to manage hardwoods and pine stands with thinning and prescribed burns,” Butler said. “It requires opening up fields for the breeding season and movement corridors for the turkeys to go to their different habitats. Habitat management will determine how many turkeys you have.
Landowners who want help with habitat management have resources across the state that are available. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks arranges field trips and will make recommendations, as does the Mississippi State University Extension Service. These are options anyone can use to create a turkey-friendly habitat.
Other Factors to Consider
Each year approximately 5,000 to 7,500 turkey hunters go out into the field and record their observations of the turkeys, the number of hens, jakes, gobblers they hear or see. When a hunter kills a bird, they are asked to measure a gobbler’s spurs to help determine the age of gobblers within a turkey population. Last season’s harvests may have been down due to a winter storm that hit in February.
“I think that influenced things last year. A late spring caused the turkeys to fall a bit behind,” Butler said. “It was out of the norm as a gobbler. I feel like it influenced last season to some degree. I don’t think it will have a long-term impact.”
