Wildlife Commission announces 2022 wild turkey harvest totals

RALEIGH — Final results from the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s 2022 Wild Turkey Harvest Summary report exhibits that hunters statewide recorded 20,576 birds harvested statewide in 2022, like 1,777 birds that ended up taken throughout youth season. The complete falls brief of the previous two years’ report-breaking totals, nonetheless it remains potent in contrast to totals prior to 2020.

“COVID-19 and continue to be-at-property orders drove increased hunting force on the North Carolina landscape in 2020 and 2021, specially for the duration of turkey season. Despite the fact that this year’s harvest was a lower, we continue to see high quantities of wild turkeys and constant reproductive numbers across the condition,” said Hannah Plumpton, upland match fowl biologist for the Wildlife Commission.

To place this year’s wild turkey harvest in standpoint, Plumpton in comparison this year’s harvest to the ordinary harvest of the final a few yrs. Each individual time was five weeks, which include just one week for youth hunters less than the age of 18. The outcomes concluded:

• Harvest statewide was 4% reduced.
• Harvest during the 7 days-lengthy youth period diminished by 17%.
• Harvest in the coastal location enhanced by 6%.
• Harvest in the mountains decreased by 13%.
• Harvest in the piedmont reduced by 10%.
• Harvest on recreation lands lessened by 9%.

The increase in harvest in the coastal area was also mirrored in the leading 5 counties in which turkeys were harvested: Duplin (748), Bladen (569), Pender (565), Columbus (541) and Brunswick (518). No other counties had extra than 500 turkeys harvested.

Much more information and facts about this year’s wild turkey harvest by county, recreation land, and youth hunt can be seen at the agency’s web-site.

The Wildlife Commission posts annual harvest summaries on its web-site, for all sport species, as very well as stay harvest experiences, which are readily available anytime during the hunting season.