Photo by John A. Pennoyer

When the sun rises on the morning of March 24, the new dawn will bring illuminating rays through the forest and wild turkeys will also be sounding off their thunderous gobbles through the trees. A new turkey season will have begun again and Georgia hunters once again have their chance to call one in to harvest.

The Georgia turkey season lasts nearly two months till May 15 and hunters are allowed to harvest three toms. There are turkeys in every one of Georgia’s 159 counties occupying over 38,138 square miles of forested habitat.

But some counties and regions provide better habitat and an increased opportunity to bag a tom. Where these prime areas are located, the biologist’s assessment of the population, recent harvest statistics, and your prospects for the coming season are addressed in this article.

TOTAL HARVEST
The statewide turkey population is estimated at 340,000 birds. That translates to about 8.6 turkeys per square mile of forested habitat. They are, of course, not evenly distributed, as heavily wooded counties support more birds than areas near cities and development.

The most recent available statistics show that the 2010 season had 47,275 resident hunters taking 34,001 gobblers in Georgia. That works out to about 72 percent of hunters taking home some tasty turkey. While some experienced or lucky hunters may have taken two or even three gobblers, that is still a very high success rate.

There was an increase of 24.4 percent in gobbler harvest for 2010 and a 15.7 percent decrease in hunters from the 2009 season. For 2009, an estimated 56,112 hunters harvested 27,323 turkeys, a 49 percent success rate. That means that fewer hunters were killing more turkeys in 2010.

Weather conditions and hunter skills play a big part in that success. Weekends with good weather coupled with sportsmen that are increasing their call commands and woodsmanship have helped bring more toms to the gun.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division manages and monitors the statewide flock. Each year they conduct harvest surveys to obtain information from the hunters about their hunting season and harvests.

From these surveys, the WRD learned that the average hunter took 10.9 hunting trips last season that totaled 37.1 hours of hunting. This does not include time traveling, sitting around camp, or at the Waffle House.

The survey showed that the most gobbling activity — about 2.6 gobblers heard per trip — occurred during the first and third weeks. The greatest amount of gobbling activity was the first seven days, and the seven-day period after that. The data clearly points to the most activity early in the season. Toms are gobbling the most the first week, but there are also more hunters in the woods. Mid to late season may be a good time to avoid other hunters, but you may hear less gobbling.

Gobbling heard by hunters appeared to peak at certain weeks during the season. Anytime the toms are sounding off in the woods, the hunter has a much better chance of locating him and keying in on his location. This increases your opportunities to call one in when they are being vocal. Peaks of gobbling were categorized by region. The first week of the season in late March was tops in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont, and Lower Coastal Plain, It was the fourth weekend for the Ridge and Valley and the Upper Coastal Plain when hunters heard the most toms talking.

That also corresponds with the first seven days of the season accounting for 25 percent of the total statewide harvest. More gobbling and more hunter-trips to the woods means more birds being bagged. It is to the hunter’s advantage to be in the turkey woods when they are gobbling the most, which is commonly opening week. It also means that there are typically more hunters in the woods providing competition and also trying to call to the same toms.