The 2006 spring turkey harvest data will be posted as it becomes available from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
Tennessee's spring 2005 turkey harvest was 33,098 birds, down 2.7 percent from the record harvest of 34,000 birds in 2004.
Of that total, 31,806 birds were taken on the statewide hunt, while 1,292 were taken on WMA hunts. WMA harvest totals were down 16 percent from 2004's harvest of 1,539 birds.
Region 2 easily led the turkey harvest, with 12,992 birds, down from 13,004 in 2004. Region 1 hunters tagged 7,833 birds, down 12 percent from 2004's total of 8,916 birds. Region 3 hunters tagged 5,151 birds, down from 2004's total of 5,183 birds. Region 4 hunters killed 5,830 birds, up 8.8 percent from 2004's harvest of 5,358 birds.
Dickson County hunters led the way in county-by-county harvests, tagging 981 birds, a 5.8 percent increase over their 2004 total of 927 birds. Lake County was at the bottom of the list, with 12 birds harvested, up from 11 in 2004.
The county with the biggest harvest increase from 2004 to 2005 was Union County, up 63.5 percent from 115 birds in 2004 to 188 birds in 2005. Haywood County saw the biggest decrease, down 39.1 percent from 215 in 2004 to 131 in 2005.
TURKEY HARVEST THROUGH THE YEARS
1985 - 772
1986 - 1,136
1987 - 1,309
1988 - 1,585
1989 - 2,077
1990 - 2,624
1991 - 3,421
1992 - 4,220
1993 - 4,591
1994 - 6,738
1995 - 10,297
1996 - 11,862
1997 - 14,927
1998 - 15,126
1999 - 15,760
2000 - 22,145
2001 - 28,041
2002 - 30,862
2003 - 31,975
2004 - 32,461
2005 - 32,127
