SOUTH CHARLESTON, WV — According to preliminary data reported by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources on Thursday, hunters harvested 9,366 turkeys during the 2022 spring gobbler season, a 7.6 percent decrease compared to last year’s harvest of 10,134 birds.
The 2022 harvest is 13.8 percent below the five-year average (10,864) and 11.3 percent below the ten-year average (10,556).
Youth hunters harvested 471 turkeys during the two-day youth season, with 366 birds harvested on Saturday and 105 on Sunday. The youth harvest accounted for 5 percent of the total harvest. Those numbers are included in the attached table with county totals.
For the second year, DNR Districts 2 and 4 reported harvest increases compared to previous years. Harvest in the remaining districts, however, decreased. Districts 5 and 6 show the biggest declines from last year’s harvest at 18.1 and 19.8 percent, respectively. District 1 hunters harvested the most birds (2,066), followed by District 4 (1,877), District 6 (1,547), District 5 (1,392), District 3 (1,311) and District 2 (1,173).
The top five counties with the highest turkey harvests are Preston (357), Mingo (351), Greenbrier (321), Jackson (309) and Monroe (295) counties.
View the Spring Wild Turkey Harvest Table for 2018-2022 here.
