One thing I noticed last year in the turkey woods was a lot of juvenile gobblers. I love to see that because it bodes well for the following season's gobbler hunting. In fact, I recall one particular instance during the early part of last season when a friend and I were set up in some prime turkey woods and had four gobbling birds approach us as they marched right down our gun barrels. As it turned out, these gobbling birds were all jakes and while they came in to less than 25 yards, we didn't shoot. However, just seeing and hearing the young gobblers sure lifted our spirits. Seems to be that a lot of hunters had the same opportunity to see and harvest jakes and for that reason, the 2005 hunting season was indeed a good season in terms of statewide harvest.

According to the many hunters I've talked with, there seemed to be mixed reactions to the season. Some reported hearing some early-morning gobbling but had less success than usual in bringing the birds within range. It seemed like many turkey hunters were struggling last year to get gobblers, at least based on conversations I had with hunters. However, many folks must have had excellent success because the 2005 harvest figures were very good, according to Charles Ruth with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR).

Ruth has been the deer project supervisor for many years with the SCDNR and when long-time turkey project coordinator Dave Baumann retired, Ruth was named to head up the turkey program as well. According to Ruth, there's mostly good news for turkey hunters on a statewide basis for the upcoming 2006 turkey-hunting season.

"With a harvest of 14,353 birds in 2005, spring turkey hunters in South Carolina bagged the second-highest number of turkeys on record. Only the 16,348 birds harvested during the 2002 season eclipsed this total harvest. Harvest figures were up 10 percent in 2005 over the previous year and this was likely because of excellent reproduction by turkeys during the spring of 2004. That meant many jakes were in the woods last spring and that harvest increase is reflected in the harvest data. But that also means 2006 should be a good year for having a lot of 2-year-old longbeards in the woods because of the 2004 nesting success," Ruth said.

Ruth noted that there are nearly 50,000 turkey hunters participating in the sport every spring. Turkey hunting has grown to be a major outdoor recreation sport in the state, and the statewide population of wild turkeys is very good. His estimate is that there are approximately 100,000 birds in the statewide flock.

Every summer, SCDNR wildlife biologists, technicians and private cooperators participate in an annual turkey brood survey. Results from the 2004 survey indicated the best wild turkey reproduction in five years. Thus, going into the 2005 season, the expectations of biologists were high because the success of spring hunters typically is linked to the turkey's reproductive success the previous year. In the Southeast, nature plays a much greater role in regulating turkey populations than it does in regulating deer populations. Turkey reproduction and recruitment can be greatly affected by environmental conditions during the spring nesting and brood-rearing season. Heavy rainfall or cool temperatures can lead to poor success.