New Jersey calls off turkey hunt as state’s bird population in dips

Turkeys, rejoice?

New Jersey’s fall turkey hunt usually starts about a month before the Thanksgiving holiday. But not this year.

State regulators last week announced Fish & Wildlife has canceled the fall 2025 statewide wild turkey hunting season.

The closure, approved by the state’s Fish and Game Council on March 11, takes effect immediately, officials said in the April 8 announcement.

Though there are more turkeys in New Jersey now than there were decades ago, officials said they voted to cancel the hunt until the animal’s population further stabilizes.

New Jersey’s wild turkey population was once as low as 6,200 birds in the mid-1980s, according to state data.

Each year between 2013 and 2020, the total was up to around 23,000. But the state’s 2025 population estimate is 20,000 turkeys statewide, Larry Hajna, a Department of Environmental Protection spokesperson, told NJ Advance Media.

“This is the first time the Fish and Game Council has voted to close the fall either-sex season (hunt),” Hajna said Friday. “This season closure is in effect until the population stabilizes and can support the season.”

During the state’s spring turkey hunt last year a total of 2,321 turkeys were killed, mostly in South Jersey and by hunters here and from over 30 other states.

Most of those turkeys were harvested by shotgun with compound bows and crossbows also used by hunters for just over 100 birds.

“Wild turkey harvest trends have continuously declined since the early 2000s and are similar to population estimates statewide,” the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said in a summary of the latest decision Tuesday.

The DEP said turkeys face several threats, including habitat loss and predation.

Although the department clarified that hunting was not the sole cause for the turkey population decline, it said the current populace of birds “cannot support a hunting season that includes hen harvest.”

The state believes closing the season will work to increase hen survival and reproduction.

In a brief history on wild turkeys, New Jersey underscored that by the mid-1800s turkeys were nearly wiped out as the state’s habitat changed and because they were killed for food.

Garden State biologists, along with the NJ Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, reintroduced turkeys here in 1977 starting with 22 birds.

Four years later, the population rebounded enough to support a spring hunting season and by 1997 a limited fall season kickstarted too.

Trends have evolved though.

The spring turkey hunt was not affected by the vote this past March to call off fall hunting.

However, state Fish and Game Council data showed declines in the spring harvest as well.

Between 2001 and 2010, on average more than 3,000 turkeys were hunted and killed in the spring (peaking at 3,779 in 2002). Yet, in recent years the spring hunt has yielded closer to between 2,300 and 2,500 birds.

The Fish and Game Council’s nine members considered various options before calling off the state’s fall turkey hunt.

Leaving the season fully open has the potential to “negatively affect future populations,” according to a presentation from the March 11 meeting.

A partial closure of the fall season could have increased a portion of the turkey population. However, the council added, it could have made for uneven and complicated regulations with adverse effects for bird populations in others parts of the state.

Closing just the hen harvest was also considered, as that would make more female birds available to breed. However, the state said that could also needlessly remove male turkey populations for future hunts.

Closing the full season was thought of as the best option. Council members — made up of both hunters and farmers — said the only con by choosing that path was simply the loss of a hunting season.

The response online to New Jersey nixing a fall turkey hunt appears to be even-keeled so far.

“Loss of habitat and changes in farming practices might also play a role,” one Facebook user said in response to a State Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs’ post — while speculating on the cancelation. “I suppose we have to wait and see the results of the monitoring programs in New Jersey and surrounding states.”

In response to losing the fall hunt, another user on a Pennsylvania hunting forum, noted that back in the 1970’s “turkeys were not as numerous as today.”

“If you heard a gobble over on the next ridge, there was a good chance he would come looking, because hens were scarce.”

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Steven Rodas may be reached at srodas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Bluesky at @stevenrodas.bsky.social.