Hunters harvest 9,366 turkeys during West Virginia’s spring 2022 season

A turkey within the woods in West Virginia. West Virginia’s turkey harvest for the spring season 2022 was smaller than the 12 months earlier than, the Division of Pure Assets stated. (Photograph Offered)

PARKERSBURG — Climate impacted on the 2022 spring turkey harvest in West Virginia, a Division of Pure Assets official stated.
The primary two days of the season on April 18 and 19 noticed snow and rain, stated Mike Peters, a wild turkey and migratory sport chicken challenge chief with the Division of Pure Assets.
“Monday and Tuesday had been completely horrible,” he stated.
Different components affect the harvest, too, resembling mast circumstances and replica, however the climate saved hunters out of the woods, Peters stated. The harvests on the primary two days or the season had been half of that from 2021, Peters stated.
“That actually made an enormous distinction,” he stated.
Spring turkey season, bearded solely, ran April 18 to Might 22. Youth had a weekend alternative to hunt on April 16-17.
The spring 2022 harvest of 9,366 turkeys was 7.6 p.c lower than the 2021 harvest of 10,134. The 2022 harvest is also 13.8 p.c under the five-year common (10,864) and 11.3 p.c under the 10-year common (10,556).
Jackson County once more was within the high 5 of counties the place essentially the most turkeys had been harvested within the 2022 spring season. The highest 5 counties with the very best gobbler harvests had been Preston with 357, Mingo with 351, Greenbrier with 321, Jackson with 309 and Monroe with 295.
Totals from counties within the area additionally usually noticed a lower in harvests from the final 5 seasons from 2018.
The harvests for (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022) had been: Calhoun, 190, 164, 147, 154, 96; Doddridge, 216, 178, 198, 143, 134; Gilmer, 170, 142, 140, 133, 85; Jackson, 460, 447, 404, 323, 309; Pleasants, 122, 124, 109, 97, 76; Ritchie, 327, 285, 283, 252, 176; Roane, 280, 258, 252, 244, 166; Tyler, 250, 217, 209, 157, 138; Wetzel, 396, 270, 248, 176, 159; Wirt, 230, 186, 200, 157, 125; and Wooden, 407, 362, 344, 270, 242.
Wetzel County is in District 1 whereas the opposite counties within the area are in District 6.
Youth harvested 471 turkeys through the two-day season, 366 on Saturday and 105 on Sunday, or 5 p.c of the full harvest. The youth harvest is included within the county totals.
Counties in Districts 2 and 4 skilled a rise in harvest as in comparison with earlier years. Harvest within the remaining districts, nonetheless, decreased. Districts 5 and 6 present the largest declines from final 12 months’s harvest at 18.1 and 19.8 p.c, respectively, the division stated.
Hunters in District 1 had the very best harvest, 2,066, adopted by District 4 with 1,877, District 6 with 1,547, District 5 with 1,392, District 3 with 1,311 and District 2 with 1,173.
District 1 counties are within the space round Monongalia and Preston counties. District 2 counties are within the Jap Panhandle.
Jess Mancini will be reached at jmancini@newsandsentinel.com.