Hunters in Illinois bagged a total of 13,513 wild turkeys during the 2014 spring turkey season, including the youth hunting season. Thant number is down more than 600 from last year.
Spring turkey hunting was open in 100 of the state’s 102 counties. Hunting in the southern zone continued through May 8. The top counties for spring wild turkey hunting were Jefferson with 399, Pope with 352, Jackson with 322 and Union with 301. The total youth harvest was 718 birds.
Starting in 1959, wild-trapped turkeys obtained from other states were reintroduced into Illinois. By 2003, DNR officials began trapping wild turkeys from areas where they were thriving and transplanted them to suitable habitat that had not yet been colonized.
In Southeastern Illinois some harvest numbers include: Edwards, 112; Gallatin, 116; Richland, 108, Saline, 122; Wabash, 46; Wayne, 299 and White 135.
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