Skip to Main Content

Spring Turkey Hunters Harvest 3,910 Turkeys

Month-long Season Started with Youth Hunt

Photo of wild turkey in a field

Photo by Stephen Badger/Maryland Department of Natural Resources

Maryland hunters harvested 3,910 wild turkeys during the spring 2021 regular and junior turkey seasons, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources reported. This year’s harvest was 9% below the record harvest of 4,303 set in 2020, but still 4% above the 10-year average.

“Turkey populations in much of the state have increased significantly in the past decade,” Wildlife and Heritage Service Director Paul Peditto said. “It is not unexpected to see a stabilization or slight decline in both numbers of turkeys and the spring harvest following a period of growth.”

The percentage of juvenile turkeys or “jakes” reported in the harvest declined to 16%. This supports other survey data showing that  summer 2020 was a below-average year for turkey production across most of the state.

Despite a decline in harvest in many counties, the top three counties all posted harvests above 300 birds. Garrett County reported 374 turkeys, followed by Charles County with 353, and Washington County with 345.

Youth hunters kicked off the spring turkey season statewide on April 17 with the Junior Turkey Hunt. An additional junior hunting opportunity occurred on April 18 in select counties. In total, junior hunters harvested 255 wild turkeys, accounting for about 6% of the total spring harvest.

Total harvests by county are below:

County

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Allegany

293

250

278

286

266

Anne Arundel

58

49

74

81

64

Baltimore

51

55

56

65

53

Calvert

59

76

68

82

58

Caroline

149

135

152

180

149

Carroll

103

103

73

93

104

Cecil

87

69

89

94

80

Charles

320

336

348

369

353

Dorchester

303

212

221

211

197

Frederick

332

313

304

348

281

Garrett

429

412

429

387

374

Harford

127

105

124

88

104

Howard

24

36

33

34

35

Kent

174

168

166

206

151

Montgomery

135

149

135

162

154

Prince George’s

91

76

105

109

99

Queen Anne’s

160

115

145

144

120

Somerset

163

145

129

171

180

St. Mary’s

202

191

188

226

187

Talbot

94

80

87

95

80

Washington

426

459

414

439

345

Wicomico

175

139

155

193

181

Worcester

220

188

229

240

295

Statewide

4,175

3,861

4,002

4,303

3,910

doit-ewspw-W02