Tennessee’s 2019 spring turkey season harvest is up 11 percent from the previous year, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency reported. The total harvest for 2019 is 31,193, a robust number by any count. In 2018, the harvest fell below the 30,000-mark for the first time in 15 seasons.
Regionally, despite flooding in West Tennessee, which comprises TWRA Region I, the 2019 harvest is virtually unchanged from the 5-year average. The 2019 harvest number is down 3 percent from the previous 5-year average. The other three regions all saw improvements over 2018, but sill down from their respective 5-year averages, ranging from 3-3 to 4.3 percent declines.
Maury County was the top county with a harvest of 1,034, up 97 turkeys from the 2018 season. Dickson County was second with 837, followed by Greene 810, Giles 672, and Montgomery 638 for the top five county harvests. Giles had the sharpest increase with 164 more birds harvested this spring, while Dickson saw an increase of 142.
Rounding out the top 15 counties were Robertson 603, Rutherford 583, Hardin 551, Weakley 546, Sumner 541, Hickman 537, Humphreys 534, Henry 518, Hawkins 512, and Stewart 489. All the counties in the top 15 had increased harvests from 2018 with the exceptions of Greene, which had four less turkeys harvested, and Weakley, which had six less.