Author Mike Marsh took this gobbler on the edge of a prescribed burn for wildlife enhancement. ▪ Photo by Mike Marsh.

North Carolina's turkey hunters never had it so good. From a fledgling flock in the 1970s, the statewide wild turkey population stands at more than 150,000, with a new population study underway that will likely show an overall increase.

The 2009 spring gobbler harvest of 12,579 set a record, topping the former record of 11,706 that was set in 2006. The harvest dropped to 10,082 in 2007, and then increased in 2008 to 11,313. The new harvest record was a milestone, considering the increase was more than 11 percent from the year before.

However, the record harvest was tempered with bad news from the northern Piedmont and mountain counties, where a six-year winter season has been terminated because of a reduced spring gobbler harvest. Although the harvest was never significant, between 98 and 181 turkeys, it allowed the harvest of hens, which made up around 40 percent of the total harvest. The winter harvest is not included in spring harvest numbers and was 98 birds in 2009. The counties where the winter season was held included Alleghany, Ashe, Caswell, Granville, Person, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry, Watauga and Wilkes.

At the winter season's inception, a threshold for spring gobbler harvest of 0.75 per square mile was established. That threshold was breeched in five of the 10 counties. Having the season open in some of them was not effective management.

The most likely cause for the decline is poor reproduction and poult survival. With any wildlife population, it is always better science to err on the side of caution. The winter season was never very popular, so it's doubtful that any but a very few diehards will miss the season. But the season closure may send into obscurity traditional fall and winter hunting methods, such as using dogs to track and flush turkeys, or flushing them off the roost and using assembly calls to lure the birds into returning. While the 2009 total spring bearded turkey harvest was up for the state as a whole, not all counties produced an increase in gobblers. The harvest increased in 68 counties, stayed the same in three counties and declined in 29 counties.

Biologists such as the N.C. Wildlife Resources Southern Coastal Management biologist Vic French also fret that, although the birds now inhabit and provide a hunting season in every county of the state, the population at some point will reach saturation, then begin to decline as urban development confiscates former wildlife habitat.

"We're a long way from that, now that development has been halted by the current economic conditions," French said. "But it's something we have to consider for the future."

French is among the most avid wild turkey hunters in the state and worked on the state's Wild Turkey Project to restore and enhance the population throughout his long career. He said the biggest increases in turkey populations and harvests will likely continue to occur in the Coastal Plain, while turkey harvest increases are leveling off in the Piedmont and mountain regions.

Summer brood surveys, which offer an estimate of brood survival and gobbler carryover, are one of the mainstays of turkey management. These surveys go out to professionals and private citizens who have an interest in turkeys. The surveys cite adult gobbler sightings, hen sightings and the number of poults with hens.

"Our brood survey sample numbers are competent to give an indication about what's going on with turkeys across the state," French said. "But our sample size is staying the same while our turkey population is increasing. Our reproduction and survival rates may be better than were anticipated based on our summer surveys and that could have resulted in the surprising 2009 harvest record."