Kentucky’s 2025 spring wild turkey season opens tomorrow, with the beginning of the two-day youth-only season, for boys and girls aged 15 and younger.
This year’s general season dates are Saturday, April 12 through Sunday, May 4.
Shooting hours for spring turkey hunting are 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset. Hunters may be in the field before and after shooting hours.
No more than two turkeys may be taken during the spring seasons. A legal turkey is defined as a male or female wild turkey that has a visible beard.
The number of bearded hens in the state’s turkey flock is very small. During the 2024 spring season, hunters reported taking a total of 33,465 birds, but only 0.7 percent, or about 230 birds, were bearded hens.
Hunters may only take one bearded turkey per wildlife management area (WMA), and no more than one bird may be taken per day. Turkeys taken by youth hunters during the youth-only season count toward their spring turkey bag limit.
Harvest outlook
Zak Danks, wild turkey program coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) said surveys are predicting a great turkey season ahead. “During our winter netting and leg banding research, we caught an unusually high number of jakes (juvenile gobblers),” said Danks. “This aligns with the productive poult hatch in 2024, so I expect hunters will see more jakes this spring.”
During the 2024 spring season hunters reporting taking 3,331 sub-adult gobblers.
Since the winter of 2021 KDFWR staff have been working on a research project to asses harvest rates and population trends by banding bearded wild turkeys. Bearded birds captured in rocket nets are banded with either a silver and green band. Turkeys on both private and public lands are being banded.
Hunters who bag a banded turkey are asked to report the band number when checking in their kill. Full details are available at fw.ky.gov/TurkeyBand.
By reporting a turkey leg band number you are providing valuable information to ensure sustainable management of wild turkeys in Kentucky for current and future generations.
Spring turkey season harvest trends
During the past 10 spring wild turkey seasons hunters reported taking an average of 30,870 bearded birds.
Last season’s harvest of 33,465 was a 6.2 decrease from the 2023 spring harvest of 35,663.
According to data from KDFWR, hunters bagged the second highest number of birds in the past 24 spring seasons in 2023, just 434 fewer than the all-time record of 36,097 for the season set in 2010.
It’s normal for the wild turkey harvest in the spring to fluctuate from year-to-year. Factors include weather during the season and the number of hunters afield, but the number one factor in hunter success is ultimately the turkey hatch. Since a majority of adult turkeys taken by hunters during the spring season are two year-olds, an increase or decrease in reproductive success for a given year is typically reflected in the hunter harvest two years later.
Cicada hatches also influence turkey numbers by affecting the survival of poults, and ultimately the turkey season harvest. Big hatches of the insects provide an abundance of food for turkey poults, and since cicadas are also eaten by other animals, including potential turkey predators, there’s a higher survival rate of turkey poults. The good news is Kentucky’s next big cicada hatch is expected this year.
Rules and regulations
Here’s some spring wild turkey rules and regulations to keep in mind:
• If a hunter harvests a turkey with wart-like growths on its head or legs, KDFWR is asking the hunter to submit the carcass for disease testing. The Wildlife Health Program and Turkey Program are conducting this scientific collection effort to understand Kentucky’s turkey population better.
• All harvested turkeys must be reported (telechecked).
• Anyone may call turkeys for a hunter, and/or serve as an assistant. Callers are not required to possess a hunting license or turkey permit, and may carry equipment while in the field.
• Hunters are not required to wear hunter orange clothing during the spring turkey seasons. However, wearing an article of hunter orange clothing while carrying a harvested turkey is a simple and effective way to help prevent hunting accidents that can occur when a hunter is mistaken for game.
Complete spring turkey season regulations are available at fw.ky.gov.
Great outlook for our spring Turkey season, thanks Art.
Up here in northern KY and can’t wait, 6 more days and counting down. I’m especially looking forward to the chase of 3 bearded hens calling my farm home, everything from a curly beard of 6-8″ to what looks like a dbl bearded at 4-6″!!
Everyone hunt safe and take a kid hunting and fishing.
ol’grey bearded Hunter