Photo by John Trout, JR.

Do you think you'll have to look hard to find a gobbler this spring? You may be disappointed! The 2008 Florida turkey season promises to be one of the best on record, as biologists are seeing turkeys in good numbers statewide.

Whether you're hunting on private land or on one of the state's wildlife management areas, you stand a good chance of bringing home a gobbler from any part of the state.

Larry Perrin is the state turkey biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Although no statewide assessment of turkey stocks is done in Florida, he feels that prospects for the 2008 spring season are good.

"During the spring of 2006, for the most part, the state had an above-average hatch," Perrin said. "We saw birds being hatched early, with late hatches all the way through the summer. We had a dry spring for the most part, although it was a little wetter in the south. I heard reports of people not seeing quite the number of birds there that were seen in the central and northern parts of the state."

LOOKING AHEAD
The spring of 2007 also portended good turkey hunting over the next couple of years.

"A real dry spring like the one we had in 2007 is typically pretty good for nesting," Perrin said. "Although we don't do any official surveys, nesting should have been pretty good. I was actually concerned about it being too dry in some places.

"Normally a dry spring is good because you don't have to worry about flooding nests," he continued. "And some data indicates that hens that get rained on can be more easily found by predators. So when you have a dry spring like we had, it tends to result in better production. But it was so dry that in some cases, it may not have been as beneficial as we would have liked." But as far as he knows, the dry spring we had last year led to good nesting success for 2007.

"We had a lot of people tell us they saw a lot of hens with poults, and it seemed like it was a long nesting season," Perrin added. "We heard reports of hens with poults as early as the first part of March, and then I heard of hens with poults in the late summer too. So overall, I'd say we did pretty well."

Of course, just as the hatch and survival rate in 2006 are impacting the 2008 season, what happened from a nesting standpoint in 2007 won't have a real impact on turkey hunting until the spring of 2009.

"This spring, the male birds that hatched during 2007 will be jakes," Perrin said. "While they're legal birds, they're not as vocal, and a lot of hunters tend to pass them up.

"So that by itself doesn't mean that there will be a bumper harvest in 2008. But it looks like 2009 will be a good year."

THE BURNING QUESTION
In recent years, wildfires have been a concern with regard to turkeys in the Sunshine State. However, Perrin doesn't think much direct mortality resulted from the fires of the spring and early summer of 2007.

"We had some bad fires up in northeast Florida, and when fires get extensive, that can cause some detriment to all wildlife," he explained. "So there are probably some issues in those areas. But turkeys are fairly mobile, and they can normally get into swamps and wet areas and survive. So there probably wasn't a lot of direct mortality. If there was any direct impact, I think they'll recover from it fairly quickly."

In many cases, fires of the type we saw in the spring of 2007 can improve turkey habitat for the next couple of years.

"So there are tradeoffs," Perrin continued. "Overall, it's not anything we're real concerned about but there could have been some negative impacts at the local level."

One area that's open only for waterfowl now but is going to be open for turkeys in 2009 is Guana River WMA. Do you think you'll have to look hard to find a gobbler this spring? You may be disappointed! The 2008 Florida turkey season promises to be one of the best on record, as biologists are seeing turkeys in good numbers statewide.

Whether you're hunting on private land or on one of the state's wildlife management areas, you stand a good chance of bringing home a gobbler from any part of the state.

Larry Perrin is the state turkey biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Although no statewide assessment of turkey stocks is done in Florida, he feels that prospects for the 2008 spring season are good.

"During the spring of 2006, for the most part, the state had an above-average hatch," Perrin said. "We saw birds being hatched early, with late hatches all the way through the summer. We had a dry spring for the most part, although it was a little wetter in the south. I heard reports of people not seeing quite the number of birds there that were seen in the central and northern parts of the state."

LOOKING AHEAD
The spring of 2007 also portended good turkey hunting over the next couple of years.

"A real dry spring like the one we had in 2007 is typically pretty good for nesting," Perrin said. "Although we don't do any official surveys, nesting should have been pretty good. I was actually concerned about it being too dry in some places.

"Normally a dry spring is good because you don't have to worry about flooding nests," he continued. "And some data indicates that hens that get rained on can be more easily found by predators. So when you have a dry spring like we had, it tends to result in better production. But it was so dry that in some cases, it may not have been as beneficial as we would have liked." But as far as he knows, the dry spring we had last year led to good nesting success for 2007.

"We had a lot of people tell us they saw a lot of hens with poults, and it seemed like it was a long nesting season," Perrin added. "We heard reports of hens with poults as early as the first part of March, and then I heard of hens with poults in the late summer too. So overall, I'd say we did pretty well."

Of course, just as the hatch and survival rate in 2006 are impacting the 2008 season, what happened from a nesting standpoint in 2007 won't have a real impact on turkey hunting until the spring of 2009.

"This spring, the male birds that hatched during 2007 will be jakes," Perrin said. "While they're legal birds, they're not as vocal, and a lot of hunters tend to pass them up.

"So that by itself doesn't mean that there will be a bumper harvest in 2008. But it looks like 2009 will be a good year."

THE BURNING QUESTION
In recent years, wildfires have been a concern with regard to turkeys in the Sunshine State. However, Perrin doesn't think much direct mortality resulted from the fires of the spring and early summer of 2007.

"We had some bad fires up in northeast Florida, and when fires get extensive, that can cause some detriment to all wildlife," he explained. "So there are probably some issues in those areas. But turkeys are fairly mobile, and they can normally get into swamps and wet areas and survive. So there probably wasn't a lot of direct mortality. If there was any direct impact, I think they'll recover from it fairly quickly."

In many cases, fires of the type we saw in the spring of 2007 can improve turkey habitat for the next couple of years.

"So there are tradeoffs," Perrin continued. "Overall, it's not anything we're real concerned about but there could have been some negative impacts at the local level."

One area that's open only for waterfowl now but is going to be open for turkeys in 2009 is Guana River WMA. Do you think you'll have to look hard to find a gobbler this spring? You may be disappointed! The 2008 Florida turkey season promises to be one of the best on record, as biologists are seeing turkeys in good numbers statewide.

Whether you're hunting on private land or on one of the state's wildlife management areas, you stand a good chance of bringing home a gobbler from any part of the state.

Larry Perrin is the state turkey biologist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Although no statewide assessment of turkey stocks is done in Florida, he feels that prospects for the 2008 spring season are good.

"During the spring of 2006, for the most part, the state had an above-average hatch," Perrin said. "We saw birds being hatched early, with late hatches all the way through the summer. We had a dry spring for the most part, although it was a little wetter in the south. I heard reports of people not seeing quite the number of birds there that were seen in the central and northern parts of the state."

LOOKING AHEAD
The spring of 2007 also portended good turkey hunting over the next couple of years.

"A real dry spring like the one we had in 2007 is typically pretty good for nesting," Perrin said. "Although we don't do any official surveys, nesting should have been pretty good. I was actually concerned about it being too dry in some places.

"Normally a dry spring is good because you don't have to worry about flooding nests," he continued. "And some data indicates that hens that get rained on can be more easily found by predators. So when you have a dry spring like we had, it tends to result in better production. But it was so dry that in some cases, it may not have been as beneficial as we would have liked." But as far as he knows, the dry spring we had last year led to good nesting success for 2007.

"We had a lot of people tell us they saw a lot of hens with poults, and it seemed like it was a long nesting season," Perrin added. "We heard reports of hens with poults as early as the first part of March, and then I heard of hens with poults in the late summer too. So overall, I'd say we did pretty well."

Of course, just as the hatch and survival rate in 2006 are impacting the 2008 season, what happened from a nesting standpoint in 2007 won't have a real impact on turkey hunting until the spring of 2009.

"This spring, the male birds that hatched during 2007 will be jakes," Perrin said. "While they're legal birds, they're not as vocal, and a lot of hunters tend to pass them up.

"So that by itself doesn't mean that there will be a bumper harvest in 2008. But it looks like 2009 will be a good year."

THE BURNING QUESTION
In recent years, wildfires have been a concern with regard to turkeys in the Sunshine State. However, Perrin doesn't think much direct mortality resulted from the fires of the spring and early summer of 2007.

"We had some bad fires up in northeast Florida, and when fires get extensive, that can cause some detriment to all wildlife," he explained. "So there are probably some issues in those areas. But turkeys are fairly mobile, and they can normally get into swamps and wet areas and survive. So there probably wasn't a lot of direct mortality. If there was any direct impact, I think they'll recover from it fairly quickly."

In many cases, fires of the type we saw in the spring of 2007 can improve turkey habitat for the next couple of years.

"So there are tradeoffs," Perrin continued. "Overall, it's not anything we're real concerned about but there could have been some negative impacts at the local level."

One area that's open only for waterfowl now but is going to be open for turkeys in 2009 is Guana River WMA.