A look inside the numbers as Illinois youth turkey hunters set new harvest record in 2024

Springfield — Jase Corley wasted little time. The 10-year-old from St. Jacob shot a gobbler – his first ever turkey – on the morning of March 30, opening day of the 2024 Illinois youth season.

More than 2,000 youngsters around the state soon followed Corley’s lead.

DNR reported a harvest of 2,006 turkeys during the youth season, breaking the previous record of 1,733 set four years ago. It was a tremendous bounce-back for youth hunters, who battled rough weather conditions last spring to take only 1,297 turkeys.

This season, held the weekends of March 30-31 and April 6-7, featured not only good weather, but also a boom in hunters. A total of 6,001 permits were issued to youth hunters, compared to 5,283 last year. The additional 720 or so permits distributed this spring likely made a difference in the harvest.

The top five harvesting counties this year were Randolph County, where youth hunters took 71 turkeys, a dramatic increase over the 48 taken last spring. Fayette County was a close second with, 66 (compared to 26 in 2023), while Jefferson, County was third with 63 (11 more than in 2023).

MORE TURKEY COVERAGE FROM OUTDOOR NEWS:

Missouri turkey hunt changes made official

The .410 is the little turkey gun that could

How to ensure a happy first-time hunter this turkey season

Marion County’s 62 (after a harvest of 46 in 2023) and Pike County’s 54 (15 more than 2023) rounded out the top five in 2024.

The only counties to see harvest declines this spring compared to 2023 were Alexander County (from 27 last spring to 23 this spring), Christian County (10 to 6), Lee County (from 12 to 8), Lake County (from 1 to 0), McDonough County (from 4 to 3), Rock Island County (from 11 to 9) and Will County (from 5 to 3).

Counties that had identical youth harvests in both 2023 and 2024 were Champaign County (3), DeWitt County (2), Edgar County (8), Henry County (10), Kendall County (0), Marshall and Putnam Counties (11), Piatt County (2), Stark County (1), and Wabash County (5).

Interestingly, DNR noted that 160 (8%) of this year’s youth harvest was on public land.

Updated harvest numbers for the regular Illinois spring turkey season have not been made available.

The regular turkey season ends May 9 in the state’s south zone and May 16 in the north zone.