Minnesota turkey hunters shatter previous record harvest as spring season concludes

St. Paul — The spring wild turkey season ended May 31, and a record-breaking year is on the books. The total harvest reached 16,660 turkeys, according to a preliminary report from Nate Huck, Minnesota DNR resident game bird specialist.

While a few birds might still be reported, most of the harvest officially is wrapped up. The 16,660-harvest count surpasses the 2020 record of 13,996 by 2,664 turkeys.

“It was a great season,” Huck said. “The highest all-time by a lot – over 2,700 more birds than our previous record in 2020, which is just great to see and great to see that people were being successful.”

Interest in spring turkey hunting was strong, with licenses exceeding 60,000, according to Huck.

That’s the second-highest license count for a spring season, with 2020 being the highest at 63,297 licenses.

The hunter success rate also increased compared to average years. Huck said the average rate is between 21% and 23%, and the 2024 season was around 28%. This meant more turkeys were being seen and killed by hunters.

Reasons behind the record

The mild 2023-24 winter was one factor in more turkeys being seen statewide. But DNR attributes the overall success of the record-breaking spring season to several factors including the mild winter, dry weather during the past two years of nesting, and an increased interest in spring turkey hunting.

The mild late winter allowed more turkeys to spread across the state rather than cluster in large groups trying to survive the winter severity. With birds spread out, more hunters were able to see and harvest birds.

Huck said jake harvest was up in 2024 because of the successful 2023 nesting year. On average, jake harvest is 18% of the total harvest, but in 2024 it increased to 21%, according to Huck. The increase indicates that jake totals have probably risen.

Huck noted strong 2022 and 2023 nesting years. The 2024 nesting year is still uncertain, with hatching happening right now.

Huck believes that 2024 rain came at a good time to allow for more insects and food for poults.

“I think we’re in good shape right now,” Huck said. “You know it’s one of those things where I think it’s super hard, especially with turkeys, to predict because they’re a really hardy bird. Any of these upland birds with precocial young, lots of rain really early on isn’t such a great thing, but beyond that they’ll be fine. There’s just not much that can really knock them down, especially now that it’s wet.”

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As hatching happens, Huck said it would be ideal for no more rain during the hatching period. If there is rain, it should be minimal, otherwise nests could be washed away and young, downy birds can get cold. The DNR will know more about the 2024 nesting results in August.

The record-breaking spring doesn’t alarm the DNR, as the agency anticipated a good hunting season with the back-to-back strong nesting years. Huck hopes to see more hunters interested in spring turkey hunting in the future and continue building the sport in Minnesota.

“I sure hope that people see this as there’s a lot of birds out there and we can support this level of harvest for sure,” Huck said.

Crossbows and youth

Two of the biggest talking points heading into the 2024 spring turkey season centered on crossbows and youth hunting. Crossbows were legal for use by any age for the first time this spring, and Huck said the DNR received some complaints.

Some hunters thought it was unfair that crossbow hunters were able to hunt every season, while firearms hunters could only hunt in a one-week season and the final two-week closing season.

Regardless, 7% of the total harvest came from crossbow users. Huck said he’s interested to see if that number increases or stays relatively the same in 2025 and future years.

The DNR has been advocating for more youth opportunities and continued that work this spring by trying to get more youth hunters out for spring turkey hunting. The results show it was effective.

Huck said about 3,200 turkeys were harvested by youth hunters this year, an increase from about 2,500 turkeys last spring.

The official final 2024 turkey harvest report will be released later this summer.