# 2020 Turkey Harvest Report



## Yankee#1 (Jun 3, 2015)

A few documents published by the DNR in Sept 2021, I suspect most of you haven't seen these yet:
2020 Michigan Spring Turkey Survey (i.e., the Harvest Report): https://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/2020_turkey_harvest_report_735555_7.pdf
Effects of Covid-19 on Michigan Turkey Hunting in 2020: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/2020_turkey_covid_effects_735389_7.pdf

I pulled out a few statements that quickly summarize what many of us thought - Covid had a huge impact on hunting pressure and harvest: 

1) The estimated number of active hunters in 2020 *increased significantly by 29%* from 2019 (87,825 in 2020 versus 68,110 in 2019).

2) Hunters spent an estimated 419,799 days afield pursuing turkeys (4.8 ± 0.1 days per hunter) and harvested approximately *41,772 birds* (Figure 6).

3) About 48% of hunters harvested a turkey, *which was the highest level of success ever recorded *(Figure 7).

In sum - if you're hearing significantly fewer mature birds in your area this spring, I think you definitely need to consider the substantially increased harvest from 2 years ago. The harvest rates absolutely exploded in a few of the counties (see report for details). 

I personally know that some of the areas near me, those that traditionally held 2-3 mature gobblers every year, were completely wiped out in 2020. Sadly, a few of those spots did not rebound last year and the roosts were empty after the first week of April.


----------



## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

Thanks for posting. Counted 9 counties with 1000+ birds harvested. 
A couple of observations. Ottawa had 1000+, but has very few birds in the CBM record book. St.Clair & Clinton easily lead all counties with CBM entries and both a harvest of about 800 toms. ??? Fewer but longer beard toms ?

L & O


----------



## noshow (Sep 24, 2010)

Turkey numbers seem to be declining quite a bit the last few years. Not good.


----------



## multibeard (Mar 3, 2002)

Liver and Onions said:


> Thanks for posting. Counted 9 counties with 1000+ birds harvested.
> A couple of observations. Ottawa had 1000+, but has very few birds in the CBM record book. St.Clair & Clinton easily lead all counties with CBM entries and both a harvest of about 800 toms. ??? Fewer but longer beard toms ?
> 
> L & O


Simple answer. 

Less snow ==== Less beard breakage


----------



## Yankee#1 (Jun 3, 2015)

Liver and Onions said:


> A couple of observations. Ottawa had 1000+, but has very few birds in the CBM record book. St.Clair & Clinton easily lead all counties with CBM entries and both a harvest of about 800 toms. ??? Fewer but longer beard toms ?
> 
> L & O


Maybe hunters from Ottawa just don’t register birds? Perhaps just my opinion, but I think it’s more common for people to skip getting the official score for birds than it is for bucks.



Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


----------



## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

Yankee#1 said:


> Maybe hunters from Ottawa just don’t register birds? Perhaps just my opinion, but I think it’s more common for people to skip getting the official score for birds than it is for bucks.


For sure, fewer toms that qualify for CBM make the book when compared to bucks. Just not the same interest.
You are probably correct, a smaller % of Ottawa toms that qualify get entered into the book for a couple of reasons. As noted in post #4, deeper snow/ice like in Zones 1&2 or Ottawa Co. means more beard hairs broken off.

Before making my post I had looked at the DNR 2020 harvest numbers per county and then looked at the 2020 CBM entry numbers. Then I looked back at the same for 2019.
In past years there has been some discussion about how well represented St. Clair & Clinton were in the CBM book.
What I had never noticed was how poorly Ottawa was represented in the book when compared to other counties along our west coast.

L & O


----------



## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

All-time CBM turkey entries. Notice the numbers in Clinton & St. Clair. Notice the Ottawa numbers when compared to the west coast counties up to Mason. That's what my reference was to in post #2


----------



## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

2020 CBM Turkey & Bear entries.


----------



## propbuster (Mar 4, 2004)

I did not even know there was a record book for Turkeys. That might be part of the problem of Turkey's not being registered. What are the minimum requirements to register a Turkey?


----------



## Yankee#1 (Jun 3, 2015)

L&O - do those numbers represent the actual county where the birds were harvested or just the home address of the registee?

If home address, then hard to decipher much information or make many conclusions from just those numbers.


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


----------



## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

L&O - do those numbers represent the actual county where the birds were harvested or just the home address of the registee?

If home address, then hard to decipher much information or make many conclusions from just those numbers.
[/QUOTE]

The hunter writes down the county of the kill for turkey, deer, bear & elk. So the actual county, not where the hunter lives.

L & O


----------



## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

I intended to post this last night.

2019 Spring Turkey Harvest:


https://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/2019_spring_turkey_survey_report_675900_7.pdf



2019 CBM Turkey & Bear entries:


----------



## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

propbuster said:


> I did not even know there was a record book for Turkeys. That might be part of the problem of Turkey's not being registered. What are the minimum requirements to register a Turkey?


Gun: 12" Spur+spur+beard
Archery: 8"

I think CBM has been has been scoring turkeys for about as long as deer which is around 40 years.

L & O


----------



## Tron322 (Oct 29, 2011)

Thanks for the info, my first and a double beard I shot would have made it out of Allegan county. And two I shot in Leelanau, but I never save the spurs.

Not sure where the double beard is nowadays, I remember a cat got into it and chewed some of the second beard off.

Been meaning to look into CBM for a while, might have to do it before spring turkey season.



Liver and Onions said:


> Gun: 12" Spur+spur+beard
> Archery: 8"
> 
> I think CBM has been has been scoring turkeys for about as long as deer which is around 40 years.
> ...


----------



## Tron322 (Oct 29, 2011)

I answered false for Leelanau county, I noticed less birds a few years before COVID.

I did notice more hunters out in my areas, especially in 2021, only heard a couple shots so hopefully this year those hunters are going somewhere else in unit K.


----------



## hmrx (May 4, 2012)

The reason for more records in southern Michigan are several. First more birds are killed there by many times. Secondly you need to look at the history of the birds. Northern michigan was populated from birds coming from game farm birds from the PA wild turkey farm in the 60's. It's the only population from there that ever survived this long. There MO is shorter beards and shorter spurs and slightly shorter legs. Anyone shooting many birds in the north know what I mean. Still love those birds know matter what anyone says. The southern birds were wild trapped birds released starting in 84 that mostly came from Missouri and Iowa. Iowa birds were orginally from Missouri. There MO on Missouri birds has always been heavier weights longer heavy beards and long spurs. This is the reality just look at the entries and you can see the line between north and south. At some point in the future the entire state will be one type. It's anyone's guess how long before they hit the bridge. Just a little history lesson. 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


----------

