Following a slight downward cycle, many Mid-Atlantic region spring turkey enthusiasts found things more to their liking last season. In general, wild turkey populations are up, equating to excellent harvest numbers. Expectations are high for the upcoming spring gobbler season as well.

Like most things in nature, wild turkey populations tend to rise and fall in direct response to a variety of factors, perhaps the most important being spring breeding conditions. Poor nesting conditions, exemplified by extended periods of cold, wet weather, can stifle production for the year. When poor weather occurs during the summer, recruitment levels of young birds can drop. Game managers ascertain the production of the nesting season by poult counts conducted during the summer.

Hunters quickly feel low reproduction rates for a couple of years, as many of the birds bagged during the spring are 1-year-old jakes or 2-year-old gobblers. Conversely, a banner nesting season or two can rapidly turn things around, translating to excellent hunting opportunities.

An upswing in the turkey reproduction cycle began in 2004 and continued, albeit on a lesser scale, last spring. Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware's wild turkey populations have been re-established over the past two to three decades by extensive trap-and-transfer work by the various state resource agencies. That work is now mostly complete, though natural expansions of flocks continue to occur, increasing the availability of birds as well as hunting options. Ups and downs in wild turkey populations from here on out will largely be the result of natural trends driven in a large part by springtime nesting success.

Here's a review of last year's spring hunts in the three-state Mid- Atlantic region, as well as a general look at things to come for this year's hunt.

MARYLAND
Following a year when the harvest of wild turkeys dropped a significant amount, Maryland wild turkey hunters set a new record during the spring of 2005 when 3,136 wild turkeys were bagged. What happened in Maryland the past two years serves as an excellent example of how quickly numbers of birds can drop, and how fast they can rebound.

During the 2004 season, the bag was 2,760 bearded birds, a figure 12 percent lower than the 3,120 toms that were taken in 2003.

The result of the 2004 season prompted Maryland's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Wildlife and Heritage Division Director Paul Peditto to comment: "Maryland's wild turkey population remains strong, but the drop in harvest was not unexpected. Two consecutive years of poor reproductive success has caused turkey numbers to fall statewide, and the lack of young birds was reflected in the low harvest."

Bob Long, the DNR's wild turkey biologist, notes, "As many as 75 percent of gobblers taken in a typical year are either 1- or 2-year-olds. Without those age-classes, fewer birds are available for hunters and most of them are older, more wary and harder to bag than young gobblers."

In 2004, only 22 percent of the harvest was made up of jakes. More typical numbers see 30 to 40 percent of the take consisting of yearling birds.

Though the 2004 spring offered few birds for Maryland hunters, excellent breeding conditions existed, allowing populations to significantly increase. This was reflected not only in the total amount of toms killed last spring but in the number of jakes.

During the 2005 spring hunt, Maryland hunters bagged a record 3,136 birds, an increase of 14 percent over the 2004 season, and a total that surpassed the previous record of 3,127 toms dropped in 2002.