Extended periods of cold, rainy weather were common during the springs of both 2002 and 2003 in the Garden State. Hunter success was also down somewhat during the 2004 season because of the hot weather that allowed the woods to green up a bit earlier. But it was this same dry, warm weather that was common throughout much of the spring that increased the poult production during 2004.

Following lower harvest rates in 2003 and 2004, New Jersey hunters enjoyed much better success during last season's hunt, bagging 3,779 bearded birds. It was the third-highest harvest since the spring season was established in 1981, and an increase of 6.7 percent over the 2004 bag. A significant percentage of harvested birds during the 2005 spring hunt were jakes.

Looking at New Jersey as a whole, the past couple of years of hunting have been better in the southern reaches of the state. Managers suspect that northern portions of the state were more affected by poor reproduction conditions than areas in the south.

New Jersey is managed by means of 22 separate turkey-hunting areas (THA). The most productive areas last season were THAs 20 (600), 21 (465), 8 (247), 15 (228), 5 (206) and 11 (204).

THA 20 contains portions of Cumberland and Salem counties. About 16 percent of the land is in public ownership. These counties are located in the southwestern portion of the state. THA 21 includes a significant portion of Cumberland County, and is located to the east of THA 20. THA 8 is found in the northern portion of the state, and includes portions of Hunterdon and Warren counties.

Portions of Burlington and Camden counties make up THA 15. Approximately 47 percent of this THA is in public ownership. Wharton State Forest provides a significant amount of this public land. THA 5 includes a portion of Sussex County, while THA 11 is made up of portions of Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset counties.

Specific descriptions of boundaries of all New Jersey turkey-hunting regions can be found by referring to the 2005-06 Wild Turkey Hunting Season Information and Permit Application.