Have You Seen Turkeys? Report Them!

The Iowa DNR is asking for help with their annual turkey survey.

Each July and August the Iowa DNR needs your help determining how successful wild turkeys were nesting this season. If you see a single turkey or group of turkeys during July and/or August please report your sighting provided in the link below.

According to the National Wild Turkey Federation, current estimates in Iowa for the turkey population is around 150,000. Nationwide, the population estimates are over six million.

The DNR asks that you please note the date and county that you saw the turkey(s), if it was an adult male or female, and how many poults were present (baby turkeys).

Report turkey sightings HERE.

Iowa's oak/hickory forests covered nearly 7 million acres during the original land survey in 1859. Less than a century later, only 2.6 million acres of forest remained in the state. Unfortunately, wild turkeys were eliminated from Iowa by the early 1900s due to habitat loss and partly because of uncontrolled hunting. The last verified sighting was made in Lucas County in 1910.

The first successful release of Eastern wild turkeys began in 1966. By 2001, restoration efforts ended after wild turkeys were prevalent in about 95% of timber stands in the state.

According to the Iowa DNR, the 2020 spring turkey hunting season saw nearly 15,000 turkeys harvested in the 38-day season (April 10 – May 17). That was the highest spring turkey harvest since mandatory harvest reporting began in 2007.

The spring 2021 turkey hunting season saw 11,697 turkeys harvested across Iowa’s 99 counties, the most occurring in Allamakee and Clayton counties in the Northeast corner of the state with over 400 each.

For more information about turkey hunting seasons in Iowa, click HERE.

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Filed Under: turkeys, wild turkeys

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