March 27, 2026, 4:01 a.m. CT
Kentucky’s spring turkey hunting season is bringing good news for hunters and biologists alike.
Brood surveys, or observations of young turkey poults, indicate a healthy population of gobblers for hunters to pursue, according to a community announcement.
Wild turkey numbers have improved over the past five years, said Zak Danks, the department’s turkey-grouse program coordinator. Hunters have raised concerns about the turkey population, but the data suggests a positive outlook.
What hunters need to know
The spring hunting season kicks off with a youth-only weekend April 4-5, followed by the 23-day general season starting April 18. Hunters with proper permits can harvest two birds during the season but only one a day. Legal birds are male or have a beard.
Shooting hours are 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset. Hunters need an annual hunting license and spring turkey permit or an all-in-one Sportsman’s License. Hunters ages 12-15 need a youth hunting license and youth turkey permit or a Youth Sportsman’s License. Hunters 11 and younger are license-exempt. Hunters under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.
Hunters must fill out the Harvest Log before moving a harvested bird and telecheck it by phone or online by midnight of the day it is recovered. Birds dropped off to a taxidermist or butcher must have a handmade tag with the hunter’s name, phone number, and Telecheck confirmation number.
Turkeys are thriving
In 2025, hunters telechecked 30,661 birds, which is fewer than in 2024 and 2023 but more than in 2022 and 2021. This year’s season could see another high harvest, given the reproductive success two years ago.
Brood surveys from 2024 showed 70% of hens with poults, compared with 62% in 2023. The average number of poults per hen increased from 2.3 to 2.7 statewide. In the east, it rose from 1.78 to 2.28, and in the west, from 2.62 to 3.11.
Last summer’s brood survey showed 3.5 poults per hen statewide, with production greatest in the east (3.8) and central Kentucky (3.6).
The optimistic brood survey data is supported by a three-year study of nests, brood habitat use and hen behavior in three counties in western Kentucky. The study used transmitters resembling backpacks to track the movement of more than 230 turkeys.
Preliminary estimates showed the survival rate for adult hens was 70% to 74% and greater than 75% for juvenile hens, which is better than biologists predicted.
In addition, the higher-than-usual number of successful nests and higher poult survival rates in those three counties in 2024 showed the impact of the emergence of the 13-year Brood XIX cicadas in western Kentucky that year.
A separate four-year research study that involved capturing and leg banding nearly 1,300 male birds showed Kentucky’s annual harvest rate was 29% for mature gobblers and 6% for juveniles (jakes). The average year-to-year survival rate was 56% for gobblers and 78% for jakes.
“Harvest rates did not exceed the 30 percent to 35 percent threshold that past research indicated could be unsustainable, so we’re right where we want to be providing opportunities to hunters while protecting the flock long term,” Danks said. “We haven’t had such comprehensive numbers in decades.”
For all regulations, general information and videos on turkey hunting and processing, visit fw.ky.gov.
This story was created by reporter Nida Tazeen,NTazeen@usatodayco.com with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more atcm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.
