Illinois’ spring turkey harvest up slightly from 2021

Illinois hunters harvested 13,701 wild turkeys during the spring seasons, up slightly from the harvest in 2021.

File photo of a turkey decoy at an Illinois public site. — File photo of a turkey decoy at an Illinois public site

Illinois hunters harvested 13,701 wild turkeys during the spring seasons, up slightly from the 13,613 in 2021. That’s notable because the 2021 total harvest included a record youth harvest.

I will admit I was curious how the numbers would look, considering the late arrival of spring. I had drawn a fourth season permit and there was little understory and even less leafing out. Maybe that lack of vegetation helped with harvest.

Here’s the word from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources:

Illinois 2022 spring wild turkey preliminary harvest totals 13,701 birds
SPRINGFIELD – Turkey hunters harvested a preliminary statewide total of 13,701 wild turkeys during the 2022 Illinois Spring Turkey Season. This year’s preliminary harvest total compares with the 2021 statewide turkey harvest of 13,613.
A total of 81,903 permits were sold this year compared to 83,240 in 2021.
The statewide preliminary total includes the 2022 Youth Turkey Season harvest of 1,258 birds, which compares with the 2021 youth harvest of 1,304 turkeys (the record for youth season harvest). The statewide record total harvest for the spring turkey season was set in 2006 when 16,569 turkeys were harvested.
Spring turkey hunting was open in 100 of Illinois’ 102 counties. The 2022 season dates were April 4-May 5 in the South Zone and April 11-May 12 in the North Zone. The Youth Spring Turkey Season was March 26-27 and April 2-3 statewide.
The top five counties for spring wild turkey harvest in 2021 were Jefferson (422), Jo Daviess (416), Pike (368), Randolph (315), and Pope (312).
A table showing county preliminary harvest totals for the 2022 Illinois Spring Turkey Season and 2021 comparable harvest totals follows.

County 2022 2021

ADAMS 300 278

ALEXANDER 140 155

BOND 125 130

BOONE 87 73

BROWN 196 221

BUREAU 169 150

CALHOUN 216 185

CARROLL 159 131

CASS 212 211

CHAMPAIGN 22 20

CHRISTIAN 43 39

CLARK 200 213

CLAY 212 225

CLINTON 97 85

COLES 30 46

CRAWFORD 189 178

CUMBERLAND 55 64

DEKALB 15 10

DEWITT 36 50

DOUGLAS 10 7

EDGAR 95 80

EDWARDS 92 79

EFFINGHAM 113 129

FAYETTE 215 269

FORD 11 16

FRANKLIN 208 184

FULTON 247 245

GALLATIN/HARDIN 221 202

GREENE 124 140

GRUNDY 61 53

HAMILTON 212 241

HANCOCK 271 254

HENDERSON 137 133

HENRY 103 107

IROQUOIS 84 79

JACKSON 281 280

JASPER 130 136

JEFFERSON 422 428

JERSEY 173 146

JODAVIESS 416 354

JOHNSON 242 223

KANE 1 0

KANKAKEE 44 45

KENDALL 10 9

KNOX 202 225

LAKE 10 6

LASALLE 95 110

LAWRENCE 130 143

LEE 90 85

LIVINGSTON 30 32

LOGAN 33 28

MACON 21 26

MACOUPIN 261 225

MADISON 205 192

MARION 310 338

MARSHALL/PUTNAM 104 105

MASON 143 134

MASSAC 104 98

MCDONOUGH 118 124

MCHENRY 101 98

MCLEAN 60 63

MENARD 72 75

MERCER 183 187

MONROE 135 141

MONTGOMERY 145 152

MORGAN 100 127

MOULTRIE 30 21

OGLE 191 155

PEORIA 126 113

PERRY 219 231

PIATT 4 11

PIKE 368 356

POPE 312 276

PULASKI 101 113

RANDOLPH 315 295

RICHLAND 123 109

ROCK ISLAND 164 157

SALINE 117 113

SANGAMON 91 104

SCHUYLER 192 185

SCOTT 82 70

SHELBY 129 132

ST CLAIR 129 127

STARK 12 17

STEPHENSON 206 155

TAZEWELL 70 72

UNION 211 265

VERMILION 130 131

WABASH 40 41

WARREN 46 49

WASHINGTON 138 135

WAYNE 262 302

WHITE 143 182

WHITESIDE 130 107

WILL 62 74

WILLIAMSON 269 288

WINNEBAGO 151 144

WOODFORD 60 66

Total 13,701 13,613

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