Tennessee’s spring turkey hunting season begins Saturday, one of the state’s most popular hunting times.
TWRA Region 3 Biologist Casey Mullen said the popularity grows each year, in part, because out-of-state hunters travel here to take advantage of the state’s public land.
“A lot of turkey hunters once they become very, very involved with turkey hunting, there’s something called the Grand Slam,” Mullen said. “Where they try to get different species of turkeys all across the country. That’s pretty popular among turkey hunters, hardcore turkey hunters.”
While the sport is growing in Tennessee, Mullen said there has been a slight decline in the amount of turkeys to hunt. To date, Mullen said the TWRA can not pinpoint a cause.
“It is just a compounding effect of loss of habitats, some predation issues, we’ve looked at many, many different things that were possibilities, all of which do affect turkey populations,” Cullen said. “But we have not pointed to a smoking gun for the overall decline.”
Cullen said be sure to get permission to hunt on private land and the color of your clothing is important.
“The colors of red, white and blue while turkey hunting — are the same color as a gobbler’s head,” Cullen said. “So, those are some colors to avoid while you’re turkey hunting. There is no blaze orange requirement or anything like that for turkey hunters. They pretty much camo up completely.”
Tennessee’s turkey limit is one turkey per day not to exceed two per season. Only one of those can be a jake, or a young male turkey.
