Turkey populations by state (UPDATED)

The fall hen season debate got me looking for some numbers online and this is what I found.....this if from 1999 according to the website I found

Top 50 states by population in 1999

1. Texas (268,601 sq miles)...616,000 birds...2.29 birds per sq mile

2. Missouri (69,709 sq miles)...450,000 birds...6.45 birds per sq mile

3. Georgia (59,441 sq miles)...400,000 birds...6.73 birds per sq mile

4. Alabama (52,423 sq miles)...350,000 birds...6.67 birds per sq mile

5. Wisconsin (65,503 sq miles)...320,000 birds...4.88 birds per sq mile

6. Mississippi (48,434 sq miles)...300,000 birds...6.19 birds per sq mile

..Pennsylvania (46,058 sq miles)...300,000 birds...6.51 birds per sq mile

8. New York (54,475 sq miles)...250,000 birds...4.58 birds per sq mile

9. Tennessee (42,146 sq miles)...160,000 birds...3.79 birds per sq mile

10. Arkansas (53,182 sq miles)...155,000 birds...2.91 birds per sq mile

11. Ohio (44,828 sq miles)...145,000 birds...3.23 birds per square mile

12. Kentucky (40,411 sq miles)...140,000 birds...3.46 birds per sq mile

13. Michigan (96,810 sq miles)...135,000 birds...1.39 birds per sq mile

14. Virginia (42,769 sq miles)...130,000 birds...3.03 birds per sq mile

15. West Virginia (24,231 sq miles)...120,000 birds...4.95 birds per sq mile

..Illinois (57,918 sq miles)...120,000 birds...2.07 birds per sq mile

17. South Carolina (32,007 sq miles)...100,000 birds...3.17 birds per sq mile

..North Carolina (53,821 sq miles)...100,000 birds...1.85 birds per sq mile

..Iowa (56,276 sq miles)...100,000 birds...1.77 birds per sq mile

..Florida (65,758 sq miles)...100,000 birds...1.52 birds per sq mile

..Kansas (82,282 sq miles)...100,000 birds...1.21 birds per sq mile

..California (163,707 sq miles)...100,000 birds...0.61 birds per sq mile

23. Oklahoma (69,903 sq miles)...85,000 birds...1.21 birds per sq mile

..Montana (147,046 sq miles)...85,000 birds...0.57 birds per sq mile

25. Indiana (36,420 sq miles)...75,000 birds...2.05 birds per sq mile

26. Louisiana (51,843 sq miles)...60,000 birds...1.15 birds per sq mile

27. Idaho (83,574 sq miles)...50,000 birds...0.59 birds per sq miles

28. South Dakota (77,121 sq miles)...40,000 birds...0.518 birds per sq mile

..Nebraska (77,358 sq miles)...40,000 birds...0.517 birds per sq mile

..Minnesota (86,943 sq miles)...40,000 birds...0.46 birds per sq mile

31. New Mexico (121,593 sq miles)...35,000 birds...0.28 birds per sq miles

32. Connecticut (5,544 sq miles)...30,000 birds...5.41 birds per sq mile

..Vermont (9,615 sq miles)...30,000 birds...3.12 birds per sq mile

..Maryland (12,407 sq miles)...30,000 miles...2.41 birds per sq mile

35. Oregon (98,386 sq miles)...27,000 birds...0.27 birds per sq mile

36. Colorado (104,100 sq miles)...22,000 birds....0.21 birds per sq mile

37. New Jersey (8,722 sq miles)...20,000 birds...2.29 birds per sq mile

..Hawaii (10,932 sq miles)...20,000 birds...1.82 birds per sq mile

..Washington (71,303 sq miles)...20,000 birds...0.28 birds per sq mile

..Arizona (114,006 sq miles)..20,000 birds...0.17 birds per sq mile

41. Massachusetts (10,555 sq miles)...18,000 birds...1.70 birds per sq mile

42. North Dakota (70,704 sq miles)...12,000 birds...0.16 birds per sq mile

43. Maine (35,387 sq miles)...10,000 birds...0.28 birds per sq mile

..Wyoming (98,818 sq miles)...10,000 birds...0.102 birds per sq mile

45. New Hampshire (9,351 sq miles)...9,000 birds...0.96 birds per sq mile

46. Utah (84,904 sq miles)...8,000 birds...0.094 birds per sq mile

47. Rhode Island (1,545 sq miles)...4,000 birds...2.58 birds per sq mile

48. Delaware (1,954 sq miles)...3,000 birds...1.53 birds per sq mile

49. Nevada (110,567 sq miles)...2,000 birds...0.018 birds per sq mile

50. Alaska (656,425 sq miles)...000,000 bird....0.000 per sq mile

I guess this goes to show that the biggest population doesn't necessarily mean you have birds all over, texas has twice as many birds as most of the top 6 but has a third of the birds per square mile

from what I have found out so far in my search

**AS OF 2009**

GA has 300,000 birds which puts us down to 5.04 birds per square mile

Alabama now has 500,000 birds which puts them at 9.53 birds per square mile. These are unreal numbers!!!

Missouri's population is up to 500,000 birds which puts them at 7.17 birds per sq mile.

Penn has 350,000 birds now which brings them up to 7.59 birds per square mile.

Tennessee has 310,000 birds now on 42,146 square miles, this brings them to 7.35 birds per square mile.

These aren't the kind of number I like to see for GA. We have lost 100,000 birds in the past 10 years according to these numbers.

Not sure if anyone will really get anything out of this post but I just thought it was interesting. I would love to find some more up to date numbers but they are hard to come by. If anyone could add to this it would be awesome. Thanks, and hope yall like the info.

Gut Pile thanks for the info

We gained 50,00 birds in 10 years shooting hens.Ga lost 100,000 not.Wonder what some will say about that

Always wondered what they did right in Wisconsin with turkeys. None of the other surrounding states have near the harvest of birds. I seriously doubt another state that was reintroduced with turkeys around the same time has close to the numbers of turkeys and we also have some very liberal fall hunting laws. Being them are 99 numbers I'm sure our bird numbers have increased a lot.

Man You give young people a calculator and a little info and look what they come up with.

That is interesting Will and helps put it in perspective,

But don't let the Texas thing fool you.

Its just you have to go to the right parts of Texas, some you almost need a bayonet on the end of you gun in case you run out of shells or miss so you can defend yourself when you're overun

boparks said:

Man You give young people a calculator and a little info and look what they come up with.

That is interesting Will and helps put it in perspective,

But don't let the Texas thing fool you.

Its just you have to go to the right parts of Texas, some you almost need a bayonet on the end of you gun in case you run out of shells or miss so you can defend yourself when you're overun

Click to expand...

want to prove it to me?

I'm going to get out to texas with you one day Mr. Bobby...once school is done with and I can make some money. I really want to go. My dad and his friends went for years. Hopefully I'll get out there soon.

I've just been bored at the house tonight. I'm sure within the next day or two I will have all the numbers of birds per square mile per state. I just dont feel like doing it right now. haha

Gut_Pile said:

want to prove it to me?

I'm going to get out to texas with you one day Mr. Bobby...once school is done with and I can make some money. I really want to go. My dad and his friends went for years. Hopefully I'll get out there soon.

I've just been bored at the house tonight. I'm sure within the next day or two I will have all the numbers of birds per square mile per state. I just dont feel like doing it right now. haha

Click to expand...

I left myself open for that one didn't I?

When you get ready to go to Texas buddy, just give me some notice so we can have you a spot in camp.



I'd enjoy taking you

boparks said:

I left myself open for that one didn't I?

When you get ready to go to Texas buddy, just give me some notice so we can have you a spot in camp.



I'd enjoy taking you

Click to expand...

Yeah you did.....

PM some info on the trip yall usually take if you dont mind. Maybe we can get a hunt set up next year. Might have to start saving up some money.

Updated to all 50 states...I'm kinda bored

Looks good Will. You put some time in this and its interesting to review.

Sounds like all our rain and floods at the end of the year are going to show up in the numbers in a potentially devastating way next year

boparks said:

Looks good Will. You put some time in this and its interesting to review.

Sounds like all our rain and floods at the end of the year are going to show up in the numbers in a potentially devastating way next year

Click to expand...

I really hope the rain hasnt hurt them too much. What kind of numbers are you hearing?

What one has to take into consideration is the number of acres of turkey habitat, not total acres. That increases turkey densities (birds per square mile) in a whole bunch of western states as an example. Probably more than half of eastern Washington doesn't have trees as it is shrub steppe, high desert, irrigated farmland, dryland wheat country, etc. Great for all kinds of wildlife from mule deer, whitetail, pheasants, hungarian partridge, chukar partridge, quail and on and on. However these areas offer no available habitat for turkeys.

In the NE portion of Washington State we have Merriam numbers rivaling densities anywhere. Other areas for our Rio's and Easterns less so. So for what its worth, trying to compare say South Carolina where turkey habitat might be available in one form or the other, from excellent to somewhat marginal, pretty much statewide, to say Wyoming or Utah where it is localized is not realistic. Just food for thought.

Here is an update... Subtract 3 more longbeards from Georgia this year and 4 from Tennessee. I'll have to get back with you about Alabama.

It looks like GA is number one of all 49 states in turkey population density.

Gut_Pile said:

I really hope the rain hasnt hurt them too much. What kind of numbers are you hearing?

Click to expand...

I have not heard any numbers Will only that it's impacted the birds., We've had the most rain / flooding there than we have in decades.

Estmates will probably show up somewhere.

hawglips said:

It looks like GA is number one of all 49 states in turkey population density.

Click to expand...

''

In 99 it was

Gut_Pile said:

**AS OF 2009**

GA has 300,000 birds which puts us down to 5.04 birds per square mile

Penn has 350,000 birds now which brings them up to 7.59 birds per square mile. Far surpassing any other state I have seen. Except for Tennessee. Tennessee has 310,000 birds now on 42,146 square miles, this brings them to 7.35 birds per square mile.

These aren't the kind of number I like to see for GA. We have lost 100,000 birds in the past 10 years according to these numbers.

Not sure if anyone will really get anything out of this post but I just thought it was interesting. I would love to find some more up to date numbers but they are hard to come by. If anyone could add to this it would be awesome. Thanks, and hope yall like the info.

Click to expand...

Once again thanks for all the info Gut Pile

Gut_Pile said:

**AS OF 2009**

GA has 300,000 birds which puts us down to 5.04 birds per square mile

Penn has 350,000 birds now which brings them up to 7.59 birds per square mile. Far surpassing any other state I have seen. Except for Tennessee. Tennessee has 310,000 birds now on 42,146 square miles, this brings them to 7.35 birds per square mile.

These aren't the kind of number I like to see for GA. We have lost 100,000 birds in the past 10 years according to these numbers.

Not sure if anyone will really get anything out of this post but I just thought it was interesting. I would love to find some more up to date numbers but they are hard to come by. If anyone could add to this it would be awesome. Thanks, and hope yall like the info.

Click to expand...

300,000 birds and you would think I could find one somewhere!

On a serious note, Losing 100,000 birds from our population in 10 years is not a very good sign. Hopefully we can get that turned around.

That's pretty interesting. I wonder how that correlates with predator populations. I've done a lot of reading about studies showing that coons are the number one predator of turkeys because they raid the nest and eat the eggs. Racoon furs aren't valued at what they once were and arent trapped like they used to be. Many coon hunters don't even shoot them anymore.

And during the last 10 years, the coyotes and hog populations have grown alot in Georgia.

I don't know the answer, but I don't think the difference is hunters. I'd be more inclined to look at the other predators.

But I can't see an arguement for shooting hens will make your population grow.

wisturkeyhunter said:

Always wondered what they did right in Wisconsin with turkeys. None of the other surrounding states have near the harvest of birds. I seriously doubt another state that was reintroduced with turkeys around the same time has close to the numbers of turkeys and we also have some very liberal fall hunting laws. Being them are 99 numbers I'm sure our bird numbers have increased a lot.

Click to expand...

One reason is that WS has alot of fur trappers killing predators....same thing in PA....

We had a couple of years of REALLY bad hatches as well. These population counts do not necessarily mean that we are killing too many birds.

A very large part of the equation is simply that we had bad hatches due to weather, etc for a couple years in a row. On the flip side of that is that we just had a really good one as well (as I recall...and according to the poult counts which are really just throwing darts blind folded IMO).

I do wonder, however, how the infiltration of armadillos is affecting things. All of a sudden they've shown up even in north Georgia in the past few years. They've never been up this far from what I remember. Combine that with the fact that folks really do not hunt predators for the most part around here.

I think alabama has around 500,000 turkeys. I was thinking they had a lot more than georgia so I looked around and found that number on a al dnr site.