Efforts to thin flocks of wild turkeys in Illinois weren’t as successful this season. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has released harvest numbers for the October 18 – 26 fall firearm season that just concluded. Illinois hunters took 255 turkeys during the 9 day season, down from 294 turkeys killed in 2024. The record was set back in 2005 when 1,218 birds were taken out of circulation. 57% of birds taken were females with 43% being jakes or toms.
In our area, hunters took 4 in White County and Edwards County each versus just 2 last year; 11 in Wayne County versus 10 last year; Gallatin County was down from 3 birds in 2024 to just 2 this season; Hamilton County was down one from 4 last year to just 3 this year; Saline County hunters harvested just 3 versus 6 in 2024; the top county this year was Jefferson where 16 turkeys were killed and 17 were harvested in 2024.