"As far as contribution to each of the regions, I don't see any proportion of the kill changing much, other than a few percentage points here and there," Backs said. "The north is still growing. The southeast, south-central and southwest are growing in some areas, but in others, they might have hit the max. Those areas are kind of in that mode where you have some good years and bad years. They go up and down, which is a sign of turkey populations stabilizing. The East-Central Region probably has the biggest opportunity to experience a harvest increase. But I don't see it getting anywhere close to what we are seeing in the other regions."
Backs added that there's much industrial, agricultural and human development in some of the regions, which is sure to alleviate habitat and prevent some regions from experiencing a major increase in harvests.
The good turkey production in 2004 led to the high record harvest of 2006. Backs reported that the latest hatch and brood production numbers aren't as good in 2006. However, he does believe, that because of the large number of adult hens still around in 2006, the carryover could mean plenty of turkeys in the spring of 2007. Backs ended with saying that the major harvest increase last spring is sure to attract new hunters in 2007. Thus, he projects a harvest similar to that of 2006.
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