Spring 2026 Turkey Harvest Rose in All Seven Southeast States We Track

Hunters in seven Southeast and Appalachian states reported 158,927 spring turkeys in 2026, up 16.8% from 136,121 in 2025, and every one of the seven finished higher. Kentucky, North Carolina and Arkansas posted the highest totals in FDR's records for their states. Virginia fell 344 birds short of its 2023 total and West Virginia 281 short of its 2018 total. Harvest follows hunters and weather as well as turkeys, so the pattern says the spring went well without measuring the flock.

Tennessee had the biggest jump. Its county records add up to 35,061 spring turkeys in 2026 against 29,060 in 2025, a gain of 20.7%. Arkansas (+19.7%) and Kentucky (+18.9%) came next, then Virginia (+17.2%), Georgia (+14.7%), West Virginia (+12.3%) and North Carolina (+10.1%).

Added together, that is 22,806 more birds than in 2025. The combined figure mixes seven reporting systems, so the state-by-state changes are the better unit to trust. The table shows each state's series length and where 2026 sits against its own history.

Kentucky's 36,448 is 351 birds above its previous high of 36,097, set in 2010. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife's own release also calls 2026 a record and names 2010 as the year it passed. North Carolina's 25,034 beats 2023's 24,089, and the state's published county summary runs back to 1977.

Arkansas needs careful wording. Our Arkansas county series begins in 2013, and 13,646 is the highest number in it. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission calls 2026 the best spring since 2006 and puts the all-time high at 19,947 birds checked in 2003. "Highest in our records" is true for Arkansas. "Record" would not be.

The other four sit below an earlier year. Virginia's 24,103 trails 2023 (24,447) by 344, and the department's own summary shows 2026 above every year of the previous decade except 2023. West Virginia's 12,006 trails 2018 (12,287) by 281. Tennessee's and Georgia's earlier highs both came in 2020, at 40,129 and 14,716. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency ranks 2026 fourth-highest on record and refers to "the 2020 COVID record season."

Five of the six states in Figure 2 reported fewer birds in 2025 than in 2024, and fewer in 2024 than in 2023: Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and West Virginia. Kentucky went 35,663, 33,465, 30,661, then 36,448. Tennessee went 31,844, 31,728, 29,060, then 35,061.

That means part of the 2026 gain is a rebound off a low base. Measured against 2024 instead of 2025, the gains shrink to +3.1% in West Virginia, +4.0% in North Carolina, +8.7% in Georgia, +8.9% in Kentucky and +10.5% in Tennessee.

Arkansas is the exception. Its reported harvest has risen five springs running, from 7,023 in 2021 to 13,646 in 2026, and it is up 46.2% on 2024. Virginia is left off the figure because our county series there starts in 2021.

Maury County, Tennessee, reported 1,441 birds, the largest county number in the set and 458 more than its 983 in 2025. Graves County led Kentucky with 778, and Mason County led West Virginia with 523; both figures match the Kentucky and West Virginia releases. Duplin County led North Carolina with 853, up only 41 on 2025.

Read this table as a leaderboard for one spring. Counties differ in size, in hunter numbers and in how much public ground they hold, so a top county in one state is a weak comparison to a top county in another. The Kentucky county paper shows what happens to a leaderboard when you set it against a county's own five-year average.

The four agencies whose 2026 releases we read each give a reason, and the reasons overlap. Kentucky's release cites two years of high egg-laying and strong poult survival, more hunters and four straight weekends of good weather. Tennessee credits "relatively good turkey hatches for the past few years" plus favorable weather. Virginia points to weather, especially on weekends. Arkansas names carryover of mature gobblers from conservative seasons, along with weather, and says it is still analyzing whether its new split opening weekends mattered.

We can't test any of those with a table of reported birds. All four agencies name weather; Kentucky and Tennessee add recent hatches or poult survival, and Arkansas adds gobblers carried over from earlier seasons. We pass these along as the agencies' reading of their own seasons.

Each figure is the sum of a state's county records for the spring season, whether the state collects them through mandatory registration, a game check or reported harvest. Virginia's total includes independent cities. Series lengths differ, so "highest in our records" always means our records for that state. The county data come from Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Georgia and West Virginia.

We compared our sums with the statewide totals in the agencies' 2026 releases for five of the seven states. West Virginia matched exactly at 12,006. Virginia's release reads 24,105 against our 24,103, Kentucky's 36,439 against our 36,448, Arkansas's 13,591 against our 13,646 and Tennessee's 34,990 against our 35,061. The largest gap is 71 birds, in Tennessee, and the largest relative gap is 0.4%, in Arkansas. For North Carolina and Georgia we found no statewide 2026 figure to compare, so those two rest on the county records alone.

A harvest count is birds reported, not flock size. Hunter numbers, weather and season rules all move it, and none of them shows up in a county table. Oklahoma is not in this set because its statewide numbers are hunter-survey estimates that stop at 2024, a different kind of number; we cover it in a separate paper.

Judge a state by its last three springs, not its last one. All six states in Figure 2 finished 2026 above both their 2025 and 2024 totals, but only Arkansas has climbed steadily in recent years. Kentucky and Tennessee have swung up and down for a decade, which makes 2026 a good year and too early to call a new baseline.

If you skipped a state after a thin 2025, these numbers say hunters found birds there again. Plan for a normal season. When you narrow to a county, rank counties by their five-year average first and use the latest spring only to break ties.