Iowa Turkey Counties: Spring and Fall Are Two Different Hunts

IOpposite slopes

Spring rose as fall declined

Iowa recorded 11,527 spring turkeys in 2007 and 15,350 during 2025, increasing its reported spring harvest by 33.2%. The reported fall take dropped from 1,362 birds to 417, a decrease of 69.4%. Fall accounted for 10.6% of the annual reported take in 2007 versus 2.6% in 2025.

Both seasons saw uneven changes. During 2007 to 2019, the spring count ranged from 9,527 to 12,173. It climbed to 14,689 during 2020, then retreated to 11,725 for 2021 and 11,946 for 2022. Each of the latest three spring seasons has produced at least 14,843 reported birds, with a high of 16,089 during 2024. Fall began declining earlier. Its 2018 count was down to 413, or 69.7% below the 2007 figure (413 versus 1,362). Since then, the fall count has ranged from 413 to 581, finishing at 417.

The opening year needs a caveat. Spring harvest reporting became mandatory in 2007. For that spring, the DNR report estimates 74% compliance, translating that estimate into nearly 4,000 turkeys that initially went unreported. Improved reporting may thus explain some of spring's 33.2% increase. The report's only compliance estimate covers the spring season of 2007.

IIWhy fall is small

Fall uses fewer licenses and other hunting methods

In its turkey report for 2023 to 2024, the DNR describes fall licensing as a fraction of spring licensing. For 2023, it records 7,714 licenses issued for fall versus 54,450 for spring. The fall total equaled 14.2% of spring's, with free permits for landowners making up 46% of fall licenses. Back in 2007, the fall license count was 11,024. That count declined 30.0% by 2023. Across those same years, the reported fall take decreased 57.3% (our series goes from 1,362 to 581). The number of reported turkeys divided by issued fall licenses fell from 10.5% during 2008 to 7.5% during 2023. That measure does not give the success rate for hunters who actually hunted. Both declining license numbers and a smaller reported take per license contributed.

Quota reductions match some of the timing. Starting in 2009, the report documents fall quota reductions; zone 4 had its quota lowered from 4,500 to 1,500. The reported fall take decreased from 1,075 during 2008 to 912 during 2009, then 805 during 2010. Before that reduction, fall's count had already slipped from 1,362 birds to 1,075 during 2008. Quota changes therefore cannot explain the entire decline.

Hunting methods change with the season, too. According to the report, fall techniques differ enough that experience in spring does little to affect fall success. Moving through small woodlots and flushing turkeys may be more effective in fall than sitting and calling as hunters do in spring. The report also says many hunters may just purchase a fall tag during deer bow hunts. Mandatory reporting does not allow an estimate of how many fall hunters actually hunt, leaving no hunter total to use as a denominator for county fall counts. Season schedules also vary. The fall season for guns and bows lasted 54 days during 2023. Spring's 2024 schedule covered a 38-day window: a youth hunt lasting 3 days plus four regular seasons, whose lengths were 4 days, 5 days, 7 days and 19 days.

Only residents may hunt turkeys in fall. On its turkey hunting information page, the DNR says a resident can purchase as many as two fall permits, while a nonresident cannot purchase any. According to the report, Iowa has barred nonresidents from fall turkey hunting since 1990.

IIISide by side

Clayton tops each season; the remaining rankings differ

Clayton County takes the lead in each season, with 9,283 reported spring turkeys and 431 reported fall turkeys during 2007 to 2025. Spring runners-up are Allamakee (8,004), then Jackson (7,551). Fall's next counties are Appanoose (368), then Warren (367).

The gap between the lists lies in harvest volume. Clayton averages about 23 reported fall turkeys per year (431 divided across 19 years), compared with about 489 spring turkeys per year (9,283 divided across 19 years). At the top of the spring rankings, the lead is wider: the highest county total is 1.8 times the tenth-place total (9,283 versus 5,055). For fall, that ratio is 1.3 (431 versus 328). The fall rankings bunch together. Harrison shares a tie with Madison at 362, while Warren trails Appanoose by one turkey. The share concentrated in leading counties is nearly identical across seasons. The top ten account for 27.4% of reported spring turkeys and 27.0% of reported fall turkeys (63,217 out of 230,695; 3,567 out of 13,231).

IVOverlap

The same six counties rank in both top ten lists

Both rankings include Appanoose, Madison, Harrison, Warren, Jackson and Clayton. Appanoose has the largest ranking gap: it places seventh for spring but second for fall. Spring's top ten alone include Allamakee, Fayette, Decatur and Van Buren. Only fall's top ten include Marion, Dubuque, Lucas and Linn. Despite ranking second for spring, Allamakee does not reach the top ten in fall.

VCounting rules

A pair of reported harvest series

Iowa's live harvest reporting page supplies each series. It adds up hunters' required turkey reports for every weapon type, grouped by county. We end each season's series at 2025. The dataset also contains spring 2026, which we exclude to give both series the same span of 19 years. Comparing our spring totals with the DNR annual tables produces exact matches for 12 out of 18 seasons during 2007 to 2024. Every spring difference is 28 birds or less; the 2021 figures are 11,725 versus 11,697. For fall, exact matches occur in 11 out of 17 seasons during 2007 to 2023. The greatest difference is 3 birds.

Reported harvest totals reflect how many hunters participate, the license rules, and turkey numbers. Statewide fall hunting uses about 7,700 licenses (2023), and the DNR makes no estimate of how many hunters are active in fall. That leaves the fall county rankings based on a small reported harvest: the ten highest counties together account for just 3,567 birds across 19 seasons.

VIPick the season

Choose the rankings for your season

Spring hunters should consult that season's rankings. The leaders are Clayton, Jackson and Allamakee. Even the county ranked tenth recorded 5,055 turkeys across 19 years, well above every fall county's total. Nonresidents are allowed to hunt in spring and barred from fall, leaving the spring rankings as their only applicable list.

As a resident hunting in fall, you are using rankings in which only 40 birds separate second place from tenth over 19 seasons (368 compared with 328). Begin with the six counties shared by both lists. Their reported harvests were high in spring and fall. Next, ask where you can hunt, because reported harvest totals do not tell you which land is open. Oklahoma also tracks spring and fall on separate lines, and our Oklahoma fall paper shows that the declines in those seasons followed different schedules.