Best Spring Turkey Counties in Tennessee: Maury Leads by a Wide Margin

IThe 2026 answer

Maury's lead amounts to 598 birds

People hunting in Maury County reported taking 1,441 turkeys during spring 2026. Hickman County ranked second at 843, with Dickson next at 802, Greene at 750 and Wilson at 700. The table covers counties through 15th place and includes each county's total for 2025 and average for 2021 to 2025.

With 1,441 reported birds, Maury exceeded its five-year mean of 1,081 by 360. It also surpassed the 983 reported during 2025 by 458, making this a strong spring against the county's own history. The rankings below Maury are closely grouped. Just 280 birds separate runner-up Hickman from 15th-place Bedford, whose tallies are 843 and 563. Combined, the leading ten counties supplied 22.4% of Tennessee's reported harvest.

The bars explain why Maury gets a group to itself. Every other county fell short of 850 reported birds. Wilson through Rutherford occupy a span of just 69 birds, with tallies of 700 and 631 at either end.

IITen springs

Across the past ten springs, Maury led nine times

A single strong spring can make a county look better than its longer history supports. We therefore totaled each county's reported harvest across 2017 to 2026. Maury's combined tally of 11,194 birds leads, exceeding second-place Greene's 8,387 by 2,807. Dickson won the sole spring that Maury failed to lead.

Although Maury is just one among 95 counties, it supplied 3.4% of Tennessee's harvest across ten seasons: 11,194 birds from a statewide tally of 324,760. Dividing that total equally among counties would yield about 1.1% apiece.

Several counties land differently in the two rankings. Over ten springs, Greene ranks second, but its 2026 tally of 750 fell below its average of 820 across 2021 to 2025. Montgomery likewise trailed its average, with 636 versus 664, as did Rutherford, with 631 versus 638. Hickman shows the opposite pattern. Its ten-spring total of 6,100 puts it ninth, yet it placed second during 2026. That spring exceeded its five-year mean of 583 by 260 birds. We have ten seasons of Hickman reports here, but the recent increase does not show whether such a high harvest will continue.

IIIOne unit

One turkey management unit contains thirteen of the leading 15 counties

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) groups counties into five turkey management units called West, Midwest, Central, Northeast and Southeast. Its 2023 status report identifies the management unit for every county. Of the 15 counties in our 2026 table, 13 belong to Central. Greene is in Northeast, and Weakley is in Midwest. Central also accounts for nine of the ten counties in the table covering ten seasons. According to the agency’s 2026 release, hunters reported 17,197 birds in Central out of 34,990 statewide, a little less than half. The release also says harvest in all five units topped their five-year averages.

Maury's tally separates it from the rest, while its surrounding management unit supplies the majority of counties on the list. If you cannot make a trip to Maury, Hickman, Dickson, Wilson, Sumner, Robertson, Lincoln and Humphreys are the other Central counties among the leading ten for 2026.

IVPeak and slide

The peak remains 2020

Across 2008 to 2019, Tennessee's reported harvest ranged between 28,321 and 37,092. The tally then climbed to 40,129 during 2020, setting the peak for our series. No later spring has reached that level; the 2026 total falls short by 5,068. Across the five spring seasons spanning 2021 to 2025, totals ranged between 29,060 and 32,755. The 2025 tally was lower than any spring since 2018.

In its release issued during June 2026, TWRA places the 2026 reported harvest fourth in the full record, below 2006, 2010 and 2020. It describes 2020 as the record season during COVID. Our data begin with 2008, making the 35,061 reported during 2026 third within that shorter series. Only 2020 and the 37,092 recorded during 2010 rank higher.

Two changes to hunting rules are relevant. According to TWRA's status report for 2024, spring 2020 brought a requirement to tag a big-game animal before moving it, followed by reporting the animal. Starting with spring 2023, the limit dropped to two bearded turkeys from three, and opening day for the general season moved two weeks later than its traditional date. Harvest tables cannot distinguish these rules' effects on reported tallies from changes in the turkey flock. We did not investigate whether both rules remained in effect during 2026.

The agency's turkey program coordinator attributed the recovery to good hatches during recent years and favorable weather throughout the season. Its release reports 28,266 hunters harvesting at least one turkey. That exceeds the five-year mean of 23,703 by 4,563. More hunters bringing home a bird describes a harvest result; it does not determine whether the recovery came from participation, turkey abundance or hunter success rates. Among the seven Southeast states covered by our regional comparison, this rebound was the biggest increase from one year to the next.

VReported birds

What each reported tally represents

For every county, we totaled spring turkeys reported by hunters across all weapon types using TWRA's county harvest report. Agency status reports say reporting is required. They also describe most reporting since about 2010 as taking place online or through a phone app. These tallies measure reported birds, so hunting participation, road access and county acreage affect them alongside turkey numbers. We made no adjustments for those factors. A county's larger land area alone can give it the lead.

We checked our statewide sums against agency totals. For 2026, TWRA lists 34,990 birds while we total 35,061, leaving a difference of 71, or 0.2%. For 2024, the difference is 81, with 31,647 versus 31,728. For 2023, it is 42, with 31,802 versus 31,844. We did not reconstruct county rows using agency tables; the exception to that work was reading its county-and-unit table for 2023 to assign counties to management units. That table also ranks Maury highest for that spring, listing 1,040 birds.

VIPicking a county

Start with the leader, then compare the cluster

Let Maury set your standard, then build a shortlist from the closely grouped counties below it. Make four checks before choosing a plan. Locate your county in the table covering ten seasons; a longer history offers a safer basis than a single standout spring. Measure its tally for 2026 against its average across 2021 to 2025, treating an increase like Hickman's cautiously. Begin your search within Central, which contains 13 among the 15 leading counties. Finally, check land ownership. A reported harvest tally tells you nothing about the acreage you can access.

Kentucky's leaders are more closely grouped. Our Kentucky county paper shows a gap of only 240 birds between first and tenth, with tallies of 778 and 538.