ILLINOISDEPARTMENTOF NATURAL RESOURCES

J.B. Pritzker,
Governor|illinois.gov

2025 Spring Wild Turkey Hunting Season Preview

by Luke Garver |  February 3, 2025 |  Recreation, Wildlife
A close-up photo of a wild turkey in full courtship display with a tail fanned and feathers puffed out along its body.

Photo by James Ertl, Unsplash.

Optimism about the Illinois turkey population has been high the last few years and should continue for the upcoming spring hunting season. This should come as welcome news to many turkey hunting enthusiasts who have the low harvest totals, low success rates and low brood survey results in their recent memory.

Monitoring Population Trends

A tan, white and black female adult wild turkey walks through a grassy area foraging with her four poults.
Mike’s Birds, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

There are many factors that contribute to the harvest total each spring. Obviously, recent trends in population and the number of birds carrying over from the previous year are major factors. If more turkeys are on the landscape, logic would tell us that a high percentage of hunters will succeed, and more birds will be harvested overall. This is why the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) monitors the Wild Turkey Survey (formerly Brood Survey) and uses it as an indicator of reproductive success and population trends. When there is an increase in the poult-per-hen ratio, we often see harvest increase slightly the following spring and even more two springs later as that cohort reaches maturity. Another metric we keep our eye on is the Illinois Archery Deer Hunter Observation Survey which, after four straight years of declining observations, finally increased slightly in 2023.

Hunter Effort

Unfortunately, we can’t predict the Spring Season harvest only by monitoring population trends. In fact, those data influence just a portion of the harvest total. Another major contributor, and in many cases the biggest contributor, is hunter effort.

A turkey hunter in camouflage gear sits behind a fallen tree trunk and attempts to lure an adult male wild turkey by using a slate turkey call. To the right of the hunter, a shotgun is propped up on the fallen log.
Photo courtesy of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Hunter effort is dictated by the weather in a big way. Turkey hunters are known to be extremely dedicated and “hardcore,” but the vast majority are indeed “fair weather” hunters. On rainy days many hunters don’t head to the woods, and those who do have a harder time finding and harvesting birds. As such, harvest decreases substantially on those days. In a season where much of Illinois experiences wet weather for most of April and May, the harvest total will be impacted. This is exacerbated when poor hunting weather occurs in the first two season segments as that is when approximately half of the season’s birds are harvested.

Impact of Black Flies During the Hunt

Weather isn’t the only factor affecting hunter effort, however. In the counties where they are prevalent, black flies (i.e. buffalo gnats) play a major role as well. Anyone who has hunted during a black fly emergence can attest, it is tough to be in the woods for any amount of time, let alone sitting for hours on end trying to coax a tom within shooting range. But not all Spring Turkey Seasons are negatively influenced by black flies to the same degree. Because the Illinois season dates are set by rule-of-thumb and change each year, and because black fly emergences can vary in timing and intensity, some seasons come and go without a fly detected. Other years the air is absolutely filled with the pests.

Spring 2024 was a good example of the enormous impact these tiny insects can have. In west-central Illinois, black flies made their arrival at the beginning of the third Season Segment, around April 27. While tracking harvest trends in the area, there was a substantial decrease noted at that time. In fact, nearly every county in Illinois saw harvest totals increase over last year, but most counties in the black fly range declined slightly.

What Will the 2025 Spring Season Bring?

In a short mowed grassy area a black, tan, gray, and white adult male wild turkey is in full courtship display. HIs tail feathers are fanned out, wings extended down on either side of his body, and feathers along his body are puffed out.
Photo by Tyler Jamieson Moulton, Unsplash.

Obviously, it can be very hard to predict the outcome of the Spring Season this early. But, as I mentioned, there are many reasons to be optimistic. Harvest totals and success, summer brood counts, and archery deer hunter observations have all been trending upward, indicating a general population increase. However, untimely heavy rains or intense black fly emergences can have an impact.

Being an optimist, I’m predicting the 2025 Spring Turkey Season to be close to the record harvest of 2024.

Information on wild turkey hunting regulations is available in the Illinois Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations 2024-2025.

Luke Garver is the Wild Turkey Project Manager with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife Resources.

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