Photo by Phillip Jordan

If you're an Iowa turkey hunter who's never hunted turkeys outside the Hawkeye State, here's what you've been missing: smaller birds, fewer birds, more competition between hunters, and poorer success rates.

"A lot of our hunters have never hunted turkeys outside Iowa, so they assume that turkey hunting is this good everywhere," said Iowa Department of Natural Resources turkey management biologist Todd Gosselink. "I've hunted in other states that are supposed to be good places to hunt turkeys, and I'm here to tell you that they don't come close to what we have in Iowa."

Gosselink's hunting experiences in other states have demonstrated to him that Iowa's turkeys, on the average, are larger and heavier than are those in the East and the South. He also met with more competition from other hunters as he worked gobblers in other states, and got a feeling from talking to other hunters that fewer hunters took home birds.

His work as a wildlife biologist confirmed his suspicions. He's seen surveys from other states that brag of hunter success rates between 20 and 30 percent -- not so great, compared to the annual reports that he files, which show that Iowa hunters enjoy rates between 45 and 50 percent.

"We've got genetics for larger birds," he said. "Good nutrition, thanks to all our crop fields -- that helps them grow to their full potential. And we've got enough habitat so that there are now turkeys in every county. When it comes to turkey hunting, there aren't too many places in the United States that can provide bigger birds or better chances to hunt them."

Gosselink is optimistic that Iowa will maintain its turkey hunting reputation in 2007. The 2006 turkey nesting and brood survey results weren't final as this went to press, but all indicators point to higher turkey numbers in spring 2007.

"All spring and summer, I heard good reports from all over the state about lots of broods, and that the broods were larger than average," he said. "We had excellent brood survival in 2005, so between all the 2-year-olds that were jakes during last spring's hunts, and all the young birds from last year's production, we're probably looking at some of the highest turkey populations we've ever had in Iowa.

"I'm confident that 2007 will be as good or better as recent years, and turkey hunting in Iowa has been pretty darned good in recent years. It all depends on weather. The numbers are there -- it just depends on the weather during the spring seasons whether hunters are able to take advantage of the birds that are out there."

TOP SPOTS FOR TOMS
Longtime Iowa Game & Fish readers may sigh when we once again point to Yellow River, Stephens and Shimek state forests as some of our top places to target turkeys. We may sound like a broken record, always referring to those legendary turkey timbers, but those large tracts of public timberland hold some of our highest densities of turkeys.

"I've been in Yellow River Forest in the spring and was absolutely amazed at the number of toms that were gobbling," said Gosselink. "Even if they don't hunt there, turkey hunters should go and listen just for the experience. Those state forests are sort of like turkey-hunter heaven."

More hunters may visit those storied state forests this year, thanks to changes in turkey hunting regulations. Prior to this year, those big state forests were designated separate zones, requiring special licenses. This year, those special zones have been eliminated. The entire state will be open to any hunter with a generic license for one of the four spring turkey hunting seasons.