(TWRA/Peg Broadcasting News)
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s Wildlife and Forestry Division is launching a 4-year, large-scale turkey banding project across the state to look at factors that may be contributing to the decline of Eastern wild turkey populations. The goal is to capture and band a large number of adult and juvenile male turkeys (around 300 annually), broadly distributed across the state on both public and private lands. Hunters who harvest a banded bird are asked to report the band number to TWRA.
The 2021 spring turkey hunting season for the majority of the state is April 3-May 16, with the Young Sportsman Hunt on March 27-29. Seasons start later in two areas of the state to benefit struggling turkey populations in these areas. In the newly formed Mississippi Alluvial Valley unit (consisting of Dyer, Lake, Lauderdale, Shelby, and Tipton counties) and in Giles, Lawrence, Lincoln, and Wayne counties the season runs April 17-May 16, with the Young Sportsman Hunt the weekend before (April 10-11).