Tough times for bagging turkeysThe cold, wet spring continues to give Minnesota's spring turkey hunters fits.
Turkey harvest is down nearly 2,500 -- or 28 percent -- from last year. Hunters during the first four seasons killed 6,456 birds, compared to 8,946 last year. Harvest is down 11 percent from the same time in 2009, and is about even with the 2008 harvest.
Better weather last week should have helped turkeys become more active. Though early-season hunters traditionally have higher success rates than later-season hunters, that trend could be reversed this year.
Hunters bagged a record 13,467 birds last year, though hunter success rate was 29 percent. The highest success rate ever was 34.4 percent in 2008.
DOUG SMITH
