Season dates for all but nine counties in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley Unit and Southern Middle Tennessee are April 2 to May 15 for the general spring turkey season, The young sportsman hunt for hunters ages 6 to 16 is March 26 -27.
The statewide bag limit for spring turkey is 3, and public land bonus turkeys have been eliminated. Additional regulation changes are in effect for two areas of the state where turkey harvest has been declining sharply. These changes have been made in an effort to stabilize the turkey populations in these counties.
Five counties adjacent to the Mississippi River form a new spring turkey unit called the Mississippi Alluvial Valley Unit. Counties in the unit include Dyer, Lake, Lauderdale, Shelby and Tipton. The unit’s season opener has been delayed to April 16, and has a reduced, unit-wide bag limit of 2 bearded turkeys, which count toward the statewide limit of 3. The young sportsman hunt for the unit will be April 9-10.
Turkey season for southern middle Tennessee counties Giles, Lawrence, Lincoln and Wayne also opens April 16. The young sportsman hunt is April 9-10.
Hunters are reminded to renew their hunting and fishing license(s).
Hunters are also reminded to tag their harvest before moving it.
The two options to tag a turkey are to download and use the TWRA On the Go app, which allows hunters to record their harvest with or without cell service before moving the game. The app sends a harvest confirmation number TWRA Officers can use to verify your harvest.
Hunters who do not use a mobile phone can use temporary transportation tags and fill in harvest information and attach to game prior to moving it. The hunter is responsible for making sure the tag remains intact and the check their harvest online or at a physical check station no later than midnight on the day of the harvest.
Transportation tags can be found at the bottom of the license print out.
TWRA is also asking hunters to please report banded turkeys as part of a statewide banding project to investigate gobbler harvest rates in Tennessee.
Hunters who harvest a turkey with a TWRA leg-band are asked to report the band number stamped on the band. Hunters can keep the band as a memento of their hunt but reporting the band to TWRA is essential to getting a good estimate of turkey harvest rates. Click here to report a banded turkey.