Tennessee's turkey population has been busting at the seams for over 20 years. The restocking efforts of the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) are well documented and highly respected. The Volunteer State turkey comeback we've witnessed is one of our greatest wildlife success stories on record.

Records, as the saying goes, are made to be broken -- and that's what Volunteer turkey hunters have done for over two decades. Here are 2005's top hunt results and what to expect in 2006.

THE RECORD RUN STOPS HERE
The 21-year run of consecutive turkey harvest records in Tennessee officially ended last season. However, hunters shouldn't be worried: Turkey hunting in Tennessee is strong, and a one-year decline is nothing to be concerned about.

After a harvest increase each of the last 21 seasons, who's going to complain about a season where we finally drop in numbers slightly? If it becomes a trend, then we'll worry, but for now, hunters will accept it and go on because it was bound to happen sooner or later.

After a record harvest of 34,000 birds in 2004 (a total that includes statewide and wildlife management area (WMAs) figures), Tennessee hunters tagged 33,059 turkeys in 2005. That's a slight decrease of 2.8 percent in the total harvest picture. The 2005 statewide harvest by county was down all of 2.2 percent, from 32,461 turkeys in 2004 to 31,762 in 2005. The WMA hunt harvest fell 15.7 percent from 1,539 in 2004 to 1,297 in 2005.

A closer look reveals the biggest percentage of change occurred in Region I harvests. Hunters in Region I saw a decline of 12 percent from 8,916 turkeys in 2004 to 7,845 in 2005. Region II, the ringleader statewide for numbers of turkeys killed, was stable with a harvest in 2004 of 13,004 turkeys reflected again in 2005, with 13,015 birds tagged.

Region III experienced only a very minute decline, with 2005 figures of 5,156 turkeys compared with 5,183 in 2004. Region IV's turkey harvest saw the only real increase, with 7.2 percent improvement, when hunters went from 5,358 in 2004 to 5,746 turkeys in 2005.

The greatest decline in WMA harvest figures came in those found in Region II. Total WMA harvests in Region II fell from 683 in 2004 to 464 birds last year, a 32.1 percent drop. Region I WMAs were stable with a harvest of 309 turkeys last season (compared with 302 birds in 2004). In Region III WMA hunts, harvest figures fell as well from 357 in 2004 to 318 turkeys in 2005. Region IV, with only a few WMA opportunities, did have an increase from 197 birds harvested in 2004 to 206 in 2005.

TOP STATEWIDE TURKEY HUNTS
Just because we didn't set a new record doesn't mean turkey hunters across the state didn't have great success. You can spread 31,762 turkey kills a long way across the state. When you break the numbers down, the areas they were taken county by county and in each region show quite a diverse turkey population and opportunity for hunters.

At one point not so many years ago, when a larger percentage of hunters were new to the sport, their main concern was putting a tag on a bearded gobbler or jake. There's still nothing wrong with tagging a jake to break the ice or fill out a limit, but hunters who have quite a few days and even seasons under their belts are doing more trophy hunting than ever and may have contributed to the slight decrease in the harvest. There's something special about limiting out with three or four mature gobblers. It's the same feeling you get when you kill your first turkey on your own.