Wild turkey hunting was good in 2022

The last wild turkey hunting season in the Mauricie-Centre-du-Québec region appears to have been relatively good since 2,300 birds were killed. 

< p>In the hunting area encompassing the village of Saint-Prosper, there were 136, constituting an increase of 28% compared to the previous year.

It is however difficult to establish the effect that this assessment will have on the proliferation of the species. A grain producer believes it will take much more to curb the increase.

“It has to increase further and I think it's autumn hunting that should be favoured, because in the spring it's still quite hard to find them because they're nesting and they hide in the undergrowth while in the fall they are visible,” observed Denis Couture.

One thing is certain, the enthusiasm of the hunters was there. In the same area of ​​which Saint-Prosper is a part, nearly 600 hunters took to the field, rifles in hand and cartridge belts slung over their shoulders, an increase of 68%.

A pilot project initiated by the Mauricie Agricultural Producers Union (UPA) no doubt encouraged participation. Hunters had been paired with farmers to gain access to their land.

“It gave expected and even surprising results. We had over 150 people who registered as hunters,” noted Stéphane Tremblay, biologist from the UPA Mauricie

The hunters came from everywhere, especially from Quebec and Montreal. “But there were on the other hand fewer producers, less than a dozen producers only. This is where we believe that the problem was really very targeted,” added the biologist.

The Wild Turkey Management Plan in Quebec expires this year. The Ministry of Wildlife will therefore once again have to look into the situation and determine whether the current approach to population management is the right one or whether it needs to be adjusted.