Sounds of spring: warblers singing, winds blowing, and turkeys gobbling. It’s what we all expect to advertise the start of the growing season here in the Middle Rio Grande Valley. For some, a spring turkey hunt is a staple of their calendar.
At Bosque del Apache, we’ve hosted an escorted youth turkey hunt each spring for more than 20 years. Each January and February, we conduct turkey surveys within the special hunt area to inform our understanding of their population numbers, recruitment, sex ratios, and general health.
This winter, we observed a fairly drastic decrease in the turkey population (from over 250 in 2024 to under 120 in 2026), and a skewed sex ratio. What does this indicate? The turkeys may need a break from hunting pressure this year.
What happened? Right now, we’ve only been surveying turkey populations in the winter months. But research suggests that poult survival is highly linked to spring precipitation, which we’ve received very little of the past few years. Additionally, in 2022, an outbreak of avian pox and avian paramyxovirus swept through the turkey population here, impacting not only adult bird health but egg production as well. Following disease outbreaks and years of dry climate conditions, turkey surveys at the refuge indicate a population decline since 2021, with no evidence of stabilizing or recruitment sufficient to sustain the population.
We’ve decided to suspend the escorted youth turkey hunt this spring 2026 season and will reevaluate their population again next winter. Turkey hunting is still open from April 15-May 15 in the public hunt units (West, Bajada, and East). Check out our website for more information on the location of those hunt units.
