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Annual report of the Department of Natural Resources on Act 41 122nd session of the South Carolina General Assembly (2015)
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
Abstract
Act 41 temporarily sets a March 20 to May 5 statewide season for hunting wild turkey on private land by suspending until July 2019 Section 50-11-520 which historically prescribed the wild turkey season in South Carolina. This had the effect of opening the season 10 days earlier and increasing the number of days in the season by 50 percent for 34 of 46 counties in the state. In an effort to mitigate increased harvest rates associated with the increase in season length the Act reduced the bag limit in most of the state from 5 gobblers to 3. Act 41 is controversial among some hunters and legislators. The controversy is due to concern for negative impacts on turkeys related to the earlier opening date and increased season length for most of the state. The Act required the South Carolina Dept of Natural Resources (SCDNR) to conduct an analysis of the turkey resources in the state and report to the legislature by November 1, 2018 recommending any changes to seasons and bag limits. SCDNR accomplished this during 2015-2018 by compiling turkey harvest and hunter effort data, turkey recruitment data, and by conducting a major 4 year field study to determine the timing of gobbling activity and nesting chronology.
Issue Date
2018-11-01
Keywords
Hunting surveys--South Carolina, Turkey hunting--South Carolina, Eastern wild turkey--South Carolina
Type
Text
Rights
Copyright status determined to be in the public domain on April 27, 2020 by United States Supreme Court ruling (Georgia et al., Petitioners v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. : 590 U.S.__(2020))
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