Tennessee Turkey Hunting

 

General Turkey Hunting Regulations

How to identify an Adult Gobbler

Legal Hunting Hours

  • Thirty minutes before legal sunrise to legal sunset.

Legal Hunting Equipment

  • Shotguns using ammunition with No. 4 shot or smaller. No restriction on the number of rounds in the magazine.
  • Archery equipment (longbows, recurve bows, compound bows, and crossbows).
  • Sighting devices including scopes are legal. Night vision, infrared, and other devices using artificial light to locate wildlife are illegal.
  • A pre-charged pneumatic gun (Airbow) that shoots an arrow is legal for all hunters to use during statewide turkey gun seasons.

Prohibited Acts (see General Regulations for more details)

  • Baiting, possessing rifles, using handguns, possessing or using electronic calls, using live decoys, and loaded ammunition larger than No. 4 shot are prohibited.  Turkeys may not be shot or stalked from a boat in Dyer, Haywood, Lauderdale, Obion, Shelby, or Tipton counties.

Special Regulations

  • A licensed turkey hunter who has filled his/her bag limit or does not possess a valid permit for a quota hunt, may accompany another turkey hunter who has a valid permit (except on WMAs where prohibited) and assist them in calling, but may not have turkey hunting weapons in their possession.
  • On a Young Sportsman Hunt, youths must be accompanied by a non-hunting adult 21 years of age or older, who must remain in a position to take immediate control of the hunting device and is not required to have a license. Multiple youths may be accompanied by a single qualifying adult.
  • Turkeys must remain intact while afield until tagged and checked in.
  • All turkeys harvested on public land hunts count toward statewide bag limits, there are no bonus turkeys. (see WMA section for details).
  • Fanning or reaping turkeys on WMAs is prohibited. (See WMA General Regulations for more detail)

Wildlife Management Areas

  • Many WMAs are open with statewide seasons and bag limits, though some have restricted dates or quota hunts.
  • Calling or attempting to call turkeys using any means to mimic the sounds made by turkeys is prohibited from March 1 to the opening day of spring turkey hunts on all WMAs.
  • See the Quota Hunt page for turkey quota hunt application dates.

Fall Turkey Season Dates & Limits

General Turkey Hunting Regulations apply.

Statewide Season Dates Bag Limit
Archery Only

Sept. 27 - Oct. 24, 2025

Oct. 27 - Nov. 7, 2025

 One (1) male turkey. No bearded hens allowed.
Shotgun/Archery Oct. 11 - 24, 2025 One (1) male turkey. No bearded hens allowed.

Open in all counties, except closed in Crockett, Dyer, Giles, Haywood, Lake, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lincoln, Shelby, Tipton, and Wayne counties. 

During the fall turkey season, a turkey hunter may not be in possession of both archery equipment and shotguns and/or rifles. Any turkey harvested during the fall season counts toward the statewide bag limit of one (1).

Spring Turkey Seasons Dates & Limits

All counties are open to spring turkey seasons, however, there are some exceptions on WMAs and public lands.  Birds may be harvestedfrom any combination of Turkey Management. General Turkey Hunting Regulations apply.    Spring Turkey Shooting Hours are Thirty (30) minutes before legal sunrise to sunset.

All hens(including bearded hens) are illegal to harvest.

Statewide Season Dates Bag Limit
Young Sportsman* April 4 - 5, 2026

One (1) male turkey per day, counts toward spring season bag of two (2), only one can be a jake.

No bearded hens allowed.
Shotgun/Archery April 11 - May 24, 2026

An adult gobbler is defined by having one of the following: wing feathers have white barring all the way to the tip, tail feathers are the same length, beard is longer than 6 inches, or a spur is at least 1/2 inch long.

All counties are open to spring turkey seasons, however there are some exceptions on public land.

*Any turkey harvested during the Young Sportsman Hunt counts toward the statewide spring season limit of two (2).

Statewide Spring Young Sportsman Hunt

Ages 6-16. One (1) male turkey per day, which counts toward the statewide bag of two (2), only one can be a jake. Each young sportsman must be accompanied by a non-hunting adult, 21 years of age or older, who must remain in a position to take immediate control of the hunting device. Youth 10 years of age or older must meet Hunter Education requirements. Multiple youths may be accompanied by a single non-hunting adult, who is not required to have a license.

Wild Turkey Biology & Management

Now that the wild turkey has been restored to Tennessee, our goal is to ensure that a vigorous, self-sustaining population is maintained in all suitable habitats of the state.  

Turkeys will be managed to best meet the needs and desires of the people of Tennessee. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a long-range plan for managing Tennessee’s wild turkey resource; this plan will direct wild turkey management for the anticipated future. Read the full plan:  2020-2025 Wild Turkey Strategic Management Plan

Following restoration, certain parts of the state experienced tremendous turkey population growth. Large numbers of turkeys in these areas of the state have brought about conflicts and, in some instances, economic losses. The popularity of turkeys as a game species versus concern about turkey depredation in some areas of the state has brought about new challenges concerning turkey management. The strategies in TWRA's current management plan seek to resolve these issues while optimizing the worth of the wild turkey.

Wild turkey populations in many counties increased rapidly during restoration, reached a peak, and then declined for a time before stabilizing around carrying capacity, a natural occurrence for most restored wildlife populations. Localized annual fluctuations in population numbers are expected moving forward because spring turkey production, which primarily drives turkey populations, can be particularly affected by weather and other factors, especially when a population has reached the habitat’s carrying capacity.

More severe population declines have been observed in other areas of the state, causing local residents, hunters, and managers concern that additional population-level factors are impacting these populations. In response, TWRA seeks to determine the factors impacting these affected regions and as appropriate make management and hunting recommendations designed to improve conditions and wild turkey numbers.

Fortunately, as a result of the wild turkey restoration efforts, Tennessee has a wider distribution of huntable flocks which can absorb declines in some local populations without a significant drop in the total harvest. Since weather conditions vary greatly across the state some flocks exist in areas that will be unaffected by the same storms which could be detrimental to poultry survival in other localized flocks.

Good production in these areas provides an alternate place for hunters to hunt when local populations are low.

Biological Technical Reports

Turkey Disease Study

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