ANNAPOLIS — The annual summer wild turkey survey is underway through Aug. 31 by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

Residents throughout the state are encouraged to participate and report online by county the number of poults (young of the year) and adult hens and gobblers they see, or record as “unidentified” if the turkey’s sex cannot be positively determined.

Since 1993 DNR has conducted a wild turkey survey to estimate reproductive success and other important information. The results assist managers with monitoring turkey populations and help explain and predict annual or regional population changes.

In the 2025 report the results indicated reproductive success was poor in the four Lower Eastern Shore counties with only 1.3 poults reported per hen. “This is the lowest index recorded since 2016 and well below the regional average,” according to DNR.

“Lower turkey populations due to poor production in 2016-2018 seemed to be rebounding in many areas during recent years. Unfortunately, this year’s poor production may result in another noticeable drop.”

To offer your observations on wild turkey sightings go online to https://tinyurl.com/3wvf6xhy. There is a chart to assist identifying the sex and age of wild turkeys in the summer at https://dnr.maryland.gov/wildlife/Documents/summer-turkey.pdf.

Those who submit data will receive a summary of the results.