Midwest 2026 Turkey Hunting Forecast

Midwestern turkey hunting just keeps chugging along. In fact, two states in the region topped the 50,000-bird harvest mark in 2025. Photo by Nature’s Charm.

If you love hard-gobbling turkeys, the Midwest’s Spring 2026 hunting outlook will make you smile. Prospects in most states are good or even improving, and the region should again offer great hunting opportunities.

Here’s what Midwestern turkey hunters can expect this spring.

ILLINOIS

Turkey hunting prospects for Spring 2026 look bright, according to Luke Garver, wild turkey project manager for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The state is coming off back-to-back record harvests in 2024 and 2025 — 17,208 and 18,189, respectively — and hunter success continues to climb.

“We also saw five straight years of strong reproductive metrics leading into 2025 (poults per hen rising from 1.62 in 2019 to more than 3.0 by 2023-2024),” he said. “And although reproduction declined in 2025, likely due to heavy rainfall during the nesting/brood-rearing windows, that’s following multiple years of excellent production, so there should still be plenty of birds on the landscape for 2026, especially adult gobblers and a strong class of 2-year-olds.”

The most promising areas should again be northwestern and southern Illinois, where the harvest has consistently been high, and recent reproductive indices have been the strongest. In 2025, the top harvest counties included Jo Daviess, Jefferson, Pike, Marion, and Pope. As mentioned, areas hit hardest by heavy rains during critical nesting and brood rearing periods in 2025 might be down somewhat. Some late-season hunting might also be affected locally when buffalo gnats reduce hunter effort.

Read More: Turkey Hunting in Illinois

INDIANA

“The outlook for Indiana is positive,” said Geriann Albers, furbearer and turkey program leader for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. “We had several years of above-average reproduction, as evidenced by three years of record spring harvest. Turkey populations are thriving from a statewide perspective, though local conditions and habitat changes are always variable and may influence what a hunter sees at their favorite turkey spot.”

Forested areas in northern Indiana have seen strong harvests and good reproduction the past several years, and Albers expects that to continue this spring.

“We’ve seen fewer reports of turkeys in the south-central forests of Indiana, so numbers might be down slightly there, but there should still be plenty of turkeys to find with a little effort,” she said.

In 2025, Indiana hunters took 15,432 turkeys.

Read More: Turkey Hunting in Indiana

IOWA

Hawkeye State hunters should have another good season this spring, with a harvest of about 14,000 to 15,000 birds, which is comparable to those of the past five years.

“Iowa offers some very diverse habitats that lead to some unique styles of hunting,” said Jim Coffey, forest wildlife biologist and wild turkey program lead. “Traditionally, the northeastern counties of the state provide great big-timber hunting with stable harvests from year to year. The western Loess Hills area can offer some remote opportunities with some stunning visual aspects. Northern and southeastern Iowa offer smaller woodlot hunting and riparian-style hunting. There is something for every style depending upon where you choose to hunt.”

Coffey recommended that nonresident hunters making their first trip to Iowa check out the state’s hunting atlas for zone designations and aerial photos of public hunting areas.

During Spring 2025, Iowa hunters took more than 15,000 turkeys.

Read More: Turkey Hunting in Iowa

KANSAS

“Overall, turkey hunters should find good conditions in Kansas,” said Caleb Durbin, small-game coordinator for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. “Hunter success increased last year, with our highest success rate since 2015. Above-average rainfall throughout the state produced better habitat for improved production. Though overall production estimates were down, some regions saw better production. We are optimistic that with last year’s increased success and improved habitat conditions that we will see improved densities and success again this year.”

Unit 2, in north-central Kansas, had the highest overall hunter success in 2025, other than Unit 4, which is a resident-only draw. “This, combined with greater walk-in hunting access properties compared to other regions, makes this region worth considering for hunters,” Durbin said.

Unit 5, in south-central Kansas, had the lowest hunter success in 2025. Further, minimal walk-in hunting access might make that region more difficult for hunters.

In Spring 2025, Kansas hunters shot 13,862 turkeys.

Read More: Turkey Hunting in Kansas

MICHIGAN

Adam Bump, upland game-bird specialist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Division, expects Spring 2026 to be about the same as the past couple of years.

“Our population is stable to slightly increasing, and success rates and satisfaction have been near all-time highs in the last several years,” he said. “We have not seen any indications that would suggest a significant change for 2026.”

The southern third of Michigan has the most turkeys but also is predominately privately owned. The northern two-thirds offers more public land opportunities, and although bird numbers might be lower there, hunters still have a great chance at bagging a gobbler.

During Spring 2025, Michigan hunters shot more than 36,000 turkeys.

Read More: Turkey Hunting in Michigan

MINNESOTA

“The overall outlook is very good for the Spring 2026 season,” said Roy Churchwell, resident game-bird consultant with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “Of course, it will mostly depend on late-spring and within-season weather, but we went into the winter with good turkey numbers.”

In general, Minnesota turkey numbers are highest from the Twin Cities across the state to the west and north to about Highway 2, running west to east across the northern part of the state. Turkeys inhabit areas north of that line, but they have just moved into that part of the state, and populations are more localized. In southern Minnesota, turkey numbers are high but potentially falling slightly in the southeastern part of the state, and generally lower but stable in the southwestern region.

In Spring 2025, Minnesota hunters took 16,903 turkeys.

Read More: Turkey Hunting in Minnesota

MISSOURI

Spring 2026 should be another good season in the Show-Me State. Nick Oakley, wild turkey and ruffed grouse biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, said gobbler carryover from the excellent 2023 hatch, along with decent production in 2024, should provide hunters with plenty of opportunities to get on a gobbler.

“The northeastern quarter of the state saw great production in 2024,” Oakley said. “The western Ozarks, on the other hand, saw lower production in 2024, though this was an area of particularly good production in 2023.”

One new consideration for traveling hunters: Missouri now limits nonresidents to one gobbler for the entire spring season. Nonresident landowners can still take two birds, but only one can be taken during the season’s first seven days.

During Spring 2025, Missouri hunters shot 51,010 turkeys.

Read More: Turkey Hunting in Missouri

NEBRASKA

“We expect hunting in Spring 2026 will be similar to previous years, as harvest reports and brood surveys indicate relatively stable success and population metrics,” said Carlie Gizel, wild turkey program manager with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, and an NWTF employee working with the department. “Poult-per-hen ratios were slightly down in 2025 compared to 2024, which might stem from the unusually heavy and late rainfall this summer.”

Gizel said turkey sightings along historic survey routes in 2025 increased in the southern portion of the state, but observations in the Sandhills and northeastern regions decreased slightly.

In Spring 2025, Nebraska hunters took 9,864 turkeys.

Read More: Turkey Hunting in Nebraska

NORTH DAKOTA

R.J. Gross, upland game biologist with North Dakota Game and Fish, said 2026 prospects look similar to those of 2025. (Remember, nonresidents can only hunt spring turkeys in North Dakota on tribal lands.) The outlook in the western part of the state looks better than that in the east.

During Spring 2025, North Dakota hunters shot 3,543 birds.

Read More: Turkey Hunting in North Dakota

OHIO

Spring 2026 prospects look good in the Buckeye State. “The statewide poult index in 2024 was 2.9 poults per hen, which is slightly above the long-term average,” said Mark Wiley, forest game-bird ecologist for the Ohio Division of Wildlife. “This suggests that Ohio hunters will encounter an above-average class of 2-year-old gobblers during the spring season in 2026.”

Wiley said 2024 poult numbers were well above average in the northern half of the state and below average in southwestern counties. He expects that gobbler abundance and harvest will mirror that regional pattern during 2026.

In Spring 2025, Ohio hunters took 16,010 turkeys.

Read More: Turkey Hunting in Ohio

SOUTH DAKOTA

“In general, we have had some mild winters the past three years, and that has provided better winter survival,” said Chad Lehman, senior wildlife biologist with South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks. “Spring conditions have varied spatially, so reproduction has been good in places and moderate in others. But in general, our outlook is very good for spring turkey hunting across the state.”

Lehman said northeastern South Dakota, the western part of the state and the Black Hills look particularly good. Other areas appear moderately good.

During Spring 2025, South Dakota hunters took about 6,711 turkeys.

Read More: Turkey Hunting in South Dakota

WISCONSIN

The Badger State has become a spring powerhouse, and 2026 looks no different. “The past few years, we’ve had extremely mild winters, resulting in good survivability and spring production,” said Alissa Kakatsch, assistant game-bird specialist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. “However, this winter has been much more of a typical Wisconsin winter; more snow precipitation, longer periods of colder temperatures and icy conditions. Thus, it potentially might lead to more average turkey production this spring. Personally, I have been witnessing large and active winter flocks throughout central Wisconsin.”

The southern half of Wisconsin has traditionally been the best turkey range, but reports from biologists and the public indicate that bird numbers in the northern portion of the state are doing well.

“In general, turkeys are still doing well statewide, and we have slightly increased total amount of harvest authorizations in each zone for this upcoming 2026 spring season,” Kakatsch said. “From the 2025 upland game-bird brood survey, wild turkey production came in slightly lower than in 2024, but we are still over 2 poults per hen (2.22 for 2025).”

In Spring 2025, Wisconsin hunters shot 50,291 turkeys.

Read More: Turkey Hunting in Wisconsin