WICHITA — Kansas will allow hunters to kill turkeys this fall despite a call to suspend the season because the state’s wild turkey populations have been in decline for 15 years.
The Wichita Eagle reports that the Kansas Wildlife, Parks and Tourism Commission ignored a suggestion from a team of biologists and law enforcement officials to temporarily halt the fall season, except for an area near the Nebraska border. The fall season from October through January brings fewer hunters and less money than the spring season.
Kansas wildlife official Kent Fricke says the fall season is one of many factors driving down the state’s turkey population.
The department would lose more than $150,000 in annual tag sales if the fall season ended. The local economy would miss out on about $8 million.
