INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Wildlife officials say Indiana hunters bagged nearly 14,000 turkeys this year — the highest number since spring turkey hunting debuted in the state in 1970.

The state Department of Natural Resources says hunters killed 13,742 wild turkeys this spring, eclipsing 2006’s previous high of 13,193 by 4 percent.

DNR wildlife biologist Steve Backs says the state’s turkey populations continue to grow in the northern counties, where birds were released in the 1990s to repopulate those areas.

But the five counties that saw the highest turkey harvest this spring were all in southern Indiana. Leading that pack was Harrison County, where hunters took 607 birds.

Posted 7/12/2010