South Carolina Bans Reaping and Hunting for Jakes Ahead of this Year’s Opener

With South Carolina hunters chomping at the bit to get afield later this week, state game managers are passing along a couple of final reminders before the season kicks off on Thursday. 

Amid statewide declines of gobblers, amended regulations have been instituted to try and help struggling populations rebound across the Palmetto State. 

These changes come on the heels of declining population trends over the past few seasons that have state biologists and hunters feeling edgy about the future of turkey hunting not only in South Carolina, but across the southeast. The spring 2024 turkey harvest in the state totaled approximately 12,428 birds, showing a 5% decrease from the 2023 harvest of 13,074 turkeys. 

The vast majority of harvested birds in 2024 were adult males (11,836), with a significantly smaller proportion consisting of younger males (592). This decline in harvest numbers likely reflects a decrease in the overall turkey population, particularly among younger age classes.

This trend is consistent with what many are calling the "southeast turkey decline" observed across the region and characterized by reduced survival rates among young turkeys. The proportion of young males (jakes) in the harvest remained low at around 5-6%, mirroring the previous year's figures. This low representation of jakes in the harvest further emphasizes the challenges facing turkey populations, as successful recruitment of young birds is essential for maintaining healthy and sustainable populations.

Game managers started their regulatory changes by targeting the hunting method known as reaping, which involves moving toward or stalking birds by hiding behind a decoy or a tail fan. While an undoubtedly creative and successful tactic that can get turkey hunters up close and personal with their prey, state officials are hopeful that a reaping ban that covers both public and private lands, will prove to be beneficial to populations. While the new regulations do ban the act of reaping, the similar practice of fanning, which is a more stationary method, remains a legal option for turkey hunters in South Carolina.

In addition to reaping, SCDNR officials have also boldly instituted an all-out ban on shooting jakes statewide for this season as well. Given steep declines in hunter-reported harvest of young male birds over the past two seasons, the decision to ban jake hunting, or shooting a bird with a beard of less than 6-inches long, has no exceptions, even during youth seasons. 

"A jake is a bird that's not sexually mature. He's not contributing anything to the population," SCDNR Big Game Program Manager Jay Cantrell said. "He's run the gauntlet. It's no small task to make it from an egg to a year-old turkey. If you can let those birds survive to breeding age, your overall populations should benefit from that."

So while the decision to include both of these new regulations have been met with a mixed bag of reactions, the hope is that following this season’s harvest, state biologists will have some promising numbers to work with. And in the spirit of keeping gobbler numbers up across the southeast, it’s certainly worth a try.