NATCHEZ — It’s time to pull out the turkey calls and dust off the decoys, because spring is here and the gobblers are out.

Spring turkey hunting season started Saturday, and the season is a bit different from usual.

“The dates are not the same as they were last year,” Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Turkey Program Biologist Adam Butler said. “For years and years the dates have been March 15 to May 1. This year the season opens (Saturday), so it’s March 14 through May 3.

“It’s the first year we’ve ever had a season go past the first of May.”

Though the season has been extended three days, the bag limits are the same: one adult gobbler — or gobbler with a 6-inch beard — per day and three total during the spring season.

For hunters under age 16, one turkey out of 3-bird limit can be any beardless or short-bearded gobbler, known as a jake.

Butler said based on data collected by the MDWFP, this season should be as successful as 2008 in southwest Mississippi.

“Really we gauge the season by the number of 2-year-old birds out there,” Butler said. “They are typically the ones that gobble the most and are the easiest to call in. The number of gobblers should be about the same as last year.”

The department keeps population statistics in two ways. First, there is an annual brood survey, in which each year’s hatch is monitored for the average number of poults (baby turkeys) per hen.

When the number of poults per hen is up, the number of gobblers two seasons later is expected to be higher as well.

Second, the department issues surveys to hunters in the state.

“They go out and record different observations while they hunt, like how many they hear, how many they see, how many jakes and hens there are,” Butler said. “That gives us an idea of what’s going on in any particular area around the state.”

Butler said the MDWFP combines the two data collection methods to estimate what each season will look like.

In southwest Mississippi, he said, the population is typically more stable than in the rest of the state.

“Last year it was about on par with what the last three or four years have been,” he said. “The population has been very steady the last three or four years, not fluctuating very much. Sometimes with turkey population you’ll see some peaks and valleys, but down in that part of the state we have not seen terribly big fluctuations.”

However, Butler said next season might be a little down for the river counties like Adams and Wilkinson.

Hens hatch their eggs in June, and there was more flooding than usual last year at that time.

“There was such extreme flooding, the hens may not have been able to nest as successfully as they usually do,” he said. “That’s not really going got affect this year as much as it will next season.”

For now, he said, the 35,000 hunters in the state should start hunting without worrying about dwindling numbers.

He said anyone that does hunt and is interested in completing the survey can email him at butler.mdwfp@gmail.com for more information.

“We’re trying to get more people to participate,” Butler said. “On a statewide basis, it’s at about 700 (hunters) right now. We would like to see about 10 percent of the hunting population, so about 3,000 to 3,500 people.”