How'd your county do?

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Boll Weevil

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We did a little better than last year in Hardeman and killed 482 to finally stop the 4 year downward spiral in harvest (658, 603, 544, 459). And to think back in 2004 nearly twice as many birds...952 ended up in the smokehouse. One year a trend does not make but hopefully we'll continue to see a little bit of a rebound in the years ahead. 30,911 for the state tally.

Click here here to take a look and put in 3/22 through today for your date range.
 
Maury is an insane number. My counties are right about normal except Scott is a little down and Morgan is pitiful.

I can say this that hunting just a couple of miles in KY is a whole different world from a couple miles south in TN. I literally can see TN from several places I hunt in KY and there's no comparison in the numbers of birds.

I'm not implying our population is in peril but the bird numbers across the border are astronomical. Plenty to hunt in TN as well, but not nearly as many as there were a few years ago
 
Lincoln county had 612 in 2013. Only 474 in 2014. Looks like a big drop, but it isn't alarming to me. Several of the Saturdays or days that I went to my Lincoln county spot was bad gobbling weather. That means that it made it harder for hard core turkey hunters, and the fair weather guys didn't even attempt at going.

Giles county had 604 in 2014, and 645 in 2013. Not really a big differnece. Looks like it has remained fairly steady (but trending downward) for the past three to four years. I cannot get it to reseearch earlier than 2006. 2006 was big year and then the drop off year was 2007. Went from 890 in 2006 to 738 in 2007. Steady downfall every year after. (Along with what I have been saying along with you others with concerns.)

Only hunted Lawrence one time (because there isn't many there any longer.) Heard one turkey gobble on roost. They had 251 killed in 2014, which is dismal compared to the early to mid 2000s when 450 birds where being checked in. With the huge wildernesses that Lawrence county consist of there is for sure something wrong. It could be weather, disease, predation, etc. Lawrence and Giles are pretty much the same habitat, with Lawrence being better (with less people, towns, and cities.)
 
I still would like to see TWRA some how come up with and enforce more zones instead of statewide everything the same. TN is a huge state with three different major types of habitats.

Giles and Lawrence county, which is where 80% of my observations are done, need to be looked at. Highway 64 is a good line to use. North of it is turkey heaven, south of it is turkey hell.

And these counties are the same habitat, not the three major differences I stated about in the first part of my post.
 
I personally believe that over time our really high spring limit will begin to have an effect when combined with all the new gear which makes turkeys easy to kill.

I'm not saying it's the end of the world but our limit is extremely high compared to the vast majority of states.

I also feel that dropping us back to 3 birds would help maintain good turkey numbers statewide
 
I forgot to mention Wayne, which I haven't hunted in 4-5 years because my spot I had over there fails to produce anything any more. It has remained in a steady downward trend since 2006 as well. In my experience dealing with turkey nesting and brood rearing habitat, Wayne County TN has the best habitat of the counties I hunt in(Lawrence, Giles, Lincoln.)
 
Sounds like TN only killed roughly 1000 more than KY. We only have a 2 bird limit and 3 less weeks of season. Maybe we have more hunters because I do not believe we have more turkeys..No place in KY that I know of compares to middle TN as far as turkey numbers go.
 
I forgot to mention Wayne, which I haven't hunted in 4-5 years because my spot I had over there fails to produce anything any more. It has remained in a steady downward trend since 2006 as well. In my experience dealing with turkey nesting and brood rearing habitat, Wayne County TN has the best habitat of the counties I hunt in(Lawrence, Giles, Lincoln.)
 
Roost 1 said:
Sounds like TN only killed roughly 1000 more than KY. We only have a 2 bird limit and 3 less weeks of season. Maybe we have more hunters because I do not believe we have more turkeys..No place in KY that I know of compares to middle TN as far as turkey numbers go.
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That is an interesting observation. I have always thought KY had more birds than TN, at least in the last 6-8 years.

Middle TN is known for having lots of turkeys. But in the southern middle TN portion where my stomping grounds are isn't the case any more.

Giles once was one of the top harvest number counties, and If I remember correctly Giles, Dickson, and Green where the three perennial powers of killing 800-900 birds every year. I am going off rememberence, because I don't have any data with me and I cannot get the harvest reports on the website to work prior 2005. Lawrence, Linconl, and Wayne were also in the tops, but that would be based on per capita of actual hunters. Wayne and Lawrence county human population isn't as high as some of the other counties.
 
Setterman said:
Maury is an insane number. My counties are right about normal except Scott is a little down and Morgan is pitiful.

I can say this that hunting just a couple of miles in KY is a whole different world from a couple miles south in TN. I literally can see TN from several places I hunt in KY and there's no comparison in the numbers of birds.

I'm not implying our population is in peril but the bird numbers across the border are astronomical. Plenty to hunt in TN as well, but not nearly as many as there were a few years ago
Click to expand...

I have always noticed that compared to North/middle and Northwestern Alabama. Used to be everybody trying to find land or leases just a few miles north of the AL/TN state line. Was truly a whole different world. As of now, that line has been Highway 64.

Anything to do with the slow steady northern migration and infiltration of armidillos, fire ants, feral hogs?
 
Setterman said:
I personally believe that over time our really high spring limit will begin to have an effect when combined with all the new gear which makes turkeys easy to kill.

I'm not saying it's the end of the world but our limit is extremely high compared to the vast majority of states.

I also feel that dropping us back to 3 birds would help maintain good turkey numbers statewide
Click to expand...

I agree and disagree with this. I think some areas should lower the limit, but not all of them. I also think that "over time" will be a long time, to do noticeable damage, and that day may never come.

As for the gear making it "easy" to kill turkeys I agree technology makes things easier, but that is the nature of the beast. However, if it is so easy, why did we not kill more year over year? This year we are down 506 birds from last year overall for the state.

My take is that while technology is making it easier, less people are hunting, or not hunting as much, so it is a wash. Also, there are areas that are loaded with birds here in Mid TN, but either there is no hunting, or they want a fortune to hunt there.
 
Fentress steady with last year but 20ish% down from the peak, little over 200 birds this year. Morgan Co. is pitiful, Harvest down 50ish% from a few years ago, 127 birds this year.
 
Gibson County was 314, that's +74 from last year

Fayette County was 376, -8 from last year


by the looks of this I need to find a place in Maury county to hunt next year
 
Provided you've got birds to begin with, focus on brood rearing if you want to have a turkey factory. I'd think that varying nest success county by county or even within a particular county can have a huge impact on harvest fluctuations.

My place is good on quality nesting areas but a few years ago I decided to really put some effort into brooding and bugging habitat. My goal was to help them get by from the point they hatch until they're like the size of a leghorn chicken. I don't know if the results I've seen are normal or not but have been totally completely amazed.
 

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