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Anyone else seeing a large amount of turkey population?

We seem to have had good hatches the last few years. The 22 Hatch was unbelievable! I have seen and heard several while deer hunting this season ,Glad to read all the positive comments.
 
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Same here
 
deerhunter10 said:
Yes thanks to the last few years hatches numbers coming up. No where near what they were but a lot better then the last 8 to 10 years by a lot.
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Nowhere CLOSE to what they were in the early 2000s. On this farm the hens and this year's poults hooked up with the toms for a couple hours.

Back in the day, I called up 35 jakes at the same time in a juvie group while hunting.

But still WAY better that what we had 4 or 5 years ago.
 

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It is almost like turkey populations are naturally cyclical and Mother Nature has the biggest effect on hatches. That explanation doesn't warrant hysteria and generate research $$ money though.

Thrilled for the rebound! Lets enjoy it while it lasts.
 
th88 said:
It is almost like turkey populations are naturally cyclical and Mother Nature has the biggest effect on hatches. That explanation doesn't warrant hysteria and generate research $$ money though.

Thrilled for the rebound! Lets enjoy it while it lasts.
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You don't think the later starting date is helping with the hatch? I'm not 100% convinced but it does seem like giving the hens an extra 2 weeks to get eggs on the ground before we go disrupting things can't hurt. More of the older Toms get to breed before they fall victim to strutter decoys.
 
MidTennFisher said:
You don't think the later starting date is helping with the hatch? I'm not 100% convinced but it does seem like giving the hens an extra 2 weeks to get eggs on the ground before we go disrupting things can't hurt. More of the older Toms get to breed before they fall victim to strutter decoys.
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There has been a lot of recent research on the topic (including a major study in TN) and none has found it to help reproduction. Other neighboring states who've made zero changes have saw the same bump in reproduction that TN has recently. These regional increases in reproduction show there is more to it than being able to able to boost populations by bumping a season back.
 
Correlation does not imply causation....

But I'm still optimistic the delayed opener continues to correlate with increased poult recruitment!

Regardless, the delayed opener definitely makes for more intense and generally fun turkey hunting. And seems to increase hunter success as well.
 
Later starting date for season opener may have helped out the turkeys and hunters!!Still nest predation I think is #1 cause for turkey decline!!
 

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