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checking turkeys on WMAs

Bone Collector

Bone Collector

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****Real legitimate question****

Why do we need to specify if a turkey or deer for that matter was killed on a WMA? You cannot tell me it matters for harvest data, because these WMAs are inside certain counties and if I kill an animal in say my home county of Rutherford I can just say I killed it in Rutherford county.

I know someone will argue that WMAs have special regulations and more pressure, so you need to know what is being killed there, to adjust those regulations, but all we are doing is broadcasting to the state and country, "If you want to hunt (insert game animal) on public land in TN, here is where a bunch are being killed, so obviously we have an abundance.. so come here to do it".

Last year, last day of turkey season I ran into two guys hunting the same area. That never used to happen. One of them tells me he is from the Dickson/Cheatham county area and the WMA in his area is over run and there are no turkeys. He then tells me I looked at the harvest data and decided since y'all have the second most kills in the state, I thought I would come here to try my luck.

This season, Saturday AM I am walking in to my spot where I had observed some roosted birds with a tom in the bunch an a guy walks in from my right intercepting my path and asks where I'm headed. He pulls his ONX up and shows me where he wants to go. It is just passed me by a few hundred yards. We walked in together to try to limit the disturbance. He was from Williamson county. He knew the WMA to his south gets pounded, so he came to this one to add to the pressure here.
 
It mattered more when there was a separate limit on WMAs vs statewide, but they do keep track of the numbers on the WMAs for <cough><cough> management purposes.

Here's a better one, on some of the manned WMAs, you have to check the bird out with them at their checking station. And they will ask you to point on a map the area where you killed the bird.

I'll be honest, I have not always told the truth when asked that question :confused: !
 
PalsPal said:
It mattered more when there was a separate limit on WMAs vs statewide, but they do keep track of the numbers on the WMAs for <cough><cough> management purposes.

Here's a better one, on some of the manned WMAs, you have to check the bird out with them at their checking station. And they will ask you to point on a map the area where you killed the bird.

I'll be honest, I have not always told the truth when asked that question :confused: !
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I don't blame you. I am getting to the point where I am going to start checking them in as killed on Private to keep kill #'s down. It's getting frustrating for sure.
 
Bone Collector said:
I don't blame you. I am getting to the point where I am going to start checking them in as killed on Private to keep kill #'s down. It's getting frustrating for sure.
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You rebel!!! 🤣

Seriously though I understand what you're saying and it's frustrating for sure. As you know I used to hunt this same wma and am glad I don't anymore for this reason. Good luck brother!!!
 
which wma are you talking about? sounds like i need to stay away from there!! at oak ridge they keep up with where you kill on their map at their check in station. im sure thats due to the possibility of contamination
 
It's Nashville. Ain't gonna get any better the way it's growing around here. Just be glad there's plenty of birds and they are raising enough poults every year. If they keep bulldozing and developing nesting habitat, we'll have a much bigger problem down the road. I know the wma you hunt and it's not just hunters that contribute to the crowd out there. Opening week is always the worst for hunting pressure but you also have the most gobblers to hunt, so take your pick. Good luck.

Also, don't lie on the harvest report. They use those numbers for management of the WMAs and it's the law, and one less harvest on said WMA won't affect the high numbers reported every year.
 
catman529 said:
It's Nashville. Ain't gonna get any better the way it's growing around here. Just be glad there's plenty of birds and they are raising enough poults every year. If they keep bulldozing and developing nesting habitat, we'll have a much bigger problem down the road. I know the wma you hunt and it's not just hunters that contribute to the crowd out there. Opening week is always the worst for hunting pressure but you also have the most gobblers to hunt, so take your pick. Good luck.

Also, don't lie on the harvest report. They use those numbers for management of the WMAs and it's the law, and one less harvest on said WMA won't affect the high numbers reported every year.
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I know. Just frustrating. I say I am going to do something then chicken out 😂 .

the good news is the area I have been hunting I called up 8 jakes opening morning, so as long as no one shoots them all....
 

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