Fall seasons gone for some counties?

Fall seasons or more biologically sound than spring seasons because that is when there are the most turkeys available to kill. I am not comparing turkeys to deer and other game, but that is why most hunting seasons are in fall. Spring is just for hunter enjoyment, which is fine with me.

Fall turkey hunter haters can hate on. I hope that one day they open it back up. I am a turkey hunter period. To me fall turkey hunting is fun too, not as fun but fun none the less. I am not into flock shooting hens or poults, or ambushing them. I am in to splitting up fall gobbler flocks. The game is still the same, still calling them up, they call back. You have to have a good set-up just like spring. I believe more patience is required because they are even more reluctant to come in to your calling. Sometimes it takes them a few days to regroup.

Most people that deer hunt, I hate to admit, hunt for antlers. No antlers in April. So I don't think they would be in the way. Plus most deer hunters are somewhat lazy, and do not like to fight the heat and bugs.
 
I think closing fall season may needed to be done in the population decline areas. But I firmly believe it isn't going to help one bit. Instead I believe they should just do away with the killing of hens, bearded or not.

I have said this hundreds of times, it is all about the nesting.
Unless their is disease in this area, which I am hesitant to believe at this point.
 
I do not hate it at all. A huge population decline is what bothers me. How many hens are killed in the fall vs. the spring?
1205 last fall, and 261 this past spring. That is almost 1500 nests that didnt get made! Killing males doesn't hurt it as much, but I think we need to go to a 2 or 3 bird limit.
 
Hillbilly Hunter said:
I do not hate it at all. A huge population decline is what bothers me. How many hens are killed in the fall vs. the spring?
1205 last fall, and 261 this past spring. That is almost 1500 nests that didnt get made! Killing males doesn't hurt it as much, but I think we need to go to a 2 or 3 bird limit.
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Yep exactly, and good research on those numbers.

Reckon how many are shot with a bow by a deer hunter and not checked in? Reckon how many hunters make mistakes and shoot a hen in spring and not checked in?

And worse what about all the hens shot with bow by bow hunters than run off and are never retrieved, or not even attempted to be retrieved.
 
Shooting them in fall with a bow should be the first to go. Most of that is just bow hunters shooting turkeys because they can, rather than actually enjoying the turkey hunt.
 
Fall seasons are the original turkey seasons, because that is when there are the most turkeys alive and available to be killed. IT is more biological to kill them in the fall. That said, I would rather hunt spring gobblers. I am glad they allow us too, it is fun. I like fall turkey hunting, but not like spring hunting.

One day many years ago somebody noticed how fun spring turkey hunting could be, therefor the transformation into the sport of spring turkey hunting.
 
But let me say this. Back in the old days, they hunted more for food rather than sport. I believe the population of turkeys was of little importance to the people trying to get food to survive.
 
Hillbilly Hunter said:
I do not hate it at all. A huge population decline is what bothers me. How many hens are killed in the fall vs. the spring?
1205 last fall, and 261 this past spring. That is almost 1500 nests that didnt get made! Killing males doesn't hurt it as much, but I think we need to go to a 2 or 3 bird limit.
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Owls will kill more turkeys than those numbers combined in prolly a week across the whole state.
 
Reading these threads about fall hunting and hen killing just shows me there are conservationists and there are killers. The killers want to kill so badly that they will ignore facts, data, and information while defending killing as much as possible at all costs.

The old "so many hens are going to die anyway so we should just kill more" is the most comical. It's like saying "my truck is going to burn a lot of gas anyway so I'll just poke a hole in the tank. The extra that runs out of the hole won't matter at all." Yeah, that's logical.
 
Spurhunter said:
Reading these threads about fall hunting and hen killing just shows me there are conservationists and there are killers. The killers want to kill so badly that they will ignore facts, data, and information while defending killing as much as possible at all costs.

The old "so many hens are going to die anyway so we should just kill more" is the most comical. It's like saying "my truck is going to burn a lot of gas anyway so I'll just poke a hole in the tank. The extra that runs out of the hole won't matter at all." Yeah, that's logical.
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you see it as only black or white.... I'm not a conservationist but I also don't want to kill everything at all costs. Last year I didn't even try to tag out on fall turkeys and only 2 of the 5 I killed were female. If I saw population declining or a really bad hatch, I would stop killing any hens. But if they are in season and they are plentiful I will shoot a couple out of the flock. Whether you like it or not.
 
catman529 said:
Spurhunter said:
Reading these threads about fall hunting and hen killing just shows me there are conservationists and there are killers. The killers want to kill so badly that they will ignore facts, data, and information while defending killing as much as possible at all costs.

The old "so many hens are going to die anyway so we should just kill more" is the most comical. It's like saying "my truck is going to burn a lot of gas anyway so I'll just poke a hole in the tank. The extra that runs out of the hole won't matter at all." Yeah, that's logical.
Click to expand...
you see it as only black or white.... I'm not a conservationist but I also don't want to kill everything at all costs. Last year I didn't even try to tag out on fall turkeys and only 2 of the 5 I killed were female. If I saw population declining or a really bad hatch, I would stop killing any hens. But if they are in season and they are plentiful I will shoot a couple out of the flock. Whether you like it or not.
Click to expand...

You are correct. I see things in black and white. I base my opinions on knowledge and facts. Not feelings. If the greatest turkey biologists to ever live say don't kill hens, and the data is there to back it up, that's what I will do. But I am twice your age. I grew out of the kill at all cost stage years ago. I am much more concerned with conserving the resources for future generations now.
 
Just let TWRA determine and set the seasons and bag limit. Individuals can choose to participate or not, kill a hen or not, hunt in the spring or not, or hunt in the fall or not- within the constraints of the law. What a novel concept!
 
Spurhunter said:
catman529 said:
Spurhunter said:
Reading these threads about fall hunting and hen killing just shows me there are conservationists and there are killers. The killers want to kill so badly that they will ignore facts, data, and information while defending killing as much as possible at all costs.

The old "so many hens are going to die anyway so we should just kill more" is the most comical. It's like saying "my truck is going to burn a lot of gas anyway so I'll just poke a hole in the tank. The extra that runs out of the hole won't matter at all." Yeah, that's logical.
Click to expand...
you see it as only black or white.... I'm not a conservationist but I also don't want to kill everything at all costs. Last year I didn't even try to tag out on fall turkeys and only 2 of the 5 I killed were female. If I saw population declining or a really bad hatch, I would stop killing any hens. But if they are in season and they are plentiful I will shoot a couple out of the flock. Whether you like it or not.
Click to expand...

You are correct. I see things in black and white. I base my opinions on knowledge and facts. Not feelings. If the greatest turkey biologists to ever live say don't kill hens, and the data is there to back it up, that's what I will do. But I am twice your age. I grew out of the kill at all cost stage years ago. I am much more concerned with conserving the resources for future generations now.
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so you are saying you went through a so called killing phase but other people shouldn't. I'm not in a strictly killing phase anymore but I am more trigger happy than some. Sure it may change down the road but I am in no hurry.
 
Plateau Hunter said:
Just let TWRA determine and set the seasons and bag limit. Individuals can choose to participate or not, kill a hen or not, hunt in the spring or not, or hunt in the fall or not- within the constraints of the law. What a novel concept!
Click to expand...

I wish I trusted them as much as you. When I see harvest numbers dropping year after year while they ignore the advice of turkey biologists I am skeptical. Good news is I have analyzed the data from the last few years and west TN is improving while the rest of the state is declining. Hopefully, there are good things to come in west TN in spite of some of the regulations.
 
catman529 said:
so you are saying you went through a so called killing phase but other people shouldn't. I'm not in a strictly killing phase anymore but I am more trigger happy than some. Sure it may change down the road but I am in no hurry.
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I went through kind of a killing stage with deer. I killed what I could eat as well as my parents, and gave a couple away. Never with turkeys though. I was raised up in the turkey woods that hens were sacred. You never ever killed a hen. I'm glad I was trained by turkey hunters that valued the knowledge of biologists such as Dr. Lovett Williams.
 
Spurhunter said:
Plateau Hunter said:
Just let TWRA determine and set the seasons and bag limit. Individuals can choose to participate or not, kill a hen or not, hunt in the spring or not, or hunt in the fall or not- within the constraints of the law. What a novel concept!
Click to expand...

I wish I trusted them as much as you. When I see harvest numbers dropping year after year while they ignore the advice of turkey biologists I am skeptical. Good news is I have analyzed the data from the last few years and west TN is improving while the rest of the state is declining. Hopefully, there are good things to come in west TN in spite of some of the regulations.
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aside from the unexplained decline in those 3 southern counties, I don't see how mid tn is declining. Last I heard it was reaching a plateau.
 
This shouldn't have even gotten into an arguement. Although I am agains shooting hens, that isn't what happened to the turkeys in these areas. It is either nesting/brood success/failure and/or disease.

The outlawing of the fall hen killing definately will not hurt the situation though.

Maury county apparently hasn't had a set back, therefore can take some hen killing. Just beware that it could start spiraling out of control. My home of Giles used to be a perennial power of always one of the top 3 counties of kill numbers. It is still high, but it is dwindling down. 90% of those harvest, betcha a dollar was north of Pulaski. (along the border of the turkey heaven of Maury and Marshall)
 
woodsman87 said:
Maury county apparently hasn't had a set back, therefore can take some hen killing.
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Maury County's spring harvest was down 12% from last year. Although one year is not a good sample, and there are factors such as weather, a 12% decline sounds substantial. Especially after the great jumps of years past. If the killing of hens is important to middle TN hunters, so be it. I'm just glad to see west TN improving and I'm seeing turkeys where I never have before.
 

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