Email sent yesterday to my area commissioner, the 4 overall commissioners, and the ones shown on the agenda for tomorrow as being on the big game season setting committee.
Hello Ladies and Gentleman,
I wanted to start this out to say thank you for what you do as commissioners to help keep TN as a great place to hunt and fish. I am sending this email to bring some concerns up on the current turkey population in the state. I understand the next two season's hunting regulations will be voted on this week, and although I can't make the meeting would like to voice my concerns with the turkey population and TWRA's current management practice with turkeys.
I don't think that it is a secret that there is major concern in the turkey hunting community with the current status of the TN turkey population all over the state. There are turkeys in isolated pockets, and I was very fortunate to hunt in one of those areas this year with a good population of gobblers. I am still not seeing the amount of hens and jakes the past few years as normal which is the future of our turkey population. I am also not seeing or hearing any turkeys in a lot of places that had plenty of turkeys a few years ago. Some people say that we have reached carrying capacity which may be true in some areas that exceeded capacity, however, that doesn't explain the sudden void of turkeys in many areas that have good turkey habitat. I see that many of you have pictures of turkeys in your profile pictures on the commission website and feel confident that some of you are seeing the same thing in your areas.
We just finished up the 2018 season which is the first year in many, many years that TN has killed under 30,000 birds. Some people say it is the weather, but I had good weather most days that I hunted, and this isn't the only year that we have seen inconsistent weather in TN. TWRA has been using kill data for the past several years to manage the state which I think is a bad idea. With the increased number of turkey hunters, increased spring limit from 2 to 3 to now 4, and more efficient methods of killing turkeys in terms of shells, male turkey decoys, etc., the kill number is only one piece of the puzzle that should be looked at. Using the kill numbers as a big part of the equation is not a good idea, when hunter participation is increased along with more efficient killing methods which can increase the kill number showing a false positive in term of the population but result in a huge decline in the following years which I fear we are seeing this year.
Now, I know that the turkey population is not in danger but ask that the commission consider being proactive in the management of our turkey population for years to come. I would like to see a decreased limit of male turkeys from 4 to either 2 or 3 and cut out all hen killing in the Fall. I would also like to see the limit be a yearly bag limit of turkeys for Spring and Fall with the Fall limit only being 1 male turkey. Others have suggested pushing the season back at least two weeks to allow more hens to get bred when there is a limited supply of gobblers in an area which I am okay with as well. I would just like to see something done with the current regulations on turkeys before it is too late. I am not a biologist, but I am an outdoorsman who spends many days afield and can see the concern with the current turkey population.
Thanks for your time and consideration
