Hardest season i have had in 12 years

REN

REN

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First 5 days were awesome, been down hill since then. My main farm all the sudden just doesn't have birds like it has had in years past and actually for the first time in 12 years hunting it I have been 3 time to it and not even heard a gobble. Up until this year i have NEVER been out there and not heard a bird. My spot 2 has a season wrecker that everything i do he does something different and the weather has made my 3rd farm not accessible due to high water in the creek you have to cross to access it.

Have had a coyote come out and ruin 2 hunts so far and the pisser is the coyote wouldn't come into range for me to atleast shoot him lol. The WMA across from my house has no toms for some reason this year so i have not even bothered with it. Having said that work has not allowed me to spend the amount of time out there like normal years and really has limited me to morning only hunts. this will be the first year since i have moved to TN back in 2000 that i have not limited out by May (still some time left but not looking good).

Even with it being a tough year i thank the good lord above for allowing me to get up in the mornings and go! has been the most frustrating year Ive ever had but I still wouldn't trade it for the anything! Hopefully this rant now changes my luck in the morning hahah.
 
Could change the next time you are out there.... But hope it gets better for you.
 
What's your opinion about where your birds have gone? Habitat changes, baiting on the neighbors, legitimate decline in the local population, other? If you're not hearing birds is there still at least turkey sign...tracks, scratching, poo?
 
no idea man its crazy. the first week there were birds everywhere now there seem to be NONE. Nothing has changed out on the main farm there there were groups of 30 toms in the fall so i know birds are around. The WMA across from me i know is because one of the private farms in front of it is now hunting them cause i have seen a blind out there and there was not one there last year.

most of my farms get worse as the season goes on because the woods get real thick and the fields get to tall (farmer only cuts them in the fall) so a decline is usual but not to this extent. I know they are around but just seems to not be my year. Even going with buddies on their farms seems the birds just never want to work or do what they did the previous day when i didn't go lol.
 
I wouldn't fret yet, still over half the season to go. This is the first time I haven't been sitting on one tag left in TN in 20 years. I've tagged some birds, but I didn't work a bird in this area until this past weekend if that tells you how tough it's been. Day after day with nothing gobbling, then out of town most of last week. Our birds are way way way behind, and usually this phase comes before the season even opens.

They'll come around just give it time.
 
It's been slow for me as well. Should have tagged out, but I missed 2. I guess it's not been that slow, but a lot quieter than usual.


Sent from the talk of tap
 
Same here ren my go to farms are completely dead! The place behind my house is usually loaded up and it's void of all turkeys. Not sure what the deal is this year but all my birds have came from very random places that I would usually just pass on by. I got one tag left and it's very doubtful that it will get filled, the hunting has been so bad I spent Saturday fishing instead of hunting!
 
REN":2umwraf2 said:
The first week there were birds everywhere now there seem to be NONE.
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Gotcha. That's a bit better than the birds being completely gone altogether (ie - there were none at the beginning of the season either). I wouldn't be surprised if maybe something changed that caused them to take up residence elsewhere. I've seen them make wholesale moves for prescribed burns, timber harvests, Farmer A gets his corn in before Farmer B, a clearcut that reached it's 2nd or 3rd year and got nasty enough for hens to prefer nesting in it (and the toms follow), baiting/feeding...any number of different things maybe.

The other thing is maybe they are still on you somewhere, it's just this totally weird gobbling year we're having. This has definitely been a bizarre year for birds talking and I have no earthly idea why.
 
Same here...first week was gobbling mania. Since then, nada. Still going to keep at it to see how it turns out this season. :super: We are in Fayetteville.
 
My number one spot is apparently bird numbers about 90%, as far as sightings and gobbling goes. My number two spot is down, third spot is average or above.
I still believe the population has declined more from last spring.

This is not because they just ain't gobbling, they just aren't there. Not much tracks, poop, scratching, sightings in fields, camera pictures, gobbling whatever

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Tapatalk
 
Yep….we we've been talking about this since it started. The week before the opener we were seeing birds on all our farms and hearing quite a few……but it just seems to get worse as season goes along. As far as numbers go…we are not seeing the amount of hens we normally see in the bottoms and even the jake population has got us scratching our heads. Usually there are tons of jakes that will come in in droves…..but Ive only seen about 8 or 10 since the opener. I really think the population is WAY down here in Henry County. I pretty much know everybody that hunts close and its all the same story.
 
Have we had a die-off of turkeys in TN. The three main spots I hunt in the spring have had no action at all. Last fall another farm that is usually COVERED with birds (literally 100s of them) had one group of about 20 birds.
 
I haven't hunted this year but in the past I've hunted a premium property that was loaded with birds throughout the winter and into first spring. Then it would just go dry. The reason was that the hens weren't nesting on this property and once they started they pulled the gobblers with them.
 
This has been an ongoing convo with my hunting group this yr. Usually by this time we are all working on our tag out bird and out of the 3 of us that hunt together we have yet to take the safety off. Out of several farms we only have a couple that seem to be holding birds and the ones that are are non really responsive. Add to that the rain screwing with my mowing schedule and it's been tough for sure.
 
the thing is i know there are birds around, sure the numbers are not like normal years but i know for a fact there are birds in the area. just seem to be much less vocal this year and the ones i have gotten to somewhat work just didn't really want to do anything more then gobble a few times and go the other way. i have had a few chances to bushwhack one here and there but just not how i want to do it right now.
 
TNhunter":y732kywo said:
Have we had a die-off of turkeys in TN. The three main spots I hunt in the spring have had no action at all. Last fall another farm that is usually COVERED with birds (literally 100s of them) had one group of about 20 birds.
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Yes it's called excessively high limits in both the spring and fall following numerous poor production years.

Combine the very high limits with how easy it is for marginal hunters to kill lots of birds by using blinds and strutting decoys, and it's easy to understand why huge areas of the state are seeing the quality of their hunting take a nose dive.

If you or any one else is serious about brining back "the good ole days" push for the fall season to be abolished, hens to be illegal year round, 1 jake per spring, and a total limit of 2-3 gobblers. Also, push to outlaw decoys, that alone would have more of a positive impact on the population then any other conceivable idea or regulation.

Any Gomer can stick a strutter in a field and wait in a blind and kill turkeys and lots of them. These same hunters might kill a bird each year, where as now they're killing numerous birds each year. At some point it has an affect
 
Setterman":2ldfq6pw said:
TNhunter":2ldfq6pw said:
Have we had a die-off of turkeys in TN. The three main spots I hunt in the spring have had no action at all. Last fall another farm that is usually COVERED with birds (literally 100s of them) had one group of about 20 birds.
Click to expand...

Yes it's called excessively high limits in both the spring and fall following numerous poor production years.

Combine the very high limits with how easy it is for marginal hunters to kill lots of birds by using blinds and strutting decoys, and it's easy to understand why huge areas of the state are seeing the quality of their hunting take a nose dive.

If you or any one else is serious about brining back "the good ole days" push for the fall season to be abolished, hens to be illegal year round, 1 jake per spring, and a total limit of 2-3 gobblers. Also, push to outlaw decoys, that alone would have more of a positive impact on the population then any other conceivable idea or regulation.

Any Gomer can stick a strutter in a field and wait in a blind and kill turkeys and lots of them. These same hunters might kill a bird each year, where as now they're killing numerous birds each year. At some point it has an affect
Click to expand...

I agree to an extent, but you will never make me believe any of those things caused the massive die off Lawrence County experienced in 1 years time.
 
If you are hunting just southeast of Nashville, the population is about 1/3 of what is has been long term. From my observations this year, the number of birds available to hunt prior to season opening is about the same as last year (still very poor compared to the '90's), but since there are fewer gobblers than in years past (and many more hunters than the early 90's), a large percentage were removed during opening week, leaving very, very few available to hunt at this point.

I much prefer hunting the second week of the season (birds more vocal, more agressive/susceptible to calling, etc) , but had to switch to hunting opening week the past several years due to how few birds were left to chase by the second week. It is what it is, expect the quality of hunting to continue to slowly decline over the next few years unless we actually get a great hatch (which hasn't happened in over a decade on my places).
 

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