Harvest report

[PalsPal]

again how are they getting that #? guessing? is there some mathematical formula? I cannot see a way to know for sure, other than just guess. those #'s could be vastly over or under stated.

As I said early on, they have no idea.

Running the numbers based on last year's numbers means nothing. Most reported good hatches the past couple of years, which leads to more turkeys. I fully expect this year to surpass 2022 and it will have nothing to do with later start date.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Looks like we've surpassed last year kill total as of May8.
2022: 28,303
2023: 28,531

 

[Andy S.]

^^^ We're getting close. I'm pretty sure TN killed/tagged/recorded right at 30k birds last spring. Run your report from middle of March to end of May, 2022. Capture dates outside of true statewide season dates.

Worth noting this year is just how front loaded the kill has been. First week of statewide season, 18,132 birds tagged (Sat-Fri), second week 6,842, and third week 4,211. We are in the middle of the fourth week now.

 

[megalomaniac]

^^^ We're getting close. I'm pretty sure TN killed/tagged/recorded right at 30k birds last spring. Run your report from middle of March to end of May, 2022. Capture dates outside of true statewide season dates.

Worth noting this year is just how front loaded the kill has been. First week of statewide season, 18,132 birds tagged (Sat-Fri), second week 6,842, and third week 4,211. We are in the middle of the fourth week now.

It's like that every year no matter when season opens. 2/3 of the entire season kill is in the first 9 days. Open in Mar 15 or April 15th. Kill numbers between the two will be the same. After the first 9 days, gobbler population has been decimated. That's why it's SO important to let hens breed at least once before the season opens and the majority of toms are killed.

From what I can see (in middle.TN, and extrapolating throughout the state based on harvest numbers)... delaying season did not hamper hunters success (even MORE successful this year with the delay by the numbers this year- granted, coming off a good hatch 2y ago).

Makes me wonder... if we added another 2w delay ( season opens Saturday closest to May 1st) would the kill be the same?

One thing I'm both a tad happy to see, yet still disappointed in is the percentage of jake harvest. Before, statewide jake harvest was around 15-16% of harvest. With the 1 jake rule, we only dropped to around 10% of kill (numbers I looked at 2w ago, may be different now)... I was really hoping to see jake harvest drop to less than 5% with the new regs.