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Is Your County This Bad?

Wrangler95

Wrangler95

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2002
Messages
27,127
Location
Middle Tn
I live in Clay County in north middle Tennessee and the turkey population has dwindeled down terribly low the last several years,as I guess it has in most Tennessee counties.I looked back the last 12 years on the harvest just in Clay county and it is shocking to see!
Below are the harvest report for past 12 years and you can see the progression it has taken!

2010-580 birds
2011-498
2012-460
2013-462
2014-444
2015-469
2016-419
2017-339
2018-245
2019-208
2020-285
2021-220
2022-147

As you can see 2016 is the first clear sign you can see that something was happening to the turkeys,if something is not done now Im afraid the turkeys are just gonna go away like the quail have.Im sure most turkey hunters have the same going on in your county also,feel free to list your County and kills so hunters can see!
 
hbg1 said:
Been telling this to Twra for 12 years now!!!
Click to expand...
They pay no attention to turkey hunters,we know more about the turkey situation than they do but it falls on deaf ears.At least most states in the southeast are lowering limits and starting the opener a week or so later so most hens have a chance to bred.I now have a bad opinion of the TWRA because they are doing nothing!
 
TheLBLman said:
Seems like most counties with a lot of birds in 2010 have a lot less now.
And most counties with fewer birds in 2010, have a lot more now?

The turkeys have expanded into a lot of areas essentially void of turkeys in 2010.
I'd just like to know why areas that were so good in 2010 are so relatively bad now.
Click to expand...

I noticed that also,it is very strange to say the least!
 
Wrangler95 said:
They pay no attention to turkey hunters,we know more about the turkey situation than they do but it falls on deaf ears.At least most states in the southeast are lowering limits and starting the opener a week or so later so most hens have a chance to bred.I now have a bad opinion of the TWRA because they are doing nothing!
Click to expand...
This is exactly dead on the money. They don't listen and they don't care. Same situation with CWD management. Outdoorsmen in this state have no say.
 
Wrangler95 said:
I live in Clay County in north middle Tennessee and the turkey population has dwindeled down terribly low the last several years,as I guess it has in most Tennessee counties.I looked back the last 12 years on the harvest just in Clay county and it is shocking to see!
Below are the harvest report for past 12 years and you can see the progression it has taken!

2010-580 birds
2011-498
2012-460
2013-462
2014-444
2015-469
2016-419
2017-339
2018-245
2019-208
2020-285
2021-220
2022-147

As you can see 2016 is the first clear sign you can see that something was happening to the turkeys,if something is not done now Im afraid the turkeys are just gonna go away like the quail have.Im sure most turkey hunters have the same going on in your county also,feel free to list your County and kills so hunters can see!
Click to expand...
Where could I find this at. Looking for Obion and Weakley counties.
 
I remember when there were no turkeys, TWRA brought them back, I don't see that they are not doing anything and letting the flocks dwindle. I would hazard a guess which is just as good as anybody else's around here that they are very concerned , has anybody contacted twra and asked what is going on and what's being done? I haven't seen anybody post anything other than they don't care and its a $$ thing , there is a carrying capacity with any type of critters and they go through cycles , a lot of factors drive the numbers on any wild animal. hard to pinpoint 1 single cause I would bet there are a multitude to consider.
 
I'm seeing the same thing happen of the last 3 years or so across the Ky line from you in Cumberland Co. This year we had half the gobblers on our place compared to last year. Last year I would sit on the front porch and could hear 8-10 in any direction on a clear morning. This year I had to go a mile and a half to find a gobble and only managed to find 4 on roughly 1000acres in 3 weeks.
 
Wrangler95 said:
I live in Clay County in north middle Tennessee and the turkey population has dwindeled down terribly low the last several years,as I guess it has in most Tennessee counties.I looked back the last 12 years on the harvest just in Clay county and it is shocking to see!
Below are the harvest report for past 12 years and you can see the progression it has taken!

2010-580 birds
2011-498
2012-460
2013-462
2014-444
2015-469
2016-419
2017-339
2018-245
2019-208
2020-285
2021-220
2022-147

As you can see 2016 is the first clear sign you can see that something was happening to the turkeys,if something is not done now Im afraid the turkeys are just gonna go away like the quail have.Im sure most turkey hunters have the same going on in your county also,feel free to list your County and kills so hunters can see!
Click to expand...
 
I really feel like we have to do a better job at controlling the predators and not destroying nesting habitat. We had a bad year on our farm in 2020 and 2021. We got serious
Wrangler95 said:
I live in Clay County in north middle Tennessee and the turkey population has dwindeled down terribly low the last several years,as I guess it has in most Tennessee counties.I looked back the last 12 years on the harvest just in Clay county and it is shocking to see!
Below are the harvest report for past 12 years and you can see the progression it has taken!

2010-580 birds
2011-498
2012-460
2013-462
2014-444
2015-469
2016-419
2017-339
2018-245
2019-208
2020-285
2021-220
2022-147

As you can see 2016 is the first clear sign you can see that something was happening to the turkeys,if something is not done now Im afraid the turkeys are just gonna go away like the quail have.Im sure most turkey hunters have the same going on in your county also,feel free to list your County and kills so hunters can see!
Click to expand...
Wrangler95 said:
I live in Clay County in north middle Tennessee and the turkey population has dwindeled down terribly low the last several years,as I guess it has in most Tennessee counties.I looked back the last 12 years on the harvest just in Clay county and it is shocking to see!
Below are the harvest report for past 12 years and you can see the progression it has taken!

2010-580 birds
2011-498
2012-460
2013-462
2014-444
2015-469
2016-419
2017-339
2018-245
2019-208
2020-285
2021-220
2022-147

As you can see 2016 is the first clear sign you can see that something was happening to the turkeys,if something is not done now Im afraid the turkeys are just gonna go away like the quail have.Im sure most turkey hunters have the same going on in your county also,feel free to list your County and kills so hunters can see!
Click to expand...
We got serious about improving nesting habitat on our farm and trapping coons, coyotes, bobcat, and coyotes. Started in 2019 and have seen a tremendous come back of our turkeys. This year was one of the best on record for our farm. We have 500 acres and lease another 1200. We have also met with the turkey hunters in our area and they are on board as well. We have 5 people hunt our farm and everyone only kills one turkey. We travel to neighboring states for our other birds. If you have exhausted all these measures and still have no birds, then I would say you have a problem. One red fox and 4 coons can devastate a Turkey population by destroying eggs. With so much development and population growth, predators are being pushed farther out into rural areas.

There is also a big problem with people not reporting their kills. Read about the new rules for game wardens. New law went into place where they cannot come onto your property for any reason without a warrant or permission. Once they obtain a warrant, they have to notify you of it and let you know when they are coming. Baiting has basically been legalized. If a game warden cannot come check your property, how will they ever know you are baiting. They cannot even put a dummy deer out at night anymore to catch poachers. It's only allowed during daylight hours.
 
mike243 said:
I remember when there were no turkeys, TWRA brought them back, I don't see that they are not doing anything and letting the flocks dwindle. I would hazard a guess which is just as good as anybody else's around here that they are very concerned , has anybody contacted twra and asked what is going on and what's being done? I haven't seen anybody post anything other than they don't care and its a $$ thing , there is a carrying capacity with any type of critters and they go through cycles , a lot of factors drive the numbers on any wild animal. hard to pinpoint 1 single cause I would bet there are a multitude to consider.
Click to expand...
Spot on. There's more to this than "they aren't doing anything.". Should TWRA cancel turkey season for a few years? Not what you want. A couple of things that are happening are, as Mike pointed out, is one - carrying capacity. Are we building more homes and feeding more people? Yes and that's "urban sprawl" which impacts habitat. I think even more impactful is that, number two is predator populations have exploded and ground-nesting birds suffer the consequences. Raccoons are enemy number one. You can kill all the coyotes you see but their impact is almost non-existent on turkeys compared to foraging raccoons and skunks. In the duck world, predation takes 9 out of 10 nests and the same is happening, I bet, to turkeys. Foxes are also bad on turkey eggs (they bury them) and poults as well but coyotes keep them at bay as coyotes hate foxes and will run them off. There's an argument that coyotes do more good than harm for ground-nesting birds. Do you/we put out corn for deer? If so we are feeding and increasing the populations of the enemy...raccoons. I used to get 13-15 raccoons on camera at night on one feeder. Hundreds of coons on a property like to do two things...eat and breed. They'll eat every egg they find, every night. It's amazing we have any turkeys when you think about the thousands of raccoons and skunks across the landscape and they are increasing. In addition, baby turkeys, before flight, (4-5 weeks) are easy pickings for hawks, owls and sometimes crows. I don't believe this has anything to do with TWRA and they've been good at restoring populations over the years. Fire ants are also hell on eggs and have decimated quail populations. Trap the heck out of your properties, kill your fire ants and leave native grasses to grow where you can. I wouldn't beat up the agency on this one but maybe lend a hand where you can. Just my two cents and take it with a grain of salt.
 
Well,I disagree with you on the TWRA but thats okay,they have seen for several years that the population of turkeys are going away and have done nothing but talk.at least other southern states are trying to help the turkeys out by cutting the limit down and pushing back the opener by a week or so!Just name what the TWRA has done to help?You obviously didnt read my report on the turkey harvest in Clay county the last 12 years.There are many other Tennessee counties with this problem also,its not just a few counties but many!
 

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