LBL

[AT Hiker]

Just like that "Struttin" video you put on here?

See! Once the universe starts turning gay you cannot, no matter how heterosexual you are, stop it. Gravity starts slipping through other dimensions bringing back tendencies that were once taboo.

It saddens me but the inevitable is coming, Setterman will indeed be using decoys in this space-time continuum we live in.

That is, until we can solve the equation of dark energy so we can slow, or possibly reverse, this cataclysmic course we are on.

Join NWTF to help solve this equation.

Click here to donate all your money

 

[pockets]

See! Once the universe starts turning gay you cannot, no matter how heterosexual you are, stop it. Gravity starts slipping through other dimensions bringing back tendencies that were once taboo.

It saddens me but the inevitable is coming, Setterman will indeed be using decoys in this space-time continuum we live in.

That is, until we can solve the equation of dark energy so we can slow, or possibly reverse, this cataclysmic course we are on.

Join NWTF to help solve this equation.

Click here to donate all your money

LOL. Man that song and video is still stuck in my head.

 

[AT Hiker]

LOL. Man that song and video is still stuck in my head.

"Here's my strut, do-do-do…."

I'll take it easy on everyone and not share the video

 

[TNhunter]

The direct result of textbook environmentalists running a federally funded property while not having any common sense, real world application experience or consideration that they may be completely WRONG!

Hog presence and damage is secondary to the damage done by those in charge at the forestry service. Zero Forrest management ! Lots of people fear a wildfire there.
Controlled burns have been needed for many years

Yep the tree hugging dirt worshippers ruined LBL. When they started screaming that they wanted lbl to return to the prairie land it supposedly once was. Rumor has it that farmers won't farm it due to crop loss. I call bs - it's due to the rules and such put in place after the environweenies got involved.

 

[Chickenrig]

Need to start letting hunters go up there and lay some scunion down on the hog population. I wonder how much damage those things have done to the population.

The out of control hog population and the TWRA washing their hands of the problem is the number one reason that the wild turkey population is in a drastic decline IMO. Them critters will sure nuff ruin a good deer season also .
Kill on site

 

[Popcorn]

At this point all bets are off, we have no idea where this is going till DOGE gets through with everything!!
Maybe some right minded peoples can help steer this to a better outcome.

 

[Bgoodman30]

Is it a coyote issue? A hog issue? Or both?

Hog sign everywhere.. Deer and turkey not so much..

 

[Bgoodman30]

Hogs, habitat loss, and minimal farming would be my guess. The hogs are running rampant down there, cannot even hike a trail without seeing sign or an actual hog and the tornados and big storms we have had the last 4-5 years have hurt the hardwoods. I remember 20-30 years ago that place used to be pristine with farming and agriculture, something has shifted and a lot of the fields are overgrown and have become nothing more than briar thickets. Brooding ground is not what it used to be. Birds are still there but they are nothing like it once was for sure

Briar

Honestly, 20 years ago is when the whole world started turning gay. Luke Bryan infiltrated Nashville turning country music and turkeys gay.
Science has officially named it "The Luke Bryan effect"

noun: Luke Bryan Effect

1. the branch of science that deals with simple minded systems whose gay behavior is highly sensitive to changes in conditions, so that small alterations can give rise to great consequences. Often times the first global symptoms are when eastern wild turkeys stop gobbling then eventually disappear. Commonly referenced as the harbinger in the murder of music row and paving way for transgender bans, like Florida/Georgia Line, to infiltrate young and gullible minds.

Ha he's is having the same effect on the ducks now!

 

[Popcorn]

From insider leaks, LBL is losing 18 / 20 Federal staff initially!
"They just don't know how things are gonna get done"

With contractors that do all the work, what in heck do they need with a staff so large that 18 / 20 is a reduction!? 18 to 20 should be total annihilation !!

 

[SPD FRK 70]

I go ride at Turkey Bay fairly often and see deer but that's about it

 

[Andy S.]

...............what in heck do they need with a staff so large that 18 / 20 is a reduction!?

I suspect some are likely working "against" the goals of many of us. I've talked to a few LBL employees recently that were very helpful, but I talked with one this month that didn't know up from down. She told me if I was drawn for ANY LBL quota turkey hunt that I could hunt anywhere within LBL (KY or TN), regardless of the license I had. Knowing better, I asked her if she had a more senior outdoor hunting expert I could speak with and she connected me with a lady who was very knowledgeable. I miss the old days when I called a NWR/LBL/Resource Agency and could speak with someone who was pretty knowledgeable about the topic at hand (outdoors/conservation/hunting/fishing/trapping/etc).

 

[Coker]

All of the LBL issues started when TVA gave it up. PERIOD!!!!! It has been rapidly declining since then. That was back in the early 90's.

 

[Iglow]

All of the LBL issues started when TVA gave it up. PERIOD!!!!! It has been rapidly declining since then. That was back in the early 90's.

It's a big ole hog lot now! Big timber and mowed fescue pig pen with a highway running down the middle of it!

 

[Spurhunter]

I sure miss the old days of LBL. I remember mornings where I couldn't decide which direction to go because there were turkeys gobbling everywhere.

 

[scn]

I sure miss the old days of LBL. I remember mornings where I couldn't decide which direction to go because there were turkeys gobbling everywhere.

I miss those days as well. I remember Harold K. in one of his books talking about driving on from a gobbling bird because it didn't sound "hot" to find one that was hot. Those days are long gone.

I suspect the statewide turkey restoration efforts didn't help LBL. LBL was always a major source of birds to stock from one end of the state to the other. To a pretty large degree we owe our county turkey hunting to LBL and a bunch of TWRA folks (primarily officers) that spent a lot of cold, long hours over there watching over cannon nets.

 

[Spurhunter]

I suspect the statewide turkey restoration efforts didn't help LBL. LBL was always a major source of birds to stock from one end of the state to the other. To a pretty large degree we owe our county turkey hunting to LBL and a bunch of TWRA folks (primarily officers) that spent a lot of cold, long hours over there watch over cannon nets.

I'd like to know why we can't get some payback. They trapped our turkeys from Shelby Forest and LBL to stock the state and now middle Tennessee is full of turkeys and we don't have many. You never hear about trapping to help us though.

 

[Coker]

I'd like to know why we can't get some payback. They trapped our turkeys from Shelby Forest and LBL to stock the state and now middle Tennessee is full of turkeys and we don't have many. You never hear about trapping to help us though.

You're to close to Memphis

 

[scn]

I'd like to know why we can't get some payback. They trapped our turkeys from Shelby Forest and LBL to stock the state and now middle Tennessee is full of turkeys and we don't have many. You never hear about trapping to help us though.

I've learned never to say never about ANYTHING. However, on supplemental stocking, I would guess that it isn't going to happen. Here are a few of the reasons:

1. The turkey stocking that was done in the late 70s and 80s was a turkey RESTORATION project. The birds were moved from a handful of sites with remnant turkey flocks and put in areas that didn't have birds. Most of the work was done with federal Pitman/Robertson funds that are allocated to the states on a prorated basis from license sales. The restoration work required the stocking area to be closed to ANY turkey hunting for a minimum of 5 years (from my memory). I'm not sure we have too many areas of the state where the hunters would be ready and willing to shut down for five years.

2. With the decrease in the turkey flock, I would be hard pressed off the top of my head to identify a stocking source. While middle Tn may have more birds than you do, there is not a major source of birds here anymore. The LBL flock was increasing rapidly when it was used as a source. We all know that is no longer the case. And, again, the stocking of turkeys couldn't be for supplemental reasons. Stocking equals no hunting for a significant period.

3. Any stocking work would come with a pretty steep learning curve. The vast majority of the folks that had that type of knowledge are either dead or gone from the agency. I'm sure our newer biologists and officers could figure it out, but there is a lack of that institutional knowledge right now.

4. With the online check in system, it would be extremely difficult (likely impossible) to enforce the closures.

So again, I would not say NEVER on stocking, but probably the best we can do is lobby for some decreased bag limits and decreased season time to protect what we do have. And, we have certainly seen how that has not happened with our turkey hunters. Those Faceplant grip and grins are way too important to worry about having birds in the years to come.

 

[deerfever]

I remember back in the day me and my buddy from high school would absolutely be beside ourselves when we got drawn at LBL. We knew that we might actually get to hear a turkey gobble. There just weren't hardly any turkeys at all in our area. Now it's the opposite more around here than LBL. I hate what has happened , it's absolutely a beautiful place.I can remember the big planted fields ,deer and turkey were plentiful .Now , I can't believe all the hogs in the place , there was not a one back then. I was there last year with my son and at least they had burned quite a bit throughout the area. The good ole days of LBL are gone I'm afraid. I do hope the right people can get involved and bring those good ole days back!

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Folks from my area, including me, still think LBL is a dream because the deer and Turkey hunting is so much better than what we are used too but yes I know that there are much better areas because I've hunted a lot better.