May Fish & Wildlife Commission Meeting

[deerfever]

Also, I would add that it "appears" based on commissioner comments that several of the commissioners believe there is a need for some type of change, but they are unsure of what those changes should be.

Yes, I believe one of them wants a Thanksgiving hunt so his constitutes can get a Thanksgiving turkey! I see now why we would rather the commission have an emergency meeting to make changes to our season structure as opposed to waiting on the study results of turkey biologist . The study is over after this next season. So should we not just wait one more year on the results and see which direction to move before making changes? Keep in mind as the turkey coordinator pointed out they changed fall structure, cut the limit to 3( 2 in some areas) and have studies going to try and find the cause of turkey decline in some areas of TN and see if later start dates will help. They are doing things to to try and help but I guess it's just not fast enough for some. I did think there was some good discussion as one of the commission members even mentioned concerns about fanning on public land.

 

[deerfever]

I can agree with some of this, especially the "divide into units" piece, but I cannot agree that ".........while most are not".

For this past 2021 season, 46 (almost half) of the counties checked in 0-300 birds, 23 counties 300-400, 17 counties 400-600, 6 counties 600-800, and the same top 3 counties 800-1300. Since most like to look at harvest data as indicator of pre-season standing flock, and a reliable indicator for managing turkeys and setting bag limits, I think it is easy to see that 69 of the 95 counties (72%) are not setting the woods on fire. In essence, the top 34 counties (roughly 1/3) account for 50% of the season harvest. It is obvious to me that managing the State as several units with different criteria needs to be looked into more.

Personally I do not think you can look at that to tell the truth about each county. I hunt in some that are the lowest on the totem poll and they are the best I have ever seen with turkey population. Harvest rate is sometimes the result of hunter effort as the Turkey coordinator kept pointing out. Some of the counties with the most kills are not only good on turkeys but also have plenty of people hunting them and public land to go with it and are simply bigger. Lower Harvest does not necessarily mean bad turkey population as hunter effort , public land and several other factors come into play.Now if a county killed 250 birds for 10 years on average and then it drops to 100, you may have a problem in that county. I bet if you looked at more than 2021 the numbers for each county would be close over the years. I hunted a county last year that I was hesitant to even make the drive , as members here and harvest numbers had me convinced that turkeys were extinct in that area. At daylight I was definitely glad I made the hour and half drive that day. The one thing I will say for our harvest data is it's been probably the steadiest around the Southeast for the last 21 years.

 

[MickThompson]

Yes, I believe one of them wants a Thanksgiving hunt so his constitutes can get a Thanksgiving turkey! I see now why we would rather the commission have an emergency meeting to make changes to our season structure as opposed to waiting on the study results of turkey biologist . The study is over after this next season. So should we not just wait one more year on the results and see which direction to move before making changes? Keep in mind as the turkey coordinator pointed out they changed fall structure, cut the limit to 3( 2 in some areas) and have studies going to try and find the cause of turkey decline in some areas of TN and see if later start dates will help. They are doing things to to try and help but I guess it's just not fast enough for some. I did think there was some good discussion as one of the commission members even mentioned concerns about fanning on public land.

Part of me says moving the fall hunt to thanksgiving would be great for turkeys- nobody will be in the woods because it would overlap with rifle season and duck opener. But then my cynical side kicks in- we'd probably have quite a few birds taken with a rifle.

If I want a thanksgiving turkey, why wouldn't I shoot it during the fall season and just freeze it?

 

[MickThompson]

The extended discussion on quail was encouraging too