Missouri reports

[AT Hiker]

BTW, your report is much appreciated. Sadly, it just reemphasizes what we are saying. "Why are turkeys practically disappearing in some areas". I had access to farms just as you describe, about 5 years ago things stared to change for most of them. Very few are solid producers anymore, located in the same counties you hunt. That is odd, no matter how you look at it.


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[Roost 1]

Please tell us how you improve nesting habitat on your cattle farms. If I remember correctly you told me all your farms except 2 were cattle farms. Which is the only reason I made the comment about the cow feeder. You seem to get butt-hurt pretty easily yourself. Can't speak for others but you haven't showed me or told me anything for me to be jealous of.....
Congrats on all of your successes!!!

 

[Roost 1]

BTW, your report is much appreciated. Sadly, it just reemphasizes what we are saying. "Why are turkeys practically disappearing in some areas". I had access to farms just as you describe, about 5 years ago things stared to change for most of them. Very few are solid producers anymore, located in the same counties you hunt. That is odd, no matter how you look at it.


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According to GTK, you must of overhunted them... :bash:

 

[Goodtimekiller]

No, the mic drop was in relation to the fact that MO game and fish manage the birds in a manner that is proven to be sustainable, according to current trends in research.
The same thing many of us on here would like to see TN go towards.

Maybe I shouldn't have used Obama, he tends to get a rise out of people on this forum.


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Sorry if i was a little quick to take offense. I definitely think the research as far as hunter data etc is lacking in tn, don't know how to change it other than push the commission but there have to be funds and personnel available. When you look at what we have as compared to other states it is pretty poor. I laughed more at obama than i did the mike drop really. Hunting info in tn i feel is much like obamacare. Take that as you wish.


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[Goodtimekiller]

BTW, your report is much appreciated. Sadly, it just reemphasizes what we are saying. "Why are turkeys practically disappearing in some areas". I had access to farms just as you describe, about 5 years ago things stared to change for most of them. Very few are solid producers anymore, located in the same counties you hunt. That is odd, no matter how you look at it.


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I don't want this to happen on my farms any more than anybody else on here. Expanding my knowledge is one reason i joined this form. I've had undiagnosed lung disease since december, i have a 6 week old son, first and only child, yesterday i was hunting for the 22nd time this season, not counting scouting. Most of those days i've been out have been with a camera only. I went out and listened for some friends this morning before work. I live for the turkey woods. I agree the population is in an odd decline. And really, the cattle farms i hunt i have only had access to (other than 1) from 1-5 years so i dont know what the population was on those before, but seeing lots of birds on them now. My oldest farm, which used to be my go to but is now 50 minutes away and i have access to 1000 acres within 10 minutes of my house, so it hardly gets hunted, as i'm the only one with permission, but it still has lots of birds. Have hunted it twice in 3 years because i have birds closer to hunt mornings before work. But i rarely hunt a farm more than twice a week and most farms closer to every other week.


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[Roost 1]

Sorry to hear about your condition. I'll keep you and your family in my prayers.

 

[Goodtimekiller]

Please tell us how you improve nesting habitat on your cattle farms. If I remember correctly you told me all your farms except 2 were cattle farms. Which is the only reason I made the comment about the cow feeder. You seem to get butt-hurt pretty easily yourself. Can't speak for others but you haven't showed me or told me anything for me to be jealous of.....
Congrats on all of your successes!!!

I invited you to go with me, crickets was all i got back. I'm not butt hurt at all, just tired of having to retype everything because people aren't listening to everything i say, just the parts they want to disagree with. I am for a shorter season, smaller bag limits, pushing season back. But i am gonna use some decoys and im gonna shoot tss but its gonna be at an effective range. Ill probably belly crawl on an old tom every now and then, to me that's harder than calling one in, you have to fool all of his senses while you're moving, just my opinion. But if i can call one in i will.

Nesting habitat on cattle farms is tough, but i bumped a covey of quail on one the other day. It's even harder if you don't own the land. Luckily the ones i hunt have some old fence rows and most are small with adjoining woods and no cattle close by. On others, the farmers have luckily gotten on rotational timber cutting so there's always some thick brush around. But if you own the cattle farm there are a ton of things you can do, and most of them you can get paid by the nrcs for implementing. The other big part of that is trying to control nest predators. Trapping and hunting them. I did the math on another thread a few weeks ago, but if less than half of the hunters that killed a turkey in tn last year saved 1 nest this year and those nests produced 8 poults and 1/2 of those survived, we could gain a full harvest population every year. That's why i'm adamant about nesting cover and nest predators.


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[Goodtimekiller]

Sorry to hear about your condition. I'll keep you and your family in my prayers.

thanks


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[Andy S.]

So, MO actually has a turkey season comprised of only 1/4 as many hours as TN's?

If you factor in the fact that a hunter can only kill one bird first week, instead of four, the 1/4 of the hours is an overstatement, maybe 1/5 the hours afield would be more appropriate. In short, the "hunter opportunity" is severely truncated that first week if you kill early, and then have to sit out 3-5 days, like many do.

 

[Andy S.]

it's so hard to converse with you guys because you're all so hung up on trying to gang up on someone with a different opinion.....

I see it a little different. No one is "ganging up" on you, but numerous other lifelong passionate turkey hunters are trying to get you to see that the current TN turkey population is not all rainbows and butterflies and as I quote you, "on a 20 year high", like you claim in your neck of the woods. I'll take your word for your little area that you should be intimately familiar with, but it means nothing to the rest of us who are hunting our butts off in the other 90 counties and are seeing an overall population decline (hens and gobblers), and have been seeing for some time now.

 

[Andy S.]

Another thing not mentioned here is that, if my memory serves me, in MO in 2016 and 2017 they had several days of LOTS of
rain and flooding. Those conditions also take away from the hours available to hunt which makes that harvest total even more impressive.

You are correct, it was last year, spring of 2017. They had record flooding in many areas with documented "sheet flow" coming across those areas late May, essentially destroying 100% of nests in that entire portion of the state. My buddies that hunt MO warned me to not expect many jakes this year or gobbling two year olds next year in those parts of MO. What they failed to mention, is to not expect many jennies this year, and an overall population reduction for a few years, both hens and gobblers, if they do not have 2-3 years of stable or above avergae nesting/brood rearing success.

 

[ImThere]

By the way, took a friend yesterday, 200acre farm, 4 longbeards, 3 jakes, couldn't count the hens. 1:00 he got a bird. We were there 30 minutes, no decoys. Calling in turkeys is SO tough.


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Just want to point out that in MO you and your buddy would have came home empty handed because hunting stops at 12 noon in Mo.
I think what they are doing in MO works. We drive through there often getting our grandkids and we see an abundance of Turkeys.
Living in and around Marshal, Bedford and Maury counties I have seen the decline in the last few years. Hel Ray Charles could. Something needs to be done!

Edited to add this ain't to gang up on you just to point out Mo is doing more with less.

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[Goodtimekiller]

it's so hard to converse with you guys because you're all so hung up on trying to gang up on someone with a different opinion.....

I see it a little different. No one is "ganging up" on you, but numerous other lifelong passionate turkey hunters are trying to get you to see that the current TN turkey population is not all rainbows and butterflies and as I quote you, "on a 20 year high", like you claim in your neck of the woods. I'll take your word for your little area that you should be intimately familiar with, but it means nothing to the rest of us who are hunting our butts off in the other 90 counties and are seeing an overall population decline (hens and gobblers), and have been seeing for some time now.

The "20 year high" quote meant no decrease and was made as a smart aleck comment to some others for their comments. But like i said, i know, even in the counties i hunt that populations are not what they were. But if there are many areas, like mine, that are not having declines. But if people ignore the biggest killer of turkeys, nest predators, to blame off the wall things someone has to speak up. But even with missouris shorter season and everything they do, they are having a decline and their biologist blames it on poor hatches. So it seems like if change everything to be just like missouri, if we have poor hatches, we will still have declining populations.


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[Roost 1]

I'm not sure anybody "really" wants to change the TN regs to be like MO, BUT I think what people are saying is this. There is a problem in most parts of TN and until something is figured out MAYBE some of these management styles should be looked into until some things can be turned around. TN didn't always have a 4 bird limit. KY didn't always hunt all day or have a 23-24 day season either. KDFWR has a survey out now and some of the main questions are in regards to half day hunting and
reducing the season limit from 2 to 1...all this after 1 bad year. I may not like the results but I love the fact they are being pro-active.

And I agree bad hatches can make or break your turkey population but we cant control the weather. However when there are several bad hatches in a row we can't just keep on and on depleting the resource, something has to change. That doesn't mean it has to be a permanent change.

 

[TreyB]

I'm not sure anybody "really" wants to change the TN regs to be like MO, BUT I think what people are saying is this. There is a problem in most parts of TN and until something is figured out MAYBE some of these management styles should be looked into until some things can be turned around. TN didn't always have a 4 bird limit. KY didn't always hunt all day or have a 23-24 day season either. KDFWR has a survey out now and some of the main questions are in regards to half day hunting and
reducing the season limit from 2 to 1...all this after 1 bad year. I may not like the results but I love the fact they are being pro-active.

And I agree bad hatches can make or break your turkey population but we cant control the weather. However when there are several bad hatches in a row we can't just keep on and on depleting the resource, something has to change. That doesn't mean it has to be a permanent change.

Very well said

 

[Goodtimekiller]

I'm not sure anybody "really" wants to change the TN regs to be like MO, BUT I think what people are saying is this. There is a problem in most parts of TN and until something is figured out MAYBE some of these management styles should be looked into until some things can be turned around. TN didn't always have a 4 bird limit. KY didn't always hunt all day or have a 23-24 day season either. KDFWR has a survey out now and some of the main questions are in regards to half day hunting and
reducing the season limit from 2 to 1...all this after 1 bad year. I may not like the results but I love the fact they are being pro-active.

And I agree bad hatches can make or break your turkey population but we cant control the weather. However when there are several bad hatches in a row we can't just keep on and on depleting the resource, something has to change. That doesn't mean it has to be a permanent change.

I agree with everything you said but will add weather, with the exception of some floods, is only one of many factors effecting nest survival and is typically a minor factor. Some of those factors we can control and some we can't, but very few people are doing their part on the ones we can control.


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[Setterman]

SCN and Andy are stealing all the mic drops

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it's so hard to converse with you guys because you're all so hung up on trying to gang up on someone with a different opinion, even if they agree with you on most of your own points. And the mike drop after a statement that does not logically apply really shows me how much i should listen to YOUR opinion. By the way, took a friend yesterday, 200acre farm, 4 longbeards, 3 jakes, couldn't count the hens. 1:00 he got a bird. We were there 30 minutes, no decoys. Calling in turkeys is SO tough.


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You sir are living in a fantasy world. Let's see these dead turkeys, let's see these videos you claim you're producing. I'm calling bs on your entire charade

 

[TheLBLman]

There is a problem in most parts of TN and until something is figured out MAYBE some of these management styles should be looked into until some things can be turned around.

KDFWR has a survey out now and some of the main questions are in regards to half day hunting and
reducing the season limit
. . . . . . . all this after 1 bad year.
I may not like the results but I love the fact they are being pro-active.

When there are several bad hatches in a row we can't just keep on and on depleting the resource, something has to change.
That doesn't mean it has to be a permanent change.

Exactly.

 

[Setterman]

There is a problem in most parts of TN and until something is figured out MAYBE some of these management styles should be looked into until some things can be turned around.

KDFWR has a survey out now and some of the main questions are in regards to half day hunting and
reducing the season limit
. . . . . . . all this after 1 bad year.
I may not like the results but I love the fact they are being pro-active.

When there are several bad hatches in a row we can't just keep on and on depleting the resource, something has to change.
That doesn't mean it has to be a permanent change.

Exactly.

I agree and I just did my survey. If anything it shows they are listening and they are concerned. Other than inconvenient meetings, what exactly is TWRA doing?

 

[Goodtimekiller]

SCN and Andy are stealing all the mic drops

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it's so hard to converse with you guys because you're all so hung up on trying to gang up on someone with a different opinion, even if they agree with you on most of your own points. And the mike drop after a statement that does not logically apply really shows me how much i should listen to YOUR opinion. By the way, took a friend yesterday, 200acre farm, 4 longbeards, 3 jakes, couldn't count the hens. 1:00 he got a bird. We were there 30 minutes, no decoys. Calling in turkeys is SO tough.


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You sir are living in a fantasy world. Let's see these dead turkeys, let's see these videos you claim you're producing. I'm calling bs on your entire charade

I never said i was producing films, i said i was filming friends, and you can go to my youtube page and see some one hunt from earlier this year, unfortunately i have not got any other kills in film to post, only foxes, gobbles, goofy stuff with friends etc. the youtube page is goodtime killers. Next time call bs to my face instead of through your keyboard, i'll be happy to give you an address. 2 things i hate, liars and people calling me a liar.



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