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Self-imposed limit?

Will you try to shoot your limit?

  • Yes

    Votes: 18 32.1%

  • No

    Votes: 19 33.9%

  • Maybe, depends on what I hear/see.

    Votes: 19 33.9%
  • Total voters
    56
Also, keep in mind, it is mostly these "breeder" Longbeads hunters most kill during our current season's first 9 days. This is in part due to most Jakes not yet having a "visible" beard, which will more typically become "visible" later in April.
 
megalomaniac said:
My main farm that used to be a paradise is right at 1000 acres... combination of neighbors slaughtering excess males and TWRA trapping and taking off females (65 hens one winter) and what used to be one of the largest flocks east of the Mississippi was decimated to the point it could not recover.
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I would also suspect some aflatoxin corn was a factor in reducing your area's turkey population.

Considering the risks of aflatoxin, I believe we would have less corn baiting and less aflatoxin poisoning if our turkey season opened a week or two later. Saying this because fewer people would bait, due to it being less effective as the weather warms and the birds focus more on eating insects and plants.
 
If the opportunity presents itself, I'll kill a jake for tag #1, this year anyway.
Then I'll get picky. Unlikely to tag out even if I punch 2 tags because 1) these public birds are tough and 2) I'd be sad for it to be over.
In other words, were things to go crazy good for me, I probably wouldn't try to tag out until the end of the season. Just love late-season hunting too much to knock myself out of it.
 
Kill your 3 if you can, have fun, spread it out and be safe. Your not saving the turkeys by sparing 1 or 2 toms but if it makes you feel better or If you're into virtue signaling go for it.. Manage the property you have to your liking.

Finally made it out to a smaller property I have today and caught the tail end of a good flock, 4-5LBs and at least a dozen jakes. I have never witnessed the law of diminishing returns any farm I have hunted.. I have seen the flocks fluctuate but never had anything to do with spring hunting pressure..

Hopefully TN enjoys another successful spring turkey season like 2020. Good luck.
 
A big problem that I hear about (even with TNDeer members) is accomplished hunters will kill their limit and then go out with family and friends and kill who knows how many turkeys. High limits equates to the mindset of an unlimited resource that just CANT be hurt so kill as many as you can. Similar to the three for a day. This limit screams too many deer and we need to kill as many as we can to a LOT of hunters/locals. I hear it all the time at work and in the store. For turkeys I honestly believe TN can sustain a 4 bird limit but only if the season is moved later or decoys are outlawed. Decoys allow those hard to kill field birds (which used to do a lot of breeding) to be killed way to often and easily.
 
I always plan on shooting my limit. But I also spread 'em out over multiple areas. Mainly because I get bored of hunting the same ground. But the ground I hunt also isn't hurting for turkey.
 
Monk74 said:
I thought jakes could breed hens?
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Very few can. Occasionally one hits relative maturity earlier than the rest and has the testosterone to do it. The "super jakes" that gobble and strut like a grownup. But those are so rare that relying on jakes to seed the next generation is not going to work. Also, hens select their mate based on various factors, and they may not let a jake breed even if he's willing and able.
 
Monk74 said:
I thought jakes could breed hens?
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A very common misconception, and the reason most states with turkey biologists who understand turkey reproductive behavior have no jake rules.

Now jennies usually DO become sexually mature at a year and most can successfully produce a fertile clutch of eggs if there is a tom remaining. But they usually don't initiate nests until after season is over.
 
TheLBLman said:
I also suspect Mr. Boll Weevil's "farm" may be more like an old "Plantation"? :)
Just saying, even if you have over a thousand contiguous acres, your local turkey population can still be influenced more by what your neighbors do, and then maybe more by other factors than anything you & your neighbors do.
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The good Lord asked me to steward and take care of a pretty good chunk of dirt while I'm here...I'm still up to the task so the toil continues. It's an absolute blessing.

Regarding what neighbors do you're 100% correct. For example, clearcutting can move birds like you wouldn't believe.
 
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I set out to not to kill more than 1/county and will not kill more than 1/property, even on land I have exclusive access to. If I am lucky enough to limit out it will be spread around
Boll Weevil said:
The good Lord asked me to steward and take care of a pretty good chunk of dirt while I'm here...I'm still up to the task so the toil continues. It's an absolute blessing.

Regarding what neighbors do you're 100% correct. For example, clearcutting can move birds like you wouldn't believe.
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especially a clear cut on a historic winter roost. Pretty sure this killed one of my spots (8-10 toms to none on 250 acres) when it happened on the neighbor.
 
Boll Weevil said:
The good Lord asked me to steward and take care of a pretty good chunk of dirt while I'm here...I'm still up to the task so the toil continues. It's an absolute blessing.

Regarding what neighbors do you're 100% correct. For example, clearcutting can move birds like you wouldn't believe.
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Like you, I've been absolutely blessed far beyond my childhood dreams :)
at least when it comes to having good resources for turkey & deer hunting.

And will tell you, some of those "resources" include the same public hunting lands so many on here diss as being "bad" compared to "private" lands. Many of the public lands actually offer better hunting opportunities than many of the high-dollar hunting leases! This is especially true when it takes so many hunters to pay for the lease, that it's more crowded than many public hunting areas!

I hate large clear-cuts, but a little clear-cutting (as a part of habitat diversity) can be a wonderful thing to improve turkeys' nesting success & poult survival.

But turkeys typically do not adapt to ANY habitat change as readily as do deer.

As we count our blessings, I do try to recognize and respect the challenges of many who may be more limited in their resources for turkey hunting. If there is only a very limited number of acres involved, one may not have the opportunity to walk more than a couple hundred yards in a day, and sitting in a blind (with or without decoys) may actually be the best way for those circumstances.

Thing is, any of us typically can hunt large-acreage public WMA's, and those WMA's are typically much less effected by the "neighbors" than even most large private farms.
 
As LBLman says, it just depends on the cards I am dealt. I turkey hunt for the hardwoods experience and to kill turkeys seeking me out, no qualms about it. I travel to spread my kills out and I take others throughout the season so I can stay in the woods. Last year I was in on a lot of good hunts and experiences with 4 hunters, over 2 States.
 

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