Something I don't agree with

ZachMarkus

ZachMarkus

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A few days ago I was in hunting in Marshall county and I stopped at a guys house close to the property that I hunt to see if I could get permission to hunt. He said he would let me but his wife doesn't like hunting so it was probably best that I didn't, anyways, we got to talking and he said TWRA has been trapping turkeys on his property and exporting them to Texas, he said they trapped 75 birds off of his property last year. I first wondered why texas? But then I figured they were bringing them out there to breed the easterns with the rios to get the rio/eastern started. He said TWRA was receiving $50 per bird. If there's any truth to this I think it's complete bull crap. They could be turning these turkeys loose in places in tennessee that has had major population decline or places in the state that doesn't have a very good turkey population. We are paying for our license to hunt turkeys and they are taking them away and exporting them out of state, TWRA is making money on both ends. Now I'm not saying that it really happening but I don't see why that guy would lie to me for no reason. What is everyone else's thoughts on this?
 
I think it stupid if true. And I could very well believe it. I did read an article in turkey country magazine a year or two ago about states trading trapped animals it buying them from other states.

I pay an out of state license every year to turkey and deer hunt Tennessee because it used to be 10x better than Alabama. Now they are increasing license next year, plus this crap that your talking about.
If I find out true I may spend my wildlife moneys elsewhere.

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I did read an article about Texas buying eastern turkeys for restocking efforts from Tennessee , which is complete bull crap. Spread em out among the state. Talk about turkey decline and then they sell off birds, yea makes since
 
If Twra goes far enough the wrong way I might become a poacher cause they won't get my money anymore. There are so many places in tn that need more birds...


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While Texas has Rios in much of the state, the east region Piney Woods is Eastern wild turkey country...that as of late is virtually turkeyless. My guess is this is where they're going. That being said, if what you write is true why the heck aren't these birds going to turkeyless places in TN? That's nuts!
 
Boll Weevil":1abrmv1z said:
While Texas has Rios in much of the state, the east region Piney Woods is Eastern wild turkey country...that as of late is virtually turkeyless. My guess is this is where they're going. That being said, if what you write is true why the heck aren't these birds going to turkeyless places in TN? That's nuts!
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because they are getting $50 a bird i guess. I mean they are in the business of making money so it would make them more money to sell them rather then relocate them which actually costs them money. folks are going to buy a license in TN either way

sad but a lot of that is prob very accurate.
 
It is hard to believe if true, but wouldn't surprise me if true. They probably increasing license prices to fund their resources to trap and transport birds to Texas.

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If it wasn't for the trapping and relocating of birds much of Tn wouldn't have birds now. That being said though, TWRA has trapped too many from certain locations and for whatever reasons, they haven't recovered to previous numbers. It seems to me that they may get over zealous. I can understand making extra revenue by selling excess birds but I think that definition of excess may differ between TWRA and Tn hunters.
 
It's true and has been going on for over a decade, nothing new. The original restocking TN with TN trapped birds ended LONG ago.

About 16 years ago, they trapped and removed 60 hens and 15 jakes from the farm next to me. The following spring was absolutely INSANE. Every single adult hen had at LEAST 3 gobblers following her. You could squawk on any call and have at least 2 longbeards in you lap within 10 minutes. I even called up a group of 8 LB's at once that year. Of course, the decimation of the hens resulted in a rapid decline in overall population over the following 3 years, but they nearly rebounded to original population with the excellent hatches we had in the late 90's and early 00's.

Most of the trapped birds are what farmers/TWRA consider 'nuisance' birds... ones that are eating seeds at time of crop planting.
 
On this one I don't have a huge issue, we have other states to thank for our birds, and I blame lots of issues on our seasons and hunters not being smart with the places they hunt in lots of cases.
 

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