TN Turkeys - Then & Now

[Andy S.]

Reading through some of the old turkey discussions/debates from back in the day and found this jewel on my computer's hard drive. Back then, I would screenshot to PDF, print hard copies and read when I had time. These are my screenshots from 2008 era when many of us on TnDeer (old platform, different forum owners) discussed some of these same turkey topics. Several of these guys are still members on TnDeer, some with same username/handle, and some with different handles because we sometimes got out of line and had to come back to the campfire under a different alias. Just poking fun "Captain Hook".

Some good information below about historical bag limits, county/WMA split on bag limits, the estimate of Tennessee turkey hunters doubling from 2000 to 2006 (would love to know a real number for today with the social media craze), the estimate of 300k turkeys in TN at the time, and the uptick of "gobblers in the harvest" from 60-70% in 2000 to 85-90% as we have seen the last decade. One note in the report states this "in order to harvest 90% gobblers annually we must have excellent reproduction." We have managed to harvest 85-90% adult gobblers for the last 12 years or so, and we can all agree that we have not had "excellent reproduction" during this span. Generally speaking, during this span summer observation data suggests we have averaged 55% of hens with poults, and only 1.975 poults per hen. Light years away from "excellent reproduction". This is where I question whether or not we are managing for a sustainable resource in perpetuity. Any who, a lot of information (some more definitive than the rest) and a lot of hypothesis to be gleaned from it if you really sit back and give it some thought. You can reference TWRA's Annual Wild Turkey Report 2021 to find the latest data that Roger Shields and team has amassed. Link is here: Annual Wild Turkey Report 2021

 

[PalsPal]

Some good information below about historical bag limits, county/WMA split on bag limits, the estimate of Tennessee turkey hunters doubling from 2000 to 2006 (would love to know a real number for today with the social media craze), the estimate of 300k turkeys in TN at the time, and the uptick of "gobblers in the harvest" from 60-70% in 2000 to 85-90% as we have seen the last decade. One note in the report states this "in order to harvest 90% gobblers annually we must have excellent reproduction." We have managed to harvest 85-90% adult gobblers for the last 12 years or so, and we can all agree that we have not had "excellent reproduction" during this span.

Yeah, that Captain Hook was a blow hard !

Now, CH did raise some very good questions concerning the data. so no need to rehash those.

I just wanted to point out that, in case anyone is confused, the "gobblers in the harvest" refers the percentage of gobblers to the total harvest of a particular year. So, a year with 90% means that 90% of the total harvest was adult gobblers, not an estimate of 90% of the all the gobblers in the state were killed.

So, jakes used to make up more of the overall harvest. Still leads one to the conclusion that we have become more efficient at killing the adult gobbler, but that should mean that more jakes survive to the next year.

The problem occurs when the breeding gobblers are killed before they have had ample time to breed the majority of the hens. Now, many of them will eventually get bred, but many will not resulting in fewer poults.

That puts even more emphasis for the need that those poults survive.

So, as has been mentioned, there are several factors that can contribute to various pieces of the puzzle.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Just read the 2021 report; thanks for posting. Some of the data just seems superficial to me, not that it's without merit but it's so general that's it's of less practical value in developing concrete improvement plans. Region 1 alone is like 23 counties and 49 WMAs...how the heck does one tailor a plan that is as effective in the delta as it is in along the TN river valley?

 

[Andy S.]

................. but that should mean that more jakes survive to the next year.

True...........but with the abysmal hatches a lot of us are seeing year in and year out, there are not that many jakes to survive to next year. I know some areas are better than others, and some years are better than others, but our poult recruitment trend data leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[Bgoodman30]

Interesting.. I didn't know that the regs were 2 per WMA and 3 per county pre 2006? I guess that's the year when I started spring turkey hunting. I wish they would have reverted back to those regs instead of cutting the limit statewide..

TN needs to adopt a turkey license or tag like other states.. Like others have said you can't make some of these conclusions without knowing the actual number of turkey hunters.. .

 

[PalsPal]

Interesting.. I didn't know that the regs were 2 per WMA and 3 per county pre 2006?

It was 2 & 2 for several years, then they allowed 3 of the 4 from statewide, which meant that you could only take 1 on a WMA. Four total was the max, with never more than 2 from a WMA.

 

[Andy S.]

Like others have said you can't make some of these conclusions without knowing the actual number of turkey hunters.. .

Actual number of spring turkey hunters, pre-season standing population and post season standing population are data points that many of us would pay good money to know.

 

[Andy S.]

......then they allowed 3 of the 4 from statewide, which meant that you could only take 1 on a WMA.

You could still take 2 from WMA, but no more than 4 max statewide. In other words, 3 county and 1 WMA, or 2 county and 2 WMA if you were to limit out.

 

[PalsPal]

You could still take 2 from WMA, but no more than 4 max statewide. In other words, 3 county and 1 WMA, or 2 county and 2 WMA if you were to limit out.

Correct.

 

[PalsPal]

You could still take 2 from WMA, but no more than 4 max statewide. In other words, 3 county and 1 WMA, or 2 county and 2 WMA if you were to limit out.

And those regs put even more pressure on the WMAs than now as more of the residents utilized them to maximize their season, even if they had private land to hunt.

 

[AT Hiker]

I'm having trouble reading the texts of the pictures off my phone, so did BGG write "in order to harvest 90% gobblers annually we must have excellent reproduction."

 

[Andy S.]

I'm having trouble reading the texts of the pictures off my phone, so did BGG write "in order to harvest 90% gobblers annually we must have excellent reproduction."

TWRA Turkey Program Coordinator Gray Anderson (2008) wrote it, and BGG shared it with TnD forum.