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Turkey Decline Article

megalomaniac":2s5l5bpj said:
Muddy, it was a combination of increased limits and exponentially increased hunters with more efficient methods of killing (reaping). A larger and larger percentage of the standing gobblers were removed prior to breeding, which in part led to declining poult recruitment. Rinse and repeat over a decade, and it's a miracle we have any birds at all.

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This^^^

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Prob a negative impact from hunting over bait.... I may be wrong, but sitting and waiting till they feed by sounds suspicipus
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^^^^^ My favorite sentence:

".....State wildlife agencies do adjust season lengths and bag limits to tweak populations"

Some agencies do (SC), and some do not.
 
Unfortunately some do not.
Actually, some manage for the ostrich, or is it like the ostrich? Regardless, turkeys don't stick in their heads in the sand.


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We do not bait on our land. Not sure what the neighbors do, but I have not killed a turkey full of corn. With that said, our population is well below what it has been. I noticed it with the introduction of fall hunting and increased bag limits. The strange thing is no one consistently kills the limit on the land we hunt, if ever.
 
Folks, Ive been chasing these black devils since before some of yall were even born. I started in 1984. At that time the ONLY place around here to hunt was Catoosa. I don't believe the hog excuse. If that was the case there wouldn't be a bird on Catoosa.
As far as the feeding issue goes, YES aflatoxin can decimate a population. But I don't think that's the primary issue either. If it were there wouldn't be a turkey in TX, AL, FL, GA, or KY and that's just not the case either. The only way feeding them hurts is when feeding becomes hunting.
I was here when the surrounding counties and most of the state was stocked with birds and Ive made this analogy to all of my hunting buddies that cared to listen. The restocking efforts are like a wave in the ocean. You start with a flat calm sea and the ripple starts. That ripple builds bigger and bigger in size until it peaks. Then it ebbs away leaving the surface behind it wet but not flooded like the peak of the wave. THAT is how a turkey population goes.
Back to Catoosa, In all the years I hunted there, I never saw a huge spike and fall in the population. Im assuming that it because the population was already at sustainable levels in 1984. The thing about most of the turkeys we all hunt now is that we put them there. God put the turkeys at Catoosa and they have been there ever since. What I feel we are seeing is the natural balancing of the population.
Just my $.02 take it for what its worth!
 
I read a post on Facebook earlier this week about an article from last year that discussed the decline in Pennsylvania of the Ruffed Grouse population and how they thought it was linked to the West Nile Virus. I've mentioned before on here that I had heard those rumors had been discussed recently by TWRA personnel. Just some food for thought.
 
If it's just a wave and we are in permanent low tide then the lifeguards need to adjust and pull us out of the rip current before it's to late.

Or better yet, if turkeys are a budget then we need to rebalance before we spend them all.


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There is a bigger population of nest predators now by far. With all the feeders, and no trapping, heck even coon hunters do not shoot coons anymore
 
It's sad when I can go to public land in numerous states that are restrictive on turkey harvest and do better than once prime private land here.


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PickettSFHunter":2ueh2ruc said:
It's sad when I can go to public land in numerous states that are restrictive on turkey harvest and do better than once prime private land here.


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That's because you forgot how to turkey hunt, at least that's what I've been told.


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PickettSFHunter":3qetuhbh said:
It's sad when I can go to public land in numerous states that are restrictive on turkey harvest and do better than once prime private land here.


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Stick to hunting public ground. You will always have Gobblers to hunt and it will, over all, make you a better Turkey Hunter ;)
 
cowhunter71":9uhosor2 said:
PickettSFHunter":9uhosor2 said:
It's sad when I can go to public land in numerous states that are restrictive on turkey harvest and do better than once prime private land here.


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Stick to hunting public ground. You will always have Gobblers to hunt and it will, over all, make you a better Turkey Hunter ;)
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I dont think that was the point...
 

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