Turkey Limit

[ImThere]

I don't know the answer
I hear hunters always talking about if you want a two bird limit only kill two birds.
Then I hear the limit is 4 so I'm going to kill 4 birds.
But I will say if you control your property and want a 2 bird limit, set one. Have the lease setup that way. People always make things more difficult than they have to be.

In a high fence, that self regulation/property regulation would work. In the real world it's asinine. If I set my limit to 2 and every hunter on every property around me kills 4, what have I accomplished? Absolutely nothing. The answer is units or county limits.

You saved the two you would have killed. Imho you have them a chance. More than some would.


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[megalomaniac]

I don't know the answer
I hear hunters always talking about if you want a two bird limit only kill two birds.
Then I hear the limit is 4 so I'm going to kill 4 birds.
But I will say if you control your property and want a 2 bird limit, set one. Have the lease setup that way. People always make things more difficult than they have to be.



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This ABSOLUTELY does not work with turkeys. Tried it for a decade on my farms after the limit went to 4 and I started noticing the population decline. Neighbors just kept killing every male bird they could. Hard to keep birds on your place alive when others don't mind sitting in a blind over a cornpile and killing for the sake of killing. The only thing that slowed the neighbors killing was the lack of birds to kill.

 

[Setterman]

Let me ask a question. What would be purpose of lowering the limit? I

It's obviously an effort to reduce the harvest. There's an easy solution for everyone, those that want to be able to kill 4 get their wish. It's as simple as outlawing decoys and fans. If that were to happen the harvest totals would plummet, thus leaving more birds in the flock.

It's not just that our limits are high, it's that their are tools now that allow it to be laughably easy to kill birds that normally wouldn't be killed.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Let me ask a question. What would be purpose of lowering the limit? I

It's obviously an effort to reduce the harvest. There's an easy solution for everyone, those that want to be able to kill 4 get their wish. It's as simple as outlawing decoys and fans. If that were to happen the harvest totals would plummet, thus leaving more birds in the flock.

It's not just that our limits are high, it's that their are tools now that allow it to be laughably easy to kill birds that normally wouldn't be killed.

I can agree with that. My eyes were opened more this weekend, I took some young men rabbit hunting and they were explaining how turkey hunting was their favorite hunting. Come to find out, they had never actually called to a turkey. They've been hunting for several years and have only done the "scoot and shoot" as they called it.


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[REN]

I admittedly kill 4 a year however that is almost always spread over 4 counties. I would honestly be a little sad if it went back down to 2, not for a biological reason but more a selfish one. At 2 I would generally be done with the season in the first week or 2 and then have nothing but home stuff to do the rest of the spring lol. Id much rather be in the woods

Although i would love to see decoys removed from the equation just to see what happens to the new age hunter. Would be a very interesting statistic to watch, how many would adapt and how many would just give up.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Would be a very interesting statistic to watch, how many would adapt and how many would just give up.

Those that I know of that use'em would quit...and they'd be the first to admit it.

 

[woodsman04]

Wish the turkeys would get as much attention as the deer with cwd.
I know deer are the money maker, and I get that. Just would like for turkeys to get more attention.

At least, and I know it will make minuscule difference, at least they outlawed hen killing in fall.

As much as I'd like to see decoys leave, I think avian x and all have too much money to be made and none of it will ever happen. Even if some one is killed, I don't think it would happen.

Last year or the year before, there was a video around that had a guy get nicked with a 243. Another Hunter was on the fence line, shot at the decoy, and it grazed the hunters hip or side. So those of you that say, "I hunt private only and I'm the only hunter" need to watch out.
It don't take nothing for a guy driving down the dirt road with his trusty -06 and shoot a guy crawling behind a fan. It can happen and probably will.

I don't use decoys of any type, and if someone wants to use them than so be it. But at least need to get rid of fanning before someone is killed. Heck we all where orange during deer season for safety. Some places you are required to wear a safety harness in the tree. You are required to wear your seat belt in your car.

About our population decline, I think it's just as simple as the turkeys don't reproduce enough to satisfy the sheer amount of turkey hunters, or turkey killers that only use fans. Lots of the 3-4 year olds that made it to breed each season are now killed.



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[Andy S.]

Lots of the 3-4 year olds that made it to breed each season are now killed.

..........killed the first week of season while courting 15+ hens, when they are the most vulnerable with a fan/full strut decoy. Otherwise, 99% of them would be untouchable until the last few weeks of season, and a lot of them untouchable period (without fan/strutter decoy).

 

[woodsman04]

Lots of the 3-4 year olds that made it to breed each season are now killed.

..........killed the first week of season while courting 15+ hens, when they are the most vulnerable with a fan/full strut decoy. Otherwise, 99% of them would be untouchable until the last few weeks of season, and a lot of them untouchable period (without fan/strutter decoy).

Agree. Timing of when they are killed also has something to do with it. We could kill every gobbler as long as the hens where already bred.

Other than outlawing decoys, my other proposal to do would be to divide the state up into units and delaying the start of season in some areas.

In my spots of Lawrence, Giles, and Lincoln county, I think most if not all hens have been fertilized by about April 10-20. Most hens are setting/incubating the last week of April to first week of May. If opening day would be delayed to at least 10-15 days I think it would help more than what people would expect.

Also for the guys that limit out early, your missing the most crazy suicidal gobblers at the end of April, when they are so cocked and loaded they about run you over. I always chase gobblers as long as season is open, but several times I've let gobblers that have hens alone, and come back late season or sometimes mid day, and those are my most fun hunts when you actually call one up
Gobbling.


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[megalomaniac]

Really, all this discussion is just going down the rabbit hole.

Limits do not matter, timing of the kills is what counts.

Opening season 2 weeks prior to nest initiation is what's killing off our population. Sure, decoys, fanning, longer effectiveness of TSS all contribute to the problem, but the problem is removing adult males prior to hens initiating nests.

South Carolina DNR is actually recommending pushing the season opener back 2 weeks to mitigate the decline this year. Too bad our biologists have yet to acknowledge the value of males to produce viable offspring. Perhaps TWRA has no idea when hens initiate nests....

 

[TheLBLman]

The very simplest solution to greatly improve our ongoing TN turkey hunting (at least for us residents)
would be to

1) Go to a 2-bird limit

2) Open the season one week later

I've never understood why some in charge seem to place more value on killing,
killing by any means,
killing as many as possible without total population decimation
over traditional turkey hunting and the actual heritage that goes with it.

Shooting, killing, and hunting are three different things.
We use shooting & killing as a part of hunting.
But many are just going out shooting & killing turkeys more than they're hunting?

If the limit were simply two,
wouldn't the Facebook bragging rights of "limiting out"
still be just the same if all were limited to two instead of four?

 

[cowhunter71]

Turkeys are reproducing just fine here in these SE Tennessee mountains. Good Lord willing , I'll be able to call to the gun and kill cleanly, at least a few ridge running Gobblers. Come on March 30th :super:

 

[woodsman04]

Really, all this discussion is just going down the rabbit hole.

Limits do not matter, timing of the kills is what counts.

Opening season 2 weeks prior to nest initiation is what's killing off our population. Sure, decoys, fanning, longer effectiveness of TSS all contribute to the problem, but the problem is removing adult males prior to hens initiating nests.

South Carolina DNR is actually recommending pushing the season opener back 2 weeks to mitigate the decline this year. Too bad our biologists have yet to acknowledge the value of males to produce viable offspring. Perhaps TWRA has no idea when hens initiate nests....

Exactly this. This core group right here has said the same thing on this forum for 7-8 years or so.




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[Andy S.]

South Carolina DNR is actually recommending pushing the season opener back 2 weeks to mitigate the decline this year.

Link to SC report for those inclined to read it.

http://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/turkey/p ... sembly.pdf

 

[SKFOOTER]

I heard over the weekend that TWRA is concerned that the decline in the turkey population in West Tennessee may be linked to the West Nile Virus.

 

[prstide]

I heard over the weekend that TWRA is concerned that the decline in the turkey population in West Tennessee may be linked to the West Nile Virus.

No way I'm buying that. There have been many states with West Nile that haven't had turkey populations disappear. Not throwing shade at TWRA but poor resource management is to blame.

 

[woodsman04]

South Carolina DNR is actually recommending pushing the season opener back 2 weeks to mitigate the decline this year.

Link to SC report for those inclined to read it.

http://www.dnr.sc.gov/wildlife/turkey/p ... sembly.pdf

Good article.

Exactly what a lot of us have been saying for years. I think the whole south east US should open later. The south east is king of turkey hunting, but the amount of successful turkey killers these days with decoys and long range shot guns have had an impact.

We can not control the weather. We can barely control raccoons, possums, and coyotes. No one will ever be on the same page as self regulation.

It isn't the amount of gobblers killed, it's the timing. Let them breed, then you can cull out all you want. The hens will have viable sperm in them for another nest of the first one is broken up, and also if she needs to breed again in late April or early May, there is a better chance of a gobbler being left alive If season had only been open for a couple of weeks instead of a month.

I've never heard or read about how hens may choose mates selectively to produce the strongest off spring, but it makes a lot of sense. I believe it, but also have a counter. Back when there where little hunters, or more turkeys perhaps, you could kill a gobbler in a certain area, ridge, bottom, cow pasture, what have you. A bird that you would see or hear almost every hunt. When he would be dead, you'd go back five days later and there would be another gobbler take his place. Hell if I know where he came from, but they do replace each other if there is some around. Sometimes you may not ever hear or see them though until the other gobbler is gone. I haven't seen this instance happen in a really long time. In the commercial chicken breeding industry, (chicken and turkeys are about the same thing as far as reproduction goes) there is an old saying that roosters have their certain 10-12 hens that they breed with. And those hens will not breed with another male until he is dead. It's hard to believe that a chicken could think like that, but I have heard that for a long time.



Joking here, but maybe the only chance we have is for all the gobblers that like to fight decoys die out and only the shy gobblers pass on their genes that are scared to combat decoys....


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[Southern Sportsman]

Let me ask a question. What would be purpose of lowering the limit?

It's obviously an effort to reduce the harvest. There's an easy solution for everyone, those that want to be able to kill 4 get their wish. It's as simple as outlawing decoys and fans. If that were to happen the harvest totals would plummet, thus leaving more birds in the flock.

It's not just that our limits are high, it's that their are tools now that allow it to be laughably easy to kill birds that normally wouldn't be killed.

Agree whole heartedly. No way to prove it, but I would bet good money that if they raised the limit to 15 turkeys but outlawed decoys completely the total harvest would drop by half. But outlawing decoys is probably the least likely to ever happen.

 

[catman529]

Let me ask a question. What would be purpose of lowering the limit? I

It's obviously an effort to reduce the harvest. There's an easy solution for everyone, those that want to be able to kill 4 get their wish. It's as simple as outlawing decoys and fans. If that were to happen the harvest totals would plummet, thus leaving more birds in the flock.

It's not just that our limits are high, it's that their are tools now that allow it to be laughably easy to kill birds that normally wouldn't be killed.

I'm not against decoys or fans as you know, but I agree it would be a good way to keep the 4 bird limit and also lower the harvest to protect the flock numbers. It would be almost impossible to pas that as a law considering the amount of hunters relying on decoys and the money it brings into the hunting industry and license sales.


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[bloodtrailing]

4 birds only two from the same county. Unless they want to divide up the state, which would be better.


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