Vote to lower limits

[Bgoodman30]

You just said above in this thread most kill 2 or less so I thought you knew.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk[/quote]

Found it for last season. 6 % killed 4 and 10 % killed 3

 

[Bgoodman30]

No matter what the limit, whether we're talking Buck Deer or Tom Turkeys,
many hunters will in fact "hold back" one less than the limit,
just so they may continue "playing the game".

When the limit was 2,
many killed 1 or 2.

When the limit is 4,
many kill 2 or 3,
and some kill 4.

But 2 is 100% more than 1,
and 3 is 50% more than 2.

Limits do matter.

If the limit were just 1,
how eager would you be to kill that one?
Ask a deer hunter in Kentucky how that works.
To some degree, it still applies to turkey hunting.
And, no, I do not want a 1-bird limit in TN,
but do like the appeal of two.

I did some mining its actually more than I thought. There were 3093 successful hunters last year that killed 3-4.

So if you assume they will be in the 2 column then you save roughly 6000 turkeys.

 

[prstide]

That's nearly 20% of the yearly harvest.

 

[Bgoodman30]

That's nearly 20% of the yearly harvest.

I backed into the numbers using the TWRA pie chart and it gave me a harvest of 31124.52 for 2019. I thought it was less?

If the limit was 2 the harvest would be 26871.48.

 

[Bgoodman30]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[drake799]

Not to be someone with a tinfoil hat on. But has anyone ever thought that maybe the numbers reported could be doctored?! I mean let's be honest. It seems like people have been crying wolf For a few years now. But the numbers don't really reflect it. With this electronic tagging it seems like it could easily be manipulated to make it look like everything is ok when it's really not. Just a thought I had lol

 

[TheLBLman]

Please some of you that know more than me explain how that happened in Missouri? ?

Missouri's poults per hen numbers just keep falling.
There just not able to reproduce like they used to.
I personally believe its mostly a predation problem with some bad luck weather mixed in.

Just as we've become better turkey hunters with 20 years of practice so have the coons, coyotes, bobcats, owls and everything else that enjoys a good turkey dinner.

I personally witnessed a coyote do something the other day that really opened my eyes.
He was out Turkey hunting that morning and he was very good at what he was doing.

I agree with what SEC just posted regarding Missouri.
It's all the more reason we need to do what we can to make what we have more sustainable.

Speaking of the evolution of predators, it's only within the past decade or two I've seen a significant change in coyote and bobcat behavior, whereby they do much of their hunting during the day, and that daytime hunting is mostly for turkeys.

There's also been a huge increase in hawks, especially the Cooper's hawk, which has learned how to persistently pursue young turkey chicks until one hawk can wipe out an entire hen's hatch in just a few days. The coyotes and bobcats are also very deadly on young chicks.

Maybe a decade ago, I saw my first bald eagle in the interior of Stewart County PURPOSEFULLY hunting turkeys. We would see them fly over occasionally just moving from the Cumberland River to the Tennessee River, but THIS became very different! Now, the eagles are spending more time many miles from any major water, hunting turkeys, and a turkey out in a field really doesn't have much chance when an eagle decides "he's dinner".

Keep in mind the non-human predators hunt year round, and they are not focused on just killing a few longbeards. They kill lots of adult hens and young birds of both sexes, and bobcats are particularly good at catching old strutting Toms. They know about the blind spot.

There remains many factors adversely effecting turkeys' abilities to survive, many we just don't fully understand, many that have been evolving for the worse.

As went the quail, I hope don't go the turkey.

 

[Bgoodman30]

Not to be someone with a tinfoil hat on. But has anyone ever thought that maybe the numbers reported could be doctored?! I mean let's be honest. It seems like people have been crying wolf For a few years now. But the numbers don't really reflect it. With this electronic tagging it seems like it could easily be manipulated to make it look like everything is ok when it's really not. Just a thought I had lol

No not at all but there is probably many birds that don't get checked in at all.... Heck the gentleman who mentored me still uses a flip phone :lol:

 

[tnanh]

Consideration for nr hunters needs to be taken out of the equation by the commission. The commission is there to represent Tennessee hunters. If the population drops low enough nr will take themselves out of the equation anyway. The only thing that needs to be considered is the health of the turkey population and everything else will take care of itself. Most of our
Population problems began when the fall seasons were implemented and hens started being shot. How many people shoot turkeys while archery hunting for deer just because they are allowed and they are legal. If nr hunters dont like whats going on in Tennessee they can just go somewhere else. Thats what they will do anyway if the population goes to crap.

 

[AT Hiker]

Not to be someone with a tinfoil hat on. But has anyone ever thought that maybe the numbers reported could be doctored?! I mean let's be honest. It seems like people have been crying wolf For a few years now. But the numbers don't really reflect it. With this electronic tagging it seems like it could easily be manipulated to make it look like everything is ok when it's really not. Just a thought I had lol

Fake news with turkey kill data and covid19...the new world order and the NWTF could be tied together [emoji14]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[drake799]

Not to be someone with a tinfoil hat on. But has anyone ever thought that maybe the numbers reported could be doctored?! I mean let's be honest. It seems like people have been crying wolf For a few years now. But the numbers don't really reflect it. With this electronic tagging it seems like it could easily be manipulated to make it look like everything is ok when it's really not. Just a thought I had lol

No not at all but there is probably many birds that don't get checked in at all.... Heck the gentleman who mentored me still uses a flip phone :lol:

That's a guarantee. There no telling how many a year get harvested and don't get checked in Either from just forgetful/laziness to just blatant poaching

 

[drake799]

Not to be someone with a tinfoil hat on. But has anyone ever thought that maybe the numbers reported could be doctored?! I mean let's be honest. It seems like people have been crying wolf For a few years now. But the numbers don't really reflect it. With this electronic tagging it seems like it could easily be manipulated to make it look like everything is ok when it's really not. Just a thought I had lol

Fake news with turkey kill data and covid19...the new world order and the NWTF could be tied together [emoji14]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I could see where it would be beneficial for reported harvest to remain high lol. Just conspiracy theories

 

[AT Hiker]

I could see where it would be beneficial for reported harvest to remain high lol. Just conspiracy theories

So could I.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[deerfever]

Predators caused a 25 to 30,000 drop in harvest? Anyone got something else? Every time predators are brought up here it's always said that predators have always existed and no way they could cause that big of a drop. Don't get me wrong , I know predators kill turkey but 30,000? Now the conspiracy theory? So what you are saying is TWRA didn't mess with the numbers in 2018 when we killed below 30,000 but in 2019 they had to mess with them because we didn't kill the 20,000 or less than many on here predicted? So do some of you really believe TWRA would really distort the kill numbers ? What would be the purpose? Is TWRA trying to make turkeys go extinct secretly? In 2018 if you remember at the beginning of the season every weekend the weather was horrible. Could that maybe had effect on the kill? I am on a quota hunt this weekend and 1 bird was killed yesterday no doubt in my mind more than 1 bird is killed if it didn't poor rain yesterday. Your average hunter stays at the house in this weather. Now this year we are already over 30,000, but it is because of covid 19, non resident hunters and manipulation of numbers by TWRA? Could it be that we had an early spring , great weather and possibly the turkey population is not as bad as you think? I respect each of you on here but have you ever thought that you could be wrong? With that being said if TWRA lowers the limit and goes to a 3 week season I will accept it and move forward. I think a compromise of a 3 bird limit could probably satisfy most people but I will go with whatever.

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Predators caused a 25 to 30,000 drop in harvest? Anyone got something else?

If memory serves, MO was hit with record flooding in the spring multiple years leading to their big harvest drop, so really poor hatches. I think their DNR saw it coming.

 

[REN]

Not to be someone with a tinfoil hat on. But has anyone ever thought that maybe the numbers reported could be doctored?! I mean let's be honest. It seems like people have been crying wolf For a few years now. But the numbers don't really reflect it. With this electronic tagging it seems like it could easily be manipulated to make it look like everything is ok when it's really not. Just a thought I had lol

Im not saying the numbers that are being pulled are accurate BUT I can say with high certainty that the numbers are not being doctored. Ive worked in this field (and actually for TN years ago and currently work for a few other states in designing and implementing their license systems) and harvest data displayed is just simple data queries to a data base (not owned by TWRA, but owned and maintained by Brant) and then it displays the numbers from the query. SO yes the query could be off or has an incorrect join BUT it would not be something done on purpose. Brant is the contractor for the TWRA and they also are the contractors for other states like Florida. If word got out that they had big errors in there data or that they reported incorrect data on purpose it would be the end of their business and hopes to win other states business.

 

[elknturkey]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Very nice. So they would basically need to get it to a 1 bird limit to get it at 20,000 or less.

 

[TheLBLman]

So they would basically need to get it to a 1 bird limit to get it at 20,000 or less.

Not necessarily the case.

Change the limit from 4 to 2,
and many hunters would be more reserved in killing that 1st bird.
Be fewer jakes killed in particular with a lower limit.

With our 4-bird limit, there are a lot of hunters "holding" out on that 3rd & 4th bird, AFTER they've quickly killed a bird or two.

With a 2-bird limit, many would hold out not just after "a" bird, but before the 1st bird.
Can still shoot any legal bird, including jakes, but many would choose to kill fewer so as they could hunt more.

This has worked the same way with a 2-buck limit with deer.
Hunters quickly became much more reserved in shooting that first buck.

Also, if the season opened only a week later, we might see the number of birds killed illegally over bait, dramatically drop, just because there would have been more dispersal, and the birds would have more widespread food sources, making bait less attractive to them.
Seriously, I believe the baiting problem is greatly under-appreciated, and a much bigger part of our reported kill than TWRA is admitting.

 

[poorhunter]

A 4 bird limit says that we have a limitless supply of turkey and everyone is welcome and everyone treats the supply of birds as such.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

A 4 bird limit says that we have a limitless supply of turkey and everyone is welcome and everyone treats the supply of birds as such.

Yep! Same concept as 3 does a day. They obviously don't want people to kill 3 does a day, but want hunters to know there are plenty of deer and to keep them in check. Don't know why they have the same stance on turkeys with all the uproar