The fear is that the harvest numbers no longer correlate with the standing population.
20 years ago, when TN killed 30,000 birds, it was just a small percentage of the population, and many males were left to mate well into June and early July.
Hunting tactics have changed since then, and hunters are no longer hunters, but killers. Strutter decoys, fanning, shotshells capable of killing at 60 to 70 yards have made poor callers and those lacking woodsmanship skills as effective or even more effective than traditional hunters. But even the traditional hunters are more effective.... decades of honing their calling and set up crafts have resulted in more toms being fooled and lured to the gun.
So in essence, what we fear is a much larger percentage of the male population is being removed, perhaps even so many to disrupt successful breeding. Remember, turkeys are the ONLY gamebird hunted just prior and during their mating season.
Could you imagine hardcore duck hunters setting up on the nesting grounds in Northern USA and Canada and killing a limit of mallards over potholes during nesting season?
Don't get me wrong... I WANT to hunt spring gobbling birds coming in hot looking for me. But I realize the resource is especially vulnerable during this timeframe, and would prefer to err on the side of caution than realize too late we have overharvested the resource.
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