If regulation changes don't work to increase turkey populations.........
- Thread starter Doskil
- Start date
Southern Sportsman
Well-Known Member
Do I understand your question — If populations continue to decline, will hunters support going back to killing more turkeys earlier in the breeding cycle?
Gobble4me757
Well-Known Member
No their pride gets in the way of that. I can say without a shadow of doubt we would be in the same place if these regs were never changed. Be interested in if the state had an incentive for trapping and had that going for 3 years where we would be then…
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
If the populations continue to decline.to the point where current hunter harvests are unsustainable, state agencies will be forced to reduce hunter harvest even further to compensate for increased natural mortality and decreased reproduction.
I suspect we will eventually see a 1 or 2 bird limit in another decade and a half. It's possible we will go to a tag allocation/ drawing/ issuance of landowner tags before I die.
Want to kill a Goulds in AZ... you'll understand.
Back in the heyday of turkey population explosion, our TN state biologists expected harvest to plateau at 75,000 kills annually once reintroduction was completed....
I suspect we will eventually see a 1 or 2 bird limit in another decade and a half. It's possible we will go to a tag allocation/ drawing/ issuance of landowner tags before I die.
Want to kill a Goulds in AZ... you'll understand.
Back in the heyday of turkey population explosion, our TN state biologists expected harvest to plateau at 75,000 kills annually once reintroduction was completed....
Setterman
Well-Known Member
I'd say if things continue the way they've been going we will drop to a 2 bird limit at some point and a delay to the season opening with also a shorter season.
What I don't get is how many still say there's not a problem with turkey populations.
It'll probably go back like it was at the beginning of reintro. 1 maybe 2 and a 30 day season.
IMO, they are looking at statewide harvest "trend data" over last 20 years, which supports a stable "statewide" population, with that ONE metric. We as hunters want a more localized management tool for our county/regions that we live in, hunt in and have experienced these collapses in. I am all for data, graphs and charts, but without recent boots on the ground knowledge for localized areas, I just cannot accept some of the material being presented based purely on "harvest data" alone. I know we have more hunters and more efficient hunters today than ever before due to all the advancements in technology that requires minimal "hunting" per se. I am excited to see what, if any, useful information will come out of the studies that Roger Shields and team is currently pursuing. At the end of the day, the Agency, hunters, outdoorsmen, and conservationists should support and promote long term sustainability of the resource over anything else.
fairchaser
Well-Known Member
For Shelby, Tipton and some other counties along the Mississippi River the limit was cut to two and the season start date pushed by two weeks. I'm just hearing about this change. So I guess changes are afoot. No changes for Fayette and Hardeman counties though.
MAV unit. It was in place last season.
Boll Weevil
Well-Known Member
If TWRA can create a MAV unit why can't they create other units like it? This seems a non-issue to me; why not manage turkeys at a local level? It's done for deer (by unit), rabbits (by species), fish (by species or body of water), bear and elk (by zone) etc. Seems to me for turkeys it also makes sense to consider counties that may be dominated by private vs. public.
Every year they survey the turkey hunting population so why not start logging those survey responses by zip code hunted along with their own research study data? Look how swiftly they responded to CWD in terms of testing, monitoring, creation of a new zone, and amending season/limits. Sweeping almost draconian changes virtually overnight.
This isn't a case of "can't" because of know-how it's a case of "won't" for whatever reason(s).
Every year they survey the turkey hunting population so why not start logging those survey responses by zip code hunted along with their own research study data? Look how swiftly they responded to CWD in terms of testing, monitoring, creation of a new zone, and amending season/limits. Sweeping almost draconian changes virtually overnight.
This isn't a case of "can't" because of know-how it's a case of "won't" for whatever reason(s).
on a positive side, if things get as bad as expected then the turkey hunter population will begin to fall 
. In todays world of instant gratification there are going to be a lot of newer age hunters that ditch it if they are not seeing or hearing birds after a few hunts.
. In todays world of instant gratification there are going to be a lot of newer age hunters that ditch it if they are not seeing or hearing birds after a few hunts.
Bgoodman30
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2016
- Messages
- 2,480
100%
Bgoodman30
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2016
- Messages
- 2,480
on a positive side, if things get as bad as expected then the turkey hunter population will begin to fall
Well that's what duck hunters thought and its almost like the opposite is true...
I think Duck is a bit different. Thats a much more social aspect that some dudes just want to go and sit with buddies all day away from their wives lol. Turkeys require a bit more physical work, especially on public land, and at a time of year that you COULD be doing a lot of other stuff like fishing or yard work.
I may be off there but thats how I see the difference.
Do you really think that is going to happen?
Boll Weevil
Well-Known Member
Positive is right; fewer turkey hunters is better in the current climate.on a positive side, if things get as bad as expected then the turkey hunter population will begin to fall
I've said it before in terms of managing a finite wildlife resource, I've never understood the whole "bring more hunters into the ranks." Akin to already commercially overfished waters how would more fishermen be a good thing without some other limiting factor?
as it is ,it might as well be a 1 or 2 bird limit for me.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Nope... not until the population has been eradicated first.
