Turkey Study out of MS, Tennessee data also discussed

[DeerCamp]

https://www.dailyleader.com/2023/04...ling-data-suggest-turkey-seasons-need-change/

 

[Boll Weevil]

So is MS changing their start date?

 

[Southern Sportsman]

It looks like it. They seem reluctant to make changes but seem to be under pressure to do so. They claim that peak gobbling is around 3/23 (although I suspect that varies a lot from southern to northern MS). So I'm betting they push their season back one week from the traditional 3/15 opener.

But I could be wrong. It's a little hard to tell because this is a very poorly written article. They referenced the difference in TN's harvest numbers last year vs. this year with season changes, but they got the start dates wrong for both seasons (claiming that we opened 4/12 this year and 4/5 last), which completely skews the numbers. And there are a few paragraph that just don't make sense. Such as:

"Mississippi's fall season allows hens to be legally harvested. MSU's data illustrated a 2 percent increase in hen survival by eliminating a fall season thus increased populations by 2.5 times."

and

"Hunters were successful under the old frameworks even with controls for fluctuating habitat and bird populations. If we don't make more turkeys we can get more out of them."

To be clear, this is a critique of the author and publisher of this article, not MDWFP.

 

[Remington700]

I love turkey hunting and do not mind the shifts in seasons. I am glad they are trying things to make the numbers better. I was one that did not like the change in this years season. I have still tagged out and had a blast doing so. Sometimes I think we (hunters) just do not like change.
I am probably in the minority.

 

[Stlbaseball1]

It looks like it. They seem reluctant to make changes but seem to be under pressure to do so. They claim that peak gobbling is around 4/23 (although I suspect that varies a lot from southern to northern MS). So I'm betting they push their season back one week from the traditional 4/15 opener.

But I could be wrong. It's a little hard to tell because this is a very poorly written article. They referenced the difference in TN's harvest numbers last year vs. this year with season changes, but they got the start dates wrong for both seasons (claiming that we opened 4/12 this year and 4/5 last), which completely skews the numbers. And there are a few paragraph that just don't make sense. Such as:

"Mississippi's fall season allows hens to be legally harvested. MSU's data illustrated a 2 percent increase in hen survival by eliminating a fall season thus increased populations by 2.5 times."

and

"Hunters were successful under the old frameworks even with controls for fluctuating habitat and bird populations. If we don't make more turkeys we can get more out of them."

To be clear, this is a critique of the author and publisher of this article, not MDWFP.

I think you meant 3/23 and 3/15, respectively in the first paragraph. Apologize in advance if I'm wrong.

 

[Southern Sportsman]

I think you meant 3/23 and 3/15, respectively in the first paragraph. Apologize in advance if I'm wrong.

Yep. Haven't had enough coffee yet apparently. I fixed it.

 

[AT Hiker]

It's my understanding that in the SE, peak gobbling varies very little. 10-14 days in the extreme latitudes but contradictory research shows even less.

I'm too lazy to pull the research up. Just going off memory.

 

[TheLBLman]

It appears a near certainty Mississippi will be opening their spring turkey season at least 1 week later, while totally eliminating their fall turkey hunting (which allowed for the killing of hen turkeys).

 

[WilcoKen]

while totally eliminating their fall turkey hunting (which allowed for the killing of hen turkeys

Did TN do anything with the fall season? I never understood the benefit of the fall season other than hunter success. I no longer fall hunt but I remember in the past the quota limits being pretty liberal. I always thought that would hurt future populations.

 

[jaybird62]

Same old story... the "focal" group met and their solution was to manipulate the human part of the equation in Mississippi, too. Since it's never just one thing that influences wild turkey recruitment, they're going for the lower-hanging fruit and trying to justify it with research. Until broad-scale removal of nest predators takes place moving season dates around won't have much impact.

A case in point is the results of trapping around my farm. After two successive years of massive statewide harvest increases and living five minutes from one of the most heavily hunted WMAs, I have never seen nor heard as many mature gobblers compared to the last 10 years on my farm. Conservatively, there's double the number of longbeards heard on the limb around here now compared to pre-Covid.

Do I like the later opening? Not really. A mid-April opener presents a situation where you're typically working the hens with a tom to get him into gun range rather than calling to lone gobblers on the prowl.

Do I like the lower bag limit? Again, not really a fan. I learned turkey biology from the best in the business, IMO. If you know the history, Vernon Bevill, was the head of Mississippi WFP from 1987 to 1990. He earned his reputation in the wildlife community at his previous job as head of wild turkey management in South Carolina. He set turkey limits at 5 gobblers per spring season. The reason he told me that he set the limit so high was it would better reflect actual harvest numbers. Worked pretty well for South Carolina and Mississippi. Should be the same here in Tennessee, i.e. a little higher limit to more likely capture the harvest data of what's really happening. Sadly, some people don't quit pulling the trigger when they reach the limit. The other side of that coin of limiting out that wildlife managers are trying to manage is: Once a hunter reaches his/her limit, they'll be out of the woods. Not the case. I know a lot of people who limit out and start taking others with them to call up a few more and watch 'em flop.

 

[DeerCamp]

Did TN do anything with the fall season? I never understood the benefit of the fall season other than hunter success. I no longer fall hunt but I remember in the past the quota limits being pretty liberal. I always thought that would hurt future populations.

I think it was just an additional hunting opportunity that might have made sense when the turkey population was booming.

We should probably not ever have a hen season again, though.