3 Bird Limit Next Year

[TN Larry]

It looks like we will have a statewide 3 bird limit next year except it will be two in the MS River Counties. There was a motion to get it 2 statewide, but the it failed. They are still hung up on reducing the limit to 2 affecting the Southern Mid TN county turkey study.

 

[ruger7mag]

No change on season dates?

 

[TN Larry]

No change on season dates?

Only for the Southern Middle and MS River counties.

 

[ruger7mag]

No change on season dates?

Only for the Southern Middle and MS River counties.

Ok thanks.

 

[deerfever]

Was watching a little while ago, looks like they cut bonus birds in an amendment. I may be mistaken but looks like 3 is it no matter what you get drawn for. I guess 4 hunts per year on some areas where having a huge impact on turkey population. Someone correct me if I am wrong but I think that is what they did about 30 minutes ago.

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Was watching a little while ago, looks like they cut bonus birds in an amendment. I may be mistaken but looks like 3 is it no matter what you get drawn for. I guess 4 hunts per year on some areas where having a huge impact on turkey population. Someone correct me if I am wrong but I think that is what they did about 30 minutes ago.

400 hens per year are not enough to worry about when the proposal to protect bearded hens came up. But the 30 people statewide that kill more than 4 gobblers HAVE to be stopped.

 

[deerfever]

I agree with you southern sportsman, I told them in my comments it made no sense to cut bonus birds. Cutting all hens and jakes if they wanted to cut something would have made more sense.

 

[TN hunter]

No change on season dates?

Only for the Southern Middle and MS River counties.

What are the season dates for the southern mid TN areas?


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[Bone Collector]

No change on season dates?

Only for the Southern Middle and MS River counties.

Ok thanks.

I wish they had just started the whole thing later and ended it by an equal amount of time later thus keeping the season the same amount of time. All this will do is have the S. Mid TN guys north of there for opening morning in the counties that are open, thus increasing the pressure there especially on WMAs.

at least they lowered the limit 1 bird and that should save some.....

 

[TN Larry]

No change on season dates?

Only for the Southern Middle and MS River counties.

What are the season dates for the southern mid TN areas?


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They will start two weeks later than the normal season.

 

[megalomaniac]

In before spring 2021 when the Facebook cronies blame the decline in harvest next year on the 3 bird limit or the weather.

 

['borohunter]

At least they changed something. Any bit will help - may not be preferred but perhaps a benefit will be seen and used as a stepping stone...

 

[TN hunter]

No change on season dates?

Only for the Southern Middle and MS River counties.

Ok thanks.

I wish they had just started the whole thing later and ended it by an equal amount of time later thus keeping the season the same amount of time. All this will do is have the S. Mid TN guys north of there for opening morning in the counties that are open, thus increasing the pressure there especially on WMAs.

at least they lowered the limit 1 bird and that should save some.....

^^^ Exactly ^^^


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[BackwoodsBoy]

It's a start I guess and at least the powers that be realize there is a decline despite the high harvest this year.

I'll give my opinion that I'd like to see the limit at 2 with the season opening a week or two later and the use of decoys illegal.

I'm good with four actually if they just banned the freaking decoys

 

[Southern Sportsman]

It's a start I guess and at least the powers that be realize there is a decline despite the high harvest this year.

I'll give my opinion that I'd like to see the limit at 2 with the season opening a week or two later and the use of decoys illegal.

I'm good with four actually if they just banned the freaking decoys

In principal, I'm all for this idea. But we can't even get the commission to protect hens during the spring breeding season because it would be "hard" for people to know the difference between a gobbler and a bearded hen. So I'm giving up hope they will ever regulate decoys.

 

[gobblegrunt]

Way delay the opener for two weeks in southern Middle Tn?

 

[BackwoodsBoy]

Way delay the opener for two weeks in southern Middle Tn?

Unknown, unexplained wild turkey population decline ... a lot of unknowns but the limit should be reduced statewide and some thought put into why? Chicken fertilizer, decoys(especially strutted fans and decoys ), too early of an opener , increased pressure due to social media and public land popularity by "googans"

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Way delay the opener for two weeks in southern Middle Tn?

Short answer - because the vast majority of hens start nesting in late April to early May. If gobbler kill starts too early, it disrupts breeding and may leave an insufficient number of gobblers to breed all receptive hens, thus negatively impacting reproduction. It's even worse in areas with low turkey populations. So delaying the season prevents gobbler kill until most hens have bred and are starting to nest. The Southeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and their considerable combination of world-class biologists recommend timing seasons with the start of peak nest initiation. Tennessee is mostly ignoring that recommendation except for 10 out of 95 counties.

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

imo, you will not see anything getting any better as long as these raccoon and opossum populations keep climbing. the hunters are not the problems, it the predators eating all the eggs that's being laid

 

[Andy S.]

Way delay the opener for two weeks in southern Middle Tn?

Short answer - because the vast majority of hens start nesting in late April to early May. If gobbler kill starts too early, it disrupts breeding and may leave an insufficient number of gobblers to breed all receptive hens, thus negatively impacting reproduction. It's even worse in areas with low turkey populations. So delaying the season prevents gobbler kill until most hens have bred and are starting to nest. The Southeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and their considerable combination of world-class biologists recommend timing seasons with the start of peak nest initiation. Tennessee is mostly ignoring that recommendation except for 10 out of 95 counties.

What SS said is dead on point. Basically, the resource/conservation agencies/commissions are caving to status quo and the preferences of many hunters (hunt/kill at all costs, regardless of impact on resource), rather than protect the resource and make the hunters adjust, and maybe make a few sacrifices here and there. Turkey species survival over time is very akin to a savings account gaining interest over time; you cannot take, take, take without regard to what the balance is and what the annual interest earnings are that you can expect with time (poults/hen). Simpler way to look at it is we need to guarantee adequate seed (reproduction) and leave some seed (carryover) for next year and out years. We ALL should want to guarantee their is a huntable turkey population in 50 years, that should be our #1 priority, hands down.

 

[Uncle Jesse]

No change on season dates?

Only for the Southern Middle and MS River counties.

What counties is it in southern middle Tennessee? I'm in Franklin county

 

[timberjack86]

Is there a link to what they passed and what they didn't? Thanks

 

[TN Larry]

This link shows a summary of what was passed and defines the MS River and Southern Middle TN counties.

https://www.tn.gov/twra/news/2020/5/29/ ... nored.html

The meeting can be watched on YouTube. The turkey discussion starts around the 5 hour mark while the actual presentation from TWRA is a little before then.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HWd0Y0LDJnk&t=16795s

 

[Uncle Jesse]

That's unreal that Lincoln has a delayed season. I had several hundred acres there that I could hunt back in the early 2000s. Turkeys everywhere then. Never dreamed this would happen

 

[deerfever]

Lincoln county killed 678 turkeys this season that is way better than any county I hunt in so I don't know how down it is or if something happened to make them study that county. I looked back to 2009 and Lincoln county killed over 100 less than it did this year. My point is it may be similar to when you hunted it I don't know. I will give you another example Giles county is in the turkey study but out of 95 counties it was in the top 5 with 857 kills for the season. So I don't know that the study is focusing on counties with a low number of birds or if something happened at some point to make them focus on these counties. I am guessing they dropped in kills at some point but seem to be turning it around. Just a guess on my part.

 

[woodsman04]

Won't make no difference limit three or four.


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[REN]

imo, you will not see anything getting any better as long as these raccoon and opossum populations keep climbing. the hunters are not the problems, it the predators eating all the eggs that's being laid

thats not actually factual or accurate. Yes they are an issue but to say hunters are not PART of the problem shows you are just giving an opinion based on limited knowledge.

there are LOTS of reasons for decline in different areas

 

[TheLBLman]

there are LOTS of reasons for decline in different areas

Exactly.

TWRA regulates the turkey hunting "rules".
Opening, closing dates, limits ---- these are things they CAN do to effect turkey populations.

There are many factors, but only a relatively few that TWRA can significantly effect.

TWRA CANNOT force people to kill predators,
some of which are highly federally protected.

The 3-bird limit will not make much difference.
Just a tiny step in the right direction by an agency that's long gone wrong with turkey regs.

 

[arkwaterfowler]

I am confused. The TWRC reduced the limit to 3 birds and changed the season in impacted counties and people are still complaining. Its a step in the right direction and i get the comments, too little too late, etc. Think about what you would do if you were in their shoes? No matter the decision you make, half the people will disagree.

 

[Southern Sportsman]

I am confused. The TWRC reduced the limit to 3 birds and changed the season in impacted counties and people are still complaining. Its a step in the right direction and i get the comments, too little too late, etc. Think about what you would do if you were in their shoes? No matter the decision you make, half the people will disagree.

The 3 bird limit was a token concession after all the proposals that might have been meaningful failed. The 3 bird limit literally passed BECAUSE it will not have a significant impact. Multiple people spoke and described the precipitous decline in turkey numbers over the last 5 years. The TWRA biologist stood up and said that (1) every measure of reproductive success is below what is needed for a healthy, sustainable population - % of hens attempting to nest, clutch size, nest survival, poult survival - all unacceptably poor. And (2) reducing the limit to 2 turkeys would have a significant impact on hunting pressure and gobbler survival which, they believe would impact (improve) the reproduction numbers. Because of that they DID NOT want to make that change. Because it would improve reproduction success and therefore might affect their money pit of a research project taking place in 6 counties out of 95. So they discussed a 3 bird limit. TWRA biologists said that, because so few kill 4 turkeys, reducing the limit to 3 probably would not affect reproduction or their research so the commission passed it.

To recap, they voted down every proposal that might have actually improved the reproductive health of a dwindling turkey population because improving reproduction right now might add another variable to a research project in 6 counties. But they reluctantly agreed to make a change that our own biologists said probably won't make a difference.