I applaud the changes TWRA is making to our statewide turkey regulations.
Everyone needs to understand that the hunting regs are just one of many factors effecting whether ongoing turkey populations decline or flourish. And, as to any reg changes, the effects may not best noticed until 2 years after the change(s).
Most of us seem to be in agreement that the biggest single change done was to delay the opening by 2 weeks next spring (Year 2023). This will cause only a small percentage of longbeards (2-yr-old males) to survive another year to Year 2024. But it's also expected to enhance nesting success by at least a small percentage. It will be 2 years (Year 2025) before any additional hatched chicks this year become "longbeards".
Similarly, reducing the bag limit from 3 to 2 birds will cause only a small percentage of longbeards to survive another year to Year 2024. While some killing 3 will be reduced to 2, others killing 1 will increase to 2, while some who would have killed 0, will now kill one. But reducing the limit is still expected to cause additional carry-over, meaning, from this alone, at least a few more longbeards living in 2024 than otherwise would have been.
Regulations are ultimately only as good as their enforcement. This is one reason the delayed opening covers everything (at least during those 2 weeks), making everything on our "wish list" more easily enforced. Those 2 weeks are the 2 weeks when decoys & fanning would work best. Just pointing out that the total use of decoys & fanning was just made illegal during what was the 1st 2 weeks of our spring season.
I've very excited to be able now to trap bobcats year round, as I believe they have caused more adult turkey deaths than any other predator, particularly strutting longbeards.
As to why they extended the season 2 weeks, I believe it was mainly to be able to say no days were taken away from our spring turkey season. I do not believe there will be very many non-resident turkey hunters coming to TN in late May next year. Also, public WMA's can independently close their seasons @ mid-May. If they don't do this in 2023, they certainly can in 2024.
Again, while they didn't specifically outlaw decoys & fanning on private lands, these tactics worked best during those 2 weeks, now the 2 weeks they simply totally outlawed turkey hunting. Personally, I never felt these tactics worked a fraction as well as "advertised" or believed by many, but I don't see them working much at all come those new last two weeks of turkey season.
So when you put all the changes together, synergize them over a couple years, then I do believe most hunters will be noticing turkey populations trending more towards thriving. And what becomes "better" is not just about the number of kills, but the overall quality of the hunting, such as what do you hear & see while hunting. I'm looking forward to hearing more gobbling.
That said, Mother Nature could deliver the turkeys a blow with two consecutive years of poor nesting success and poor poult survival. Should this happen, we need to focus on how much worse it could have been had TWRA NOT made these very helpful changes.
