I've hunted basically same property for 30 years. I drove to mt lease today. Drove through lease and put out 3 cameras. Drove back home. In the good old days on this trip I'd seen 150 to 200 turkeys just on side of road and walking in woods. Today turkeys seen = 0. Sure is sad. I'm glad I got to experience the hunting when it was at its best. I feel sorry for new hunters. They don't know what good turkey hunting is. I don't know the reason. I suspect it's varmints because I find eaten eggs all spring. I sure wish we could fix it. Sure do!
Depressing
- Thread starter muddyboots
- Start date
Gobble4me757
Well-Known Member
Man I've seen an explosion of good good hatches the past couple of years…they are there
Huntaholic
Well-Known Member
I feel your pain! Having lived through the good ole days, what we have now is merely a shadow of what we once had.
TiminTN
Well-Known Member
I hunted 500 acres till the owner got flooded having a beaver problem, hired a trapper that liked to turkey hunt. The trapper set out snares and foot hold traps for coons. The turkey population exploded. Just saying. Do your part and reap rewards.
Wrangler95
Well-Known Member
I started turkey hunting in the 1980's before the season ever started in Clay county,in the 90's here in Clay county,turkeys were very plentiful ,now they are all but gone on land I hunt.Probably end up like the quail!!
I haven't seen one around my house since Summer. This was prime area back in the 2000's.
We average catching 19 coons a year.
I agree it's better but not a drop to the past.
On my 25 acres, I have caught 5 coons in 2 nights
Back in the early 2000,s it was so many even I could kill'em, now it's like it was when we first started in the early 80's, few and far between. Really tough to get one.
I live on the north side of Nashville they're everywhere here
deerhunter10
Well-Known Member
One of our best farms or I guess used to be best farms is again not getting hunted this year. I will say we had a decent hatch on it and I am seeing birds on it again probably enough to hunt and be ok but not taking the chance. Along with trapping there we had to do almost a 180 on our habitat management. We were more concerned about deer, took the numbers we always had for granted and dang near lost them. We now have stages of habitat on that farm trying to always have plenty of habitat in the 1st succesnal stage. Along with trapping and everything else. We let a lot of our thick stuff get to woody and turkeys didn't seem to be using it at all.
I never saw the typical winter flocks this year. I hope it's because of last fall's big acorn crop and the birds are still in the woods. Curious as to y'alls opinion on this.
mike52
Well-Known Member
I remember in 'THE DAY' I could hear 10/15 gobbles in the morning, lucky now to hear one
Trap it or get someone to trap it. This is my first year trapping and I've caught 2 bobcats, coyote, and several, coons, possums, and 2 skunks. I know there's more I didn't catch but the ones I did won't be eating eggs or killing turkeys anymore.
Back in the day that was a good day. Best day I ever had I heard 24 gobblers in a morning. Now that is prolly not correct as they were moving. I was young and stupid and I was moving screwing up more than I did right. But an average morning was hear 8 to 10. Now a great morning is hear 4. Which don't get me wrong is still good but when you remember the good old days it's just sad. Or it is to me anyways!
Bone Collector
Well-Known Member
I live in mid Tn and there's still plenty of birds, but the numbers are way down from what it used to be.
Bgoodman30
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2016
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You never know we're in a transition period. They can be gone today and everywhere tomorrow.
Same here unfortunately. At work though, they are everywhere.
I haven't seen a turkey on our farm in a couple months. Before the freeze we'd frequently see flocks of 8-17.
Today I was driving through Lynchburg and on a farm next to the highway there was a flock of at least 25.
Today I was driving through Lynchburg and on a farm next to the highway there was a flock of at least 25.
Well, it is what it is , I miss the high number days but they are over. There is still a season just not the whackem and stackem days. Now it's about the hunting, matching your skill vs the fewer gobblers. It's like the old days when turkeys and turkey hunters were a special thing.
