Finally did it!!

[Drewski 121]

Called in a gobbling Longbeard on South Cherokee this morning. Had him within 30 yards. All I had to do was pull the trigger. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I'm done. I won and had him dead to rights. And I'm proud of that! Our turkeys are going the way of the grouse and quail and I'm not killing anymore until the population rebounds. I've hunted every weekend since it opened and that's the only bird I've Heard up there. Seen some sign but nothing like compared in years past. :(
Might possibly plan a hunt next year in another part of the country that still has turkeys to hunt.

Nice job ,its about the hunt..

 

[th88]

The forum talk about Cherokee this year had me intrigued, considering the rest of TN seemed to have had a stellar season. I'm a data nerd, so threw this together.

OUCH. What blows my mind the most is there were a fair amount of jakes killed last year. Usually, that is a good sign for the following season. But doesn't seem to be the case this year. Hopefully the new jake rule kept more people from shooting jakes on Cherokee this spring. If not, next season really is looking bad too!

Props to you guys who stick with the mountain birds. Its obvious you love the hell out of the area. I'd have to be driving to areas with much better bird densities.

 

[GreeneGriz]

Humm, this is news to me, but then again I'm not up to speed on turkey hunting. Well, except I was surprised to know males don't reproduce...lol. I am curious about which of the "many" counties allow the harvesting of hens. This is all I found in the TWRA hunting guide regarding the fall season. I'm probably not looking in the right place.

FALL TURKEY

Bag Limit: 1 bearded turkey, per county, only in counties open to fall turkey hunting.

Bearded hens are common and make up quite a few told the bearded birds taken every year.
I haven't taken part in any fall turkey hunts in many years, but I know Tennessee did allow for hens to be taken at one time and allowed some on draw hunts. I do know LBL allows either sex turkey hunts in the fall.

 

[Willysman]

The forum talk about Cherokee this year had me intrigued, considering the rest of TN seemed to have had a stellar season. I'm a data nerd, so threw this together.

OUCH. What blows my mind the most is there were a fair amount of jakes killed last year. Usually, that is a good sign for the following season. But doesn't seem to be the case this year. Hopefully the new jake rule kept more people from shooting jakes on Cherokee this spring. If not, next season really is looking bad too!

Props to you guys who stick with the mountain birds. Its obvious you love the hell out of the area. I'd have to be driving to areas with much better bird densities.
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Very interesting report. This is just my opinion but I've never really trusted the numbers reported as killed in the Cherokee. This goes back to the days when you could kill two birds on a management area and two outside a management area. They would be killed outside and checked in as killed inside. There is no reason for that now but I believe it still happens. Same as when a deer was a bonus buck in the Cherokee a deer could be killed anywhere in the state and checked out in the Cherokee until TWRA finally figured it out. Even if it is accurate 192 turkeys for over 600,000 acres is pretty poor. Again this is my opinion so don't want to get an argument started.

 

[th88]

Very interesting report. This is just my opinion but I've never really trusted the numbers reported as killed in the Cherokee. This goes back to the days when you could kill two birds on a management area and two outside a management area. They would be killed outside and checked in as killed inside. There is no reason for that now but I believe it still happens. Same as when a deer was a bonus buck in the Cherokee a deer could be killed anywhere in the state and checked out in the Cherokee until TWRA finally figured it out. Even if it is accurate 192 turkeys for over 600,000 acres is pretty poor. Again this is my opinion so don't want to get an argument started.

The numbers are so piss-poor I don't think any argument is going to be started! unless its an argument for the lack of forest management on the Cherokee National Forest.

 

[thirdwilliam]

Congrats

 

[Willysman]

The numbers are so piss-poor I don't think any argument is going to be started! unless its an argument for the lack of forest management on the Cherokee National Forest.

That is a big part of the problem

 

[RoyalPrudent]

Must be all the chicken litter their spreading up on those mountains. (Sorry, had to say it).
A family friend has a farm in western Polk county and says his turkey population seems to ebb and flow from year to year. He thinks it has to do with the wet or dry spring we have during hatches. He may be right.

science...

 

[RoyalPrudent]

The numbers are so piss-poor I don't think any argument is going to be started! unless its an argument for the lack of forest management on the Cherokee National Forest.

I don't know. I saw someone arguing against logging and fires because they believed it hurt the turkey population. No way to make folks happy.

 

[Soft Talker]

Always been Turkeys in these mountains, North and South, and always will be. ;) They are in pockets, as they have always been.