If I was running this show.

[SEC]

Turkey season would begin tomorrow April 13th.
This would give many birds the chance to breed .

Season would end on May 5th.
Because 3 weeks is plenty. Plenty of fish need catching boys.

The turkey limit would be reduced to 2 birds.
In my opinion a 4 bird limit is way to high for about 70% of the state. Tennessee is not all Nashville stop acting like it is.

Bring back kill tags.
A while back a was guiding a hunter (he is deceased now) down in Texas. During the course of our morning hunt I asked him how many birds they were allowed in his home state. He replied that his state didn't use kill tags and they could just kill as many as they wanted. Chew on that awhile TWRA.

Hunting would end at 1:00 pm on all wma's except on Tuesday and Thursday when you could hunt them till legal shooting time.
This would allow those birds to trickle back in late afternoon to roost again. Thus keeping our public land turkeys "public" for a few more days every year.

Following a similar management plan and with a little cooperation from MOTHER NATURE herself I believe that our turkey population would stabilize. Missouri stocked many other states with turkeys yet we've decided to more than double there season length and double the limit all with no kill tags. Just doesn't make any since.

 

[poorhunter]

Pretty much agree with all that. I'm not sure we couldn't handle a 3 bird limit, but I'd be fine with 2.

 

[Boll Weevil]

I rarely RARELY hunt afternoons on my farm just so the birds can have some peace, feed, loaf, nest, get back together and roost where they like. In the past I hunted MO alot and that's how they did it (at the time they had oodles of birds) citing benefits for a healthy population of birds.

 

[Setterman]

I've got no issues with any of that. I'd be fine if hunting ceased at noon each day statewide

 

[megalomaniac]

Sounds like a perfect management plan to me.

And right now is when the best hunts are. Lonely mature toms at midday that fire back up and love to come to a call.

Too bad many of them are already dead having been reaped opening weekend.

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[megalomaniac]

And I could live with the entire state cutting hunting off at noon. I wouldn't like it, it doesn't fit my style (I hunt the entire day from 6am till 7pm when I come up, but don't shoot after 5pm in order to roost birds for the next morn) but I think the most significant change would be to push opening date back 2 weeks.

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[ImThere]

Fishing sucks


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[deerfever]

I am glad you are not running the show SEC! What gets me about some of you guys is this. You do not have to start hunting March 30 but have you? A 3 week season would limit me to 3 days of hunting as I actually have a job and must work each day through the week. Also why no afternoons? I actually do go after work some and find it relaxing not to see a vehicle at every pull in on the public land. How many turkeys do you reckon are killed in the afternoon? Do you think it is detrimental to the population? Also some of you that complain the most contradict yourself constantly. You post up pictures of turkeys you have killed before mid April but that is okay? Then you post up pictures of ones you call up for your buddies every other day. Then claim "I have no turkey's on my farm! Are you serious? Practice what you preach or quit preaching. There is a two buck limit but no one forces me to shoot 2 bucks. You do not have to shoot 4 turkey off your land if you do not want to. I do not reap , use decoys or none of that However explain to me how your dead gobbler is different than a dead gobbler that has been reaped if you kill him before mid April if that is what you are advocating? I would go along with a limit reduction if it is needed but don't limit me to 3 days of hunting and stop me from going a few hours after work. No , I am not selfish just disagree with what you are saying. My point is if you are hunting private as a lot of you are you can already put this plan into action the TWRA does not have to do it for you! I also would like to commend the Twra , keep this in mind we killed over 30,000 birds since 2001 every year untill last. According to what I am seeing the report say 17, 222 so far if that is correct than we are having a good season in my opinion. If that is not correct then I will join the run for the hills crowd and say no turkey's exist in the state ! I usually do not say much and I am not at all trying to be argumentative ,however I feel that I am entitled to my opinion. I will now wait to be ripped apart by the masses! Lol

 

[REN]

never understood the argument for kill tags vs how it is now. If you are "THAT GUY" and are not gonna report the harvest the a tag vs online doesnt change anything. IMO there is no in between, either you are a follower of the rules or you are a piece of S that just does what you want. A piece of paper at the end of my license doesnt determine which way I go.

 

[SEC]

I am glad you are not running the show SEC! What gets me about some of you guys is this. You do not have to start hunting March 30 but have you? A 3 week season would limit me to 3 days of hunting as I actually have a job and must work each day through the week. Also why no afternoons? I actually do go after work some and find it relaxing not to see a vehicle at every pull in on the public land. How many turkeys do you reckon are killed in the afternoon? Do you think it is detrimental to the population? Also some of you that complain the most contradict yourself constantly. You post up pictures of turkeys you have killed before mid April but that is okay? Then you post up pictures of ones you call up for your buddies every other day. Then claim "I have no turkey's on my farm! Are you serious? Practice what you preach or quit preaching. There is a two buck limit but no one forces me to shoot 2 bucks. You do not have to shoot 4 turkey off your land if you do not want to. I do not reap , use decoys or none of that However explain to me how your dead gobbler is different than a dead gobbler that has been reaped if you kill him before mid April if that is what you are advocating? I would go along with a limit reduction if it is needed but don't limit me to 3 days of hunting and stop me from going a few hours after work. No , I am not selfish just disagree with what you are saying. My point is if you are hunting private as a lot of you are you can already put this plan into action the TWRA does not have to do it for you! I also would like to commend the Twra , keep this in mind we killed over 30,000 birds since 2001 every year untill last. According to what I am seeing the report say 17, 222 so far if that is correct than we are having a good season in my opinion. If that is not correct then I will join the run for the hills crowd and say no turkey's exist in the state ! I usually do not say much and I am not at all trying to be argumentative ,however I feel that I am entitled to my opinion. I will now wait to be ripped apart by the masses! Lol

You care if I try and guess your geological location?

 

[deerfever]

Have at it on my location! I just simply disagree , notice I said if needed I would be for a limit reduction . I could also see pushing the season back a week but some of this I just do not agree with.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

I really enjoy hunting the out of state WMA's that close at 1. Birds return to normal patterns instead of being chased onto private land. But let's face it, the TWRA has never been about quality public hunting. I would add more quota hunt locations while also reducing the amount drawn per location.


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[Southern Sportsman]

However explain to me how your dead gobbler is different than a dead gobbler that has been reaped if you kill him before mid April if that is what you are advocating?

This thread isn't about reaping, but the rationalle has been explained many times. "Reaping" requires absolutely no hunting skill. It simply requires you to belly crawl with a decoy in front of your face. So if there was no reaping, many fewer turkeys would be killed because the googans doing it would be forced to actually hunt turkeys, which requires skill they likely do not possess. Also, "reaping" disproportinately targets dominant field turkeys. Turkeys that are largely unkillable using traditional methods until later in the season after the hens have been bred and start nesting. Those turkeys are responsible for a lot of the breeding that gets done (harems of hens - which is what makes them so difficult to call in). Traditional hunting (calling in turkeys)—especially early in the year— disproportionately targets subordinate/satelite gobblers that do not have hens with them. Therefore killing those tukeys has less effect on the breeding cycle.

The "you don't have to kill turkeys early if you don't want to" argument - though true - is flawed. We kill (or use to kill) 30,000 + turkeys a year. 1/3 or more are killed in the first few days. A handfull of people choosing not to hunt out of principal will have no effect on the statewide problem. Especially when the traditional hunting methods which they generally practice aren't the main problem (see expaination above). To make a difference, changes have to be widespread.

 

[gasman]

But you ain't running this show, so I guess we can all rest a little easier tonight.

 

[AT Hiker]

https://babylonbee.com/news/man-in-crit ... -viewpoint


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[deerfever]

I realize it may not effect statewide but what about the guys complaining and hunting their own farms? Why not implement your own management plan and get your turkey back? If you know what needs to be done why not do it? That is all is I am saying Twra doesn't have to do that for you if you control who hunts your land, If it will not help then what is the point in Twra changing these things for you? Again I have pictures of two gobblers on my personal property, I have not even went and hunted them. Twra didn't make that decision, I did! I also knew the thread was not about reaping but it was mentioned so I just made a point. I know everyone will not agree with me and that is fine!

 

[REN]

https://babylonbee.com/news/man-in-critical-condition-after-hearing-slightly-differing-viewpoint


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Unless you are fortunate to have enough property to cover a turkeys home range (really large) then it's pretty hard to manage your own property only to see them shot on the next farm over. I do agree that just because of that doesn't mean you shouldn't try but the results will be pretty minimum for most people

 

[SEC]

I realize it may not effect statewide but what about the guys complaining and hunting their own farms? Why not implement your own management plan and get your turkey back? If you know what needs to be done why not do it? That is all is I am saying Twra doesn't have to do that for you if you control who hunts your land, If it will not help then what is the point in Twra changing these things for you? Again I have pictures of two gobblers on my personal property, I have not even went and hunted them. Twra didn't make that decision, I did! I also knew the thread was not about reaping but it was mentioned so I just made a point. I know everyone will not agree with me and that is fine!

You must be one of those people that think those 2 turkeys live there whole entire life on YOUR property.

 

[REN]

But you ain't running this show, so I guess we can all rest a little easier tonight.

No need for that. Man gave his opinion so either discuss his opinion, post your own, or move ahead.

 

[Andy S.]

I wish you were running the show. Good post that has logical thought, and conservation principles applied for the ENTIRE State.

 

[AT Hiker]

https://babylonbee.com/news/man-in-critical-condition-after-hearing-slightly-differing-viewpoint


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Unless you are fortunate to have enough property to cover a turkeys home range (really large) then it's pretty hard to manage your own property only to see them shot on the next farm over. I do agree that just because of that doesn't mean you shouldn't try but the results will be pretty minimum for most people

That link was meant for people who seem to have extreme difficulties with others opinions, mainly those that have a conniption fit when someone talks about changing our turkey regs.




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[deerfever]

I knew I shouldn't have posted anything. SEC my point about the two turkeys was that I have not seen any on that piece of property so I chose not to hunt them that is all. I realize they don't live there only. How about you have you implemented all your mandates and going by them ? I am simply pointing out some of this is a choice if you have your own place. The TWRA doesn't have to make rules for your own place. Sorry I didn't just accept everything you said and move forward. I have turkey hunted this state for 38 years and have actually killed one or two in my day. Just thought I might give a thought but should have known better.

 

[Southern Sportsman]

I realize it may not effect statewide but what about the guys complaining and hunting their own farms? Why not implement your own management plan and get your turkey back? If you know what needs to be done why not do it? That is all is I am saying Twra doesn't have to do that for you if you control who hunts your land, If it will not help then what is the point in Twra changing these things for you? Again I have pictures of two gobblers on my personal property, I have not even went and hunted them. Twra didn't make that decision, I did! I also knew the thread was not about reaping but it was mentioned so I just made a point. I know everyone will not agree with me and that is fine!

You are implying that the people complaining are killing the first 4 gobblers they can kill then complaining about there not being any gobblers. I don't think that's true at all. Classic strawman fallacy. I've seen setterman say many times that he very intentionally spreads his kills out over different wide ranging ares so he's just killing one out of any particular flock. Others have said they aren't even hunting certain places because bird numbers are so low that they don't want to kill the few that are there. One farm I hunt usually has 5-6 gobblers on it each spring. I've seen one this year with a flock of hens. I know how to kill him, but I'm definitely not going to. Another place I hunt had 3 gobblers the day before the season opened. They have split up now and I've only seen one with a group of hens. I may hunt him, but I havent yet because I want to give them time to breed. I've killed 2 birds on 2 different pieces of private ground and I won't kill another on those farms. It is possible to responsibly manage the turkeys you have access to and still want the state to implement changes to protect the resource statewide.

 

[gasman]

But you ain't running this show, so I guess we can all rest a little easier tonight.

No need for that. Man gave his opinion so either discuss his opinion, post your own, or move ahead.

That is my opinion. Just because someone doesn't like the regs set in place by TWRA or any governing authority, doesn't mean that we all dont like those rules and regs.

 

[REN]

But you ain't running this show, so I guess we can all rest a little easier tonight.

No need for that. Man gave his opinion so either discuss his opinion, post your own, or move ahead.

That is my opinion. Just because someone doesn't like the regs set in place by TWRA or any governing authority, doesn't mean that we all dont like those rules and regs.

That's fine but obviously we can articulate that in a much less confrontational way.


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[deerfever]

I see exactly what you are saying southern sportsman and it sounds like you are doing exactly what I am talking about on your properties. So is it okay to go ahead and kill 4 as long as people move around and kill from different flocks?

 

[REN]

https://babylonbee.com/news/man-in-critical-condition-after-hearing-slightly-differing-viewpoint


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Unless you are fortunate to have enough property to cover a turkeys home range (really large) then it's pretty hard to manage your own property only to see them shot on the next farm over. I do agree that just because of that doesn't mean you shouldn't try but the results will be pretty minimum for most people

That link was meant for people who seem to have extreme difficulties with others opinions, mainly those that have a conniption fit when someone talks about changing our turkey regs.






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I quoted the wrong post sorry. Was a reply to a different response

 

[TheLBLman]

So is it okay to go ahead and kill 4 as long as people move around and kill from different flocks?

IMO, this is the lesser of two evils, as if you kill 4, better this way than totally wiping out 4 from a single small area.

Unfortunately, so many accomplished turkey killers are doing this, unaware of each other's kills, unaware of each other, unaware of just how extensively turkeys are moving around (often on thousands of acres, not just hundreds), that this may have become more just a "feel good" effort of limited value.

Also, turkeys commonly winter flock several miles from where they may be in early turkey season, which may be different areas than later turkey season.

Sometimes, we hunters are going from farm to farm hunting, miles apart, but so may be the same turkeys.
Never mind other hunters may be doing what we're doing as well, we're just unaware what they kill out of the same "range" of a few thousand acres.

Bottom line, we seem to be collectively (statewide) killing too high a percentage of the available longbeards, and killing too many, too early before enough breeding has occurred to sustain populations.

So how can we turn this around?

Simplest, easiest answer (with the least opposition) seems to be to open the season later and to have a lower limit?

 

[John3]

I agree with most of what the original post stated as well. Not sure I agree with the afternoon cutoff though. If you were already cutting the season in half and the limit in half, I think afternoons wouldn't be a big issue. Obviously if someone wanted to do that on their own property more power to them, but that would really limit people's time in the field. I'm not sure there will ever be a way to ensure people are checking in the turkeys they kill. I think that more are probably reported now thanks to the online feature than ever before, but still only a fraction of the total that are killed.

I have a small sliver of hope for the future. I saw a strutter with 2 hens this week on one of my farms. That makes the first turkeys I have seen on our 4 farms totaling right at 1000 acres in 3 years. I won't kill one until there is a huge rebound around here, but maybe they will be back by the time my 4 year old is ready to start going in a few years.

I also don't see why we couldn't have "turkey zones" just like we do for deer. Obviously west TN doesn't have the turkeys that the middle of the state does, so why manage it the same?

 

[Southern Sportsman]

I see exactly what you are saying southern sportsman and it sounds like you are doing exactly what I am talking about on your properties. So is it okay to go ahead and kill 4 as long as people move around and kill from different flocks?

If everybody did it, and especially if everybody did it without strutter dekes and fans, then yes, I think so. (Not intended as a shot againt dekes. I just think biologically they do more harm than other methods by targeting the most dominant birds right out of the gate.) It woukd be more helpful on private ground because it's less likely that someone comes in behind you and kills more, but it would help public ground too. Oklahoma just implemented a limit of 1 per county, no more than 3 statewide. I'd be cool with that. But many dont/wont make any effort. I know people who only hunt one place. They make no effort to acquire more places and just wont hunt public ground. The limit is 4 so they'll do everything they can to kill their 4 as quickly as possible whether their little piece of ground can handle it or not. I have found that these people rarely want the limit reduced.