Jakes from delay

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Bgoodman30

Bgoodman30

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With all this talk about the delay making for successful nests and hatches then the result should be tons of jakes.

My personal observation of several good flocks is an increased number longbeards yet very few Jakes... This would conclude that we had a great hatch and 22 and not so great in 23...I hope I am wrong...

What are you seeing?
 
One reason many jakes are not showing up (now, late January) is simply because many or most have no visible beards yet, and may be easily mistaken for a hen.

Keep in mind this year's jakes are currently only @ 8 months old.
Everything about their appearance & behavior will dramatically change in April.

Typically, I'll see many jakes in early April that don't yet have a visible beard, although I can often tell that they are young males. By the end of April, these are typically showing very visible beards. Their beards grow very fast in April (from nothing to 2 or 3 inches).
 
We saw both last year. Before season, we had a group of 15 longbeards. We had another group of Jake's around that same number. Haven't seen many lately, but during the summer and fall, we saw quite a few good hatches. Time will tell - should have a better perspective come March.
 
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Same as every fall and winter... feast or famine. Gobblers are still in bachelor groups... see none, then all of a sudden see 5 together. Jakes/ jennies/ and hens are together... see none, then see 25 in a wad.

reproductive success is like it has been past 20 years... some areas with tremendous hatches and tons of jakes/ jennies, but go 10 miles away and hardly see any. Turkeys just arent evenly distributed on the landscape like they used to be.
 
We are same as what @Popcorn said in Macon County and parts of Sumner County. I do know all the birds are looking more healthy than I've seen in a long time. The ones in Macon looked rather thin up until this year. I'm kinda surprised by this with the dry weather we had last fall. We do have ag fields though that they were feeding in after harvest.
 
Still not seeing the jakes... Only one group of 2 on farms I hunt... Gobbler groups looking great..

My hypothesis is limit change and season delays had zero impact on breeding success...
 
So far in south MS this spring, haven't seen a jake on public. Have seen 2 on private. Overall down from 2022 and 2023 sightings, but season is still early
 

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