man i hope lawrence county...

[FARMTOFIELD]

And surrounding counties Turkey populations have grown this year as they seem to have the last couple. And whatever happened to them in 2004 never happens again here or anywhere else. Id still like to know for sure but i don't think ill get a 100% answer.

 

[scn]

And surrounding counties Turkey populations have grown this year as they seem to have the last couple. And whatever happened to them in 2004 never happens again here or anywhere else. Id still like to know for sure but i don't think ill get a 100% answer.

As far as I know, there isn't a 100% answer. There is some research going on that we hope will give us an idea on what might be happening in some of the southern mid-TN counties.

 

[FARMTOFIELD]

And surrounding counties Turkey populations have grown this year as they seem to have the last couple. And whatever happened to them in 2004 never happens again here or anywhere else. Id still like to know for sure but i don't think ill get a 100% answer.

As far as I know, there isn't a 100% answer. There is some research going on that we hope will give us an idea on what might be happening in some of the southern mid-TN counties.

Thanks for the reply scn and i was in no way throwing a slur towards twra, its not yalls fault. Ive tried to have discussions with people over the last couple years and all i hear is the limits and such. Mostly coming from people that have not experienced the decline i speak of.

It has not been gradual here at all we had droves of birds, gobblers everywhere and huge fall flocks, to a point that everyone county wide was wandering WTH has happened and this all occurred in one year maybe 2. Back around 2003 or 2004 the best i remember

 

[muddyboots]

Yep, same in Hardin County too but numbers seem slightly up this year than from this time last year.

 

[scn]

And surrounding counties Turkey populations have grown this year as they seem to have the last couple. And whatever happened to them in 2004 never happens again here or anywhere else. Id still like to know for sure but i don't think ill get a 100% answer.

As far as I know, there isn't a 100% answer. There is some research going on that we hope will give us an idea on what might be happening in some of the southern mid-TN counties.

Thanks for the reply scn and i was in no way throwing a slur towards twra, its not yalls fault. Ive tried to have discussions with people over the last couple years and all i hear is the limits and such. Mostly coming from people that have not experienced the decline i speak of.

It has not been gradual here at all we had droves of birds, gobblers everywhere and huge fall flocks, to a point that everyone county wide was wandering WTH has happened and this all occurred in one year maybe 2. Back around 2003 or 2004 the best i remember

I certainly didn't take it as a slur. Declines in turkey populations are taking place in several states. It is my understanding that Arkansas is down enough that they drastically cut their limits.

From looking at kill data, it is hard to see where limits are having that big of an effect. To me, it looks like a disease or reproductive rate deal. But, state agencies across the southeast and midwest are aware and are researching the issue. Hopefully they can figure it out.

It is encouraging to hear that things may be getting better.

 

[FARMTOFIELD]

Yea it is encouraging, i hear more gobblers in my end of the county last year than i have combined in 6 or 7 years. The sad thing is it was 3 but i did see two hens with poults last year.

 

[deerhunter10]

could it be the predator populations going up? like the coyotes, bob cats seem like I see more and more of them. I know the obviously hunt and kill and eat turkeys, but do you think they are the ones putting in such a dent in the population. also the big flood we had back in 2010 I believe that's the year well I know at our farm 2011 the numbers were down because I think a lot of eggs got washed away and just got ruined. but it seems it I back to normal or better then normal sense 2011 on all of our farms.

 

[FARMTOFIELD]

Its been since'04 here so i would think in 9 years they could recoup purty good from bad hatch. Im only about an hour or so south of you dh10 its bad im telling you its bad. Honestly back then i could ride you around in the fall and count 500 turkeys in bottoms within 2 miles of my house and such and then in it was like something killed 95% of the population at once. If i could remember to count i bet i haven't seen 50 turkeys in those same bottoms and such in 7 years. Sure we have coyotes but no more than anywhere else and thats alot of turkeys to kill in a matter of a year or
ear and a half. Ive run 7 trail cameras since for a looooong time and the last predator ive had on cam was a pair of coyote LAST February.

 

[deerhunter10]

wow that's crazy I have a buddy that lives down there and he says the same thing about to turkeys. its crazy! and sure does suck for yal.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

My FIL has been seeing turkeys pretty regularly on his farm near 5 Points and a buddy says he's been seeing more at his place near Iron City. I haven't killed one on either place, ever. So, it would be nice to see them start to come back.

I've heard but can't prove (I don't have first hand knowledge, so I probably shouldn't post) that they were researching to see if the chicken mature farmers were spreading may have been causing some sort of liver disease. It's been a couple years since we talked about it and I'm not sure if this was ever confirmed or found to be false.

My FIL used to spread chicken manure on his fields and it wasn't uncommon to see 10+ coyotes in a morning running around sucking up dead chicken parts and pieces like a vacuum. Man, I used to kill alot of coyotes back then.

 

[woodsman87]

I think that Giles county has been down too the past about ten years.
I have not lived or hunted TN all my life, but I do remember 10 years ago it wasn't nothing to ride through giles county and see birds everywhere. Now that I own land in Giles county there just isn't the birds anymore.
It just aint the same.

 

[woodsman87]

I have never hunted Lawrence county, but I have hunted Wayne a few times, Marshall a few times, and hunt in Lincoln alot. Out of these counties it seems that Lincoln is the best one.

 

[deerhunter10]

I don't think giles is down tons of birds atleast where we have farms at.

 

[woodsman87]

I don't think giles is down tons of birds atleast where we have farms at.

Our land and all the acreage around it that I know of for several miles is terrible.
Pulaski and North is where all the birds are.

For people to say that Tennessee has booming turkey populations need to come to where I have hunted. We do not see such.

 

[FARMTOFIELD]

It seems like its the southern portions mainly, curious whos your bud that owns land in iron city? I live about 5 min. From there and kin to most everyone lol

 

[FARMTOFIELD]

I don't think giles is down tons of birds atleast where we have farms at.

I definitely don't see the numbers in giles that i use to

 

[woodsman87]

I don't think giles is down tons of birds atleast where we have farms at.

I definitely don't see the numbers in giles that i use to

It aint the same. I haven't hunted from one end of the state to the other, but I have hunted alot in the middle/southern counties. IMO Lincoln is the best and I have not noticed any decline in turkey population.
Also, IMO, I used to think anywhere in Giles Co. was unbeatable for turkey hunting. But I would say in the past 7-10 years it has been below average, especially south of Pulaski.

 

[woodsman87]

It is hard to remember that far back for me, but it seems that we have had very wet April/Mays during those years minus last April/may when it was a drought. I wonder if so much heavy rain for those several years in a row is what has done it?

 

[deerhunter10]

I don't think giles is down tons of birds atleast where we have farms at.

Our land and all the acreage around it that I know of for several miles is terrible.
Pulaski and North is where all the birds are.

For people to say that Tennessee has booming turkey populations need to come to where I have hunted. We do not see such.

our farm is on the maury county giles county farm, and like I said we see a ton of birds. but I guess I kinda jumped the gun, I have never hunted deep into giles for birds.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

Id like to go back to the numbers the area I hunt had back around 10 years ago. Definitely more of a challenge now to just find a bird. I did see good poult numbers last year though.

 

[John3]

I know our farm in haywood county has gone way down in the past five years. Up until that season we had jakes and longbeards everywhere and would see groups of 30+ hens in the winter. Last year I saw 2 hens cross the road on the farm and not a single bird while hunting. It is in the river bottoms so im thinking spring flooding has wiped them out. pretty sad

 

[GobbleFever]

I hunt in southern Giles county, almost on the state line. Our place used to be covered up with turkeys but starting about 2007, the population on our farm has decreased drastically. I don't even seen the numbers of birds riding around in this area that I used too 5-6 years ago. There's still birds around but they aren't there in the numbers that they used to be.

 

[woodsman87]

I hunt in southern Giles county, almost on the state line. Our place used to be covered up with turkeys but starting about 2007, the population on our farm has decreased drastically. I don't even seen the numbers of birds riding around in this area that I used too 5-6 years ago. There's still birds around but they aren't there in the numbers that they used to be.

They just aint here anymore like the used to be. And everybody I talk to in this area notices the same things. I hunt in North Alabama alot too, and I know for sure the population isn't like it was 8-10 years ago. They have only had a turkey season since I think 1997 or 1996. There were more birds those years all the way until about 2005 or 2006 than there are now. I have no idea what has happened in North Al or southern TN, but it sure has me worried.
I would think it could have been the very wet springs we had during those time frames. I don't keep records of the rainfall but my memory tells me that these were very wet times during April/May. This past April/May was a major drought, and I know droughts are no good for anything, but maybe just maybe we had a monster hatch in this region. Maybe a monster hatch will lead to a few more big hatches in the next two or three springs to get us back the way it used to be.

 

[GobbleFever]

I hear ya. I know a few places in North AL (madison and limestone counties) that has quite a few birds, but have had no luck getting permision to hunt. I'm hoping southern Tn rebounds before too long.

 

[turkeyhunter]

gobble fever, here in southern wayne co, our numbers went way down also in 07. I dont know if it was the freeze or what. Prior to 07 turkeys where everywhere . Its like they vanished. Game wardens here seem to think hogs and armidilos are the two main factors. Because north of here population has not decreased as bad.

 

[AlabamaSwamper]

I'm with all of you. Sometime around 2006/7 it got plum sorry around here. I did kill three in 2010 but that was spread out on two different properties. I worked my butt off that year.

Last two years I've hunted 5 times combined. Not even worth getting up to go hear one bird gobble 10 times then shut up.

Seems numbers may be up a little from last year but not much.


I grew up on a lease in Alabama that was 4000 acres that had turkeys, lots of them, even in the 1980's. Around 1998 the entire population vanished. When I left the club in 2001, there wasn't a single gobble heard on the whole place. Still 2000 acres of big timber back then there.

I hear they are seeing a few now but nothing like in the 80's and early 90's.

 

[woodsman87]

gobble fever, here in southern wayne co, our numbers went way down also in 07. I dont know if it was the freeze or what. Prior to 07 turkeys where everywhere . Its like they vanished. Game wardens here seem to think hogs and armidilos are the two main factors. Because north of here population has not decreased as bad.

They probably have a point there about the wild hogs and armidillos. I have some places I hunt in North AL, Limestone Co. and since wild hogs got there the turkey hunting has been terrible. I don't think I have heard or seen a turkey on the place since. I am sure armidillos are bad nest getters as well. Those are two animals that I have very little respect for.
I am so glad that my own personal property in Giles Co. TN hasn't had any hogs yet.

 

[GobbleFever]

Yeah, I didn't think about the armadillos. Fortunately, we don't have any hogs on our Giles county property, yet. I live in Limestone county AL and I know I've seen hogs around the house, which is only about 10 minutes from our property in Giles county.

 

[AlabamaSwamper]

I used to think the armadillos also but they haven't decimated the flocks in south Bama or MS and they've been there a lot longer than up here.

Hogs don't seem to bother them either down there. So, I'm kinda thinking that isn't the problem either.

May just be population swings like any other animal. Then again, I'd hate what happened on the lease in Colbet Co to happen anywhere. That goes for more than just the 4k acres we had. There were thousands and thousands of acres that lost whole populations down there for some reason.

 

[woodsman87]

It seems like if it was something major we would here some biological science on why it happened or what happened. I am not a biologist but I do know that something is bad wrong with the lands I hunt and some of you others hunt in the south mid TN and North AL.

It seems that once you get north of Pulaski, there is still birds everywhere. I do not have any places up there but I normally see turkeys and have a friend that kills several in that area every year.