Mid April Opening Days Suck

knightrider

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Remained stable? All of them. Coons, opossums, skunks, snakes. I'm not convinced armadillos eat eggs, and have seen different biologists say they do and some they don't, but if they do eat eggs their population in Tennessee is significantly higher since reintroduction. What I mean by nest raider populations are "stable" is that across the entire landscape where turkeys and nests raiders live, the population of the raiders has remained relatively the same for 40-50 years. I completely agree that they can be reduced dramatically on certain properties through hunting and trapping, but those properties are so widespread and spotty that there is practically zero effect on their population across say a county sized area. Those properties that controlled them must keep up the pressure year after year after year to have any impact on turkey populations.

I would certainly agree that there are several things that limit turkey populations…that kill turkeys. Nest raiders have always been number one, weather number two (and in certain years and locales number one). What throws a wrench into it is disease and human predation. There can also be something like a DDT we don't know about that is causing sterility in toms or hens. Aflotoxin is downright murderous on turkeys, especially winter flocks, which can be almost completely wiped out in a weekend.

Habitat loss is not a limiting factor imo on turkeys because they adapt quite well to a tremendous variety of environments.

I do understand quite well that I am in direct conflict with accepted biologists in some of what I'm saying. But accepted biologists are often biased and they disagree with one another as well.
None of them have remained stable they have all exploded to say different is either foolish or you never go outside, nest predators are certainly not the only thing but are certainly the biggest
 

poorhunter

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Aug 19, 2015
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Hickman county
None of them have remained stable they have all exploded to say different is either foolish or you never go outside, nest predators are certainly not the only thing but are certainly the biggest
I live "way out in the boonies" with them. I know it doesn't fit the narrative and everyone wants to say that nest raiders are exploding in population, but it just isn't true. Increases and decreases? Sure, but over the last several decades they have remained fairly stable on a county and statewide level. I can walk out my door and literally have 15000 acres I could walk around with probably less than a dozen houses to go around. I also have close to twenty different farms that I have access to hunt at my leisure, each from 20 to 400+ acres. I know what's out there and what's not. Do I know what's in the next county or across the state? No, not first hand, but I do know animals, I do know biology and I do know the interactions between predator and prey. I know population dynamics and I know hearsay and I know data and I know hard facts. I also know that wildlife biologists get their doctorates in philosophy for a reason.
 

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