megalomaniac":22jgos52 said:
Hens who want to be bred can get very vocal calling for a gobbler.
As can an old Gobbler standing on a high place,
gobbling his head off, but refusing to move towards a hen he expects to come to him.
Those who think reducing the limit makes no difference are incorrect.
More adult males, especially more during the early part of your current season,
leads to more females getting bred, laying more fertile eggs, and successfully nesting more.
I do agree that more longbeards surviving the early season is only a small part of the solution.
Delaying the season opener, reducing the limit, eliminating hen killing,
are all some things which can be done to help.
May or may not be enough.
We cannot expect TWRA to "improve habitat" on our private properties,
we do not expect them to control the weather,
but we do expect them to go the correct direction with the regs they control.
We
DID have a 2-bird limit (and no fall hunting) not that many years ago.
As the turkey population was increasing & expanding,
TWRA increased that 2-bird limit to 3, and then to 4,
on top of starting the fall season that absolutely results in some hens getting killed that otherwise would not.
For the same rationale TWRA stated in increasing turkey hunting and limits,
why shouldn't they now reduce it?
Are the current TWRA regs "harming" or "helping" our statewide turkey population?
Many private land managers and public WMA managers have already reduced turkey hunting & turkey limits in TN.
Many did this several years ago.
This has been largely done by eliminating the "bonus" birds on many WMA's,
never mind that about the time some WMA managers did this,
TWRA responded by increasing the "statewide" limit from 3 to 4.
True, we cannot control Mother Nature.
We also cannot control the fact turkeys move around a lot, often several linear miles in a matter of weeks in a particular county, and one WMA's or landowner's additional protections may be negated by excessive hunting nearby.
We can only control what we can, and from a regulatory standpoint, that is largely how long the season is open, when it starts & ends, and what is the bag limit.