No decoys in AL first 10 days

[elknturkey]

With regulation changes in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, you can expect Tennessee to get absolutely raped by nonresidents worse than it ever had before. May as well get used to it though, as they will never change regulations to discourage it.

I doubt it but that's because I don't see how they can kill 40k+ birds like last year. Not as many sitting around getting paid for doing nothing like last year either. 2021 was an anomaly I hope and from reading multiple other state forums and from my experience it was a mad house no matter where you went. With that said, people might as well get use to the crowds. Gotta love social media and the YouTube stars

 

[Rockhound]

I doubt it but that's because I don't see how they can kill 40k+ birds like last year. Not as many sitting around getting paid for doing nothing like last year either. 2021 was an anomaly I hope and from reading multiple other state forums and from my experience it was a mad house no matter where you went. With that said, people might as well get use to the crowds. Gotta love social media and the YouTube stars

I dont doubt it at all! All of them made specific regulations to deter early nonresident hunters. We did not.

 

[elknturkey]

I dont doubt it at all! All of them made specific regulations to deter early nonresident hunters. We did not.

I misread your post as in raping it by the number of kills. It's possible there will be more hunters but again there was a ton of people getting paid to sit around last year that had the time and resources. I don't see that this year. Plus TN is opening April 2 and all 3 of the states you mentioned still open before us or the same time (even nonresidents hunting in Mississippi)

 

[catman529]

Whole lotta jumping to conclusions and Debbie downers in here. Alabama and Tennessee both have plenty of turkeys. Alabama opens earlier than most states, so they changed the rules for WMAs and national forest to ease off on the public hunting pressure. We will see how it goes, I think only time will tell.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

Time has already told me that the state needs to start being more proactive in their turkey management and less reactive.

 

[TheLBLman]

Time has already told me that the state needs to start being more proactive in their turkey management and less reactive.

x 2

 

[Rockhound]

Whole lotta jumping to conclusions and Debbie downers in here. Alabama and Tennessee both have plenty of turkeys. Alabama opens earlier than most states, so they changed the rules for WMAs and national forest to ease off on the public hunting pressure. We will see how it goes, I think only time will tell.

Im not a debbie downer, I've actually, seen populations go to nothing in places with huge numbers. You have not experienced it, it's a real eye opener, and the state will not jump to help when it happens.

 

[AT Hiker]

Even ol THP has joined the dark side of "turkey declines".

 

[deerhunter10]

I would not say plenty of turkeys. Numbers are way down compared to 10 years ago even 5 years ago. Ask the people in Giles Lawrence Wayne and Lincoln County. Used to hunt Giles County 12ish years ago and it was the place to be now there Is hardly any birds. And them putting numbers out is stupid maury was number one last year and down from the year before but the first stop up i65 from Alabama is yanahlli. And our out of state license is cheap very cheap compared to all the states I've been to.

 

[cm1021]

I would not say plenty of turkeys. Numbers are way down compared to 10 years ago even 5 years ago. Ask the people in Giles Lawrence Wayne and Lincoln County. Used to hunt Giles County 12ish years ago and it was the place to be now there Is hardly any birds. And them putting numbers out is stupid maury was number one last year and down from the year before but the first stop up i65 from Alabama is yanahlli. And our out of state license is cheap very cheap compared to all the states I've been to.

That's another problem I think you touched on. Out of state license fees! Why are they so dang cheap yet we pay stupid money for sportsman license?? TN needs to upper out of state license fees to help curb the influx!! But you and I know they're not going to do that!

Field and stream actually picked up the piece that was put out on TN PAYING THP to promote hunting last year. I think it's good that it's getting national attention. I also think certain positions in the TWRA should be voted into office. If you buy a hunting license, you get a vote. Let people run for the position. Maybe it wouldn't be so screwed up!!

 

[megalomaniac]

It costs me over $300 each for an annual license for my son and daughter to hunt land we own in TN. In another couple years when my youngest is 17, it will cost me $1000 a year for my kids to hunt our own land.

That's not cheap to me.

Most other states I've hunted are cheaper for NRs than TN... by a large margin

 

[deerhunter10]

It costs me over $300 each for an annual license for my son and daughter to hunt land we own in TN. In another couple years when my youngest is 17, it will cost me $1000 a year for my kids to hunt our own land.

That's not cheap to me.

Most other states I've hunted are cheaper for NRs than TN... by a large margin

Not my experience may have changed but it was way higher when I went to Kentucky and very expensive in Illinois and when I went to Canada it was high way robbery. Just my experience. Not to mention you don't have to buy a license to hunt your own land and neither does you daughters.

 

[Buzzard Breath]

"A question we get asked all the time at THP is which state is our favorite to hunt… For turkeys, hunting Easterns, Tennessee is really hard to beat. If you're looking to travel to hunt anywhere, you ought to look into Tennessee."

As Southeastern Sportsmen Face Dwindling Turkey Numbers, Should States Be Courting Nonresident Hunters?

As turkey populations decline across the Southeast, should state agencies promote nonresident hunting opportunities?

www.fieldandstream.com

 

[megalomaniac]

Not my experience may have changed but it was way higher when I went to Kentucky and very expensive in Illinois and when I went to Canada it was high way robbery. Just my experience. Not to mention you don't have to buy a license to hunt your own land and neither does you daughters.

TN nonresident turkey... $305 for annual, $214.50 for 7d

KY nonresident turkey... $235 (150 for license, 85 for tags)

Florida nonresident... $170.50 (46.50 for 10d license , 125 for tag)

All the western states average $125 for nonresident turkey if you take out AZ.

Maine nonresident turkey $135 (115 for license, 20 for turkey permit)

Massassusetts $108 (98 for license and 10 for permit)

TN is actually one of the most expensive states for NR to hunt turkeys in the country.

AND to top it off, nonresident landowners who pay property taxes to the state of TN STILL have to pay the extremely high nonresident rates. AND EVEN WORSE nonresident juveniles had to pay the full adult rates to hunt their own land in TN until a few years ago (I petitioned the state and wildlife dept so many times about this one, since virtually every other state in the US gives a discount to nonresident juveniles) thank goodness this was finally changed.

 

[megalomaniac]

Oh, and you HAVE to buy a license in TN even hunting your own land if you are a nonresident.

I bought my lifetime TN license decades ago back when it was $1200 just before I moved to MS. Saved a fortune doing that.

 

[catman529]

Lifetime sportsman license was definitely one of my better investments I've made. I have no plans of leaving the state, but if I did, I'd still have my license to hunt here. Also it's half way paid for itself, few more years and it's evened out.

One of y'all mentioned Giles county turkey numbers being down. That would be more specifically southern Giles county, along with southern Lincoln, Lawrence and Wayne counties, which are all part of the MAV unit as of spring 2021, and have been part of the ongoing study on nesting and poult recruitment to try and figure out what's going on. I will say though, Giles is still one of the top producing counties in Tennessee every spring, even with the lower half lacking in turkey numbers for years. Declines are mostly localized to certain areas and there's a lot of unanswered questions as to why.

Turkeys for Tomorrow just posted a video on their Instagram today explaining how they started and what their mission is, I think they explained it a lot better than I could.

 

[Gobble4me757]

Screw chuck sykes and the cab…a lot of us Bama boys are pissed with the regulations. I don't use decoys so that doesn't apply to me but the whole pushing the season back and all is garbage

 

[catman529]

Screw chuck sykes and the cab…a lot of us Bama boys are pissed with the regulations. I don't use decoys so that doesn't apply to me but the whole pushing the season back and all is garbage

Why?

 

[megalomaniac]

Back to decoys... I caught one of the members on my lease hunting this morning on trail camera

LOVE these food plot campers who keep my membership costs down!

 

[Andy S.]

^^^ Was he wanting to kill one on film for you to see? His setup almost looks staged.