Southern TN
- Thread starter trkhunter
- Start date
I killed one in Giles. I know of several killed in Lawrence.
We have killed three in Giles. Giles started two weeks late and is still #4 in the state for harvest count as of right now.
Yes , seems strange to me that supposedly these counties need studied for lack of turkeys but everyone of them killed more turkeys in two days than my county has all season, Lol. I noticed last year some of them are around the top in kill for the state of Tn . Looks like we are over 25,000 birds for the season with statewide and WMA kill. Glad you guys got to get in the woods this weekend!
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- Jun 4, 2020
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I think the delay is to allow for more breeding prior to opening day. Then when hens are on nest, the toms gobble more and like to commit suicide by shotgun. Goal is more babies to adult age I suspect.
Yes, it's the Chamberlain theory! Those counties were originally part of a study because of turkey decline. Even last year before the late start date some of them were tops in the state. They put them in the late start date I assume because they had already gathered 3 or 4 years of information on them and now they could also add a late start date to their information and make decisions based off what they gather
AT Hiker
Well-Known Member
Missouri came before Chamberlain.
woodsman04
Well-Known Member
I see what your saying. But down here it just ain't near what it used to be. Especially Lawrence. Went from the best to one of the worst in an instant and hasn't came back. Wayne struggling, Lincoln below fair but not Lawrence bad. . Giles is only good in the northern half.
woodsman04
Well-Known Member
I noticed it in 2007 that they were gone. That was when no one believed in the decline.
Where do you find the harvest report?
Harvest Reports by Animal | Hunter's Toolbox | Go Outdoors Tennessee
hunterstoolbox.gooutdoorstennessee.com
Very good point.
We've killed 6 so far in Wayne county. Sunday morning was quite, but Sat & Mon was as good as it gets. Had a buddy from FL with me yesterday & he said that he hadn't heard that much gobbling from one spot in 20 yrs. Didn't get to hunt this morning but will get back after it tomorrow. Oh, covered up with Jakes too!
Great to hear.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Amazing... opening season 2 weeks later didn't hurt the hunting one bit, yet still allowed most hens to be bred before the toms were removed.
It also helps sell more non resident licenses. Me and my friend both bought licenses to take advantage of "fresh" birds. And ran into other non residents as well.
The late opening season sucks. Yes it hurt my season. Are their still turkeys to kill? Sure. Is it 1/2 as good as old times. Nope. My self enjoy hunting turkeys that gobble. All day in years past. Now if it's past 7 am you can forget it. If yawl want to hunt later in the year then have it. Me? Personally don't care for it. I would much rather the limit be dropped to 1 than move season back. Just my opinion. Just my opinion.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
I just don't get your turkeys muddyboots. They are the only turkeys in the country that only gobble before hens are bred, then don't say a word after peak nest initiation.
Everywhere else in the country, the most intense gobbling (in those places gobblers haven't already been killed) are right after hens initiate nests and start laying. Coincidentally, those gobbling toms are also those toms most likely to come to a call. There's a reason the biggest and most dominant toms are killed at the end of the season (unless cheaters kill them with strutter decoys early).
Opening season statewide 2 weeks later will be a BOON for everyone except for you when it comes to the quality of hunting, and would be an even bigger boon to the turkeys themselves.
The alternative is a 1 bird per year limit. Kill his ass when every you want, however you want. .. but your done once you killed one till Jan 1 2022. I'm fine if the state let's you kill a single gobbling turkey in January and you put up the gun.
Something isn't right with your habitat if your birds ony gobble early season with no hunting pressure. Hens must be leaving your place when it's time to nest and pulling toms with them to other properties or there are no toms left on the flock if there is no gobbling mid April.
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
As a biologist, what's your opinion of delaying season opening by 2 weeks to allow more hens to be bred? From a hunting standpoint, its great, I get that... but do you think it makes a difference which week we kill 66% of our statewide harvest biologically?
Unlike a bunch of folks, me and many other biologists don't fully bite into Chamberlain's theory. Key word being THEORY. This is not science based evidence he is spouting and many states are hopping on this popular bandwagon of changing seasons and taking away opportunity. Opportunity that will very likely not be given back. If pushing back season helped so much, Arkansas should be in much better shape than it is now! I've hunted MO for 15 years and the region I spend the most time in has half or maybe even less than half of the birds it did just 5 years ago. It's a function of mother nature, habitat, and the natural ups and downs of turkey populations. And on this topic, reducing the limit by a bird will have little to no noticeable effect on overall turkey numbers. More of a liberal approach to hunting: "You can't kill another bird to save one for this less experienced hunter, everyone deserves a turkey!"
One more thing. The delayed opener in the Middle TN counties happened to fall on a season where there are a good many 2 year olds. I track harvest data and the Jake harvests for 2020 in some of these counties was well above the 5 year running average. From this alone I knew 2021 would be better in a certain area. But people will jump the gun and try to contribute the good aeason/harvest to the later opener when it fact the 2019 hatch is the cause, not season changes. We saw the same thing last year in some southeastern states when folks tried blaming COVID for high harvests and ignored the fact there were more 2 year olds on the landscape in many areas than there had been in quiet a while. Even Chamberlain ignored this fact when he published that white paper of COVID's impacts on turkey.
I could go on, but I think you can see where I stand from the above.
