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today's TFWC Meeting
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<blockquote data-quote="deerfever" data-source="post: 5061461" data-attributes="member: 13434"><p>What gets me is when we have this discussion harvest numbers being steady never mean anything unless it was 2018 when they fell below 30,000. Then some of the same people that said you can't go by harvest numbers are the same ones that pointed harvest numbers out on this forum as the sky is falling in Tn turkey hunting. Go back and look as many of you predicted the 2019 harvest would be 20,000 or below? When we killed over 31,000 in 2019 then there were actually people on this forum that claimed a conspiracy theory and that TWRA had doctored the numbers for some reason. The only thing wrong in 2018 was the weekend weather at the beginning of the season it rained, snowed, wind and everything in between the first few weekends. I have pointed out fact that Ky was down 18 percent that year also. They open later and have the two bird limit that all refer to as the problem solver. Last year we set a record that I have no doubt was impacted by Covid. The later open date has never been proven to do any good in the states that have it with poult production. Andy put out a chart of Missouri look at the data of poults , it's not good . They have a later opening date , stop hunting of the evening, one gobbler the first week. Again if it works why has their poult production not went up? LBL is another example of the later opener not helping at all. Most believe the Dr. Chamberlain observation as fact but at this point it's theory as I understand it. You need to have patience with different studies going on in several states that may prove his theory correct or possibly wrong. You need to realize that some parts of our state as one commissioner mentioned are actually on the rise with turkey population. I have seen , heard and killed turkey in places I never imagined and seen more jakes last year than I care to think about. I had a lease in one county that does not kill big numbers and some on here claim a turkey doesn't exist. I had my doubts even making the 1.5 hour drive the first morning I went only to hear what sounded like the whole mountain side gobbling between my place and surrounding areas. So I guess my point is , you want commission pass laws based off an unproven theory? Because you and your buddy don't hear as many? But don't look at 20 years of steady harvest data as anything to go by? Again we berate the commission over everything they do but what other state has had 20 years of steady harvest data? . I had a conversation with one of the commissioners about two weeks ago ,It may not do a bit of good but it made me feel better. He was nice and I expressed my opinions . Again I believe the 3 bird limit will be fine . Ban Gobbler decoys( could care less about hens decoys, they do more harm than good) ,ban fans, kill 0 hens ,no jakes and more liberal trapping of nest predators . These are things that can guarantee more turkey will survive to the next year not a theory but a fact. Some will say, But people will hunt with gobbler decoys anyway if a law is passed. I guarantee that most everyone would comply and especially on public land where they know all it takes now days is a cell phone and an agent can be notified of a gobbler decoy toting bandit in a moments notice. The logic of no one will follow the rules would be like me saying if they set the season back two weeks people will hunt them on the normal opening date anyway so what is the point of doing it. There will always be lawbreakers no matter what you do but does not mean laws that we know would help our turkey population should not be passed. Tn has a section that is opening two weeks later and a two bird limit , why not study this and see if it this helps before changing the whole state ? Heck give us some counties or WMAs with no decoys or fans and no jake killing and let's see if that helps after a couple years. Let's see what works best and then do it for all of us ! Again I respect each of the opinions and realize how passionate most of us on here are about TN and turkey hunting . We all just need to realize that opinions on how to accomplish what is best for all of us will vary because different sections of the state are seeing various levels of turkey population decline or increase. If some of the things being studied are proven true then I will jump on board as an avid turkey hunter for 38 years! If they are not then why not move in the direction that I am suggesting? In the end we all want what is best for the future of turkey hunting!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="deerfever, post: 5061461, member: 13434"] What gets me is when we have this discussion harvest numbers being steady never mean anything unless it was 2018 when they fell below 30,000. Then some of the same people that said you can't go by harvest numbers are the same ones that pointed harvest numbers out on this forum as the sky is falling in Tn turkey hunting. Go back and look as many of you predicted the 2019 harvest would be 20,000 or below? When we killed over 31,000 in 2019 then there were actually people on this forum that claimed a conspiracy theory and that TWRA had doctored the numbers for some reason. The only thing wrong in 2018 was the weekend weather at the beginning of the season it rained, snowed, wind and everything in between the first few weekends. I have pointed out fact that Ky was down 18 percent that year also. They open later and have the two bird limit that all refer to as the problem solver. Last year we set a record that I have no doubt was impacted by Covid. The later open date has never been proven to do any good in the states that have it with poult production. Andy put out a chart of Missouri look at the data of poults , it's not good . They have a later opening date , stop hunting of the evening, one gobbler the first week. Again if it works why has their poult production not went up? LBL is another example of the later opener not helping at all. Most believe the Dr. Chamberlain observation as fact but at this point it's theory as I understand it. You need to have patience with different studies going on in several states that may prove his theory correct or possibly wrong. You need to realize that some parts of our state as one commissioner mentioned are actually on the rise with turkey population. I have seen , heard and killed turkey in places I never imagined and seen more jakes last year than I care to think about. I had a lease in one county that does not kill big numbers and some on here claim a turkey doesn't exist. I had my doubts even making the 1.5 hour drive the first morning I went only to hear what sounded like the whole mountain side gobbling between my place and surrounding areas. So I guess my point is , you want commission pass laws based off an unproven theory? Because you and your buddy don't hear as many? But don't look at 20 years of steady harvest data as anything to go by? Again we berate the commission over everything they do but what other state has had 20 years of steady harvest data? . I had a conversation with one of the commissioners about two weeks ago ,It may not do a bit of good but it made me feel better. He was nice and I expressed my opinions . Again I believe the 3 bird limit will be fine . Ban Gobbler decoys( could care less about hens decoys, they do more harm than good) ,ban fans, kill 0 hens ,no jakes and more liberal trapping of nest predators . These are things that can guarantee more turkey will survive to the next year not a theory but a fact. Some will say, But people will hunt with gobbler decoys anyway if a law is passed. I guarantee that most everyone would comply and especially on public land where they know all it takes now days is a cell phone and an agent can be notified of a gobbler decoy toting bandit in a moments notice. The logic of no one will follow the rules would be like me saying if they set the season back two weeks people will hunt them on the normal opening date anyway so what is the point of doing it. There will always be lawbreakers no matter what you do but does not mean laws that we know would help our turkey population should not be passed. Tn has a section that is opening two weeks later and a two bird limit , why not study this and see if it this helps before changing the whole state ? Heck give us some counties or WMAs with no decoys or fans and no jake killing and let's see if that helps after a couple years. Let's see what works best and then do it for all of us ! Again I respect each of the opinions and realize how passionate most of us on here are about TN and turkey hunting . We all just need to realize that opinions on how to accomplish what is best for all of us will vary because different sections of the state are seeing various levels of turkey population decline or increase. If some of the things being studied are proven true then I will jump on board as an avid turkey hunter for 38 years! If they are not then why not move in the direction that I am suggesting? In the end we all want what is best for the future of turkey hunting! [/QUOTE]
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