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turkey pop in southern wayne co
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<blockquote data-quote="TheLBLman" data-source="post: 4762847" data-attributes="member: 1409"><p>This is a sudden, huge reduction in biodiversity.</p><p>What you just described has often been the single biggest factor in regional turkey declines ("region" being a part of a county).</p><p></p><p>But by hunter observations, sometimes the immediate decline is not as bad as its appearance.</p><p></p><p>Think about this.</p><p></p><p>Say you had an area of about 50,000 acres, and that area is currently mostly very mixed habitat of mature pines, mature timber, some timber that has been recently select-cut, some young pine parcels. <em>BUT</em>, key is that all the different habitats tend to be 10 to 100 acres in size, and there is somewhat a "checkerboard" pattern of all these different habits closely bordering each other. Every one of these different habitats may exist in <em><u>EACH</u></em> square mile over the 50,000 acres.</p><p></p><p>Now, this 50,000 acres (such as a county portion about 15 miles long x 5 miles wide) might have be supporting an average ongoing population of about 800 adult turkeys, with most of the areas turkey hunters considering the turkey hunting "decent".</p><p></p><p>To add perspective, a county that's 25 miles long x 25 miles wide would contain about 400,000 acres,</p><p>so 50,000 can easily be less than 15% of a county's acreage.</p><p></p><p>But now, come in and clear-cut 25,000 acres in a single homogeneous cut.</p><p>This leaves bare dirt, essentially no cover, on 50% of those particular 50,000 acres referenced.</p><p><strong><u>Where do the turkeys suddenly go that <em>HAD</em> lived there</u>?</strong></p><p></p><p>Well, they are now 2x concentrated on the remaining 25,000 acres of diverse "checkerboard" habitat.</p><p>The area hunters see (and hear) twice as many birds! Hunting is fantastic, birds everywhere, but for how long?</p><p></p><p>During the first 2 or 3 years after the big cut, that big clear-cut may have inadequate cover to protect turkeys from predation, and may actually offer very reduced food sources. Typically, large clear-cuts are sprayed with chemicals that kill everything growing, then a year later, planted in pine seedlings. There can be a 2 or 3 year period of lessened food supply. Worse, once the food supply begins coming back, the turkeys (which may be in the short-term over-populated beyond food sources), begin venture into this big open clear-cut for new food sources, making themselves more vulnerable than ever to predation from raptors, coyotes, etc., as well as human hunters.</p><p></p><p>Sometime, may be a year or two, may be several years, that entire 50,000 acre block is supporting a lot less turkeys than before the big cut. Worse, about the time food & cover may be coming back to the big cut, the other 25,000 acre block gets clear-cut, now leaving less habitat diversity, less food sources, than before the 1st cut.</p><p></p><p>Just but one example of how turkey populations can go from appearing abundant to scarce in only a couple years or so.</p><p></p><p>Imagine further, if during this time frame, longer-range turkey guns come into play, better decoys, low-cost & efficient "pop-up" blinds, plus the TWRA <em>INCREASING</em> the spring turkey limit from 3 to 4 birds. The human hunter kill may remain "stable", maybe even increase, as the turkey population is plummeting.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TheLBLman, post: 4762847, member: 1409"] This is a sudden, huge reduction in biodiversity. What you just described has often been the single biggest factor in regional turkey declines ("region" being a part of a county). But by hunter observations, sometimes the immediate decline is not as bad as its appearance. Think about this. Say you had an area of about 50,000 acres, and that area is currently mostly very mixed habitat of mature pines, mature timber, some timber that has been recently select-cut, some young pine parcels. [i]BUT[/i], key is that all the different habitats tend to be 10 to 100 acres in size, and there is somewhat a "checkerboard" pattern of all these different habits closely bordering each other. Every one of these different habitats may exist in [i][u]EACH[/u][/i] square mile over the 50,000 acres. Now, this 50,000 acres (such as a county portion about 15 miles long x 5 miles wide) might have be supporting an average ongoing population of about 800 adult turkeys, with most of the areas turkey hunters considering the turkey hunting "decent". To add perspective, a county that's 25 miles long x 25 miles wide would contain about 400,000 acres, so 50,000 can easily be less than 15% of a county's acreage. But now, come in and clear-cut 25,000 acres in a single homogeneous cut. This leaves bare dirt, essentially no cover, on 50% of those particular 50,000 acres referenced. [b][u]Where do the turkeys suddenly go that [i]HAD[/i] lived there[/u]?[/b] Well, they are now 2x concentrated on the remaining 25,000 acres of diverse "checkerboard" habitat. The area hunters see (and hear) twice as many birds! Hunting is fantastic, birds everywhere, but for how long? During the first 2 or 3 years after the big cut, that big clear-cut may have inadequate cover to protect turkeys from predation, and may actually offer very reduced food sources. Typically, large clear-cuts are sprayed with chemicals that kill everything growing, then a year later, planted in pine seedlings. There can be a 2 or 3 year period of lessened food supply. Worse, once the food supply begins coming back, the turkeys (which may be in the short-term over-populated beyond food sources), begin venture into this big open clear-cut for new food sources, making themselves more vulnerable than ever to predation from raptors, coyotes, etc., as well as human hunters. Sometime, may be a year or two, may be several years, that entire 50,000 acre block is supporting a lot less turkeys than before the big cut. Worse, about the time food & cover may be coming back to the big cut, the other 25,000 acre block gets clear-cut, now leaving less habitat diversity, less food sources, than before the 1st cut. Just but one example of how turkey populations can go from appearing abundant to scarce in only a couple years or so. Imagine further, if during this time frame, longer-range turkey guns come into play, better decoys, low-cost & efficient "pop-up" blinds, plus the TWRA [i]INCREASING[/i] the spring turkey limit from 3 to 4 birds. The human hunter kill may remain "stable", maybe even increase, as the turkey population is plummeting. [/QUOTE]
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