Turkey Season Dates Matter?

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Interesting. When it opens doesn't matter to me at all. Glad they are/were trying to do something.

Of course habitat is always number one. Then trapping. But you can go through threads in the turkey in especially some recent ones in the deer threads and see that there's a pile of people that want results with no work. Until that's fixed we will have problems.

Also farming fence to fence is also an issue as a farmer, while we dont do that, that's not getting fixed anytime soon. The other thing I don't agree with is the lack of hunters I don't see that at all.

Also how many gobblers die because of decoys, that would never die because of them? If the baiting bill gets passed how is that regulated?

Something not talked about a lot is on our ground we managed it to the best of our ability. How well are the wmas being managed? Are they burning? Trapping? Cutting trees?

It all has to go together regardless of when it's open and closes.
 
scn said:
Yeah, it is just a coincidence that hunters in several areas of the state are reporting more birds than they have had in the last decade....................
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Yes it is, the weather the last three junes and julys have had way more to do with it than a season date! We had an early opener for twenty five years while the population exploded
 
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Yes Dr Harpers study backed this up. The commission wanted to give it more time before they moved it back like the study recommended. No doubt we had a great hatch BEFORE the push back was implemented. 2023 not a good hatch and 2024 seemed better. I don't think it had anything to do with season dates though but mostly due to cicadas.
 
knightrider said:
Yes it is, the weather the last three junes and julys have had way more to do with it than a season date! We had an early opener for twenty five years while the population exploded
Click to expand...
Nobody has ever given me a reasonable answer/excuse on how not hunting the birds while they are doing some of their major breeding could HURT the turkey population. I just hear a bunch of whining that it isn't as good for the hunters.

I miss the earlier opening dates as well. However, I will defer to trying to help our turkey flock that was circling the bowl in a lot of places.
 
scn said:
Nobody has ever given me a reasonable answer/excuse on how not hunting the birds while they are doing some of their major breeding could HURT the turkey population. I just hear a bunch of whining that it isn't as good for the hunters.

I miss the earlier opening dates as well. However, I will defer to trying to help our turkey flock that was circling the bowl in a lot of places.
Click to expand...

Not hunting definitely not hurting but when the data shows it doesn't help either meeting in the middle is not an unreasonable ask...
 
scn said:
Yeah, it is just a coincidence that hunters in several areas of the state are reporting more birds than they have had in the last decade....................
Click to expand...
Just like its coincidence Mississippi made zero changes and has saw just as good, if not better reproduction and bird number rebounds than some states that did push their season back.
 
scn said:
Nobody has ever given me a reasonable answer/excuse on how not hunting the birds while they are doing some of their major breeding could HURT the turkey population. I just hear a bunch of whining that it isn't as good for the hunters.

I miss the earlier opening dates as well. However, I will defer to trying to help our turkey flock that was circling the bowl in a lot of places.
Click to expand...
Their will be no answer to what disease hit them, 2021 fall they were there, 2022 spring they were gone. There was no gradual decline here what so ever. If the push back doesnt help than there is no biological reason for it
 
scn said:
Nobody has ever given me a reasonable answer/excuse on how not hunting the birds while they are doing some of their major breeding could HURT the turkey population. I just hear a bunch of whining that it isn't as good for the hunters.

I miss the earlier opening dates as well. However, I will defer to trying to help our turkey flock that was circling the bowl in a lot of places.
Click to expand...
Yes sir!
 
knightrider said:
Their will be no answer to what disease hit them, 2021 fall they were there, 2022 spring they were gone. There was no gradual decline here what so ever. If the push back doesnt help than there is no biological reason for it
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That may be the case for your birds. For mine, it was a gradual decline over several years. It was not a disease issue.

I will continue to defer to the birds over some easier hunting.
 
scn said:
That may be the case for your birds. For mine, it was a gradual decline over several years. It was not a disease issue.
Click to expand...
Our birds at our giles County farm seem to disappear over a 2 year period. In maury, marshall and Hickman County gradually. Don't have our giles County farm anymore so unsure what it's like now. But it was unbelievable at the time what it was to when we stopped turkey hunting it. Almost apocalyptic.
 
scn said:
That may be the case for your birds. For mine, it was a gradual decline over several years. It was not a disease issue.

I will continue to defer to the birds over some easier hunting.
Click to expand...
If no biological reason than no reason for it, how is competing with all his ladies in wide open dead woods easier than hens sitting on nest calling in lonely horny gobblers in may? Im
 
knightrider said:
If no biological reason than no reason for it, how is competing with all his ladies in wide open dead woods easier than hens sitting on nest calling in lonely horny gobblers in may? Im
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I was more referring to better hunting conditions for hunters than ease of calling a bird in. Early season can be tough with all of hens around. I suspect there are a bunch of folks that give it up well be before the season ends when the temps start hitting 90. I would rather hunt in the snow early than deal with the late season heat, ticks and snakes.
 
deerhunter10 said:
Our birds at our giles County farm seem to disappear over a 2 year period. In maury, marshall and Hickman County gradually. Don't have our giles County farm anymore so unsure what it's like now. But it was unbelievable at the time what it was to when we stopped turkey hunting it. Almost apocalyptic.
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My place around here is loaded with birds . I'm looking at a farm in Giles now and it looks good as well. Been all over it twice now over the last month and numbers seem to look good there too.
 
scn said:
I was more referring to better hunting conditions for hunters than ease of calling a bird in. Early season can be tough with all of hens around. I suspect there are a bunch of folks that give it up well be before the season ends when the temps start hitting 90. I would rather hunt in the snow early than deal with the late season heat, ticks and snakes.
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I love the open harwoods , no green up, just me a mouthcall and a shotgun trying to avoid the eyes of his ladies , with a cold snap to the air and a gobble across the knob!
 
knightrider said:
I love the open harwoods , no green up, just me a mouthcall and a shotgun trying to avoid the eyes of his ladies , with a cold snap to the air and a gobble across the knob!
Click to expand...

SAME, was just something I really loved about those COOL CRISP mornings and very little green up. Made some days really tough but there was just something about it that I still yearn for.
 
deerhunter10 said:
Our birds at our giles County farm seem to disappear over a 2 year period. In maury, marshall and Hickman County gradually. Don't have our giles County farm anymore so unsure what it's like now. But it was unbelievable at the time what it was to when we stopped turkey hunting it. Almost apocalyptic.
Click to expand...

I wish they could figure this out. Disease is the only logical explanation.
 
REN said:
SAME, was just something I really loved about those COOL CRISP mornings and very little green up. Made some days really tough but there was just something about it that I still yearn for.
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It was my absolute favorite time. Also, my property always held birds early in the year and tailed off as the season went on.
 
Dr. Harper's study as mentioned above in the video was very detailed and seen no benefits to the pushback. We are now seeing nonresidents from the South of us instead of the North. They kill out then come here instead of driving to Kentucky. Ran into some myself last season, so the non resident argument for opening later seems to be a wash..( if you do not want non residents opening weekend make rules/quotas like other states have) Several states in the South had a decline in the same period that open early and late,.now several have seen great hatches that open early and later. Common factor seems to be the weather throughout the south during this good 3/4 year run. The 22 hatch here in TN as well as Mississippi which opens mid March was one of the best on record and neither had a delay. Seems to me weather, predators and habitat are the biggest known factors.
 

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