Turkey Season

TN G.O.A.T Hunter

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2021
Messages
83
Location
Rockcastle
Not what it should be or once was but still have birds, changing the season and bag limits will do nothing for poult recruitment which is the problem. 12 hatch 10 get eat by every bird of prey flying just aint gonna work
Yeah I see that too, last 2 yrs I have seen one poult make it through the yr, I almost think they aren't hatching in my area cause never see a hen with many poults or maybe something is getting them out of the nest. Used to be common thing to see hens with 6 to 8 apiece
 

REN

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
9,236
Location
Wilson County, TN
personally dont like the delay in the season but thats more a selfish reason. Ill wait to pass judgment after next year, I think the VERY early spring this year is part of the reason I just didnt care for the later start.
 

th88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2015
Messages
439
I didn't get to hunt TN this year due to the delay and other trips, but have been tracking the harvest data for public lands pretty closely. Looks like there will be a lot better carryover on public lands.

  • The 1 bird first 2 week rule appeared to definitely alleviate substantial early harvest on WMAs. And total harvest on one WMA.
  • New WMA Draw hunts drastically reduced harvest on those WMAs. They should have made those new draws just for the month of April, and left it wide open in May. Too much loss of opportunity for locals!!! Definitely going to be great carryover on those WMAs.
  • Several WMAs in general down in harvest, but prior years harvest data shows there should have been plenty of 2 year olds.
I believe a lot of non-residents chose to hunt KY public lands rather than TN's since they opened at same time. I also believe the early'ish green saved more public land birds.

Interesting to see this play out, but it comes at a big cost. Loss of opportunity.
 

Southern Sportsman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2011
Messages
3,303
Location
West TN
I'm a fan. Had a great season. Killed one on private and one on public. Called in a respectable number of birds in total. My son had an opportunity at his first and my wife killed her first.

The delay and limit reduction are not silver bullet solutions to every problem turkeys are facing, but it damn sure won't hurt.
 

Remington700

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2016
Messages
2,341
Location
West TN
I did not like it when the change occurred. I have had a successful season and so have my kids. Then again I love turkey hunting and as long as I get to go I'm good. 😂
 

30-06 type of guy

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
583
Location
Columbia/hardin co
It wouldn't bother me one bit if it stayed the same. I hunt public and only ran into one other hunter before tagging out which was nice. One of the wmas is a 1 bird for the first 14 days so i think that kind of helped the pressure at least where I was at. I heard at least 2 birds on roost every hunt but either the river, property lines or hens got in the way at times. The only negative thing I could say was that some fields were too high but I ended up tagging out in one of them anyways.
 

Harold Money jr

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2007
Messages
822
Location
East Tennessee
It was a super weird year for me and mine on our land. There was about 8 gobblers roosting on our 100ac with double that on the two neighbors lands. We heard a fair amount of roost gobbling but, practically none on the ground. Birds were very quiet especially the hens. I saw early turkey nests and several hens separated from the flocks acting like they had a nest nearby all season. There were 4, 2 year olds running together at the beginning of the season, two were hit and lost with long range TSS sniping, there was 2 left when they came walking by me at 20yds. Now there's 1. Another was snuck up on and killed. There was still 6 hens running with gobblers as of last Saturday.
We'll see what the future holds, I had lots of quiet non-working turkeys which makes for a bitter sweet year.
 

Stumpsitter

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2020
Messages
359
Location
Socumos
I like the delay. The earlier green up had a lot of people complaining, I think.
There was a hen with 11 poults saw on my property last Friday. I know that alot of people are starting to see multiple gobblers together as of last week saying it's done.
Yet, my son killed his first last Saturday (that was with 3 hens) and I heard 1 gobble yesterday evening getting out of my work truck. I don't know if they are done or not.
Don't matter to me , I'll hunt to the last day as always . Because, you never know what next year may bring.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2956.jpeg
    IMG_2956.jpeg
    475.5 KB · Views: 33

megalomaniac

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2005
Messages
14,594
Location
Mississippi
LOVED it. Mostly for selfish reasons, hunting upreessured birds when they are most vulnerable mid April made for some incredible hunts. For my unselfish reasons (allowing toms to mate before being killed), I sure hope it helps with poult recruitment, but really don't think it will make a difference on well managed properties.

I may also love having the season extended to the end of the month. This will be the latest I've ever gotten to turkey hunt. Looking forward to next weekend!
 

Latest posts

Top