Your Thoughts On Season Start Date!

[TheLBLman]

I have always believed it should be reciprocal.
Non-res should pay exactly what Tennesseans pay as non-res in their home state. Cumulative.
Total cost for equivalent licensing

That can work well with two neighboring states like TN & KY.

But don't see a state like Wyoming reciprocating with TN or KY.
Wyoming basically has nothing to lose and everything to gain with their high fees,
so long as hunters keep paying them (which I predict they will not).

Wyoming has relatively few residents.
About as many people live in Louisville, KY as the entire state of Wyoming?
And, what's the odds any Wyoming resident desires to come hunt in TN or KY?
We go there, but they don't come.

So until hunters stop paying their outlandish fees,
they will continue to charge them.

From one, albeit a bit biased perhaps, perspective, many western states like Wyoming are exploiting non-resident hunters, whereas TN has been exploiting resident hunters (regarding how season dates were set, and fees accessed to non-residents vs residents).
TN's 2-week delay in opening turkey season went a long way to alleviate this issue.

 

[deerfever]

Lookie what I stumbled upon. A recently published thesis (Dec. 2023) from the TN study. Link below:

https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=10876&&context=utk_gradthes&sei-redir=1&referer=https%253A%252F%252Fscholar.google.com%252Fscholar%25

Abstract:

Thanks for posting! Now that is a detailed report! Looks like basically hundreds of hens collared, studied and absolutely no difference in reproductive benefits of two week delay but less gobbling heard with delay, that's interesting.

 

[megalomaniac]

Lookie what I stumbled upon. A recently published thesis (Dec. 2023) from the TN study. Link below:

https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=10876&&context=utk_gradthes&sei-redir=1&referer=https%253A%252F%252Fscholar.google.com%252Fscholar%25

Abstract:

I stopped reading after the quote 'potential population decline'

If the study authors cannot realize (or admit) the population has declined in TN (as well as most other SE states), you are so full of selection bias it isn't worth my time to read.

 

[Popcorn]

I folded after "it takes a village"
Most of the detail ( and there is a ton of mind numbing detail) based on controls after the decline was established. I also noted hunter response was voluntary and not controlled.
I'll accept that he found no change related during his study. I can see plenty justification for the current start dates to remain.

 

[Wooden Arrow]

I know of people that don't even take a call with them much less know of to use them.

scratching in the leaves kills birds every year, lol. i've had birds bust me while i was clearing a spot to sit down... dang turkeys!

 

[TheLBLman]

Most of the detail ( and there is a ton of mind numbing detail) based on controls after the decline was established.

Something else to think about:

Once the population was already WAY down, many just stopped turkey hunting. So one might deduct some of the study's indifference could be attributed to the simply lack of turkey hunting coinciding with the study (as compared to a much larger amount of turkey hunting before the study).

 

[younggun308]

Alright, e-mail your commissioners if you want to swat away the populist approach to game management!

 

[MidTennFisher]

At first I thought it made a lot of sense and we've been pushing for the same thing here. Now I'm starting to doubt as I've read more, especially on here, about it really not having much effect on breeding success.

Here our statewide poult recruitment is 22%, pretty poor. In a study site known as the SRS (Savannah River Site) they are getting about 35%. So that tells me that with no hunting at all we still aren't hitting optimal numbers and that our hunting isn't having much of an effect.

There is no predator control, no burning, no habitat improvement at this site. Nothing. Just no hunting. So from that I really can't conclude that delaying the opener is going to have much of an effect. But the later start date will keep a lot of NC hunters out of here, so I'm cool with that. Being the state with the earliest opener in a region is never good. Too much OOS pressure.

 

[deerfever]

Something else to think about:

Once the population was already WAY down, many just stopped turkey hunting. So one might deduct some of the study's indifference could be attributed to the simply lack of turkey hunting coinciding with the study (as compared to a much larger amount of turkey hunting before the study).

You are grasping here , turkey hunting numbers have absolutely increased every year since I have been going . Especially since the you tube craze has started. Maybe I misunderstood you but are you saying less people are turkey hunting, so it skewed the study?

 

[TheLBLman]

Maybe I misunderstood you but are you saying less people are turkey hunting, so it skewed the study?

Yes, in areas where turkey populations have plummeted, lots of people quit turkey hunting in those areas. They don't necessarily quit turkey hunting, but instead seek greener pastures.

Whether we're talking deer or turkeys, when hunters see a lot of game, they're more likely to hunt more days, and hunt harder each day. When they see very little, they often go home sooner, and are "done" for the year.

 

[TITANSFAN2104]

These new dates are ridiculous, and based off horsesh#t theories. This is not Maine, nor is it Mississippi. Season was set up fine the way the original "biologists" planned it. Majority of adult Hens are bred, for the first time, well before the first weekend in April, all across the state of Tn, including the mountains. Part of the experience for me, like others have stated, is seeing the woods progress into Spring as I hunt each week. I will admit, I enjoy hunting till the end of May, but would be fine if it went back to the original season structure. Gobblers that have survived thru the second weekend in May, here in the mid South, deserve the rest of late Spring, into early Summer, to continue the breeding of unbred, willing Hens without disturbance.

We can agree here....

 

[Wooden Arrow]

When they see very little, they often go home sooner, and are "done" for the year.

or HEAR dang near nothing. i hate "deer hunting" for turkeys. i admit, putting a blind in a scouted out spot is a good way to kill a bird, but i absolutely detest it, not gonna go there. it's the chess match with gobblers that i enjoy. just hearing one hammering in pre-dawn darkness makes my neck hair stand up...

 

[TheLBLman]

Anytime the spring harvest goes either up, this may be as much a reflection of hunters collectively hunting more days, hunting harder each day, as much as it's a reflection of the turkey population being higher.

Conversely, anytime the spring harvest goes down, this can be as much a reflection of hunters collectively hunting fewer days, giving up sooner each day, as much as it's a reflection of the turkey population being lower.

While this is actually somewhat a bit of hunters self-regulating (hunt less when fewer birds), it's still just one of many factors effecting ongoing turkey populations. Hunters hunting less help low populations recovery, hunters hunting more (as populations increase) may slow population recoveries.

 

[Dirtcop]

I'm good with the later opening. The last few years I seen fewer and fewer birds. Didn't get one last year but had the chance (borderline) at one first part of May. Didn't take the shot. One bird limit? Bring it on and death to the ground nesting predators. Whenever it opens me and my trusty 410 will be there.

 

[Bgoodman30]

Anytime the spring harvest goes either up, this may be as much a reflection of hunters collectively hunting more days, hunting harder each day, as much as it's a reflection of the turkey population being higher.

Conversely, anytime the spring harvest goes down, this can be as much a reflection of hunters collectively hunting fewer days, giving up sooner each day, as much as it's a reflection of the turkey population being lower.

While this is actually somewhat a bit of hunters self-regulating (hunt less when fewer birds), it's still just one of many factors effecting ongoing turkey populations. Hunters hunting less help low populations recovery, hunters hunting more (as populations increase) may slow population recoveries.

I definitely hunt harder when I have less success. Maybe that's me just getting frustrated.. If I kill one off the roost I am at the house by 8. Same for duck hunters which is one of the biggest issues hurting duck hunting today. Folks rarely kill their limits by 9 anymore so instead they hunt all day..

 

[knightrider]

I definitely hunt harder when I have less success. Maybe that's me just getting frustrated.. If I kill one off the roost I am at the house by 8. Same for duck hunters which is one of the biggest issues hurting duck hunting today. Folks rarely kill their limits by 9 anymore so instead they hunt all day..

I hunt from daylight to dark or until one comes gobbling in!! Im out there atleast 4 days a week every week till it closes or i run out of folks to take!!!

 

[TheLBLman]

I hunt from daylight to dark or until one comes gobbling in!! Im out there atleast 4 days a week every week till it closes or i run out of folks to take!!!

But you guys are not "average" turkey hunters.

 

[knightrider]

But you guys are not "average" turkey hunters.

You could say we are a little obsessed

 

[Bell3wv]

More controversy...look at the date on this picture. If this hen just laid these when I jumped her (if), go back 28 days for the gestation period. They started really early in 2020.

 

[Bullfrog]

Some of the folks who have commented that the birds are just done, where they are...I have to ask if you are married to the same small parcel every time you go hunt?