2019 Turkey Season: 2 bird limit, 2 weeks shorter

[Garnto88]

21 gobblers All 3 year olds??

 

[meatseeker]

21 gobblers All 3 year olds??

Yep. I have been watching em for Several years. Countless videos. I haven’t killed any here in several years. Just like watching em anymore. Only seen a handful of hens this year. Had a big gang of hens up till a couple years ago. Can’t speak for other areas but the hens are disappearing at a high rate. Maybe they are getting killed on the nest. Only seen a couple of poults the last 2 years. Only reason the gobblers were here is I haven’t killed them. And property around me gets hunted very little.

 

[tknight]

Just an observation and thought. Does anyone think that something is killing the hens and not the gobblers?
Seems wierd but here at my house the turkey numbers are as high as they’ve ever been. (18 years I’ve been here,
200 acres)
..... but the gobblers outnumber the hens easily 6 to 1 for
The last few years. Where it used to be the other way around. All I see is gobblers anymore. Sounds like a hunters dream but you gotta have hens. Now maybe the hens just don’t come on this property much. But another place I hunt it seems to be the same way. This has been my observations the last few years and this is all four seasons.
Anyway, reckon there could be something causing a high mortality rate in hens that’s not affecting gobblers? Sounds crazy right. I know the gobblers had to come from hens. But this past year I had 21 gobblers at my house all 3 year olds I’d guess. Big beards ands spurs. Saw them regularly. And only 2 jakes.
Sounds like a stretch but seems like the hens are declining worse than the gobblers.

Maybe your observations are related to the increasing amount of predators, killing nesting hens.?. Seems like a reasonable scenario to me.

 

[jlt4800]

I would welcome those changes myself....something has to be done for sure!

 

[turkeykirk]

2 birds is fine. I travel usually.

If they are worried about us killing too many ban full strut decoys. I'd go out on a limb and say the harvest drops 30 to 40%. Then have game wardens give the lakes a break until mid April. Have em worry about turkeys and baiting the first 2 weeks. 2 of the birds I killed this year were full of corn.

Do you think the turkeys were being baited so someone could hunt them or just a result of the Southern Zone baiting for deer and hogs? IMO there will be a lot of gobblers killed in the Northern Zone full of corn if the State wide baiting is allowed. Already have to be careful on some of the properties I hunt because of the hog hunters baiting hogs.

 

[kmckinnie]

None of the turkeys we killed in the southern zone had corn. Most that hunt here are from Fla. they quit baiting at the end of deer season. The ones that may come up to hog hunt use dogs around here. That is there sport. I find wheat and oats from our deer plots.

 

[antharper]

Northern zone

I killed this bird in northern zone on public land , and know I didn’t put the cracked corn out , but I was in sight of private property , a lot of gobbling that morning !

 

[antharper]

These should be illegal

Chufas Are like crack to turkeys ! 3 of us killed 5 within a hundred yards of our chufa patch this season and the last one I killed I could of killed 2 more, already got mine planted for next season !

 

[Arrow3]

2 of the 4 I killed had corn in their craw.

 

[goshenmountainman]

I am all for a reduce in bag limits, turkeys were gobbling good up here in Feb. There was pretty good gobbling up until around last of April, the it slowly shut off. The whole month of May we haven't heard a single gobble and we are out every morning working the farms. But just yesterday two of the farms we have I saw 3 big toms at one and 6 big toms at another all grouped up and eating grass hoppers out of the hay fields. We shoot all coyotes and hogs on sight, never leave them standing is out moto !!

 

[earlyspur]

Keep thinking this. For all those that you know that dont tag out, I know folks that cover that for them...and then some. Guess I hang out and know a bunch of rogues though.

I have this same problem. I know for a fact that somewhere in the neighborhood of around 40-50 gobblers go down each spring between 4 guys (a couple have 5 tags/2 states) who aren't affiliated with each other. These guys have been good friends of mine for a long time and have never treated me wrong outside of this issue. I beg and plead with them, but the response is always, "Some biologist said you can kill them all and they will keep coming back or there are more birds this year on this piece than I have ever seen." I know they say you remain anonymous, but I guess my conscious gets the best of me. So don't pull the old "Have you called the DNR" until you are faced with the question of whether or not you want to be responsible for somebody's fines and license loss who has been cordial and respectful to you outside of killing too many gobblers.

 

[XIronheadX]

I have this same problem. I know for a fact that somewhere in the neighborhood of around 40-50 gobblers go down each spring between 4 guys (a couple have 5 tags/2 states) who aren't affiliated with each other. These guys have been good friends of mine for a long time and have never treated me wrong outside of this issue. I beg and plead with them, but the response is always, "Some biologist said you can kill them all and they will keep coming back or there are more birds this year on this piece than I have ever seen." I know they say you remain anonymous, but I guess my conscious gets the best of me. So don't pull the old "Have you called the DNR" until you are faced with the question of whether or not you want to be responsible for somebody's fines and license loss who has been cordial and respectful to you outside of killing too many gobblers.

I'd never refer to them as a friend. You have to trust a friend. And their character would be a prerequisite. A conscious usually works for the good in a situation, not the bad. They are basically game thieves. I can't see the question of responsibility of fines coming into play, if they are responsible for people spending time and fortunes going out in the woods with less opportunity from illegal activity. If they had any association with me they would be a law abiding turkey hunter or they would be paying fines. I have no desire to call a thief a friend. Selfish and entitled just don't cut it.

I guess the quote about "some biologist" is a fairy tale.

 

[Gaswamp]

I have this same problem. I know for a fact that somewhere in the neighborhood of around 40-50 gobblers go down each spring between 4 guys (a couple have 5 tags/2 states) who aren't affiliated with each other. These guys have been good friends of mine for a long time and have never treated me wrong outside of this issue. I beg and plead with them, but the response is always, "Some biologist said you can kill them all and they will keep coming back or there are more birds this year on this piece than I have ever seen." I know they say you remain anonymous, but I guess my conscious gets the best of me. So don't pull the old "Have you called the DNR" until you are faced with the question of whether or not you want to be responsible for somebody's fines and license loss who has been cordial and respectful to you outside of killing too many gobblers.

All I will say is that I lost a relationship with a good friend and relative over hunting ethics in regards to the bag limit. Greed is not a good thing..If they are Christians have them read Hebrew 13:16/17 and 1 Peter 4:10. It changed me and they way I use to be driven to hunt selfishly. Now I still go but I use it to reach out and strengthen relationships with others by sharing a passion rather than letting it consume me.

 

[earlyspur]

I agree with them being game thieves. They indeed are. To say it angers me would be an understatement, but at the end of the day, these are otherwise law abiding guys who would and have helped me and my family many times. Give the shirt off their back kind of guys. Cant say enough about them positive, outside of this issue. They are not bad people. Its an ethics thing I guess not to mention a ton of work and risk for me to screenshot and date every photo sent to me. Sometimes its just a conversation so you have no evidence to present to authorities. DNR is not going to check that same person every time they come out of the woods. Taking somebody down takes a lot more than, "Hey my buddy Joe said he has already killed his 7th gobbler of the season, yall need to check him." If his tags say 2 birds have been killed when he gets checked, what ground do they have to stand on unless its photos that I have given to them. If a warden shows up with say 5 or 6 photos of birds and presents it to one of them, hmmm wonder where they got all 5 or 6 of the photos (So much for anonymous). Then if the said person lies and says "oh I took a pic with one of my friend's bird" how do you prove that outside of court, which DNR is not even going to go there. Its not as black and white as everybody thinks. I would have to go out of my way (basically undercover for the DNR) to have somebody who has been nice to me my entire life ticketed. Would that person do the same to me and the answer is simply no.

 

[Gaswamp]

I agree with them being game thieves. They indeed are. To say it angers me would be an understatement, but at the end of the day, these are otherwise law abiding guys who would and have helped me and my family many times. Give the shirt off their back kind of guys. Cant say enough about them positive, outside of this issue. They are not bad people. Its an ethics thing I guess not to mention a ton of work and risk for me to screenshot and date every photo sent to me. Sometimes its just a conversation so you have no evidence to present to authorities. DNR is not going to check that same person every time they come out of the woods. Taking somebody down takes a lot more than, "Hey my buddy Joe said he has already killed his 7th gobbler of the season, yall need to check him." If his tags say 2 birds have been killed when he gets checked, what ground do they have to stand on unless its photos that I have given to them. If a warden shows up with say 5 or 6 photos of birds and presents it to one of them, hmmm wonder where they got all 5 or 6 of the photos (So much for anonymous). Then if the said person lies and says "oh I took a pic with one of my friend's bird" how do you prove that outside of court, which DNR is not even going to go there. Its not as black and white as everybody thinks. I would have to go out of my way (basically undercover for the DNR) to have somebody who has been nice to me my entire life ticketed. Would that person do the same to me and the answer is simply no.

Do you ever hunt with them ?

 

[fountain]

I agree with them being game thieves. They indeed are. To say it angers me would be an understatement, but at the end of the day, these are otherwise law abiding guys who would and have helped me and my family many times. Give the shirt off their back kind of guys. Cant say enough about them positive, outside of this issue. They are not bad people. Its an ethics thing I guess not to mention a ton of work and risk for me to screenshot and date every photo sent to me. Sometimes its just a conversation so you have no evidence to present to authorities. DNR is not going to check that same person every time they come out of the woods. Taking somebody down takes a lot more than, "Hey my buddy Joe said he has already killed his 7th gobbler of the season, yall need to check him." If his tags say 2 birds have been killed when he gets checked, what ground do they have to stand on unless its photos that I have given to them. If a warden shows up with say 5 or 6 photos of birds and presents it to one of them, hmmm wonder where they got all 5 or 6 of the photos (So much for anonymous). Then if the said person lies and says "oh I took a pic with one of my friend's bird" how do you prove that outside of court, which DNR is not even going to go there. Its not as black and white as everybody thinks. I would have to go out of my way (basically undercover for the DNR) to have somebody who has been nice to me my entire life ticketed. Would that person do the same to me and the answer is simply no.

Finally, someone that doesn't live in a holier than thou fairytale land where nobody baits or kills over the limit.
Its everywhere and I'd bet that most on here know of the same things around them.
You get the point and know how things would go if you tried to say anything to a game warden.

 

[XIronheadX]

Finally, someone that doesn't live in a holier than thou fairytale land where nobody baits or kills over the limit.
Its everywhere and I'd bet that most on here know of the same things around them.
You get the point and know how things would go if you tried to say anything to a game warden.

So, hunting legally and obeying the regulations is now considered "holier than thou"? And we should brag about hunting with rogues?

 

[fountain]

I'm not saying that, but nobody on the internet ever knows anyone that's breaks the law. Go back and look at the telecheck results....most beleive its 100% accurate as everyone reports their kills. That simply isnt so. Fact is, that most dont report them. Everyone should obey the laws and hunt within the legal limits, that's a fact. It doesn't happen, thats another fact. Only a few here seem to know folks that dont obide by these laws.
Wonder where all that corn came from in the pics posted here?

 

[XIronheadX]

I'm not saying that, but nobody on the internet ever knows anyone that's breaks the law. Go back and look at the telecheck results....most beleive its 100% accurate as everyone reports their kills. That simply isnt so. Fact is, that most dont report them. Everyone should obey the laws and hunt within the legal limits, that's a fact. It doesn't happen, thats another fact. Only a few here seem to know folks that dont obide by these laws.
Wonder where all that corn came from in the pics posted here?

If I know someone like that, I won't know them for long. I agree on the telecheck. Have I known it in the past? Yep. I've had my suspicions on a couple, I haven't caught them yet though.

 

[Covehnter]

If they are worried about us killing too many ban full strut decoys. I'd go out on a limb and say the harvest drops 30 to 40%. Then have game wardens give the lakes a break until mid April. Have em worry about turkeys and baiting the first 2 weeks. 2 of the birds I killed this year were full of corn.

This ^^.

Ok ok, you got me...

1 good nesting year and all this talk goes away quickly...

Absolutely.