2019 Turkey Season: 2 bird limit, 2 weeks shorter

[Gut_Pile]

Just because I don't pass on full fanned gobblers doesn't mean I don't manage the turkeys I hunt. Every club I am in has a "property limit" instead of "each member can kill 3 gobblers each".

 

[Thunder Head]

Looking back over the last 10 years.

I average 2 birds a season. Ive killed almost all of them in April.

Looks like I'm still good to go.

I agree that these changes will have very little impact.

 

[Timber1]

Quit with the supplemental feeding. Keeping the birds bunched up and not letting them disperse to forage like nature intended invites disease and makes for easy pickings for all predators including humans. As far as harvest numbers reported vs actual harvest, the dnr hasn't a clue. Trying to micro manage wildlife resources with all their scientific mumbo jumbo is backfiring in their faces and I for one will not participate in their game.

 

[Mark K]

Quit with the supplemental feeding. Keeping the birds bunched up and not letting them disperse to forage like nature intended invites disease and makes for easy pickings for all predators including humans. As far as harvest numbers reported vs actual harvest, the dnr hasn't a clue. Trying to micro manage wildlife resources with all their scientific mumbo jumbo is backfiring in their faces and I for one will not participate in their game.

Where do you live where turkeys “bunch up” around feeders/feed?
We feed year round and may get a picture every 4 or 5 days of a turkey and they roost near one of the feed locations.
Down in SW Georgia you couldn’t “bait” turkeys if you tried, lol.

 

[dfhooked]

I have not read through 11 pages of replies yet, but has anyone realized that the state of Georgia has drastically changed and is Now very populated? I grew up in Roswell when it was still the outskirts and this was the late 80’s and graduated high school in 94 in a still very remote metro Atlanta. I used to hunt Greene county in the early hay days of the lake Oconee development, one day my 4 wheeler trail was a subdivision road.

I think many people like to throw out lots of scenarios but the bottom line is habitat is being trashed from population growth and terrible forest management all based on the all mighty dollar. My advice to all that love to turkey hunt is to find a property away from Atlanta and that is large enough to manage the habitat and you will have gobbling. If your deer cams get a lot of coon pics or other predators then do your part and elimate that problem. I no longer live in GA and drive 7 hours to get in battles with the turkey ninjas on my Crawford county farm so I have skin in this game. Although it’s the birds are who are laughing now with post season gobbles.

Nesting conditions are key same as with ducks. Do your part where you can and rid all predators.

Note- I did not kill a turkey this season but I have to drive 7 hours to my farm. We identified 5 ninja turkeys that gobble their r head off from the limb in sight yet disappear. There are now 4 ninjas, we will Win next year thAts my plan. What ever measure the is needed, fanning , blinds for kids, box stands for old men, it doesn’t matter where you sit if a 4 shot hits their head and they flop. The tactics and blinds are not the problem. The issue is not how someone kills a bird, the issue is what has impacted the population. Stay woke folks.

 

[Tom Talker]

Just because I don't pass on full fanned gobblers doesn't mean I don't manage the turkeys I hunt. Every club I am in has a "property limit" instead of "each member can kill 3 gobblers each".

I hope you are right about the shortened season and limit reduction. We have to do something in Georgia now! There are many more factors affecting the turkey population now than we had 15-20 years ago. Predator explosion, chicken manure, burning at the wrong time, armadillo's that didn't exist in most part of the state, fewer coon hunters. Not to mention what impact the number of hunters with feeding programs and what the turkeys are consuming in feed. 20 years ago, you could see turkeys in the fields and food plots all over the place. It is a Very rare occasion that you will see a strutting bird in a field today.

 

[Jnort9]

I’m fairly new to turkey hunting compared to most here (3-4 years with my wings under me so to speak). I finally learned the ropes and started killing a few birds, even a couple limit years. I had a friend that I felt should be limiting out every year and wasn’t. He’d always talk about seeing gobblers and I knew he was, yet he didn’t often pull the trigger. Finally I realize he likes the sport of hunting and loving the game, more than just killing. I get it now. I had a single bird often on my measly 7 acres this year fairly often. Only gobbler I saw or heard within anywhere close. Thanks to my friend’s influence, that bird will hopefully be around next year. Maybe it’s time we all realize if we love the hunt so much, we don’t always have to kill every bird. Leave some to seed. These birds are vulnerable to practically every kind of predator out there. Shouldn’t we all be doing something? Just my humble opinion. I’m going to pick up a coon trap now!!

 

[DRBugman85]

WHINNING about the season dates are to long and taking limits away is ludachrist,We have more turkeys in the woods than we have seen in a long time in South Georgia,We have seen more hens with poults and very few morning did we not hear gobbling for 1 reason Predators control and food plots on the property's we lease on the WMAS I hunted as a (caller only) we heard and worked gobblers 4 out of 7 mornings that's from letting the whackers leave ABOUT 9 am and letting the wood settle down. The WEATHER (rain) + predators has a toll on poults not killing gobblers and in South Georgia we had gobblers GOBBLING at the end of February and we found nesting hens all of March. Turkey hunting is the NEW fad with YouTube and hunting shows on the Internet and WHACKERS watch and think I can do this with 500 pounds of CORN and a shotgun,decoys and a blind they think that is the way what a joke.The true turkey hunter will learn as much as he can about habitat and habits of the spring gobbler,roost feeding and strutting areas then hopefully can be where the bird wants to be are close enough to work him to the call/gun/ camera.

 

[3chunter]

Changing dates and limits will do nothing. Habitat and predator management is the key. If I am spending hundreds of dollars managing predators every year and joe the public hunter isn’t doing crap then why should my limit be the same as his? Restricting should be last resort. My opinion is if everyone killed a few coons and bobcats then that would help way more than a limit or season change would.

 

[Jack Ryan]

Best thing any DNR could do for hunting is STOP begging people who don't hunt and don't care about hunting to pick it up and start hunting.

Those people are just an extra pressure on the availability of land to hunt and soon as they fail once they start wanting special days, new rules, different rules, and start trying to turn it in to what ever thing they failed at last. "Why can't I bait? Why can't I use this rifle or that rifle. They shoot 'em all so I can't kill one..."

 

[3chunter]

I think it’s crazy to have the mindset “well I don’t kill/ can’t kill but one or so a year so I’m ok with it”. That’s ridiculous. Restrictions without reasoning is ridiculous. Restrictions that won’t change anything is even more ridiculous.

 

[XIronheadX]

I think it’s crazy to have the mindset “well I don’t kill/ can’t kill but one or so a year so I’m ok with it”. That’s ridiculous. Restrictions without reasoning is ridiculous. Restrictions that won’t change anything is even more ridiculous.

I think the reasoning is they aren't seeing any turkeys. Public turkey hunting and small tract hunting is failing it appears. Habitat, predators, too many hunters, weather. Add it up how you want. I hope I don't have to pay the price for fools.

 

[spurrs and racks]

the turkey hunting will improve when 3/4 of the wantabe's quit and go back to fishing.

s&r