All those in favor of lowering the limit and season...

[Possum]

I’m fine with season and limit as is. But if they changed anything I’d like to see one bird allowed but you can add two tags in exchange for turning in predators. Opossums, coon, coyote, hog. It would be fairly easy on game check system to be able to submit a photo and have it verified.
I take annually 20+ coon, possums and coyotes off a little 78 acre piece of land. And that’s just what I stop at. I don’t see how a hen could have a nest here.

 

[DRBugman85]

There's over 90,000 acres of WMA within a 1 hour drive from my home and ALL have a GOOD population of turkeys and as many turkey hunters that harass every gobbling bird from February till the day of the season,Then complain about not hearing are seeing turkeys.There is ZERO Predator control on these WMA'S and turkey flourish on ALL,Most hunters in these WMA'S give up and head to the house by 8am and WHINE there are no turkeys.We (4) hunters lease 17,000 acres for deer and turkey hunting and Predator control and food plots keep our population stable and we have a 2 GOBBLER limit and NO Jakes,then we go to the WMA'S and hunt pressured Birds and that can be a challenge but with persistence most of us tag out yearly. IMO there is NO reason to shorten the season are limits in Georgia, Turkey hunting is the NEWEST game in hunting and every You tube video and social media keeps sending more turkey hunter want to be's to the woods that whine they can't Harvest a bird.Once you change the season and limits it will be HARD to get it back. As I said before the squeaky wheel gets the oil.No decoy no blind just the gobbler and me that's the game we play as did our forefathers Hunted . With all the new shot shells,blinds and decoys IT'S a MARKETING TOOL for the Almighty dollar. Leave the LIMIT & SEASON as is and learn how to hunt.

I was short 50,000 acres, I added the 7 WMA'S within a hour drive of home and there's 148,000 of the nastiest swamp gobblers in Georgia.?

 

[mallardsx2]

Plant food plots on our club, I run feeder at the house year round, trap predators, shoot every coyote and hog I see.

AND I ONLY KILL 1 BIRD A YEAR.

NOT 3.

1.

This year, I may not kill any. Because there are hardly any left to kill in Habersham county. Its a sad state of affairs here.

I truly beleive that there is/was an extreme amount of over-harvesting of turkeys and under-harvesting of predators going on around here.

I feel like I give back to the animals a lot more than I take away. Thats a fact.

Just by shooting 1 coyote a every other year you probably save 20 turkeys in your lifetime.

I cant believe it when I hear people saying that they saw a coyote and didn't kill it.

I also cant believe more people dont get cage traps and catch raccoons that are running around all over the place.

If every hunter in the state killed 1 raccoon a year, we would see a huge jump in the turkey population. I bet you most hunters in this state have never killed a raccoon or a skunk.

Predator numbers need to be reduced if we want to have a large turkey population.

Also, nobody wants to talk about it but if we are managing predators we should be looking at the growing populations of raptors in the state. These should be managed just like racoons.

The killing of hawks and owls by bounty should be re-instituted in my opinion.

Before you spout off and want to burn me at the cross for wanting to institute the killing of hawks and owls, look at the following posts of people talking about Owls so you understand the big picture.

http://forum.gon.com/threads/will-owls-pull-hens-outta-trees.338149/

Bounty on all predators. Then you would see results and our deer and turkey populations thrive again like they did 50 years ago.

Will it happen, with all of the bleeding heart babies in this nation, probobly not.

So no, I'm not just sitting back complaining about it like most people. I am doing everything I can within the letter of the law to help. But ultimately we all need to do something. Not just some of us or "Most" of us.

 

[Mark K]

Sometimes the Three S rule applies...

 

[trad bow]

Dog proof traps are the bomb for catching coons. Anyone can use them successfully. I am now retired and try to kill a predator a day somewhere. But along with predator control,habitat or land use is killing the resources. There have been too many new people moving in to this state in the past ten years.

 

[mallardsx2]

I have a dozen of the dogproof traps. They work well. Thats a fact. Put quick cables on them, Fill them with catfood and put a solo cup over them. Works like a charm.

 

[spurrs and racks]

I am for lowering the number of turkey hunters.

 

[XIronheadX]

I say improve the habitat for turkeys if you are in a situation to do so. There's plenty of hunters out there, and predators. I've seen turkeys flourish with loads of predators. Increase the chances of reproduction to counter it. If you can't burn, mow 15 to 20 yard strips through select cut pines with undergrowth. Hens need cover to nest and brood and quick access to cover for poults. Connect habitats where a turkey can walk from one to the other, and not be ambushed. One gobbler has the potential to produce many gobblers for next year before this season even starts, but the eggs must hatch and they must survive a few weeks. The person improving the habitat and removing predators is increasing the population more than the guy taking one bird less in most situations.

 

[Thunder Head]

So your talking about mowing strips thru pines that have been thinned?

 

[XIronheadX]

So your talking about mowing strips thru pines that have been thinned?

Undergrowth. Otherwise it's unusable for a turkey.

Connecting strips, small plots, roads and open woods makes it usable.

 

[Gut_Pile]

Just by shooting 1 coyote a every other year you probably save 20 turkeys in your lifetime.


Bounty on all predators. Then you would see results and our deer and turkey populations thrive again like they did 50 years ago.

Two things here that just simply are not true. A lot of times, shooting coyotes can increase your overall population on your property due to neighboring coyotes moving in.

And several states have done coyote bounties in the past and all of them have been major failures that have led to the overall increase of coyote populations.

 

[Gut_Pile]

https://www.outdoornews.com/2011/12/14/coyote-hunting-just-breeds-more-coyotes/

 

[mallardsx2]

Well here is two things that simply are true.

-Killing one will decrease their numbers 1 at a time......
-Killing an adult in the spring decreases a lot more than 1 at a time when they have pups waiting for them at the den....

 

[Down4Count]

Heck no, i'm covered with Turkey's. I usually see 20-30 at my feeder at a time, but I also do not shoot them.

 

[trad bow]

If neighboring coyotes move in on me because I reduce the numbers on my land then I’ll shoot them also.

 

[Thunder Head]

Shooting coyotes creates more coyotes?

You do realize the study was done buy a bunch of PETA type Californian's.

I'm not buying it anyway. In order for the thesis to work you would have to get rid of most of the yotes in a very large area. Then and only then. The prey population would explode. Then coyotes would have bigger litters because theres lots of food. It would only be short term though. As soon as they saturated the area again the would naturally reduce litter size to accommodate available prey.

Coyotes are here to stay. And well never be rid of them. But you can definitely help fawn and poult recruitment by removing yotes from your specific area. This apply double if you do it during may and june when babies are being born.

 

[spurrs and racks]

"Well here is two things that simply are true.

-Killing one will decrease their numbers 1 at a time......
-Killing an adult in the spring decreases a lot more than 1 at a time when they have pups waiting for them at the den.... "

Coyotes are in the den with pups now. By the time you see a female in the spring, the pups might be several weeks old. They can make it on there own at a very young age.

Coyotes can eat anything, including landfill and garbage waste. Not to exclude road kill, you and your neighbors pets that come up missing. An untold number of chickens and other farm animals old and young.

Folks been trying to kill coyotes by any means possible for a long time. The best advice is never under any circumstances let one walk. I call most of my coyotes to the gun in late spring and early summer, most of them are pups.

Adult coyotes are tough to kill with a call at anytime because they will circle you to wind you.

 

[Mark K]

Coyote pups hold in trap just as well as adults.
I understand the concept of other coyotes moving in. An unoccupied area will eventually get coyotes/predators back in it.
But, they just don’t magically appear out of thin air. They moved from somewhere which is giving that area a break and a chance at a higher survival rate.
I’ll have traps waiting for the new tenants as a housewarming gift. They can even bring a friend or two. The more we can remove has to be better than saying I’ll stick with what I have so others don’t move in.

 

[Gut_Pile]

But what if the one you kill is replaced by 2 neighboring coyotes and 10 more pups the next year? What good have you done?

 

[trad bow]

I don’t wait on next year. Soon as they show up I’ve got a welcoming gift for them. Retired so if they got the time to show up I got the time to welcome them.