Telecheck Results 2023 *Updated 5/16* Final numbers

[Gut_Pile]

Numbers as of April 25 since 2016

2016 - 9,165
2017 - 10,313
2018 - 9,686
2019 - 8,834
2020 - 12,140
2021 - 9,950
2022 - 7,605
2023 - 9,465

 

[Gut_Pile]

32 days in, 14 days to go

10,239 checked

320 per day

On pace for 15,038 total

 

[Buford_Dawg]

Slowing down....

 

[Gut_Pile]

Slowing down....

Definitely.

That being said, there have already been 500 more turkeys checked in this year than all of last year.

 

[goblr77]

Shortening the season didn't seem to affect the harvest at all. Maybe it did allow some hens to be bred before season though. I don't know what needs to be done but there's an alarming lack of turkeys around my area right now.

 

[Garnto88]

Hmm…. Shorter season, limit has been reduced to only 2 turkeys instead of 3, and more and more evidence of population declines in most areas in Georgia, much coming directly from some really good hunters …..but yet the government ga game check shows it could be a record breaking year??

 

[buckpasser]

Hmm…. Shorter season, limit has been reduced to only 2 turkeys instead of 3, and more and more evidence of population declines in most areas in Georgia, much coming directly from some really good hunters …..but yet the government ga game check shows it could be a record breaking year??

Mostly because turkey numbers and populations aren’t static. The sky was never falling. The laws never needed changing. Good hunters killed before the easy times, during the hard times and in between. The army of new guys that only knew the best of times were lost and blamed everyone and everything. They cried for change and got useless change with the delayed season. Congrats to them.

 

[WOODIE13]

Mostly because turkey numbers and populations aren’t static. The sky was never falling. The laws never needed changing. Good hunters killed before the easy times, during the hard times and in between. The army of new guys that only knew the best of times were lost and blamed everyone and everything. They cried for change and got useless change with the delayed season. Congrats to them.

Just change tactics worked here.

A lot of hens don't help.

Adapt or fail.

 

[DRBugman85]

Mostly because turkey numbers and populations aren’t static. The sky was never falling. The laws never needed changing. Good hunters killed before the easy times, during the hard times and in between. The army of new guys that only knew the best of times were lost and blamed everyone and everything. They cried for change and got useless change with the delayed season. Congrats to them.

AMEN, The cry baby's cry the LOUDEST,After hunting turkeys in Georgia most of my life I see the population come and go due to natural causes,Rain,dry clear cutting woods and yet Turkeys in Georgia have and will survive, The DNR and the CRY BABYS have taken away the best hunting days in March and its HOG WASH, Its about time to get back to what was taken away from the Hunting public, Go to the DNR meetings and be heard united we may get back what has been lost to OUR hunting Opportunitys.

 

[Gut_Pile]

That's a wrap folks. I'm sure a few more birds will trickle in throughout today and tomorrow, but it won't be any major difference.

The final tally comes in at 11,847 birds checked in

This comes up to an average of 257 turkeys checked in per day

 

[Gut_Pile]

Results by year

2016 - 11,216 total 212 per day
2017 - 11,794 total 218 per day
2018 - 11,956 total 214 per day
2019 - 11,644 total 208 per day
2020 - 14,713 total 254 per day
2021 - 12,177 total 206 per day
2022 - 9,829 total 214 per day ***new season dates/limit
2023 - 11,847 total 257 per day

By the numbers, 2023 was the best season GA turkey hunters have had since the beginning of telecheck

 

[Gaswamp]

Results by year

2016 - 11,216 total 212 per day
2017 - 11,794 total 218 per day
2018 - 11,956 total 214 per day
2019 - 11,644 total 208 per day
2020 - 14,713 total 254 per day
2021 - 12,177 total 206 per day
2022 - 9,829 total 214 per day ***new season dates/limit
2023 - 11,847 total 257 per day

By the numbers, 2023 was the best season GA turkey hunters have had since the beginning of telecheck

interesting especially given the limit is now two

 

[cowhornedspike]

By the DAILY numbers, 2023 was the best season GA turkey hunters have had since the beginning of telecheck

FIFY. Despite popular belief, dropping the limit impacted very few hunters and that is why I was in favor of that.
(Just like dropping the doe limit to 2 would change almost nothing in the overall deer harvest)
The season harvest seems to have stayed normal despite the reg changes which was expected. Jury will be still out for the next several years to see if the population makes a positive change or stays the same. I expect the later but hope I am wrong.

 

[Buford_Dawg]

Gut Pile, thanks again for doing this... I must say I am surprised at the numbers. Figured they would be lower based on the turkey population in my hunting area. Pretty much gone extinct where I hunt. Glad to know there are still turkeys in some areas of Georgia. Hope they make a comeback in my area soon.

 

[WOODIE13]

I'm really surprised they didn't go to half day hunts the first few weeks

Hope they rebound for yall

 

[Huntinfool]

Agree that changing the limit from 3 to 2 only impacted a very small number of hunters. So that's likely having almost no impact on the total numbers killed.

This is going to be a strange data set over time. If the changes work, you should actually see kill numbers go up over time, right? Bigger population, more birds willing to die.

So, I wouldn't expect to see an actual drop in kills except in the first year or two if it's working. Obviously, you can get whatever you want out of a data set. But, you could definitely make the argument that the changes are working.

Year one - big drop
Year two - less than two years ago, but more killed (i.e. more two year olds willing to play).

Time will tell. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions seeing two years worth of data especially coming off the two covid season when everybody was working at home and able to hunt more.

 

[Dupree]

The abundance of 2yr old birds in the woods this year has absolutely nothing to do with any changes made by Dnr. We had a great hatch in 2021.

 

[cowhornedspike]

Agree that changing the limit from 3 to 2 only impacted a very small number of hunters. So that's likely having almost no impact on the total numbers killed.

This is going to be a strange data set over time. If the changes work, you should actually see kill numbers go up over time, right? Bigger population, more birds willing to die.

So, I wouldn't expect to see an actual drop in kills except in the first year or two if it's working. Obviously, you can get whatever you want out of a data set. But, you could definitely make the argument that the changes are working.

Year one - big drop
Year two - less than two years ago, but more killed (i.e. more two year olds willing to play).

Time will tell. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions seeing two years worth of data especially coming off the two covid season when everybody was working at home and able to hunt more.

Any extra male turkeys due to a better hatch last year (due to less disturbance during first 2 weeks of breeding, if that actually happened) would have been jakes this year and not 2 yr olds.

 

[buckpasser]

Agree that changing the limit from 3 to 2 only impacted a very small number of hunters. So that's likely having almost no impact on the total numbers killed.

This is going to be a strange data set over time. If the changes work, you should actually see kill numbers go up over time, right? Bigger population, more birds willing to die.

So, I wouldn't expect to see an actual drop in kills except in the first year or two if it's working. Obviously, you can get whatever you want out of a data set. But, you could definitely make the argument that the changes are working.

Year one - big drop
Year two - less than two years ago, but more killed (i.e. more two year olds willing to play).

Time will tell. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions seeing two years worth of data especially coming off the two covid season when everybody was working at home and able to hunt more.

That would NOT in fact be a way to gauge the success of the changes. There are ways to measure the effect of the delayed season. They have checked them. There is no change. There MAY be more hunter opportunity based on a daily bag limit and a lowered season limit, and that’s fine.

Turkeys go up, turkeys go down. The earth warms up, the earth cools down. Some humans are dumb enough to believe they have great impacts on these things for ridiculous reasons. Still some even dumber humans beg to be penalized for their perceived effects. Don’t be one of them!

 

[kmckinnie]

We have derailed a daily harvest record thread. My area use to be the bomb for turkeys. The habitat changed with all the timber cut. Like 3/4 of the county. And every county in this area that’s timberland. That’s how they make the money and the economy demands these products from it. The timber will grow back. Thin and they will rebound from a while til clear cut. It’s to thick for a turkey as of now so the numbers are sparse. 2 years in a row I have not killed one in this area. Anyway.
Kill a coon and possum if u see them.