Well, I hate to say I told you so…

[WOODIE13]

…and it doesn’t help to miss the most fun time of the gobbling season. I commend the more civic minded among us that were “okay” with trying something, anything, to help the turkeys, but this ain’t it. As soon as I get time I’ll be emailing to see if I can apply some pressure to get it set back right. I hope more here do as well.

Curious to see what our totals are compared to y'alls, with a fall season included.

 

[buckpasser]

Curious to see what our totals are compared to y'alls, with a fall season included.

I think it will boil down to the fact that hunting isn’t the devil as it relates to turkey populations.

The devil is poor poult recruitment, related to hen loss, habitat loss, disease pressure, etc.

Im all about hunter opportunity. One a day, 2 per year, same length of season, fine with me! Starting season after peak gobbling in the name of…nothing? Nah.

 

[Kev]

The season change hasn’t helped where I’m at.

 

[WOODIE13]

We'll see.

Agree with you. Wish we could hunt all day v. being out by 1

 

[Darkhorse]

I used to trap hogs. 1 week after I started baiting with corn there were 50 or so coons feasting on the corn with more coming. Don't try to tell me they want suck a lot eggs. I say put a bounty on them.
I once saw a coyote catch a gobbler in flight, this was in Ocmulgee WMA when it was 35.000 acres and open to us all. I also found an amazing number of scat piles with turkey beards undigested in them.
It's been a few years but last I checked electronic callers were illegal in Georgia for hunting varmints. This should be legalized and an incentive given for hunting turkey killing varmints.
I think they put the horse behind the wagon. The poults we do have don't have a lot of chances to grow to adult size. So instead of trying to do something about predation they decided to put the hunters at a disadvantage and enact a complicated idea to increase breeding more poults to get eaten.
Doesn't work for me and I don"t see how it can.

 

[buckpasser]

The season change hasn’t helped where I’m at.

Or where anyone is at! The study I referenced was conducted over a very long time and a huge area. It initially had a control group that was forcibly converted to the delayed season by the TN regs. They looked at these turkeys very closely and produced a definitive answer as to whether or not delaying seasons helps or not.

 

[Beagler282]

Wouldn't mind seeing the season March 15th- April 15th

 

[ol bob]

The big problem is human's hunt turkeys approx.. 30 days a year, everything else hunts them, 24 hours a day 365 days a year. We are not the big problem.

 

[Huntinfool]

The big problem is human's hunt turkeys approx.. 30 days a year, everything else hunts them, 24 hours a day 365 days a year. We are not the big problem.

This is exactly the biggest issue in my opinion. 20-25 years ago, coyotes and armadillos weren't an issue in north Georgia. Now they are literally everywhere. We need to find a way to manage the things that eat them and their eggs throughout the year if we hope to help the population.

Getting more hens bred is not going to help if the poults and young turkeys get eaten.

The reality is that, regardless of the season dates, the large majority of turkey hunters are going to hunt the first two weeks and quit. Starting it earlier or later isn't going to change that.

 

[Gaswamp]

habitat, predators, and feeding r the big three that need to change the most to help expanding turkey recruitment

 

[Ugahunter2013]

Not a fan of the season change. I would be fine with a noon cutoff time and a ban on decoys...if that would help.

 

[buckpasser]

Not a fan of the season change. I would be fine with a noon cutoff time and a ban on decoys...if that would help.

Tell DNR. They need to know.

 

[Sixes]

Not a fan of the season change. I would be fine with a noon cutoff time and a ban on decoys...if that would help.

I'm not a fan of more and more unproven regulations. We've already lost 20%+ of the season, 33% of the limit and now you want to cut the time we can hunt by over half.

I work shift work which covers some weekends, so I would like to see the season to not start on a weekend because I might be working.

We have enough rules in place, the population is not decreasing from killing gobblers and it sure isn't going to make a difference is I shoot one at 8AM or 8 PM

 

[Ugahunter2013]

I'm not a fan of more and more unproven regulations. We've already lost 20%+ of the season, 33% of the limit and now you want to cut the time we can hunt by over half.

I work shift work which covers some weekends, so I would like to see the season to not start on a weekend because I might be working.

We have enough rules in place, the population is not decreasing from killing gobblers and it sure isn't going to make a difference is I shoot one at 8AM or 8 PM

Id rather ban decoys. I don’t hunt much in the pm…got too much stuff to do. But i can see how that would be tough for folks like yourself with time limitations. Just ban decoys

 

[Dustin Pate]

Id rather ban decoys. I don’t hunt much in the pm…got too much stuff to do. But i can see how that would be tough for folks like yourself with time limitations. Just ban decoys

Decoys do zero to help the hens. Without hens there are no turkeys to hunt. I know of multiple areas that I have hunted my whole life that once had groups of 25-30 hens that now don't have a turkey or are just barely getting by. There is a major underlying issue going on and it has nothing to do with the killing of a gobbler.

 

[buckpasser]

There are 2 issues to address IMO.

1) Population (hens, poults, survival, etc)
2) Hunter opportunity

#1 is most important, but choosing to stop Jake kill, 1 kill daily limit, or reduced season limit is possibly a good bandaid until the population rebounds more. These type changes very possibly put more Toms in front of more hunters over the course of a season.

 

[Ugahunter2013]

Decoys do zero to help the hens. Without hens there are no turkeys to hunt. I know of multiple areas that I have hunted my whole life that once had groups of 25-30 hens that now don't have a turkey or are just barely getting by. There is a major underlying issue going on and it has nothing to do with the killing of a gobbler.

I agree with what you are saying, but you can't fully dismiss my perspective. Without the gobbler you have no poults. It goes both ways.

At the end of the day. I am for whatever helps.

 

[WOODIE13]

If jakes are viable breeders, then then killing one ultimately saves an actual breeder.

Of course you have a bump down the road from removing a future breeder as a jake, but burning a tag now on one SHOULD compensate for more hens bred.

 

[Sixes]

The only way to prove to me that this is a hunting issue would be to stop the hunting for 2-3 years and see if the overall population increases, not just gobbler populations. I know there would be more gobblers but I don't see how their will be hen growth

I want to see if stopping the season increases the hen population.

I'm not serious about wanting it stopped, I'm just too feeble minded to think loss of gobblers reduces overall hen numbers.

 

[Huntinfool]

I agree with what you are saying, but you can't fully dismiss my perspective. Without the gobbler you have no poults. It goes both ways.

At the end of the day. I am for whatever helps.

The number of fertilized eggs that are laid are not the issue. The number that are born and survive the first spring is.