cowhornedspike
Senior Member
All I can say is if burning up nests is good for the turkeys, we ought to have a crapload of them here in GA...
I have read and heard for years that if a nest is destroyed early enough that the hen will renest. Not sure what early enough is but with all of the other issues they deal with I can’t see a late burn being beneficial to turkeys as far as the nest is concerned.
Imo, we are not dealing with a single problem. I honestly think that disease from chicken litter is what really hurt us and that late burns, a long season, 3 gobbler limit, and predators are what is holding our population from rebounding as quickly as it should.
I, for one, have no problem with this years reduced limit and 1 week shorter season. If I made the decisions, many of you would be bent out of shape. It would be one turkey and a 4 week season. I would split the season in two zones so that the north and south would both have equal opportunities.
I can appreciate your views there. The only place you and I diverge is the effect of gobbler killing. I just can’t get on board with male turkey death rates effecting poult recruitment or overall population more just their count.
I don’t really mind about the shorter season if we did have the zones you mentioned to balance that. The peak of the breeding was over a good long while before opening day here this year.
I totally agree that shooting gobblers does very little to the overall population or at least used to. I honestly think on some properties that they may need all of the help they can get.
I’ll never be convinced that disease isn’t what happened. I have access to 900 acres that looks like something out of a NWTF magazine. It used to be loaded with turkeys 5-6 years ago. In 2 years, they all disappeared. Nothing kills an entire population but disease. They’re slowly coming back but it’s sad compared to what it used to be.
Our land mgr burned about a third of our lease on opening weekend. Can't see how it wouldn't affect the turkeys/nesting. I haven't been back yet to scope it out.
I usually just read thru a lot of these threads...about the fragility of our turkey populations and always have a single question. How is there even 1 Osceola turkey left in the State of Florida??
Sorry to sidetrack it.
I’m sorry, maybe I’m a little slow. Is the implication that all of FL burns late every year? Maybe that was not your intention? Sorry if so.
I heard on a Georgia based hunting podcast the other day that Georgia only has a little over a thousand licensed trappers. I know licensed trappers only account for a portion of people actually trapping but that number still really surprised meI have seen firsthand how trapping coons can help a population. Problem is no one traps anymore. And while I think all of Gods creatures are important and need to be managed, coons are out of hand on most properties.
I heard on a Georgia based hunting podcast the other day that Georgia only has a little over a thousand licensed trappers. I know licensed trappers only account for a portion of people actually trapping but that number still really surprised me
Do you see poults the first week of March year after year or are you setting March 7 as a date, 28 days prior to seeing the first poult?Where I am, I have a hard deadline of March 7 to complete all burns by. That is based on the first poults I see each year. That, in theory will keep me from burning very many, if any nests. I’m glad your work is paying off!