I don't know bout you guys but I'm crazy itchin to go. Been looking for birds already, my season starts 4/24 w youth day in NJ the Saturday before. NY youth weekend is the same except 2 days. Already have my 2 youth hunters lined up. Got a disabled vet to mentor the first week too. God bless those guys!
NY adult season starts 5/1.
Can't wait, when you all start?
Curious to sizes in your areas for adult birds?
In my areas some are farms, some mountains w lots of snow. Beards can be affected by ice n Spurs by the rock, so far winter has been great n seemingly in my areas bird numbers are improving
We SC boys will start on private land on 3/20 and public opens 4/1 and they run to 5/5. I hunt various environments but the majority of my hunting is on agriculture land. I do hunt some swamp, some river bottom, acorn ridges, and pine plantations as well. I would guess the farm that the majority of my birds come from average in size of 18 lbs, 10" beards, and 1" spurs. We do not have to worry much about ice or snow and the soil is good dirt so it does not wear them down. Most of the birds off the farm have straight spurs, though I have killed a few with curved spurs.
We are under two months and I am ready to hit the ground running. Hoping to hunt the last weekend of waterfowl this coming weekend and then will be killing time until spring. Got to roll a few shells but I am ready to get going!
Youth opens on 3/11 and regular season 3/15. I've taken the 16th and 17th off and will probably sneak an afternoon hunt in on the 15th.
Bird size varies, but most will be 17-19lbs with 7/8 - 1 1/4 hooks and beards 9" -11". Most of my local birds score 55 - 60 with good ones going 65ish.
Had a little time on my hands so I did some figuring. I have been in the contest since 2011. Here are the birds' scores for those 6 years (the actual bird that counted toward the final team score that year, I had upgrades some of those years.):
2011: 59.125
2012: 66.5
2013: 58.875
2014: 63.00
2015: 58.06
2016: 67.69
My average bird's score toward the team score is: 62.208.
Very nice guys!