Georgia DNR Phone Survey

[larry9988]

I was called by Georgia DNR with questions concerning possible  turkey hunting regulation changes in Georgia. Any other Georgia hunters on OG been contacted?

[Sixes]

No, but unless it shows up as DNR or something to that effect, I wouldn't answer it anyway. I wish they would send emails, that I would respond to

[nitro]

They don't want to hear what the folks in the field are seeing ( or more accurately, not seeing or hearing).. talking to the WRD is a waste of your time.

The resource in GA is in trouble and the Goobermint wont be doing what needs to be done. Their answer is cut the limit and number of days.  I started out when we could kill 1 bird a year in GA.

The issues are  multifold- loss of mast trees and other habitat, increased nest predators and some environmental influences.

[larry9988]

I am very perplexed by the decline in my area.I am hunting the same spots I have hunted for 20 or more years and the habitat has changed very little but  numbers are way down. Jake sightings have been steady declining over the last several years. Eleven years ago on opening day, I hunted three farms and saw a total of 26 jakes. This past season I saw 6 jakes all season long. I keep a journal of hunts and there has been a steady decline of birds seen and heard since 2008.
The survey asked opinions on delaying season one week, two weeks, afternoon hunting, reducing bag limit from three down to two,  delaying seasons on certain WMA's and a couple of other questions.

[Sixes]

Have you guys saw an increase in chicken manure usage in the last 5-6 years? The reason I ask is the land I hunt in middle GA (Laurens/Bleckley county line) is around 10K acres of private land that is a third AG and the rest managed for native quail, so there is a heavy trapping program and land is optimized for quail which benefits the turkeys.

10-12 years ago, turkeys were everywhere on this property and surrounding farms across the counties. Over the last few years, turkeys seemed to have just disappeared and from what I have noticed is how much more farmers have went back to using manure and I just wonder if the turkeys (hens) are getting some type of disease. They have went from BOOM to bust in a very short time all through this area.

The other couple of counties I hunt seem to have steady populations or increasing. My primary lease is in the west part of the state in Troup and our population is not as high as 15-20 years ago, but has been steady for the last several years. Butts county, where I hunt, has a very good and seemingly stable population.

I live and work in Cherokee county and our population seems to be growing over the last few years. I work on a 1000 acre piece of unhunted land that is prime winter ground and it's common to have huge numbers of birds on the land in January/February, both hens and toms.

The biggest difference from the places that I hunt is the one with least amount of birds is the AG farm and what should be prime land and the high use of manure and chemical spraying in the area.

[larry9988]

I am in the heart of farm country in southwest Georgia. We have quite a few chicken houses in our area and a lot of chicken litter is brought in on trucks from middle Georgia. I work with a ag consulting company and would say that about 20% of the farm in our area spread chicken litter on cotton and corn land before planting. We were using about the same amount when our turkey population was high. I am not sure if there is any connection or not between the litter and the declining numbers. In Clay and Randolph counties that border us, there is more forest land than in my home county of Calhoun, and the numbers are down in those counties also.

[Sir-diealot]

I am not in your area but think I saw you post this on Facebook and somebody comment about your DNR  doing controlled burns from I think it was March til June, that seems mighty foolish to me as well, though I am sure they say that is the only safe time to do it. I would think Winter but then you will get all the deer hunters complaining about the same.

[Hook hanger]

I'm not in your state but our turkeys in Missouri around me have been in decline since 2008 also. Fields around me had been spread since the 90s don't think the manure is the cause of our decline.

[larry9988]

We have more after greenup burns on the WMA's in my area than on private lands. When they do these burns on WMA's, is usually on less than 20% of the acres and in most cases less than that. Very little after greenup burns done on private land so I do not feel that is a factor in my part of Georgia.