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Kentucky turkey hunters.

Started by spurman, May 09, 2018, 02:03:56 PM

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eggshell

I stand on the hens only need bred once point....

From Pa Game commission site: When do turkeys in PA breed, nest and hatch? Breeding can begin as early as the end of March, when winter flocks disperse. This is the time when hens seek a nesting area and gobblers begin gobbling in earnest. A hen can be bred by the gobbler daily, but the sperm is held in the hen's oviduct for up to four weeks. One successful breeding is sufficient to fertilize the eggs for an entire clutch (sometimes two clutches, if the hen loses her first nest and successively re-nests).

There are other references, but this one was easy to find.

Where did you get 4,000 -6,000 hens killed? here is a link to Ky harvest for fall 2017
http://app.fw.ky.gov/harvest/turkeyharvest.asp

      Male      Female    Total    % Male    % Female    Adult    Sub-Adult    Archery    Firearm    Muzzleloader    Crossbow
Total   705        1193       1898   37.1%   62.9%    545      160    645                     1007         2                   244

Here also is a link to the study that explains the reason for the survey and population trends

https://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Documents/2018_KY_Turkey_Report_Pre-Season.pdf

So a total of 1898 turkeys were killed during fall of 2017 of which 1193 were hens. with a population of approx 350,000 turkeys .54 % or 1/2 of 1 percent of the population was harvested....that in my book is statically  inconsequential


Kylongspur88

I understand the leveling off argument and have heard it from several people, but if that's the case then why are populations declining in areas that have had good turkey populations since the 90's? I would have thought they would have leveled off a long time ago...

eggshell

The leveling off can take place over - 20-30 years. The population builds for many of those then gradually declines to a carrying capacity. Also carrying capacity changes as habitat changes