So,I just checked out the NWTF- Spring Turkey Bag Limits by State. And,I come up with 16 States that have a 1 Male or Bearded Turkey Limit.
My personal opinion is that is a great disservice to the Hunters of those States. Probably a much better solution is to Shorten the Spring Season to 9 or 10 Days with a 2 Turkey Limit and 2 Solid Weekends or at least 3 Saturdays if no Sunday Hunting is allowed. By having a 1 Bird Limit- you are just pushing some people to kill the 1st Tom and keep quiet about it and then kill the 2nd and report that Bird.
Hopefully down the road those States can increase to 2 Birds each Spring and just reduce the Length of the Spring Season. Does the Spring Season have to be 4 weeks or more if things are that Dire as far as Turkey numbers.
We are going to end up losing Hunter interest and Hunters just dropping out with a 1 Bird Bag limit. Like a bitter pill in the mouth-- why even bother to go.
Poachers are gonna poach. Kinda like the electronic game check system that too k the place of the check in stations, makes it easier for a shady person to get away with it. While shortening the season might of been the more realistic approach, you're not going to do anything for hunter interest by having a 2 week turkey season. As for why even bother going, I don't really think I need to even answer that lol.
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Doesn't make a difference what "rules" you make a poacher is going to poach...
I hunt out-of-state with one bird rules, doesn't stop me from going.
MK M GOBL
I'll bet that the State Game Commission's realize that there will be a certain amount of birds that are harvested and not properly tagged and reported, thus they figure this in when setting bag limits......just a thought...
16? No kidding didn't think the number was that high. I'd argue there are multiple states that should bump it up to 2 birds I've been too. Not going to name em but most states IMO don't warrant a one bird limit. Really saddened me to see Ohio head to a one bird limit this season after residents advocated for it. If given the option. I would bump limits up to 2 and shorten season if that were the compromise. To hell with this socialist everyone gets a bird crap. The harvest would stay the same, the best hunters would kill 2 birds and the not so great would go empty handed. Michigan having a 45 day season for 1 turkey is ridiculous. If it takes you as a resident that long to kill one Midwestern turkey that's a bit ridiculous.
We dropped from 2 birds to 1 and honestly in this part of the state a draw for tags wouldnt hurt my feelings. We kept the season at 2 months long though. I would like to see it go back to April 15th to May 15th like it was before we really liberalized the seasons.
As a resident of Ohio I understand the frustration with the reduced bag limit. I dont like it, but understand it. Numbers of morning gobbles have dwindled on my property and the surrounding area in the past few years. I agree that reducing the bag limit is the appropriate course of action, and have done it myself for a few years prior. I would rather the length of season stay the same. I prefer to have the option of days in the field as apposed to multiple tags. Some years its hard to get time away from work or other family obligations. Shortening the season would reduce more opportunities for most people then reducing a bag limit. Lets just hope when the ship rights itself the limit goes back up.
I remember when my state had a 2 week season and could only kill one bird per week. There was a spring 2 week season with 1pm closure and a fall 2 week season. I really scratch my head at states that have seasons that are so long. Some of the hunters that don't fill thier tags in the states with long seasons make me laugh at some of thier tactics.
A shorter season sounds like a horrible scenario to me. I still know guys that don't even get serious about killing until the 3rd week of Pa season. Mostly old timers set in their ways.
Shorten the season and you'll see pressure on birds skyrocket and hunter satisfaction will plummet.
Outlaws don't follow the law, so why do you think more rules will make it any better?
Although it appears to me there are certainly states that need to change their harvest regulations in terms of season dates and bag limits, I would personally never advocate for a very short season with unlimited tags available. All that does is concentrate large numbers of hunters in a very short time frame. I think there are better solutions.
I am also an advocate of a two-bird bag limit in most states over the one-bird limit. There are lots of ways states can implement a two-bird regulation that has negligible impact on the turkey population and harvest numbers assuming that is the concern, and at the same time, reasonably increases hunting opportunity. However, there is a balance between hunting quantity versus quality. Personally, I think some states have gone too far in the other direction in terms of the "quantity" element.
We are quite obviously seeing the results of some states having excessively long (and ill-timed) seasons, as well as unrealistically high bag limits. There is a critical balance out there in terms of hunting opportunity and resource protection. I believe some states are just beginning to understand that too much of the "quantity" factor is not a good idea. Conversely, there appear to be some states that manage the resource too conservatively (in my opinion) and limit (reasonable) turkey hunting opportunity when allowing that opportunity would not impact the resource, at least under the current conditions.
I think getting bag limits increased after a reduction would be more likely then lengthening a season after dates are cut. I cant recall the specific podcast but a biologist was talking about the decline. He stated that in all reality at a point in the season when hens have been successfully bred, you could take out every mature tom from the area and the population would not be impacted. If that is the case it seems to me you could have a season A tag good for first 2/3 weeks of the season, and a B tag good only for the last 2/1 weeks of the season.
Either way I would be apposed to days lost in the field, even if my tag had already been punched.
Quote from: Chief Razor on March 21, 2022, 09:50:43 AM
I cant recall the specific podcast but a biologist was talking about the decline. He stated that in all reality at a point in the season when hens have been successfully bred, you could take out every mature tom from the area and the population would not be impacted.
This was the original premise behind the establishment of spring gobbler seasons to begin with. Unfortunately, that premise was based on the assumption that there would be reliable, long-term reproductive success in any wild turkey population. In other words, even in the extreme event that every mature gobbler in a population was harvested (pretty unlikely event), there would be gobblers in that population in subsequent years due to population recruitment provided in the form of successful reproduction by already-fertilized hens.
That original premise was well-founded, but it did not take into account what would happen without that reliable reproduction taking place on a somewhat regular basis. The dilemma we face now in some places is that we are experiencing long-term reproductive failure,...or at least not enough reproductive success to keep up with the number of gobblers being removed through hunting and other mortality factors. Until we solve that issue, that original premise that gobbler numbers didn't matter if the hens were bred, although valid in theory, is not necessarily valid in reality.
Quote from: quavers59 on March 21, 2022, 03:23:04 AM
We are going to end up losing Hunter interest and Hunters.
The sooner, the better!
I have had a self imposed bag limit of 1 bird for the last few years anyways, as my local population has gone down. I still bought a second tag to be able to go participate with my son when he hunted. As to shortening the season, that's a no go from me. Some of us work a lot of hours and have crazy work schedules that limit our days afield, so we may only get to hunt a few days out of a 3-4 week season.
Plus shorter season crowds the woods and increases pressure. I pretty much quit hunting deer in my state because the firearm season is only a week, and muzzle loader is like 3 days, but archery is an uninterrupted 4 months or so. Ridiculous in my opinion.
Quote from: guesswho on March 21, 2022, 10:40:06 AM
Quote from: quavers59 on March 21, 2022, 03:23:04 AM
We are going to end up losing Hunter interest and Hunters.
The sooner, the better!
It's an added benefit to the regulation!
Their argument is that the states don't want to take away opportunities . They don't want to shorten season , shorten hours of the day you can hunt or stop fall seasons . What that really means is they want the same amount of people buying licenses and tags but want us to kill less game . They want the appearance of caring about the wildlife but they want your money . There is a high percentage of guys who don't kill any birds and they like them . They get their money and they don't take take away from the bird population . You limit the opportunities these hunters stop going and they don't get their money . The diehards use their vacation , they will hunt if the season is only 2 weeks , they go if they can only hunt till noon and they will kill multiple birds . In their eye we are the takers and they want to limit us by limiting our bag limit .
Times are changing, the glory days of turkey hunting are over for now in many states. Quit complaining and be grateful for the opportunity to hunt them. Casual hunters won't quit and any "die hard" that says they'll quit if they can only shoot one bird is full of chit. What will make people quit is a complete lack of turkeys. Keep those high limits and the guys who know what they're doing will get their 2-3 birds and leave little to nothing for the new folks. Just because some of us find it easy to shoot multiple birds doesn't mean we should be allowed to when population levels are low. Some of the biology will say tom harvest has no impact on population levels but I can say that the one bird states/units I've hunted are usually a much more enjoyable hunt.
so killing multiple birds in one state is greedy, but shooting half a dozen birds in other states is a-ok?
i see a lot of whining and complaining on this site. if you're into traveling and shooting birds in other states, good on you. but i don't want to see you on here whining about the state of turkeys
sorry if bird numbers suck where you live. if everyone who lives in those areas then travels and shoots birds elsewhere then there's no birds at all
OH......but its cool when YOU do it
Quote from: Zobo on March 21, 2022, 11:44:26 AM
Quote from: guesswho on March 21, 2022, 10:40:06 AM
Quote from: quavers59 on March 21, 2022, 03:23:04 AM
We are going to end up losing Hunter interest and Hunters.
The sooner, the better!
It's an added benefit to the regulation!
I'm pacing around the house checking my watch waiting on all these hunters to lose interest. Please for the love of God can it hurry up and happen? Like maybe tomorrow? Or right now?
The biggest myth and the crutch the industry constantly falls on is this hunter recruitment BS will somehow help the turkey. NO, it will not. But, it will help line all the industry folks pockets!
Quote from: TurkeyReaper69 on March 21, 2022, 04:15:25 PM
Quote from: Zobo on March 21, 2022, 11:44:26 AM
Quote from: guesswho on March 21, 2022, 10:40:06 AM
Quote from: quavers59 on March 21, 2022, 03:23:04 AM
We are going to end up losing Hunter interest and Hunters.
The sooner, the better!
It's an added benefit to the regulation!
I'm pacing around the house checking my watch waiting on all these hunters to lose interest. Please for the love of God can it hurry up and happen? Like maybe tomorrow? Or right now?
The biggest myth and the crutch the industry constantly falls on is this hunter recruitment BS will somehow help the turkey. NO, it will not. But, it will help line all the industry folks pockets!
100% Agree!!
Less hunters would decrease lease prices and increase game. I am all for it and I know that sounds selfish, but I hunt for myself and not anyone else.
I would be hesitant to advocate for any regulation changes in states or areas that I have no experience with or understanding of...
One advantage that I would hope for with a 1-bird limit would be reduced hunting pressure, and likely more hunting opportunities for more hunters to kill birds... Shortening the season with larger tag allotments does not seem like a good idea at all... Especially states or areas with limited hunting areas. You will have a lot more hunting pressure and hunters during a shorter period of time; I would hate that.
One thing I have seen, is that unfortunately, very often harvest limits and seasons are based far more on the political climate than on substantial science. There are likely some blue states with advocates against hunting, and unnecessary hunting season and harvest reductions... There are also states that are looking at the financial aspect and keeping unwarrented liberal limits and seasons in order to maintain revenue for license/tag sales. And then there are always political advocates sticking their noses in without proper knowledge advocating for more or less liberal regulations based on "how they feel."
I live in Michigan and we have never had more than a 1-bird limit. We are allowed to take one bird in the spring season and another in the fall season. Michigan must be doing something right as it is listed as 4th in the nation for overall harvest numbers according to NWTF study results.
I have never felt deprived of not being able to take more than 1 bird in the spring season and I have a lot of seasons under my belt. Realitically why do we need multiple limits? How many birds do we need to kill? If I harvest my bird the first day of the season, I can still hunt, call in birds, outsmart them, but leave my gun at home and not kill them. I can help family members or friends harvest their bird if they want me to. There was a reference that if it takes 45 days to harvest a turkey something must be wrong with the hunters skills. I take exception to that pathetic comment.
This is simply my opinion and I am not denigrating those states that have multiple bird limits or those who choose to harvest multiple birds. But times are changing and only time will tell who is correct. We need to help the turkeys as much as we can and any way we can. We can all agree on that point.
I enjoy one bird states and I personally do not believe that non-resident turkey hunters should be allowed to kill more than 1 turkey off public land in ANY state but that's a different conversation for a different day.
There is more carryover from year to year in one bird states and they are more well insulated to population decline. There is also an important caveat when discussing single bird states. Some states have implemented 1 bird bag limits to preserve a quality resource. Others with population decline issues have imposed a single bird bag limit to remedy their decline/overharvest problem so it's not an apples to oranges comparison.
I enjoy hearing turkeys and seeing turkeys when I go hunting. You don't see or hear that many turkeys anymore in places with higher bag limits. Those are the places the masses go and where an abundance of tags are filled. I would happily pay considerably more for a license in 1 bird states if additional revenue were needed. In my mind, I'm paying for a quality experience. Not the ability to punch a pile of tags.
Quality and quantity cant coexist. I'm a quality kind of guy and I hope more people continue to see it like that too.
Quote from: AndyN on March 21, 2022, 02:42:31 PM
Times are changing, the glory days of turkey hunting are over for now in many states. Quit complaining and be grateful for the opportunity to hunt them.
This is the part of his comment I agree with the most, but there are a lot of intersting view points. Living in MN we have always had a one bird limit in the spring. When I started it used to be a five day season, a five day season you needed to draw for. And because of the draw we only got to hunt our home state every two or three years. Now we get a seven day season that you need to pick and hope you have good weather. Archery hunter do have the opportunity to hunt all time frames. I do not wish to hunt with a bow, it could give me more time in the woods hunting but I have my reason not to. So if your state allows you to try for mutable birds be happy because times are changing. If not you just may have to become one of them bad non-resident hunters like me that go to some other states to try shooting some of there so called birds.
Not sure why most of these posts are upset about a one bird limit? It's not about the QUANTITY it's about the QUALITY of the experience. When I first started in my state, we only had a one bird limit. Now we are up to a 3 bird limit in the Spring. I dont NEED to fill every single tag. If I stretch out my season and harvest ONE GOBBLER I feel BLESSED. I have a place we have hunted 3 or 4 years now. If I take the kids and kill one during youth season then it's off limits til next year. My self imposed limit for that area is ONE GOBBLER. Do I still buy the 3 tags? YES but mainly because I can stretch out my season taking into consideration weather, work, other life things that happen. I have a close family member or 2 that practically cry if they dont harvest a gobbler. I mean FRANTIC if the season doesnt go their way. Very sad. Also have another SIBLING that feels that he must to kill every dang turkey he has a tag for. I'd be more concerned about the QUALITY of the turkeys and not so much the number of tags you can get. Just my 2 cents.
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