Recent posts

#31

General Forum / Re: Personal musings

Last post by Sixes - June 02, 2025, 04:01:11 PM

I don't know exactly what has happened, a combination of a lot of variables, but I do not think a lack of males is the problem. Declining numbers of hens is the problem that I see, and less hens= less poults = less turkeys of both sexes. After a few years, the population has dropped tremendously.

The other possibility and from what I witnessed in middle GA was what seemed to me to be disease. For years, I hunted a 10K acre tract in middle GA that was mostly contiguous and was very lightly hunted as the owner bought and managed the land for quail. The land has it all, planted AG fields, hardwoods, brood fields for quail and a very good trapping and burning program. There was normally 3 of us and we usually stayed 4-7 days and had the whole 10K acres to ourselves. Turkey were abundant and it was normal to call up multiple birds over the days we hunted, no matter where we were on the land.

Then, a few years back, we get down there for opening week and there is very little sign nor visual sightings and not just on this land. The surrounding fields, where we normally saw flocks of birds, were vacant. We hunted a couple days and then left and went to another area 60 miles north of there and saw plenty of birds.

That fall during deer season and into the next spring showed virtually no turkeys anymore. Normally on our fall and last weekend deer hunts, it was common to see huge flocks of turkeys, but they were nonexistent.

I just cannot believe that they just disappeared almost overnight, especially the hen population. The one thing that crossed my mind was the owner had leased some of the AG fields to a farmer that used chicken manure and I noticed a lot of surrounding farmers went back to using chicken manure and I wonder if there was a disease of some sort brought into the area.

Talking to the landowner recently, he mentioned not seeing us down there in a couple years and we told him about the lack of turkeys, and he stated that the turkeys seem to be coming back now that he doesn't know what happened.

It's not habitat loss (nothing changed), it's not killing too many (we left lots of gobblers), it's not killing them too early (there again, we left lots of birds), it's not predation , but something happened over a 1.5-3 year period that decimated that flock. It appears that the lack of hens has slowly spread most of the state. It used to be common where I hunted to see 8-10 hens with 2-3 gobblers and have more than one flock like that. Now, I rarely see more than 1-2 hens together.

Sorry so long, it's just difficult to know that the best place that I have ever hunted went down hill so fast and now not worth the 180 mile drive. But hopefully, the birds will be back enough to hunt next spring.

#32

General Forum / Re: tell me about your turkey ...

Last post by BDeal - June 02, 2025, 03:58:54 PM

I've never used a scope on a shotgun, what is the advantage over a red/green dot?  I've ran Fastfires and now a Holosun with a green circle and cannot see myself ever changing anything, but just curious as to the differences with a actual scope. I love the circle in the Holosun and it's proved to be deadly.

Scopes provide magnification and clarity for those without great vision. For those with astigmatism, red and green dots become distorted and appear as starbursts. I have a holosun with the circle as well but the circle is wayyy too large. It's as large as the entire turkey at 20 yards. How did you deal with this issue? Thanks!

#33

General Forum / Re: tell me about your turkey ...

Last post by Tom007 - June 02, 2025, 03:42:13 PM

One thing I will add about using a scope, is buy yourself good quality scope mounts at least 2 screws to each side of the mount ... IMO

X10 here. The shotgun recoil demands strong rings for sure. Burris makes some solid tactical rings.

#34

2025 OLD GOBBLER TURKEY HUNTING TEAM CONTEST / Re: This is not the average Bu...

Last post by Tom007 - June 02, 2025, 03:34:05 PM

Nice job Z!

#35

General Forum / Re: tell me about your turkey ...

Last post by Sixes - June 02, 2025, 03:31:55 PM

I've never used a scope on a shotgun, what is the advantage over a red/green dot?  I've ran Fastfires and now a Holosun with a green circle and cannot see myself ever changing anything, but just curious as to the differences with a actual scope. I love the circle in the Holosun and it's proved to be deadly.

#36

General Forum / Re: Backyard birds

Last post by zelmo1 - June 02, 2025, 03:12:47 PM

Post is fine here bro. Using a bow , in my opinion, calls for decoys. There are a lot of things that need to happen for you to get a shot. Knowing your yardage exactly and having them stationary is paramount. Set it up so you take every advantage possible. Be in the shade, decoys placed so the bird will be facing your preferred shot angle, etc. Good luck and practice hard. Z

#37

General Forum / Re: Backyard birds

Last post by joey46 - June 02, 2025, 03:11:21 PM

No.  Most just do a quick scan for something interesting. Some sub forums are pretty desolate places.  There is one very good recurve poster here.   Look for CaptJJ's post.  Good luck.

#38

General Forum / Re: Good sling with one handed...

Last post by tbowers - June 02, 2025, 03:08:31 PM

I just always remove mine ...

Glenda Green  makes some awesome gun slings .. Check them out on her Facebook Page

Those do look nice. To make for quicker adjustment, i probably could put a small cord or something around the buckle too

#39

General Forum / Re: Word Association Game

Last post by zelmo1 - June 02, 2025, 03:05:31 PM

Demand

#40

General Forum / Re: Good sling with one handed...

Last post by tbowers - June 02, 2025, 03:02:50 PM

I get that guys remove them when setup, or unhook the front. I'm not interested in that at this point. Fiddle factor is there regardless