How many turkeys is too many

[Happy]

Honestly it depends on how many I hear when out before season. I then set mine and Pedro's overall number and go from there. I can kill a total of 4 combined in the two states I hunt. My boy Pedro can kill the same. Depending on how hard he is hunting gives me my personal game plan. My ultimate goal is to hunt the entire season. If that means slacking off a bit and possibly eating a tag or two I am ok with it. I have friends to call and guide for that own decent chunks of private. And yes I have permission to hunt them as well but I just haven't felt the need to pull the trigger on their properties yet.

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[GobbleNut]

This is how I feel, the law of diminishing returns, too much of a good thing and so on. At some point grace and wisdom overtake numbers and trophies and what you find is contentment.

Exactly.  I will go one step further and reiterate what I have said about it before.  There is a point where something goes from being a passion to being an actual addiction that needs intervention. 

[ChesterCopperpot]

1-5. Get two birds each in the two states I hunt every year and usually tag out both places. Occasionally get to travel elsewhere and might pick up one extra doing that.


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[El Pavo Grande]

My first out of state trip was at 11 years old in the late 80s and that helped fuel my desire to turkey hunt.  By the mid 90s we were hunting 2-3 states, followed by a 10-15 year run of averaging 4-5 states.   In the last 5-6 years I have slowed back down, typically hunting my home state and 1 more, maybe 2 at the most and more limited in days.  Kids, family, and just a change in priorities a little.  Not that turkey hunting isn't very near the top of my list, but for me personally I needed to be a little more balanced with those priorities.  It was difficult to travel with work, then be gone for a week straight plus turkey hunting.  And in all that, I came to realize for me personally I didn't have to kill 10 turkeys a year.  Not that I was ever too hung up on numbers, but at a younger age it did play a role.  Of course now I spend much more time in my mid 40s hunting with my two teenage sons and do take them on trips which makes it more enjoyable.   Personally, I would rather kill 1 turkey on a quality hunt in an oak river bottom or a mountain ridge in my home state than travel and kill 5 by a different method or terrain I don't enjoy hunting as much.   And most especially if that 1 is a hard earned one. 

I enjoy scouting, probably more than most, so I spend a lot of time walking and listening before season.  It's relaxing and you learn a lot.  It's not always a necessity to scout and the majority around these parts don't do much of it.  When you hunt it's go go go or your mind is working constantly to figure out a way to get the turkey in front of your gun.  With scouting, it's more of just relaxing and learning the lay of the land or what the turkeys are doing.  Strategy is a key aspect and not much more rewarding than using what you learned scouting to strategize on a later hunt to kill a gobbler.   With not traveling as much out of state I have been able to slow down to scout more the last few years.  It's been so much fun. 

Obviously the overall culture of turkey hunting has made a shift, most noticeably in recent years.  With some states reducing bag limits, some to 1, I see comments like "it's not worth traveling for 1 turkey" or "it's too much money for 1 turkey".  So, I can see how some feel that way, but for me personally it's not about a number.  If I can drive 10 hours and afford the license, then 1 turkey is worth it for me.  I think placing too much emphasis on numbers can devalue the experience and overall the sport of turkey hunting.  But, that's just my opinion and nothing more. 

[catman529]

3 a year for me, I care nothing about travelling out of state to kill a turkey that is much easier to kill than my local ones and would rather spend that money on adding a new gun to the collection or upgrading my other hunting gear. Once you have killed 100 or so turkeys it isnt as big of a deal. I have no problem with other folks doing it though if they eat every bite of every turkey they kill and are not just giving them away and wasting them.

Turkeys my favorite critter to eat. I usually share some in the form of a cookout and fry a bunch with some buddies but the rest is mine. I'll travel out of state whenever I have time, cause I love hunting em so much I don't want to quit early just cause I tagged out at home. Even hunting at home I hunt multiple counties and rarely kill more than one bird in the same spot.


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[eggshell]

most years it's 4-6 for me with fall and spring combined. I took 9 a couple years, but in the last 10 years I average 5 or 6/yr

[Turkeyman]

The year I retired I took 13 toms. I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. It seemed I was always in a hurry to get a bird so I could get on to the next state. Anymore if I can kill half a dozen or so that's enough.

[THattaway]

Killed 5.a year for 25+ years till the limit dropped to 3 here. I griped about the limit change at first but turkey season is way more enjoyable now and I appreciate a good hunt more than ever. The truth is that no one really gives a dam how many turkeys you kill. When you realize that I think you have arrived.

[chow hound]

I am at an age where I would rather take a week and relax, soak in the scenery, and hunt all week for 2 birds rather than jump from state to state to kill as many as possible.  So for me, it's less about a specific number and more about hunting at a pace that just isn't likely to result in a very high number.

[Swampchickin234]

I think a lot of it depends on different factors for different folks. Jobs, family circumstances, geographic locations, etc.  20+ for some is not to drastic while 5 is unrealistic for others. Then I would add different years bring different opportunities. 


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[bigriverbum]

1 to 3 a year

turkeys are my favorite hunt, but the season falls during so much else going on. morel and ramp season, trout starting to eat dry flies, fishing on the mississippi heats up

variety is the spice of life

[MK M GOBL]

Well for 15 years I have been a 15 bird average (Pre-Covid) now take into consideration I might tag 1/3 of those birds myself. I have always been one to take someone else out to see about helping them out through Learn to Hunt programs, Youth Hunts, Charity Hunts, then theirs friends and family, I have met a few people through the store and even on a friend of a friend hunt. Some years I am traveling to other states and some not. Come spring it's all I do when I have a day off, morning to hunt or some afternoons, when it's season I'm hunting. In most cases I have enough public and private that I am taking a bird or 2 off a property and the hit up the next one, sometimes it's who I am hunting with on their ground. Funny one is I have one property I hunt and the guy "hates" turkeys, all he wants is deer so it's a take them all and I have killed back to back birds for years and in numbers and turkeys are just always there, place is a turkey hunting heaven!!

MK M GOBL

[Cowboy]

I hunt several different parcels in 2 States. Numbers are not my thing, I enjoy everything involved with turkey hunting and worry about it's future, thus I am careful in harvesting birds on these parcels. I have walked out in several of them with a Tom in my bag hearing gobblers on the way out. I choose not to return to that parcel till the following season knowing there should be one there. This is my way of preserving these areas for future hunts, kind of my own way of controlling the population. Bagging my first trophy Tom each year is what I strive for. Anything after that is an added bonus to me. I usually hunt around 25 days per season, daybreak till noon. I can only hope we have this great resource available to all of us for generations to come.....

Well said. I feel the same way about that. 

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[HookedonHooks]

There is a point where something goes from being a passion to being an actual addiction that needs intervention.

I'm a gobbling spring turkey addict through and through. There's a lot worse things to be addicted to than turkey hunting though. Intervention comes in various forms, the season itself intervenes from the monotony of the months between, where we spend quality family time, wet a line, seek rutting bucks, or chase waterfowl flock feeds. The nine and a half months of in between are filled with "everything else", and those two and a half months of spring is "turkey time". That turkey time breaks the monotony of everything else, it's my escape from the real world and problems. Everything else is put to the wayside. Feeling like you drag yourself through nine and a half months just for those two and half months is certainly an issue, but needing those nine and a half months after running yourself thin for those two and a half is all very necessary. Those nine and a half months intervene from that grind, that mental exhaustion you put yourself and your family through, and allow yourself to dial it back in that time. Like any addiction, it will affect your family and your ability to support them, but if you have the right family, they will support your addiction that is a much healthier one than most others. At least that's where I'm at with it, my wife's a real Saint. She's due early February with our second, and I still plan to be hitting the road mid March, and she fully supports that, for now at least.

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

Home State:
1-Merriam, 1-Rio and if I'm lucky an Eastern; so 2-3 in the spring
0-4 in the fall depending on freezer space and opportunity. I dont hunt turkeys in the fall but wont always pass on them either while out big game hunting. Also have land owners that see them as nuisance who get depredation tags because our state wont relocate them. State is messed up and doesnt see the value of the bird as they are "non-native".... just increased opportunity unlike everyone else who is limiting their opportunity. I use to go all out in the fall but in trying to do my part I am very selective in my fall harvest despite knowing I can take 4 every fall without effort.
In summary 1-5 in my home state.

Non-resident hunting will add to that count so in total 6-10 in a year.

'19 - 3/0 + 4 = 7
'20 - 2/2 + 1 = 5
'21 - 2/tbd + 0 =
'22 - 2-3/0-4 + 2-5 = 4+