State Bag Limits- Too Many Or Too Few?

[CALLM2U]

I had an interesting conversation with an ol' timer last Spring.

I ran into him where I've been calling my 'home' range hunting spot the last 5 years.  He had seen my truck so he wanted to chat.   He's been hunting there for 40 years.   He shared how much it has changed in the last 5 years.  Said you would hear 10-15 turkeys gobble any given spring morning.  Now we're lucky it hear 2. 

I asked him what he thought the change was, people? social media? TSS? ect.  He said the amount of hunters hasn't changed.  The landscape hasn't changed (most of it is wilderness)  he said the only thing he has seen change is predators.  Racoons being the biggest increase.  Said he can remember when he saw his first one, now they are like rats. 

[WLT III]

Never understood the over satisfaction and self congratulations of "yeah killed that one on public". lol. Who cares?

I'll start by saying that I've been hunting local public ground way before it was cool. For me, it has not been so much public ground, but hunting pressured turkeys, rather than unpressured turkeys. I enjoy the challenge more than killing someone's pets. Plenty of private turf that is just as heavily pressured as public though

[sasquatch1]

Never understood the over satisfaction and self congratulations of "yeah killed that one on public". lol. Who cares?

Lol right

Honestly I've not killed many private birds but the ones I did kill have me more trouble than the public birds.

On public I find birds alone much more so than on private where the flocks aren't busted up.


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[Swampmonkey]

Never understood the over satisfaction and self congratulations of "yeah killed that one on public". lol. Who cares?

I'll start by saying that I've been hunting local public ground way before it was cool. For me, it has not been so much public ground, but hunting pressured turkeys, rather than unpressured turkeys. I enjoy the challenge more than killing someone's pets. Plenty of private turf that is just as heavily pressured as public though

We can agree on that part. Everyone around us has about 500-50acres. If you ain't hunting him someone is

[Swampmonkey]

Never understood the over satisfaction and self congratulations of "yeah killed that one on public". lol. Who cares?

Lol right

Honestly I've not killed many private birds but the ones I did kill have me more trouble than the public birds.

On public I find birds alone much more so than on private where the flocks aren't busted up.


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I've experienced the same

[appalachianassassin]

In my zip code, I have witnessed the turkey population spike up and down twice in the 29 years I've been hunting them. Last season I self imposed a limit of 1 in east TN. Let several go late season after I got off the road. There were several Jakes last spring and this year there is a pile of gobblers. 13 in 1 group. So yeah, I'll happily take the limit this season. Turkey populations vary and can go from pitiful to over run in just a few years.

[sasquatch1]

In my zip code, I have witnessed the turkey population spike up and down twice in the 29 years I've been hunting them. Last season I self imposed a limit of 1 in east TN. Let several go late season after I got off the road. There were several Jakes last spring and this year there is a pile of gobblers. 13 in 1 group. So yeah, I'll happily take the limit this season. Turkey populations vary and can go from pitiful to over run in just a few years.

Agree, very cyclical and compounding population changes can happen quickly with the right/wrong conditions in both good direction and bad.

Nothing wrong with self imposed limits if one believes in it. Personally I don't think the harvest is hardly measurable on the population swings but who really knows.


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[Bowguy]

In my zip code, I have witnessed the turkey population spike up and down twice in the 29 years I've been hunting them. Last season I self imposed a limit of 1 in east TN. Let several go late season after I got off the road. There were several Jakes last spring and this year there is a pile of gobblers. 13 in 1 group. So yeah, I'll happily take the limit this season. Turkey populations vary and can go from pitiful to over run in just a few years.

Agree, very cyclical and compounding population changes can happen quickly with the right/wrong conditions in both good direction and bad.

Nothing wrong with self imposed limits if one believes in it. Personally I don't think the harvest is hardly measurable on the population swings but who really knows.


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Do you believe predators could be part of the problem? Humans are predators. How come areas you hunt, often right near where we are ,always have at least one property, the one with the no hunting signs, saturated with turkey and deer. If its local everything else us the same. 
Might be obvious to think thats where they just got pushed to but if everything else was the same the flocks, herds ought to diminish. They dont.
Something to think about.
Now understand dead is dead no matter how theyre killed. We have to have an affect I'd think

[appalachianassassin]

In my zip code, I have witnessed the turkey population spike up and down twice in the 29 years I've been hunting them. Last season I self imposed a limit of 1 in east TN. Let several go late season after I got off the road. There were several Jakes last spring and this year there is a pile of gobblers. 13 in 1 group. So yeah, I'll happily take the limit this season. Turkey populations vary and can go from pitiful to over run in just a few years.

Agree, very cyclical and compounding population changes can happen quickly with the right/wrong conditions in both good direction and bad.

Nothing wrong with self imposed limits if one believes in it. Personally I don't think the harvest is hardly measurable on the population swings but who really knows.


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Im not sure if hunters have an impact or not. Either way, I wish not to be part of the problem. That, and I prefer adventure hunts anyway.