Poults Everywhere this Morning

[bbcoach]

We start our 2020 Turkey Sighting Surveys tomorrow July 1st and report until August 31st.  I've been a part of the surveys for the last 6-7 years.  The NC State Wildlife Biologists send us a report card and we report our sightings for the months of July and August.  They ask us to report numbers of gobblers, hens, hens with poults and unknown.  They compile the results from though out the state and send out the results for each county sometime in September. 

[Turkeytider]

We start our 2020 Turkey Sighting Surveys tomorrow July 1st and report until August 31st.  I've been a part of the surveys for the last 6-7 years.  The NC State Wildlife Biologists send us a report card and we report our sightings for the months of July and August.  They ask us to report numbers of gobblers, hens, hens with poults and unknown.  They compile the results from though out the state and send out the results for each county sometime in September.

Wish they'd do something like that here in Georgia. I'm honestly beginning to wonder if any of the turkey related decisions are in any way based on biological data or input from the biologists. I sure hope so.

[nativeks]

They use rural mail carriers here.

[bbcoach]

They use rural mail carriers here.

If your not joking, then I don't see this as productive.  One, how many actually participate and two, do they really care.  IMO most states need to get the people that actually benefit from the sightings involved in the surveys.  Most hunters will participate because they CARE about their hunting resource.  This survey allows me to spend time afield this time of year, it provides me with additional scouting opportunities and I have learned so much about this bird being around them the entire year.

[nativeks]

Been using them since 1962. Very productive. Volunteer basis. They drive set routes every day year after year. Many of them take very detailed notes. They are used for turkey, quail, and pheasant surveys.

[bbcoach]

Been using them since 1962. Very productive. Volunteer basis. They drive set routes every day year after year. Many of them take very detailed notes. They are used for turkey, quail, and pheasant surveys.

Sounds Great.  I'll bet the rural carriers have some great stories to tell!

[Cut N Run]

Great to hear you're seeing poults coach.  Not so much where I am.  I had 13 poults and 4 adult hens that visited behind the house over the summer last year.  No so much this year.  I've only seen 3 adult hens here recently and zero poults.

I went out to the big farm last weekend to retrieve the trail camera I left out since turkey season ended, just to see what survived.  The camera and bear box had been pried off the tree and were gone.  I called the guy who deer hunts out there and his 2 trail cameras were gone too.  Mine was an older Cuddeback that wasn't great, but it worked.  I hate a trespassing thief.

I've been participating in the survey for several years myself.  I cover ~10 counties in my work, though usually only see turkeys in maybe half of them.

Jim