FALL TURKEY HUNTING FOR ALL 49 STATES..

[Cut N Run]

North Carolina used to have an experimental Fall turkey season in five counties in the middle of the state that shared a border with Virginia, where the population was highest.  Taking a hen was also legal, but you had to spend one of your Spring gobbler tags to do it.  Killing hens always seemed counter-productive to me.  If you're hunting for meat, why shoot a bird that weighs half of what a mature gobbler does?  My grandfather used to tell me that you should never kill your egg layers or immature gobblers, because you were just stealing from your future.

I hunted our Fall season (which was more like Winter) and I had hens and jakes in easy range.  I kept hearing my grandfather's words in my mind and never took the safety off. I'm too addicted to the Spring gobble I guess.  The N.C Wildlife Resources Commission eliminated the Fall turkey season, so it is not legal to hunt turkeys in the Fall here anyway.  I'm o.k. with that.

Jim

[ceejay]

The answer to declining turkey populations is conservation through habitat improvement.  I would prefer people, other hunters in particular, put their energy and focus on that rather than trying to keep seasons reduced.   I'd hate to see hunters lose opportunities to do what they enjoy out of necessity to stabilize the population.

I'd gladly see hunters, including myself, have fewer opportunities to hunt if it meant the wild turkey had more viable sustainability.  Dead hens don't lay eggs.  You can have the most ideal habitat in the country and none of that matters if you're not minimizing hen harvest.

History does not lend a kind reputation to hunters; they tend to be a gluttonous group.  As far as I'm concerned, the woods were a more enjoyable place before turkey hunting became trendy, before high percentage tactics became customary practices and there was more honor amongst those who pursued the grand bird back in the day.

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There's  a lot of truth and horse sense in this statement,  I would agree with it.