The Solution

[Neill_Prater]

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I have a tendency to write too much, so I'm going to attempt to keep this to the point.

For whatever reason, the winds of opinion seem to be shifting from environmental factors to the human factor as the major cause of a decline in turkey numbers.

I don't necessarily agree, but if that's true, how many of you think that reducing the bag limit to one bird and halving the season in your state would allow the overall population of birds to rebound?

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[Which Gun]

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  We can only take two birds in NC. I’d have no problem with only one bird if it would help. I help others get there birds anyway.  Don’t agree with cutting season in half. With work and other obligations need what we have especially if going after only one bird I want the biggest bird  I can get. 

[lunghit]

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I live on Long Island NY and you guys can only imagine what kind of habit we have here. The worst habit in your area is probably better than our best yet our turkey population is exploding here. Just like most of Long Island I live in a very residential area what you would think is horrible for wild turkey yet they are becoming very abundant. I was literally just talking with some family friends and they can’t stand them all over their yard and even roosting on their roof. Another coworker shows me videos of him chasing huge flocks away. I see them more and more all the time and hear about them way more often than just a few years ago. There are two things we do not have here. One is coyotes and the other is a spring season. We do have a very short youth season that very few take advantage of and a fall season where again most don’t hunt. So I think a combo of over hunting and coyotes/predators are the biggest factors. And yes I think a one bird limit will help.

[Gooserbat]

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Not in my opinion.  There is a smaller than 50 percentage of hunters who tag out.  The majority are not affected by bag limits.  Now some places like Wisconsin shot do something to curtail killing.  I'm under the impression that Oklahoma does do the one bird per county thing right.  It spreads out the kill.

We need to look at the overall difference between now and then.  Herbicides like Remedy and 24-D weren't wildly used as today...thus broadleaf plants and better poult habitat.  People used to burn a lot more.

[GobbleNut]

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While I agree that human factors are a major culprit in wild turkey population declines, hunting is not one of the significant human factors in most cases.  Unfortunately, there are a bunch of factors associated with our burgeoning human population that most definitely are impacting turkeys. 

Reducing bag limits and season lengths is only a temporary fix.  Without altering those other, more significant factors, populations will surely continue to decline.  That decline will be lessened over the short term by reducing the number of gobblers killed each spring, but without solutions to the real causes, turkey numbers will continue their downward trends in those places where humans have more drastically altered those factors that influence turkey population health and recruitment. 

Having said that, there are places where turkeys are doing well, and bag limits and season lengths (if timed properly) are not presently an issue.  Turkey hunting pressure will eventually gravitate towards those areas.  It is imperative that the resource be adequately protected in all cases with wise management decisions related to hunting. 

The era of treating turkeys like they are an unlimited resource with too-liberal bag limits and season structures will inevitably have to change under the conditions that exist now.   

[Southerngobbler]

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Where I hunt it does seem to be hunter related. I know of a few small private properties that are loaded with turkey largely cuz the owner only deer hunts. The public land elsewhere is like most parts of the country and has few turkeys left.
The deer hunters that own and hunt these parcels use huge amounts of corn, they dump it out by the truck load and there's a ton of racoons, their absolutely everywhere. Also they quit feeding the deer after deer season so the coons are without corn during turkey season. You would think they would decimate the eggs but they don't.
I think groups of turkeys are like quail coveys, if they get below a certain number they start to decline. Keep them above that number and they flourish.

[Yelper]

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It is obvious the best two things we can do for wildlife is habitat management and predator control/trapping. More restrictions is not the answer.

[rifleman]

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     My mountainous area (1300 acres) in WV which is private ground has fewer turkeys now.  The habitat has not changed all that much from the exploded population we had in the period 1970-1990s.  What has really changed is the predator population.  During the above time frame coon hunters kept coons and possums at an all-time low and coyotes were not here. Food and habitat are still here and logically what does that leave??

[deerhunt1988]

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While I agree that human factors are a major culprit in wild turkey population declines, hunting is not one of the significant human factors in most cases.  Unfortunately, there are a bunch of factors associated with our burgeoning human population that most definitely are impacting turkeys. 

Reducing bag limits and season lengths is only a temporary fix.  Without altering those other, more significant factors, populations will surely continue to decline.  That decline will be lessened over the short term by reducing the number of gobblers killed each spring, but without solutions to the real causes, turkey numbers will continue their downward trends in those places where humans have more drastically altered those factors that influence turkey population health and recruitment. 

Having said that, there are places where turkeys are doing well, and bag limits and season lengths (if timed properly) are not presently an issue.  Turkey hunting pressure will eventually gravitate towards those areas.  It is imperative that the resource be adequately protected in all cases with wise management decisions related to hunting. 

The era of treating turkeys like they are an unlimited resource with too-liberal bag limits and season structures will inevitably have to change under the conditions that exist now.

Couldn't have put it in better words myself.

This current trend of substantially reducing opportunity through season and bag limit changes is simply a band-aid on something that requires major surgery.

[Pluffmud]

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I believe I can speak for my state, SC, as I've lived here my entire short life of 31 years. SC arguably has the most successful turkey management program in the history of the US. Turkeys were borderline extinct sometime last century... In the 50s/60s, SC was the first state to successfully trap wild turkeys and reintroduce them in major locations throughout the state, paving the road to recovery. 20 to 30 years ago, populations were through the roof. The bag limit was 5 birds, 2 per day. Season always started March 15. I can tell you 2 MAJOR things that have changed in our state that are again sending turkeys spiraling downward, which were not here  two to three decades ago...

1. Coyotes. They are everywhere, and we have not come up with an efficient way to control them. The second, which is an even greater threat...

2. Urban Expansion. Every month, there is a new 1000 acre block of forest that is completely demolished, whether it be for neighborhoods, shopping plazas, and manufacturing plants. "Progress" keeps pushing further and further into what little forest remains, and turkeys aren't the only game suffering.

Hard to see us coming back from where we are now, unfortunately.

[hotspur]

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Louisiana has lowerd the bag limit  years ago .and has been moving the opening dates back for several years . Doesn't look like it's hepled anything

[deerhunt1988]

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Louisiana has lowerd the bag limit  years ago .and has been moving the opening dates back for several years . Doesn't look like it's hepled anything

Add Arkansas to that list as well.

[arkrem870]

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We are shifting towards more restrictions because they can be enacted with the stroke of a pen. Addressing predation, environmental changes, habitat, etc isnt easily done and costs a fortune. Unfortunately, I don’t think these restrictions will be the golden bullet but I hope I’m wrong.

[Tail Feathers]

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I’m already at a one bird limit locally.  That makes sense here but not in Rio territory for much of Texas. 

[silvestris]

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It is going to take a major die off ……………….of turkey”hunters”.  “We have met the enemy, and it is us,”