The Solution

[owlhoot]

   
   Ban all TSS Ammo so this Asinine practice of taking 60 + 70 yard Shots is stopped.

There are some survey reports from S. Carolina that state that around 23% of the turkeys shot at were not killed or recovered. I personally don't think all of that is because of TSS ammo.
No significant change from 2010-2020 I noticed in this regard.
Long distance shooting talk has been a subject that this forum has been against and surveys like this support that stance. It is not good for the sport.

[saltysenior]

ain't too many complete misses with a shotgun.

[vt35mag]

State of NH is testing the blood of turkeys harvested for West Nile virus. They have been assessing whether or not the virus has impacted their ruffled grouse population, so maybe a virus or disease has something to do with declining turkey populations?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

[eggshell]

ain't too many complete misses with a shotgun.

Amen and double amen. I have not been someone who watched a lot of videos, but of the ones I have 95% of the claimed missed where actually hit birds. I have a few misses in my portfolio too, but I know they were also hit birds. Misjudging distance is my biggest problem in the past. Of all my misses I have three I know were complete misses, because I shot trees. This year I shot a tree and the gobbler didn't even know he had been shot at, he just heard a loud noise and moved out of range. In 48 years I have cleaned a bunch of birds with healed over shot in them. If you break a bone the bird is dead. Thankfully turkeys are tough critters and unless shot gets into organs they will survive. Most so called misses are hunter error and long shots result in more than close shots. Some complete misses I have seen have been ultra close and thus very small patterns. I think we claim a miss in self defense many times. In reality if we don't put the bird down for the count he is in essence a wounded bird.

There is one more scenario that grinds my grits. Shooting a bird in a group and hitting other birds. I can't tell you how many times I have watched this happen in videos and real life. Let the dang birds separate.....aarrrrgggg

[quavers59]

   I think most Spring Seasons are just too Damn Long.I think that States with Declining Turkey Populations  should really think about going to a 3 Week Spring Turkey Season. That's  it- 21 Days.
   Some States go for 5 Full Weeks. That's  too long of a Spring Turkey Season for any 1 State.

[Sir-diealot]

There is one more scenario that grinds my grits. Shooting a bird in a group and hitting other birds. I can't tell you how many times I have watched this happen in videos and real life. Let the dang birds separate.....aarrrrgggg
[/quote]

That is one thing that I have really worked into my mind, I know I have only one turkey under my belt but I knew no mater what unless I had a shot I could be proud of I would not have shot that day, they were darting one in front of the other, could have shot at any time but had worked it into my head not to shoot if I felt they were to close. We see that in a lot of videos, though I think some of what we seen in videos can be misconstrued because of camera angle vs shooter angle.

[GobbleNut]

ain't too many complete misses with a shotgun.

Amen and double amen. I have not been someone who watched a lot of videos, but of the ones I have 95% of the claimed missed where actually hit birds. I have a few misses in my portfolio too, but I know they were also hit birds. Misjudging distance is my biggest problem in the past. Of all my misses I have three I know were complete misses, because I shot trees. This year I shot a tree and the gobbler didn't even know he had been shot at, he just heard a loud noise and moved out of range. In 48 years I have cleaned a bunch of birds with healed over shot in them. If you break a bone the bird is dead. Thankfully turkeys are tough critters and unless shot gets into organs they will survive. Most so called misses are hunter error and long shots result in more than close shots. Some complete misses I have seen have been ultra close and thus very small patterns. I think we claim a miss in self defense many times. In reality if we don't put the bird down for the count he is in essence a wounded bird.

There is one more scenario that grinds my grits. Shooting a bird in a group and hitting other birds. I can't tell you how many times I have watched this happen in videos and real life. Let the dang birds separate.....aarrrrgggg

Agree on all counts.  I've watched way too many videos of guys that should know better taking ill-advised shots at turkeys that most certainly resulted in either a wounded gobbler or collateral damage to other birds nearby. 

Here's a wild and crazy idea:  Instead of having bag limits for in-hand dead birds, we should have "shell limits".  If the bag limit in your state is, say, three gobblers, you get to carry three shells for the season.  Every shot fired is counted as one bird in your limit, regardless  of whether it is a recovered bird or not.  That wouldn't stop the flock shooting, but maybe it would discourage all the poor shot choices hunters seem to be willing to take on a regular basis.  That "spray and pray" mindset seems to be far too common amongst us.

Of course, I am just "punking" everybody with that suggestion, but there is no doubt the need for more self-discipline in the turkey hunter's world.  If the number of videos that demonstrate poor shot choices is any indication, there are a lot of dead or wounded gobblers left in the field every year around the country. 

[Turkeyman]

LOL GobbleNut...I've always referred to that as guys suffering from the "One Lucky BB Syndrome".

[saltysenior]

State of NH is testing the blood of turkeys harvested for West Nile virus. They have been assessing whether or not the virus has impacted their ruffled grouse population, so maybe a virus or disease has something to do with declining turkey populations?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
[/quot


  now we a possible reason for a decline that holds water everywhere....

[eggshell]

Gobblenut, I know a guy who only carries two shells. He has always said it made him more disciplined. I talked him into the second shell just in case he needed a back up, which he never has.

[PNWturkey]

So with all this predator talk am I to believe that states or areas that have good turkey populations haven't had an increase in predators since the drop in trapping participation?

Doubtfull.  Which states have  increasing turkey populations ?

I have been looking online for state-by-state information about turkey populations and harvest, trying to compile a map of turkey population trends for each state (say, 2010 vs. 2020) to see if there are any patterns across certain regions.

It is challenging as some states have very spotty data on estimated turkey populations.  Also, current harvest numbers compared to historical harvest can also be skewed due to online reporting vs. in-person historical reporting...

[deerhunt1988]

State of NH is testing the blood of turkeys harvested for West Nile virus. They have been assessing whether or not the virus has impacted their ruffled grouse population, so maybe a virus or disease has something to do with declining turkey populations?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

Pennsylvania has already did some research into West Nile and poults and concluded its likely not a problem. Here's a link to the synopsis:


https://www.pgc.pa.gov/Wildlife/WildlifeSpecies/Turkey/Documents/West%20Nile%20Virus%20Likely%20Does%20Not%20Impact%20Wild%20Turkey%20Poults.pdf


https://www.pennlive.com/life/2020/10/how-is-west-nile-virus-impacting-pennsylvanias-turkey-population.html

[Meleagris gallopavo]

Gobblenut, I know a guy who only carries two shells. He has always said it made him more disciplined. I talked him into the second shell just in case he needed a back up, which he never has.

My old clunky Mossberg 835 won't feed the shell in the magazine so I have one shell in the gun and one in my vest pocket.  Maybe I need to invest in a lighter .410 single shot...

To be honest it's never occurred to me that someone would "open up" on turkeys.  My perception is that it is a 1 shot 1 kill (or miss) and the second shot "may" be needed if the bird is wounded to the point where finishing him off may prove to be a challenge with my foot or bare hands.  Where I hunt the bag limit is one bird per day. 

[owlhoot]

So with all this predator talk am I to believe that states or areas that have good turkey populations haven't had an increase in predators since the drop in trapping participation?

Doubtfull.  Which states have  increasing turkey populations ?

I have been looking online for state-by-state information about turkey populations and harvest, trying to compile a map of turkey population trends for each state (say, 2010 vs. 2020) to see if there are any patterns across certain regions.

It is challenging as some states have very spotty data on estimated turkey populations.  Also, current harvest numbers compared to historical harvest can also be skewed due to online reporting vs. in-person historical reporting...

Yes , a challenging task to say the least.
To me online reporting makes it easy. Cell phone apps , really easy. Not having to take a 50 mile round trip to check one in saves gas money and time.  You can get on with your day. I do miss the check station meeting other people and seeing what they shot too.
Unsure where you were going with that? More or less being checked in?

[deerhunt1988]

So with all this predator talk am I to believe that states or areas that have good turkey populations haven't had an increase in predators since the drop in trapping participation?

Doubtfull.  Which states have  increasing turkey populations ?

I have been looking online for state-by-state information about turkey populations and harvest, trying to compile a map of turkey population trends for each state (say, 2010 vs. 2020) to see if there are any patterns across certain regions.

It is challenging as some states have very spotty data on estimated turkey populations.  Also, current harvest numbers compared to historical harvest can also be skewed due to online reporting vs. in-person historical reporting...

Yes , a challenging task to say the least.
To me online reporting makes it easy. Cell phone apps , really easy. Not having to take a 50 mile round trip to check one in saves gas money and time.  You can get on with your day. I do miss the check station meeting other people and seeing what they shot too.
Unsure where you were going with that? More or less being checked in?

Lot less are checked in from mandated self-reporting compared to historical post-season phone survey data collection.

Some southern states, where mandated reported is fairly new, estimate that only 50-70% of harvested turkey are actually reported.