Out Of State Regs-1 Bird

[redleg06]

I'm all for whatever helps the turkey so if reducing to one bird for non-residents is the answer, ok, but I don't know if it's that simple. I'd be all about making it illegal to shoot jakes too, aside from youth hunters, but that's another can of worms.

IMO, when it comes to hunter harvest effecting turkey numbers, it's not the one guy that's filling his 4 tags that's the problem...It's the 1000's of extra guys filling one tag that's doing the majority of the damage. It's a very small percentage of the turkey hunting community that ever shoot a second turkey, much less a third. What we have now is a surge in new turkey hunters over the last 5-10 years, and they're all taking one or two (whether that be resident or non-resident). The states don't want to do anything to discourage hunter's from coming to their state because that's revenue for them so what you have is a conflict of interest between what's best for the bird and best for license sales is directly at odds with each other. Tennessee and Georgia paying The Hunting Public to promote their states while simultaneously watching numbers drop and preparing to take opportunity away from hunters, is a prime example.

I could hop on the soap box about this but one thing is very clear to me-  when a state gets popular on social media, number's start to drop in the years to follow.  I'm not going to name the states here but most of the states with the biggest drops in population are also the ones that were/are most popular on the facebook forums, hunting forums, and now youtube. When people start flocking to area's in mass, it takes an incredibly high level of reproduction to keep up with all of the extra guns. For a bird that already see's 70-80% nest predation, that's a tall order if you have a bad hatch due to weather or whatever else.

[WiLL B]

It won't bother those chasing 49

[Sir-diealot]

With the numbers down I honestly would not mind one in the Spring and one in the Fall for both residents and non residents and no more bearded hens. I know I will be the odd man out though.

[eddie234]

With the several post recently about Turkey numbers and NR hunters and bag limits just remember you can set a self imposed 1 Turkey limit.


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[joey46]

Would that even be legal?  Seriously though a one bird legal limit may discourage some that would consider only one bird on a out of state trip not worth their time or expense.  Not necessarily a bad thing.

[Kingwoodsman]

100% good. Think it would be just as good

[Wigsplitter]

I'd be for the one bird non- resident I travel 2-3 states per year and that's getting to be the norm- I love to turkey hunt so I'll continue to go

[aclawrence]

Honestly if I'm traveling out of state and I was successful enough to kill one turkey I would be pumped up. Also I'd probably immediately want to try to kill another one. I'm not opposed to a lower out of state limit. I think it depends on the state.


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[TonyTurk]

in most states, residents kill more birds than non-residents.  Only limiting the non-residents to one bird makes no sense to me.  If you are dropping the limit to one bird, drop the limit for all hunters.

This doesn't seem like a measure that will help turkeys much.  It might help resident hunters "feel better" because they see fewer out of state license plates in their neck of the woods.  Just my two cents.

[Tom007]

I realize the OP is about reducing limits on non-residents, but I feel if this is all about protecting diminishing Turkey populations. I feel that everyone should be a part of the answer/solution. Bag limits should be adjusted across the board for all if the numbers dictate same since the results will affect the entire Turkey fraternity. Heading off this drop in numbers now will hopefully stabilize our resource to enjoy in years to come.

[PalmettoRon]

Not that I want this to happen, I definitely don't, but if the goal is to reduce the effects of turkey hunters on turkey populations, go old school and eliminate the Spring season entirely. Fall adult gobblers only. That would do it.


There are a number of less severe measures that would help. Better predator control is of course one. Eliminating decoys especially strutting jakes and gobblers would probably help. I know some pretty inexperienced guys who routinely kill gobblers using strutting decoys who are terrible callers and woodsmen. I doubt they would have much success without a decoy on an open field.

Hopefully the turkey numbers can be stabilized so that our kids, grandkids and their kids can enjoy this great sport for years to come, but it would appear the best days are probably behind us.That doesn't mean we still can't have very good days ahead. I just don't see things going back to hearing a dozen or more gobblers on the roost at times.


As the human population continues to grow and the inevitable sprawl advances here in SC, I personally now see areas paved over and developed that once held all kinds of wildlife. That will continue and in some areas it is happening at a rapid pace. Habitat loss will continue to be an issue.

Hopefully the wildlife biologists will have more of a say in hunting and fishing regulations in SC and elsewhere rather than politicians and admin types in the DNR.

I'm open to change if it is based on sound science and not on money or some state representative or senator who seemingly knows all. Our turkey laws here in the past have been based on anything but science.

The vast, vast majority on this board love this sport, love this bird and are willing to sacrifice to some degree to afford future generations a chance to enjoy what we all enjoy.

[redleg06]

There's plenty of things that COULD be done to help but the easiest (cheapest as well) is to reduce bag limits...so that's what they'll usually go with first, for better or worse.  If that's what needs to happen then ok but it can't be the only thing that happens or it's just a bandaid, IMO. 

Obviously there's a lot more turkey hunters than there were 5-10 years ago and the traveling turkey hunting has increased in popularity also...we've all heard how good that is for the sport and it's needed etc. That might be true IF AND ONLY IF those increased numbers/additional revenue funnel back into helping wild turkey and not just in "research".  I mean use the increased numbers to improve habitat specifically for turkey, use some of it to procure more public land opportunities (possibly through Walk In Hunt areas like you see in some of the states),  actively trap predators,  burn in a way that is more beneficial to turkey (meaning 15-50 acre parcels instead of 2000+ acres at a time) etc.    I'm aware of the fact that all of the things I'm suggesting require a lot of money and manpower, both of which are limited, and you're talking about a lot of public land...So set up volunteer programs for both donations above and beyond license fees, and also actively engage the public with habitat improvement projects. I, personally would donate a couple hundred dollars a year if I knew it was going right back in to my public land for the species I hunt and If there was a specific way to volunteer to go put in work in habitat improvement (specifically for turkey) on the land I spend time on, I'd volunteer my time....Same way I would if I was on a private hunting club. I'd donate time and money to improve the areas I hunt.   The point is, I think there's a desire for people to do something but not a lot of good avenues for the guys that hunt public or even on hunting clubs in some cases but that's what it's going to take- guys getting out there and doing something about it.

[dirtnap]

numbers drop and preparing to take opportunity away from hunters, is a prime example.

I could hop on the soap box about this but one thing is very clear to me-  when a state gets popular on social media, number's start to drop in the years to follow.  I'm not going to name the states here but most of the states with the biggest drops in population are also the ones that were/are most popular on the facebook forums, hunting forums, and now youtube. When people start flocking to area's in mass, it takes an incredibly high level of reproduction to keep up with all of the extra guns. For a bird that already see's 70-80% nest predation, that's a tall order if you have a bad hatch due to weather or whatever else.

This is a very accurate statement.

[WW]

Let's just all quit turkey hunting for at least 2 years...that will help the population quickly recover. Maybe even 5 years, then we can get the original limits back and have a restart. But we need to ban all social media and the cigar smokers on youtube

[RutnNStrutn]

But we need to ban the cigar smokers on youtube

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