How Soon For A " 1 Spring Gobbler Limit" Across All States?

[zelmo1]

Reducing the bag limit isnt going to fix the problem. Habitat loss, heavy predation and mismanagement/ no future plan is what ia hurting our turkey population. The almighty $$ usually wins out, its a sad truth. I just try to do my part to ease my conscience. If we all try to do it, we may avert a pending disaster. Good luck and God Bless.

[cwedding]

hunting gear companies, state agencies, YouTubers/influencers see it as:

Revenue, Revenue, Revenue

That is so accurate


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[GobbleNut]

hunting gear companies, state agencies, YouTubers/influencers see it as:

Revenue, Revenue, Revenue

That is so accurate

Yep, some states thought they had the golden egg and they have ended up killing the goose.   

[Roost 1]

Sooner rather than later.

[nativeks]

Talked to a landowner after church. He said there are so few turkeys he can't bring himself to hunt them anymore. There were only 4 toms in the area. 3 of them were killed by some guys from AR that lease the property next to his. They came up with their kids during youth season and smoked them. Then one day he looks out the living room window and there is a local outfitter reaping the last remaining bird with a client. Just like that the breeding males are gone. Way too many people don't give two shits about the birds when they travel because they don't live there, they just come to exploit the resource. Unfortunately we are running out of resource, but habits haven't changed.

[quavers59]

  Unsure how to Quote here- but - nativeks above is absolutely  Spot on with his post.

[Tail Feathers]

To parahprase Will Smith "Get that 50 state one bird limit out yo' mouf!"

[zelmo1]

I suggested that we adopt a few of the other states laws to try to get ahead of the issue. Only one Tom the first week. Only allow jakes to be harvested during youth weekend( only1 ), and the last week of the season.  Only one jake per season. One bird per day, for all hunters. I hope we can get ahead of the coming tsunami headed our way.  Z

[greencop01]

I would say generally the NE states like New England has had a stable population of turkeys for st least 20 yrs now. The states around here have opened the season during the second gobbling peak, and have changed gobbler bags only after careful consideration. Also the season is not inundated by turkey zealots. The F&W agencies here have generally put the resource first and it shows with the Wild Turkey populations in the region. We don't have a large turkey hunter population. I would like to see changes in states that affect across the board, BOTH in staters and nonstaters in states that have low harvest numbers. Like close some areas to all turkey hunting. Have different openings in parts of a state for one or two weeks then opening a second area and then a third etc. we all have to be innovative. Places like Fla have a one bird limit for all hunters every three to five years for example. What I have noticed is a me first attitude about turkey hunting and only playing lip service to the resource, the Wild Turkey. In respect to all I am only throwing out there ideas. And the F&W people have to throw their thinking caps on and concentrate on the resource the WILD TURKEY first and and their welfare, hunters second. There are no easy answers but the current state of affairs in the South and mid south states cannot go on. There must be change before it won't matter what you do. Let's sit down and talk and demand change from F&W and from Wild Turkey hunters. 

[zelmo1]

I agree with you 100% gc01. Prevention and planning is the only thing we can hope to do to save the Northeastern area. The hunter numbers are going up rapidly in NH as we are quite accessible and our proximity to other states makes us attractive to bundle. We need to be proactive and learn from others mistakes. I dont remember exactly how many non resident hunters I encountered this year but I know it was in double digits. I always see Maine, Mass and VT. But this year I remember Fl, Ga, NC/ SC, Pa, NY, NJ, Oh, Va/Wv. There are large state and local forest land and lots of accessibility. People are using their dam phones to find more areas and they are getting good at finding them. Usually people travelling that distance have some experience turkey hunting. Turkey hunting rule #1, you have to be where they are. If you can read a map and use your smart phone, you can get yourself into a decent area to start. From there, its just good old fashioned scouting and time. If we go to 1 bird the first week and only 1 per day, that might help. A large number of the local turkey zealots kill their 2 birds in the first week to 10 days, me included. So only 1 bird the first week might help also. The hunter pressure goes down exponentially when it gets warm and the bugs get thick, lol. Other activities also pick up. kids sports, fishing and camping. Just my  :popcorn   Z

[deerhunt1988]

Yeah, enjoy the northeast while it lasts. YouTube, social media, and even the NWTF ("Too many turkeys in Maine?" Video)has put the spotlight on the region the past few years, thus the increase in non residents yall are seeing. As more states elsewhere drop limits and restrict non residents, more and more folks will start heading to the northeast. And many will abuse the "open trespass" regulations leading to more and more posted lands. It's already happening.

[Roost 1]

And y'all just keep feeding the ones you don't want more and more info.... Anybody reading this thread has already picked up some valuable info about NE just with the last two posts.
I think y'all assume everybody already knows this info y'all are giving out when in reality they don't. They come to places like OG to gather information.

[TauntoHawk]

We first need to look at managing predators and timber, second maybe look at methods that massively increase success. I'm not for restrictions for the sake of just making more rules but if it's hurting the entire population then we need to examine if it's worth it in the long run. Opportunity restrictions is the easy way out for trying to effect change but doesn't address any of the causes. 



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[dirtnap]

And y'all just keep feeding the ones you don't want more and more info.... Anybody reading this thread has already picked up some valuable info about NE just with the last two posts.
I think y'all assume everybody already knows this info y'all are giving out when in reality they don't. They come to places like OG to gather information.

This!

[ruffbritt4]

I just hope everyone can learn to slow down and enjoy the area they're hunting. There's too many guys hustling from state to state chasing the reputation of being a turkey killer that I have to assume they're missing out on the whole experience.

As for the original question, I think you will see a lot more states implementing the lottery and limited NR tags. I'd venture to say it's already overdue. Eliminating the killing of jakes is something I would support as well.