WORST State?

[deathfoot]

Nevada, despite being the cool thing to do these days I don't have much desire to go back. Only place I've genuinely felt bad about killing a turkey. They had no where to go. I killed one at roosting time and the rest of the flock just flew into roost above my head due to the fact the next roost site was a mile+ away.

No offense. But this why I'm a proponent of shooting hours closing around 6 or earlier. I just can't sit beside a roost area and wait. That's just me tho.

Most who've hunted where I did in NV would say the same thing I did.  If you didn't kill at fly down or fly up you were pretty much SOL. I haven't hunted many other places where my approach would be to sit under a roost tree, but you gotta do what you gotta do in Nevada.

I totally get it. When in Rome. We used that theory in TX.

[turkeyspur]

It's difficult for me to not vote for AR, when I live here and have hunted here for almost 30 years and have seen some really good years but is now nothing like it was. I have hunted most of the southern states and turkey populations have declined in almost every one of them, with some more than others. AR being one of those. A lot of states have decreased the state limit or moved their season back, in an effort to allow more hens to be bred, ie. TN is one of those states (pushing back season 2 weeks and lowering the limit from 4 to 3 to now 2 birds). Add in the fact that turkey hunter numbers have increased over the past decade or more and it's not difficult to understand why hunting turkeys has become more difficult. The turkey population in AR has declined to under 100k and is more likely closer to 90, with only 7582 turkeys killed in 2022. AR only allows Jakes to be killed during youth season and has closed fall turkey hunting years ago. Good luck hunting here.

[austinc]

AR is stupid tough, but if you have the time and enthusiasm you can scratch out a bird or 2 on public. Honestly my toughest state has been KS, I've made more trips there without killing than I have killed lol.

[bwall3220]

It is completely stupid for AR to keep a 2 bird limit, I've said this for years! We barely have a population to have a season at all, much less to sustain a 2 bird limit.
They keep making the season later and shorter....it hasn't worked for 15ish years. The definition of insanity - trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

[Gumby]

The numbers in Arkansas will slowly come up I believe. The late start to the season is key. Numbers are down, yes, no doubt. If you have the time and are willing to work at it you can kill birds here. The key being having the time. It's not easy and a lot of luck is involved, but it's still my favorite state to hunt. Im a little sadistic and love the challenge.

[austinc]

The numbers in Arkansas will slowly come up I believe. The late start to the season is key. Numbers are down, yes, no doubt. If you have the time and are willing to work at it you can kill birds here. The key being having the time. It's not easy and a lot of luck is involved, but it's still my favorite state to hunt. Im a little sadistic and love the challenge.

Still my favorite as well, but I am a glutton for punishment.

[Kansan]

I live in southeast Kansas, which has been a turkey hunting destination for a very long time. As recently as 2016, I truly believe that we had turkey hunting as good as anywhere else on Earth. Turkeys were absolutely all over the place, and shooting your limit of 2 birds was effortless, as there were so many birds around. Textbook perfect turkey habitat. Our turkeys are all but gone. I just don't get it. Don't get me wrong, there are still a few around, but I would say that we have lost 90% of our turkeys or more. I have access to thousands of acres of prime turkey habitat, and haven't killed a bird since 2019, and not for lack of trying. Up until the last 4 or 5 years, I would easily kill my 2 turkeys consistently every year.

Our family cattle ranch is 8,000 acres, and I have taken countless birds on this property. I hunted it extensively last season and didn't hear a gobble. Truly unbelievable.

It's gotten to the point where I can't even get excited about turkey hunting anymore, and I'm as passionate about it as anyone on this forum. I just get depressed when I think about turkeys, and what used to be, not long ago. In fact, I'm going to spend the opening days of turkey season on public land, in a different part of the state, with the hopes of actually finding some turkeys to hunt this year. If that doesn't pan out, I'll probably hang up my hat until the birds come back.

[JohnSouth22]

Sheer numbers oklahoma public is a bruiser. I'm sure it's regional but I will not return unless someone has a solid piece of private for me lol


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[76chevy]

WOW, so what happened to them??

I live in southeast Kansas, which has been a turkey hunting destination for a very long time. As recently as 2016, I truly believe that we had turkey hunting as good as anywhere else on Earth. Turkeys were absolutely all over the place, and shooting your limit of 2 birds was effortless, as there were so many birds around. Textbook perfect turkey habitat. Our turkeys are all but gone. I just don't get it. Don't get me wrong, there are still a few around, but I would say that we have lost 90% of our turkeys or more. I have access to thousands of acres of prime turkey habitat, and haven't killed a bird since 2019, and not for lack of trying. Up until the last 4 or 5 years, I would easily kill my 2 turkeys consistently every year.

Our family cattle ranch is 8,000 acres, and I have taken countless birds on this property. I hunted it extensively last season and didn't hear a gobble. Truly unbelievable.

It's gotten to the point where I can't even get excited about turkey hunting anymore, and I'm as passionate about it as anyone on this forum. I just get depressed when I think about turkeys, and what used to be, not long ago. In fact, I'm going to spend the opening days of turkey season on public land, in a different part of the state, with the hopes of actually finding some turkeys to hunt this year. If that doesn't pan out, I'll probably hang up my hat until the birds come back.

[saltysenior]

 disease is the only answer to that question..

[GobbleNut]

I live in southeast Kansas, which has been a turkey hunting destination for a very long time. As recently as 2016, I truly believe that we had turkey hunting as good as anywhere else on Earth. Turkeys were absolutely all over the place, and shooting your limit of 2 birds was effortless, as there were so many birds around. Textbook perfect turkey habitat. Our turkeys are all but gone. I just don't get it. Don't get me wrong, there are still a few around, but I would say that we have lost 90% of our turkeys or more. I have access to thousands of acres of prime turkey habitat, and haven't killed a bird since 2019, and not for lack of trying. Up until the last 4 or 5 years, I would easily kill my 2 turkeys consistently every year.

Our family cattle ranch is 8,000 acres, and I have taken countless birds on this property. I hunted it extensively last season and didn't hear a gobble. Truly unbelievable.

It's gotten to the point where I can't even get excited about turkey hunting anymore, and I'm as passionate about it as anyone on this forum. I just get depressed when I think about turkeys, and what used to be, not long ago. In fact, I'm going to spend the opening days of turkey season on public land, in a different part of the state, with the hopes of actually finding some turkeys to hunt this year. If that doesn't pan out, I'll probably hang up my hat until the birds come back.

I suspect that situations like the one described are a result of a disease outbreak.  What other logical explanation could there be for a sudden collapse of an otherwise healthy turkey population? 

I just received a Rio gobbler to mount from south Texas that had whitish scales all over its head that I would assume are the result of some sort of disease (I think this symptom has been mentioned before by others on OG).  It makes me wonder just how much of these kinds of thing are the real culprits in declining turkey populations in at least some of the cases.  It also makes me wonder how much effort/research is being done to actually identify and resolve these issues.

[Louisiana Longbeard]

I keep seeing Arkansas mentioned. I have a little lease in Arkansas that I've killed big birds on the last 2 years. I have a couple of nice longbeards on camera there this year also. It's been good to me

Southern Arkansas private leases aren't the same as central and northern Arkansas Public land.

How do you know I'm talking about southern Arkansas. It's actually in the northern part of the state!

[Glades]

Traveling turkey hunters are everywhere. Here in Florida, the first two weeks of the season are a joke. Thousands of OOSers descend on our state with their GoPros and bottomland camo to reap our Osceolas. The state surely loves the extra $. But resident hunters have to deal with the impact. And the state gives out TWO tags.

[arkrem870]

The numbers in Arkansas will slowly come up I believe. The late start to the season is key. Numbers are down, yes, no doubt. If you have the time and are willing to work at it you can kill birds here. The key being having the time. It's not easy and a lot of luck is involved, but it's still my favorite state to hunt. Im a little sadistic and love the challenge.

Been doing the late start for 10+ years in arkansas . With no marked improvement.  Thats a theory thats very much unproven. 

[Gumby]

The numbers in Arkansas will slowly come up I believe. The late start to the season is key. Numbers are down, yes, no doubt. If you have the time and are willing to work at it you can kill birds here. The key being having the time. It's not easy and a lot of luck is involved, but it's still my favorite state to hunt. Im a little sadistic and love the challenge.

Been doing the late start for 10+ years in arkansas . With no marked improvement.  Thats a theory thats very much unproven.

The late start is key, but I did also mean to add that the newer rule of one turkey the first week also helps. Yes we have pushed the start date back many years ago and some would argue that the numbers haven't increased. However, I believe that if we had kept the start date early as in April 1 our numbers would be worse. The newer rule of one bird the first week only helps ensure that more hens are bred and helps alleviate a little bit of pressure. As a side, I feel numbers in general are much better now than they were ten to twelve years ago.  That's just from my personal observations and experience.