Has your NY turkey season got better?

[mikejd]

I can honesty say that after spending 21 seasons in the spring turkey woods here in Steuben County, I have never called in a coyote with a turkey call or seen them stalking turkeys in the field. If I did, I would probably have to shoot it...er wait...they aren't in season... .  I did call a couple of coyotes in during a fall hunt several years ago and one of the little dogs paid dearly for it. IMHO, there is a far more deadly turkey predator out there that can definately impact gobbling activity and they carry shotguns...

I tend to disagree with that. I have been turkey hunting for 21 or 22 years myself now. Only in NY.
There are in my eyes no more turkey hunters. I have been hunting the same areas for about 12 years now and 10 yrs ago may 1st all the hotels bars r esteraunts  gas stations etc would have turkey hunters in them. And now if I see a truck or 2 in 10 days of hunting that's alot. When I'm up hunting I usually log in some were between 1000 and 1500 miles in a week looking for birds looking for land etc. So if I dont cross any hunters were are they. Hunters are definetly playing little impact on turkey population. First off hunters can only take 2 birds and coyote probably gets 2 a week.

[WNY Bowhunter]

So then, why is public land generally considered harder to hunt than private land? More coyotes I suppose?

[WNY Bowhunter]

I attribute the lack of gobbling this season to two things:

1.) Henned up gobblers


2.) It is no secret that the turkey population is down significantly and some areas of the state are seeing the decline worse than others. I agree that hunting (by humans) is not the primary cause of this. I also believe that predation by coyotes is not the culprit either. My area has a thriving coyote population but it's no worse than it was 10-15 years ago...

[mikejd]

r=WNY Bowhunter link=topic=56338.msg558065#msg558065 date=1432309194]
I attribute the lack of gobbling this season to two things:

1.) Henned up gobblers


2.) It is no secret that the turkey population is down significantly and some areas of the state are seeing the decline worse than others. I agree that hunting (by humans) is not the primary cause of this. I also believe that predation by coyotes is not the culprit either. My area has a thriving coyote population but it's no worse than it was 10-15 years ago...
[/quote]


I feel that public land birds are harder to take because what few hunters are left are mostly hunting the public and in fact not killing alot but are making the birds wiser.

Second if you think about your coyote comment. I agree that the coyote population is probably stable for the last 15 yrs
But since the turkey population being down as a whole the same amount of coyotes put a bigger dent percentage wise.

Read this article predator chapter. Think about those numbers.

[mikejd]

http://www.nwtf.org/hunt/article/life-turkey-nest


Years ago when I saw "Henned up gobbler"  1 or 2 toms would be with 15 hens.
now when I see a henned up gobbler he has 1 or 2 hens. times have changed drastically and it has to be something. I believe its a motor combination of alot of things. Winters, wet springs, hunters and predation.
That article was quit enlightening.

[jperch]

I'm not sure how stable coyote populations are across the state but on the farm property I hunt they are out of control, and they are targeting turkeys.  This is based on the number of coyote sightings I have personally seen.  This includes five instances where coyotes have stalked me as I was calling.  In previous (approximately 25) years I have had a total of only three such encounters.  I had two situations this year where I was working a gobbler and he was run off.  Sadly, soon they will be targeting fawns.  I agree that numbers of turkeys are way down and also they do seem unusually henned up for this late in the season.   jperch

[WNY Bowhunter]

http://www.nwtf.org/hunt/article/life-turkey-nest


Years ago when I saw "Henned up gobbler"  1 or 2 toms would be with 15 hens.
now when I see a henned up gobbler he has 1 or 2 hens. times have changed drastically and it has to be something. I believe its a motor combination of alot of things. Winters, wet springs, hunters and predation.
That article was quit enlightening.

I agree, the decline in the pop. can be attributed to all the variables that you listed.  With the ever increasing numbers of raccoons, crows and hawks we have...it's a wonder that that any nests even hatch out.

I shudder to think of how many nests, hens and fawns are going to be destroyed over the next couple of weeks when the hay mowing season gets rolling...

[BABS9]

A friend of mine suggested lowering the bag limit to 1 bird for a couple years. How would you guys feel about this?  Give some time to maybe help populations a bit.  I know hunting isn't the only thing that affects it but im sure it would help.  I personally think hunting regs in NY need a large overhaul. Don't even get me started on deer lol.

[mikejd]

A friend of mine suggested lowering the bag limit to 1 bird for a couple years. How would you guys feel about this?  Give some time to maybe help populations a bit.  I know hunting isn't the only thing that affects it but im sure it would help.  I personally think hunting regs in NY need a large overhaul. Don't even get me started on deer lol.

I really dont think that it will affect much. Like I said earlier I seriously doubt that hunters are the problem at all.
that said I do think that the fall os a problem. I think more turkeys get killed in the fall as a by product of a deer hunt.
most of those birds are hens as well. The fall season should be shorter.

[NYlogbeards]

Today the turkeys were very talkative in the morning, and I called in a gobbler across the field at 30 yards but I missed when I shot at him, have no idea how/why so I took a couple practice shots from the same distance I shot at the bird and my pattern is fine, so its probably human error as I jumped the shot too early, I hope that's not the last chance I get this year cause i'll be kicking my self in the butt for years.

[BABS9]

A friend of mine suggested lowering the bag limit to 1 bird for a couple years. How would you guys feel about this?  Give some time to maybe help populations a bit.  I know hunting isn't the only thing that affects it but im sure it would help.  I personally think hunting regs in NY need a large overhaul. Don't even get me started on deer lol.

I really dont think that it will affect much. Like I said earlier I seriously doubt that hunters are the problem at all.
that said I do think that the fall os a problem. I think more turkeys get killed in the fall as a by product of a deer hunt.
most of those birds are hens as well. The fall season should be shorter.

100% agree with you on that. People just shoot them straight from the stand during deer. And shooting a hen can do some damage.

[Bowguy]

They're all gonna gobble tomo. Get out there n kill one.

[turkaholic]

I too have hunted NY for over 30 years and have seen things go down hill fast. I have on several occasions called in not only coyotes but fishers. I shot fishers and coyotes even though they are not in season and will continue, sorry this my offend others. Maybe the state should allow these predators to be killed at will or maybe a bounty should be applied like in the old days. I believe the state introduced fishers to keep turkey populations in check due to car vs turkey collisions. As for the amount of hunters I see. Almost nonexistent ! The area I hunt outside of Cooperstown would see a fair amount of hunters. Now when I see someone around I make it a point to talk with them to see what there seeing and hearing. One thing they all have in common is how many yotes they see and CALL IN. A bounty is needed here again for coyotes. Wake up NY before all your hunters go to other states like I'm considering.

[mikejd]

I too have hunted NY for over 30 years and have seen things go down hill fast. I have on several occasions called in not only coyotes but fishers. I shot fishers and coyotes even though they are not in season and will continue, sorry this my offend others. Maybe the state should allow these predators to be killed at will or maybe a bounty should be applied like in the old days. I believe the state introduced fishers to keep turkey populations in check due to car vs turkey collisions. As for the amount of hunters I see. Almost nonexistent ! The area I hunt outside of Cooperstown would see a fair amount of hunters. Now when I see someone around I make it a point to talk with them to see what there seeing and hearing. One thing they all have in common is how many yotes they see and CALL IN. A bounty is needed here again for coyotes. Wake up NY before all your hunters go to other states like I'm considering.

I agree with you. I dont know why nobody wants to say its a problem. I mean there are yotes running around NYC every few weeks. Clearly the population is out of check.

Another theory that my friend has is that all of the talkative birds over time get eaten by predators so then the ones that are left to survive and pass along there genetics are the quiet birds, then there young learn from them and calling is not something they do very often so they learn these traits. Over time we only have quiet birds. I dont know if its possible but it does make some sense.

[WNY Bowhunter]

I took a drive around this morning and didn't see much. I stopped at a spot where there's been a big old boss gobbler with hens regularly for the past month (he's still got the hens with him). I stepped out of the truck and hit the crow call @ 7:00...boom...he gobbles back. Try it 3 more times and he responded each time like he was hot to trot. This farm has had virtually no hunting pressure at all the season which is why he's remained so visible. This area is absolutely loaded with coyotes but he had no fear in opening his beak to announce his presence. I've got plans to go after him in the morning with a friend who's father-in-law leases the property. Hopefully, he's still in the mood...