What Is Being Done In Your State?

[timberjack86]

  They cut out taking hens in the fall. I think if Tn had a night time predator season it would help a few poults survive.

[zelmo1]

NH and Maine are relatively new to Turkey studies and management. Fish and game in both states are realizing the importance of our new resource. New laws and bag limits are being utilized to stabilize the numbers here. I believe they are putting in the effort to keep this fairly new resource thriving. Seminars are being held every spring in both states, I did a seminar and mentored 2 new hunters. One responded in a positive way and the other put in nom effort at all. I will take my first hunter again this year , lazy boy wont get another call. NWTF has partnered with NH fish and game to sponsor these events which were an overall positive experience. Al Baker

[ScottS]

Texas is pretty active in the eastern part of the state trying to introduce eastern turkeys via trap and transplant but to my knowledge not much other than some small habitat projects have been done in other parts.


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[Rzrbac]

http://larrydablemontoutdoors.blogspot.com/2020/01/feral-hogs-and-disappearing-turkeys.html

Thought this to be an interesting read. I believe this guy is spot on in his criticism of MDC. This sounds so familiar with the attitude out of Jefferson City regarding many agencies.

[fallhnt]

http://larrydablemontoutdoors.blogspot.com/2020/01/feral-hogs-and-disappearing-turkeys.html

Thought this to be an interesting read. I believe this guy is spot on in his criticism of MDC. This sounds so familiar with the attitude out of Jefferson City regarding many agencies.

What a joke. Get rid of youth season? They killed 5700 birds in Fall. Get rid of Fall season? Killed 36,000 Spring. Est. population is 360,000. MO season is late. It's designed to spread pressure out. Monday start,1 bird first week,1 bird per day,hunting hours till 1:00. Most breeding is done by season opener. He's just butt hurt cause he didn't kill 2 birds. Until predators start getting trapped and hunted and land gets managed,turkey populations are what they are. Maybe do some trap lines instead of looking at your hit list buck on your lap top and staying out of his core area until rut and azz slapping your crew members when the come up with some dipchit name for every buck on the hit list.

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[surehuntsalot]

nothing is being done in Ms. the nwtf is a joke and the state is just about as bad

[tnanh]

nothing is being done in Ms. the nwtf is a joke and the state is just about as bad

Agree about NWTF. They are about making money anymore and not turkeys. If people would quit giving them money they might pay closer attention and get back to what they used to be. Tn. has basically been hiding behind a 7 year study that is not complete, shoved their thumbs up their you know whats and done nothing. When the people who pay for the license and spend the most time in the woods start screaming for them to open the season later and cut the limit to two you would think this would set off some bells and whistles.

[Ol timer]

The state of NJ is a cash grap state when it comes to Turkey tags. There idea of wildlife management is for making money only. What state allows resident and non resident hunters to pay the same fee for the tag!! Then allow you to buy as many as you can grab with over the counter sales so no limit to the amount of Turkeys you can shoot if you have the tags. Conservation is not part of NJ FIsh and Wildlife. NWTF chapters only care about there banquets and revenue money, they don't work with the state  when it comes to change things for the better to protect Turkeys in the future years. We can't use shot smaller than #7 we just went to a call in registration system this year still not tested. Ask any hunter in NJ and they'll tell you they be happy with a 2 bird season. But it will never happen because of the cash grab. Come to NJ and bring lots of ammo.

[Spitten and drummen]

nothing is being done in Ms. the nwtf is a joke and the state is just about as bad

I can vouch for that. 100 percent true.

[greencop01]

I'm from Mass. and we have a Turkey population that has been stable as long as I have been hunting (25 yrs). We have a late start end of of April and I think that has a lot to do with it. It gives the birds time to mate w/o interference, and w/o taking toms out of circulation too early. The season should start at the beginning of the second gobbling peak. At least that's the opinion of some of the biologists in some state's game Depts. Something to consider. Also bird flu might be a problem in the southern tier of states. Just an opinion, we all have one. My 

[Spitten and drummen]

http://larrydablemontoutdoors.blogspot.com/2020/01/feral-hogs-and-disappearing-turkeys.html

Thought this to be an interesting read. I believe this guy is spot on in his criticism of MDC. This sounds so familiar with the attitude out of Jefferson City regarding many agencies.

I agree to an extent with the author. When I was a kid , season opened for everyone on the same day. No youth season for anything. Before I get hammered I will say that youth weekend is just a opportunity to allow alot of abuse. Plenty of guys take a kid that can barely walk and they lay the slap down on the birds. This is just example that I know happens. Not everyone does this but many do. Now , I dont believe that is a huge impact on the birds but is a small factor. Poachers shooting birds happens during small game season. Then you have guys that just slay the turkeys and pay no mind to bag limits. Hard to fix these things. Now what we can fix is trapping more predators and get a handle on timber cutting. Scalping the landscape is what I mean. Studies have shown on the other hand that a bred hen can store gobbler semen up to 30 days. If you kill every gobbler out of a flock except one jake , all the hens will be bred. I am not a biologist , just what I read somewhere. I do know also that 2 year old birds gobble great and are fun to hunt. You shoot jakes you wont have 2 year olds. You shoot hens in the fall , you wont have as many birds. Some will say well if I dont kill that jake , he has a high mortality rate and will most likely not survive to year 2. Well if you bust him in the face , one thing is for sure , he wont be around next year. Now he may very well get eaten by something but there is a chance that he wont. Lots of folks say as long as its legal , hunt and kill the way you want. I agree with this but the best advocates for these birds are us turkey hunters. You will never get everyone on the same page , just the way it is. I know I make a small impact on the flocks that I hunt , but instead of waiting for the government to step in , I try to improve and help anyway I can. Instead of sending money to the NWTF , I use my money to improve things where I hunt. We will all never agree but we can agree to disagree. Just my measly 2 cents.

[GobbleNut]

I agree to an extent with the author. When I was a kid , season opened for everyone on the same day. No youth season for anything. Before I get hammered I will say that youth weekend is just a opportunity to allow alot of abuse. Plenty of guys take a kid that can barely walk and they lay the slap down on the birds. This is just example that I know happens. Not everyone does this but many do. Now , I dont believe that is a huge impact on the birds but is a small factor. Poachers shooting birds happens during small game season. Then you have guys that just slay the turkeys and pay no mind to bag limits. Hard to fix these things. Now what we can fix is trapping more predators and get a handle on timber cutting. Scalping the landscape is what I mean. Studies have shown on the other hand that a bred hen can store gobbler semen up to 30 days. If you kill every gobbler out of a flock except one jake , all the hens will be bred. I am not a biologist , just what I read somewhere. I do know also that 2 year old birds gobble great and are fun to hunt. You shoot jakes you wont have 2 year olds. You shoot hens in the fall , you wont have as many birds. Some will say well if I dont kill that jake , he has a high mortality rate and will most likely not survive to year 2. Well if you bust him in the face , one thing is for sure , he wont be around next year. Now he may very well get eaten by something but there is a chance that he wont. Lots of folks say as long as its legal , hunt and kill the way you want. I agree with this but the best advocates for these birds are us turkey hunters. You will never get everyone on the same page , just the way it is. I know I make a small impact on the flocks that I hunt , but instead of waiting for the government to step in , I try to improve and help anyway I can. Instead of sending money to the NWTF , I use my money to improve things where I hunt. We will all never agree but we can agree to disagree. Just my measly 2 cents.

You summed it up pretty well,...and that just shows how complicated the issue is. 

Regarding the "Some will say well if I dont kill that jake , he has a high mortality rate and will most likely not survive to year 2."  That is a false premise.  Once a turkey reaches adulthood, it has a very good chance of living past age 2. 

On the NWTF and its place in this discussion:  I have been both an avid NWTF supporter in the past,...and an NWTF basher more recently.  Make no mistake, the organization has its place in the future of wild turkey population health and wild turkey hunting.  It just lost its focus on its original mission. 

That focus needs to be restored,....and that starts with the NWTF membership insisting that the organization get back to that mission.  Here's a suggested starting point:

Each state has a "Superfund" pot of money to spend.  Some states have really big Superfunds.  As a member, find out what that money is being spent on,...and then ask yourself,,.."is that really where I want the money I contribute spent?"   

Personally, I believe the average NWTF member would "have a cow" if they found out how much of that money is spent on programs that are mainly in place to attract more people to raise dollars as compared to how much is spent on actually helping struggling turkey populations. 

If you are an NWTF member in a state where your turkey population is struggling, you should be going straight to the top of your state organization and demanding to know how the money you contribute is being spent.  My bet is that you will find that a dismally small portion of your contribution is being spent on actually helping wild turkeys. 

[Marc]

As turkeys are not considered "native" to California...  Nothing is being done.

You can NOT transplant birds in California.

However, the most stable populations of turkeys near me, are in the foothills, and populations are completely dependent on rainfall.  In the past 10 years I have seen populations dramatically wax and wane.

We are starting to get populations in some of the agricultural areas and in the Sacramento Valley.  In some areas they are considered a nuisance bird, but trapping and relocating is out of the question...

In fact, I believe it was the Sierr@  Club that bartered a deal with the Fish & Wildlife department NOT to transplant any more birds anywhere in California (i.e. it is considered illegal to do so).

Personally, I do have some reservations about transplanting more birds myself...  Ranches that previously held very good valley quail populations (native game birds) that now hold reasonable turkey populations, no longer hold good quail populations.  I have seen turkeys eat baby quail, and have no doubt that they compete for seed food sources and that nesting habitat (especially near water on dry years) is competitive.

Many upland game hunters view turkeys in a similar way that other areas of the country view feral hogs...

[johnski]

Well in Connecticut they raised the bag limit to 5 bearded birds state wide in the spring (it was 2 on state land and 3 on private land and they just did away with the property distinctions) and they also went to all day hunting.  Meanwhile the fall bag limit is 3 either sex birds and a few years ago they did away with a dedicated turkey stamp and went to a residence game bird stamp to lump it in with pheasant, grouse etc.  So the short answer it seems is nothing but encouraging people to shoot more turkeys. 

[GobbleNut]

Well in Connecticut they raised the bag limit to 5 bearded birds state wide in the spring (it was 2 on state land and 3 on private land and they just did away with the property distinctions) and they also went to all day hunting.  Meanwhile the fall bag limit is 3 either sex birds and a few years ago they did away with a dedicated turkey stamp and went to a residence game bird stamp to lump it in with pheasant, grouse etc.  So the short answer it seems is nothing but encouraging people to shoot more turkeys.

Wow!  Sounds like Connecticut turkeys are doing really well,...or there are a lot of people that want to get rid of them!  I can think of a bunch of states that would like to be in your position.