Why seasons should start later.

[Spitten and drummen]

Spitten and drummen, I think there's a mixture of good and bad things in your list.
A solution to more hunters is lower seasonal bag limits. But it really does seem like (at least North) MS's season might overlap with peak breeding. That's a problem. A surfeit of 13-14 year-olds who are master woodsmen isn't, but it is a blessing to the sport.


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I agree with the comment about 13 and 14 year olds with great woodsmanship. That is awesome. My point to that part was that 13 and 14 year olds get a week jump on adults with the youth season and really dont need that advantage as they are very capable of hunting with the big boys and will hold their own. Youth season was started to recruit young hunters to the sport and had good intentions but like everything else , major abuse seeped into it. As far as reduced bag limits , It most likely wont change anything very much because like I said previously , there are some turkey killers that do not care what the limit is. I gave the example above about the handful of people that killed a 120 birds. Im not kidding about that. They killed 120 Toms , hens and jakes. Sickening.

[WorkingBirds]

I wish a Mississippi season would not start until April 1.


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It's coming.....

I'd be fine with it. Keep down on some of the out of state hunters hitting the first open state and the first few weeks are still cold anyway. The turkey population in the state wildlife areas has taken a big hit in last 20 years or so


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Contact mdwfp, it's on the website. I got a response in a few days. Also, the out of state license costs should be the same as what others would charge us from MS.

[Spitten and drummen]

I wish a Mississippi season would not start until April 1.


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It's coming.....

I'd be fine with it. Keep down on some of the out of state hunters hitting the first open state and the first few weeks are still cold anyway. The turkey population in the state wildlife areas has taken a big hit in last 20 years or so


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Contact mdwfp, it's on the website. I got a response in a few days. Also, the out of state license costs should be the same as what others would charge us from MS.

I honestly think the State only cares about the revenue from out of state license sales. I also believe thats why season opens so early here. It gets guys from out of state that are chomping at the bit to come on down. Increase of out of state license sales generates very good revenue.

[Turkeytider]

I wish a Mississippi season would not start until April 1.


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It's coming.....

I'd be fine with it. Keep down on some of the out of state hunters hitting the first open state and the first few weeks are still cold anyway. The turkey population in the state wildlife areas has taken a big hit in last 20 years or so


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Contact mdwfp, it's on the website. I got a response in a few days. Also, the out of state license costs should be the same as what others would charge us from MS.

I honestly think the State only cares about the revenue from out of state license sales. I also believe thats why season opens so early here. It gets guys from out of state that are chomping at the bit to come on down. Increase of out of state license sales generates very good revenue.

If accurate, that`s truly a shame. Just hope that it doesn`t devolve into a tragedy for the birds.

[MISSISSIPPI Double beard]

Spitten and drummen, I think there's a mixture of good and bad things in your list.
A solution to more hunters is lower seasonal bag limits. But it really does seem like (at least North) MS's season might overlap with peak breeding. That's a problem. A surfeit of 13-14 year-olds who are master woodsmen isn't, but it is a blessing to the sport.


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I saw that report on those poachers on the news. Absolutely sickening that people like that exist. And as for as license fees go, they should be raised. I have a friend that is a Game warden here. They wrote so many tickets to people from Arkansas they ran out of tickets on a Saturday, a full book of tickets? Come on man.  Some people just don't give a crap.


I agree with the comment about 13 and 14 year olds with great woodsmanship. That is awesome. My point to that part was that 13 and 14 year olds get a week jump on adults with the youth season and really dont need that advantage as they are very capable of hunting with the big boys and will hold their own. Youth season was started to recruit young hunters to the sport and had good intentions but like everything else , major abuse seeped into it. As far as reduced bag limits , It most likely wont change anything very much because like I said previously , there are some turkey killers that do not care what the limit is. I gave the example above about the handful of people that killed a 120 birds. Im not kidding about that. They killed 120 Toms , hens and jakes. Sickening.

[johnski]

Seemingly against all odds, incredible.

The dumb-asses here in CT just ok'd all day hunting hours coupled with 5 turkey tags, on any property, private and/ or state (has been separate tags for years). I have been fortunate enough to get to experience every spring since 1986 in the woods chasing these birds. The decline in wild turkey populations here in CT has been more than evident for at least the last 20 years and here they increase the pressure many times over. I have no idea why. SMDH. FINGERS CROSSED IN CT. 

Yeah I am in CT too and have no idea why they went to the 5 bird limit.  There own hunter survey showed that the majority of hunters (it was above 80%) would be in favor of a 3 bird limit.  I would be fine if they made it 2 and it would be more in line with the other New England states. I just can't believe CT has a better population then any other state in the area. I don't know how much all day hunting will effect the harvest this year, most people seem to pack it in by 8 or 9 as it is but I could see increased pressure in a normal year when people will go out and chase them after work.  As far as the season in CT I think it is fine were it is and would not want it moved any earlier.

[Delmar ODonnell]

Spitten and drummen, I think there's a mixture of good and bad things in your list.
A solution to more hunters is lower seasonal bag limits. But it really does seem like (at least North) MS's season might overlap with peak breeding. That's a problem. A surfeit of 13-14 year-olds who are master woodsmen isn't, but it is a blessing to the sport.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree with the comment about 13 and 14 year olds with great woodsmanship. That is awesome. My point to that part was that 13 and 14 year olds get a week jump on adults with the youth season and really dont need that advantage as they are very capable of hunting with the big boys and will hold their own. Youth season was started to recruit young hunters to the sport and had good intentions but like everything else , major abuse seeped into it. As far as reduced bag limits , It most likely wont change anything very much because like I said previously , there are some turkey killers that do not care what the limit is. I gave the example above about the handful of people that killed a 120 birds. Im not kidding about that. They killed 120 Toms , hens and jakes. Sickening.

The poachers who killed 120 birds is so outrageous. I heard rumors about it last year before the story came out and it got my blood boiling. I hope they make an example out of the dumb rednecks responsible, and the news covers it extensively. I mean it has got to be the most egregious case of poaching the state's ever seen, especially of its most fragile wildlife population.

[Mossyguy]

I believe the position of the game commission and biologist is to put the resource first.  The problem with that is the declining hunting numbers.

Ha...depends on what state you're from!

[Loyalist84]

Here in Ontario they open our season April 25th every year. Way to early! We start hunting large flocks that some years haven't even started to break up yet. Today I watched 9 toms roosted in one tree and fly down to strut and fight. They were still chasing each other around fighting at lunch time.

Could be anecdotal, but I actually emailed the MNR on this and the biologist told me that the season opens weeks after the peak nesting period in my WMU. Hard to put one date on a province as large as Ontario.

[Dtrkyman]

I agree with what the doc said, how can I not he did the work.

However I believe habitat improvements and predator control, particularly nest killers would be easier to pull of?

The southern boy would have a fit if they couldn't hunt early then go north and hunt later in those states!

Illinois moved their season start one week later years ago, and being our season starts on a Monday that delays pressure 5 more days until the second season kicks in, never thought of it in the regard to delay the harvest a bit and not sure that is the reason for it.

As far as bag limits seems there is no such thing for several southern boys that I have heard about!  Old timer in Missouri once told me the only seasons around here were salt and pepper!  WTH. 

[Jrkimbrough]

I wish a Mississippi season would not start until April 1.


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Agreed!  Or at the very least have a south and north zone.  I feel like us folks in the northern part of the state at times have the peak gobbling activity at the end of the season.  It's not unusual to see HUGE flocks still together during the first 2 weeks of the season.

I would like to see the season just shifted back two weeks.  Maybe even do like Missouri and only be able to kill 1 bird the first week of the season?  Giving gobblers a little more time to breed

[saverx]

I live in south Arkansas. I own land and hunt in several clubs. Grew up hunting Alabama and Miss. in the 90s. The turkey population is very low here now and I am fine with a later season. This post sounds good but doesn't answer my questions. The habitat and predator mix is about the same for all three states from my experience. So why is the Arkansas population so low? The only difference I can see is it is legal to bait deer in Arkansas now and it was not in Ala or Miss in the 90s. I think if Arkansas is serious about turkeys they should ban hunting deer over bait, do away with the youth season {I believe kids these days are spoon fed enough as it is}, and ban the use of decoys. The changes they made for next year are just noise and won't help all that much The season used to open a week later years ago and here we are again.  Why do they think this time will be different?  Baiting deer will not be banned due to the money it makes the state. I also think timber companies should be given incentives to burn.

[DP42912]

I live in south Arkansas. I own land and hunt in several clubs. Grew up hunting Alabama and Miss. in the 90s. The turkey population is very low here now and I am fine with a later season. This post sounds good but doesn't answer my questions. The habitat and predator mix is about the same for all three states from my experience. So why is the Arkansas population so low? The only difference I can see is it is legal to bait deer in Arkansas now and it was not in Ala or Miss in the 90s. I think if Arkansas is serious about turkeys they should ban hunting deer over bait, do away with the youth season {I believe kids these days are spoon fed enough as it is}, and ban the use of decoys. The changes they made for next year are just noise and won't help all that much The season used to open a week later years ago and here we are again.  Why do they think this time will be different?  Baiting deer will not be banned due to the money it makes the state. I also think timber companies should be given incentives to burn.

Excuse my ignorance on this but what does baiting deer have to do with the turkey population?

[silvestris]

For one thing, disease may be a factor when turkeys congregate around deer feeders.  With all "hunters", the participants have to answer the question, "am I a hunter, or a master baiter".

[saverx]

Turkeys come to bait and get shot/poached by deer hunters. Corn is tainted with aflatoxin. Kills said turkey. There is very little difference in habitat types/predators between the 3 states. The correct reason our population is so low, I don't know. I do know the corn baiting is different. Is it a major cause? Don't know. I do know opening the season later and not shooting bearded hens is not going to help much if any. They already tried opening the season later years ago and it didn't change anything.