Has anyone heard much gobbling yet? I have only heard a couple of birds here; and they have not been very vocal. I heard one the other morning right at daylight, but that’s been about it. How are they doing in your neck of the woods?
Light gobbling but getting heavier. They have been breeding hard everywhere I’ve been and know the hens are starting to lay eggs so not paying the boys as much attention so the gobbling should start getting better. But there is several Jakes this year I’ve seen big groups all winter and spring so they’ll prolly dampen the Tom’s from gobbling a bit. Should be a good spring season several 2 yr old birds around. I saw 3 different gobbler fights from my front porch Sunday been a few years since we had so many birds around. Two good hatch years in a row!
I’m trying decide weather I’m gonna bow hunt or take my shotgun this weekend. Can’t decide
Colt
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Seeing good numbers , compared to last few years, of gobblers and Jake’s. Gobbling on the roost but almost none after that here. I believe what we’ve been telling everyone that predators have not been the top problem for numbers. Sure they get a few nests but habitat and wet springs are more of a factor.
Turkeys are almost non-existent in my county of Western Ky. I used to see fields full with 5 or 6 strutting at a time on my way back and forth to work. I have only seen 2 strutting from the road and both of those were showing off for just one hen. I’m debating on not hunting at all this year. The farm that was my “go to” for opening day got leased to a group from Louisiana.
I’ve not seen near the Turkeys we had last year as for
Gobbling on the roost only and that’s it only hearing
Two different Toms
My trail camera’s been picking up those two Toms between 11 and 12 different ends of my ridges and that’s not consistent every day
Disappointed in the numbers this year
Another factor that keeps birds outta fields is this late spring we are having when ever the woods is thin they would just as soon stay back in there then come out in fields. I’ve been over a good portion of the upper east end of the state and I can say we for sure had a good hatch last year and allot more birds then the last several. The drought years are great for turkeys.
Colt
Whichever weapon you choose will be bad news for Mr. Tom I bet!
I hate to hear that Weez! I used to drive all the way to LBL to turkey hunt before we had decent numbers here. Now, I have gotten to sorry to go anywhere that requires more than a 30 minute drive! I hope your numbers come back up soon! One thing that I believe would really help, is to go to a one gobbler limit in the spring, and check station requirements like in the old days!
Well f and w ain’t big on good ideas. They took fall hen limit to one but are still gonna allow killing hens (with beards) in spring while there laying eggs.
There is no way you make that make since especially when you know what they based it on.
If you want to see (GOOD) turkey hunting all season it needs to be like PA no Sundays and only half days from the first day through the second weekend.then all day hunting till the end. 1 bird limit unless you buy a second tag “before” season opens. They have gobbling and responsive birds all season long from what Ive seen.
He n attention makes gobblers gobble on roost fly down and shut up cause she’s there he need not gobble no more. The second big gobbler shutter upper is pressure hunting pressure applied wrong will absolutely shut birds down. I’ve seen it and I’ve documented it . The way PAs seasons is structured it greatly reduces pressure. Spring season should be treated like it was when it started nothing about it is biologically needed “nothing” Alabama started spring hunting for a fund raiser to put back into turkey management period!
Mr Tucker thanks for the vote of confidence but enybody who says they know what’s gonna happen in the turkey woods is eaither lying or ain’t never been after to many. But I sure hope your right come Saturday.
Colt
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I would be Okay with having the Spring season structured like you described! I think it would be a step in the right direction!
I think sometimes wildlife management decisions up there are made on speculation that things are going to stay the same or always get better. In other words perhaps some short sidedness on what could happen ten years down the road with changes made based on last years data. It’s tough for the commission sometimes. All they ever hear is individual complaints and like in all other aspects of our society the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Then, to go backwards they hear complaints. I think though that whatever they do with turkeys should not scapegoat furbearers as the sole or main problem. One past commissioner wanted to do that. Colt has some good ideas but I believe he has tried to submit them for consideration with little response. I never did understand why we went to hunting after 1 pm. More opportunity yes but now they’d hear yelling to stop it and many wouldn’t stop either now. Sort of like the pot shooting of cats during modern gun deer season. I can’t understand how that’s a soundly justified furbearer management policy. Better to me to make changes/increases to benefit actual fur hunters and trappers than to have gross waste. I’m afraid minor tweak decisions are sometimes made in the name of increased opportunity and license sales at the cost of slowly hurting the resource. But, I’m just a dumb ‘old hillbilly.
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Squeaky wheels have allot more to do with it than it should. Dessions should be made on biological standards period!
That’s how other states with far more game and hunting opportunity do it and we should too!
Colt
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There is little doubt but that license sales factor into a lot of decisions ; and for the average guy to be more apt to buy a turkey tag, I’m sure the ability to hunt all day increases the odds that that guy will go ahead and buy a tag, when if only half day hunting was allowed, he might not! And I’m of the opinion that if you reduced the bag limit to one Goobler in the spring, and one turkey in the fall, you would see a significant increase in turkey populations within 3-5 years, as long as those years were not extremely wet springs! And I think that if you had to physically check in a turkey like in the old days, with a official stamp, or punch on your license, ( kind of like what a bank, or Notary Public does with a press that embosses a seal onto your license.) That, and peer pressure of others knowing you had already tagged out, would cut way down on the number of guys that shoot over the bag limit! Not like the tele-poach system they have in place now!
Every thang they should do is met with “we can’t enforce it so why do it” state employee mentality.
They care nothing about improving are numbers or hunt quality it’s ALL about license sales. I know they gotta have money but there are tons of states who don’t approach it with that mentality and they do just fine. We had a director a few years back that in simplified terms his mission statement was that boosting license sale was his “only concern” it was in the spring hunt guide when he took over.
I had a game Warden who was about to retire tell me that you’d “never” see a deer season that wasn’t a"record harvest" simply because it’s all about advertising. They won’t put eny limiting or ethics laws on spring turkey hunting because there afraid to loose 1 sale especially out of state guys. But they don’t care about fall hunters so we become the bastard child scapegoat. 1900 fall birds compared to 30,000 last spring plus all the hens that got mamed broke down or flat out killed and wasted, but when they impose more regs on fall hunting they can look like there taking steps. Like the night hunting and wanting to kill summer coon it’s all about perception not about results.
Colt
Oh and don’t count are are new commissioner in district 6 I’ve never got a hold of him or heard back. He’s bought and paid for I’m sure.
Colt
Good luck to everyone in the morning. Start a thread with pics if you’re successful.