Turkey decline...you buying this?
- Thread starter Smawgunner2
- Start date
ThatBuckeyeGuy
Active Member
Not one bit in my opinion. The thicker the woods the better for the turkeys when it comes to predators . There are for more logical reasons for the population decline in my mind
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Beats me. Makes as much sense as any. Understory is great for most wildlife. I don’t think that machine has made any difference in Ohio’s landscape. Most folks I know cutting timber here are still using a saw. Predators have indeed flourished. Avian predators were a rare sight when I was a kid, coyotes even more so and I never thought I’d see a bobcat anywhere close to my home. All are very common now.
Ohiosam
*Supporting Member*
He’s talking about down south where they commercially grow pines. They plant a whole parcel and 20-40 years (depending on use) clear cut and repeat.
This isn’t our hardwood forests.
FYI I’ve heard many landowners aren’t happy with the $$ returns from growing timber like that.
This isn’t our hardwood forests.
FYI I’ve heard many landowners aren’t happy with the $$ returns from growing timber like that.
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I understand where he’s coming from and talking about. However, according to everyone about everywhere, turkey numbers are in decline. Seems to me to be about the same around my house, but there has never been that many there to begin with. Pretty hard to tell from my personal vantage point.
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I'll buy it. Down here in the southern pine belt the undergrowth in pine stands is atrocious. Over head high and you can't even get through it. Thicker than a 1975 bush.
Here is a pine savannah that is managed with fire. Lots of nesting and area for turkeys to meander.
Here is one that's just left to grow without burn management.
Here is a pine savannah that is managed with fire. Lots of nesting and area for turkeys to meander.
Here is one that's just left to grow without burn management.
at1010
*Supporting Member*
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I need to start this off by saying.....I don't even hunt turkeys. However, I do think the guy brings up some valid points about lack of fire.
No matter which way you slice it, turkey numbers are declining across the country. I think (similarly to deer) that much of the population ebbs and flows are directly correlated to the habitat in which the animals reside. If you drive around Ohio (highways or backroads) look at our average timber age. So much of timber is totally closed-canopy - 30/40-year-old growth. Much of our timber was high graded, which allowed for maple, poplar, and other faster-growing trees to dominate our canopies and out-compete our native oak/hickory-dominated forests. These declines in population are not immediate, rather the opposite. As there is less habitat, you have less offspring, which leads to fewer adults, less healthy adults, less successful recruitment from predation, etc.
I am all for trapping but I don't ever think (some serious studies have been put into this) you will trap your way out of a population decline be it deer or birds.
We need to promote sound forestry management - we need to make RX fire accessible for private landowners in Ohio, in woodland areas (permits and training required or monitored by state/NRCS). We need to promote timber harvesting for secondary successional habitats. Smokey The Bear campaign and other tree-hugging ventures have done more to hurt wildlife than ever help- scared everyone from ever wanting to cut a tree.
All good populations need a foundation from which they derive. Habitat is the main foundation. After that, we can focus on the nuanced details to fine-the a program.
Just my opinion.
No matter which way you slice it, turkey numbers are declining across the country. I think (similarly to deer) that much of the population ebbs and flows are directly correlated to the habitat in which the animals reside. If you drive around Ohio (highways or backroads) look at our average timber age. So much of timber is totally closed-canopy - 30/40-year-old growth. Much of our timber was high graded, which allowed for maple, poplar, and other faster-growing trees to dominate our canopies and out-compete our native oak/hickory-dominated forests. These declines in population are not immediate, rather the opposite. As there is less habitat, you have less offspring, which leads to fewer adults, less healthy adults, less successful recruitment from predation, etc.
I am all for trapping but I don't ever think (some serious studies have been put into this) you will trap your way out of a population decline be it deer or birds.
We need to promote sound forestry management - we need to make RX fire accessible for private landowners in Ohio, in woodland areas (permits and training required or monitored by state/NRCS). We need to promote timber harvesting for secondary successional habitats. Smokey The Bear campaign and other tree-hugging ventures have done more to hurt wildlife than ever help- scared everyone from ever wanting to cut a tree.
All good populations need a foundation from which they derive. Habitat is the main foundation. After that, we can focus on the nuanced details to fine-the a program.
Just my opinion.
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I don't think he was talking about right after harvest but rather through the growth cycle. They don't need to do burn management anymore because they just run a feller buncher through it. If the turkeys couldn't live in pines they just about wouldn't exist across the south. They're well adapted to various habitats, but they can't survive in undergrowth so think it only has rabbit runs under it.