Yep we actually did some hunting right in that area also. You could pretty much get permission to hunt anywhere back then. The real good old days.
Turkey Population
- Thread starter Bowhunter57
- Start date
Big_Holla
Senior Member
After talking with a few people on the subject and the delayed change from 2 to 1 tags when they (DNR) did it I am thinking that weather is what really took it's toll on the population this year. It is known weather is one of the biggest contributing factors if nests fail and brood numbers stay low. Think back in January and February all that freezing rain and bad winter weather that came through. I would guess that is what really put a hurt on the turkey population going into this season. Last summer and fall we had plenty of turkeys and even groups of gobblers roaming around. Where did they go? People aren't seeing them in our area hardly at all right now.
Spencie
Senior Member
Tyler showed me this. The numbers are way down compared to the 3 year average at this point in the season. The DNR will probably say their one bird limit is the reason.
The hatch. Hatch is down the last three years due to weather. That is where they will point the finger. And truthfully, I suspect it is "a" contributing factor. I don't know enough about turkeys to know if it is the smoking gun or just a contributing factor. Just something to think about i guess.
tracker 6
Junior Member
Like the grouse "death by thousand cuts".But unlike the grouse a lot of research is in progress .
What about nutrition? Between all the invasive undergrowth and GMO farming practices. Add the fertilizer and sprays. How much of this is effecting reproduction numbers? I feel like I'm noticing it in deer also. Triplets are basically a thing of the past. Seeing a hen with a 8 poults is also gone. As wild animals they will only produce what the ground will carry.
I also wonder about ticks. It seems the more common they are, the less we see in animals.
Birds of prey? We can't just blame coyotes for everything.
I also wonder about ticks. It seems the more common they are, the less we see in animals.
Birds of prey? We can't just blame coyotes for everything.
I wouldn't blame the weather, if you were seeing large numbers of turkeys in the summer and fall months. Seeing large numbers that late in the year would tell me that we had a good hatch and lots of surviving birds.
Not seeing large numbers into the next year would say there had been a lot of predators that were killing them off, like bobcats, coyotes, coons, hawks, eagles, etc.
People who shed hunt, mushroom hunt and deer scouting in general. Are they seeing remnants of turkey carcasses? Piles of feathers from the kills from predators? Can’t say I’ve ever seen any traipsing around the woods…..
Not very often. This is why I turned to nutrition. Can't have adults without youngins
Spencie
Senior Member
Found another destroyed egg out in a field. I’m convinced 100% it’s nest predation that’s causing the decline in numbers. We tried to do our part this past winter but it wasn’t enough.
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There is no logical reason for us to have a season on these critters. And no way we should need to buy a fur takers permit to kill them.
ThatBuckeyeGuy
Active Member
I wouldn't think that it was a feathered chick already in my area but I swerved to try and smack at fat coon in the road yesterday at 4pm and it made it over the ditch. As it climbed the tree it had a bird in it's mouth. I swear it looked like a little clucker but i could be wrong . I do know one thing for sure that it was definitely a small bird in it's mouth. Kind of blew my mind for a minute being 4 in the evening and in broad daylight and being a bird . Things are changing. I grew up coon hunting every to every other night with my uncle, it drove my mom and teachers nuts. When I went into the service I continued on and bought a walker pup off of my uncle and made good friends with a coon hunter close to base and we were after them non stop . He even housed my dog for me on deployments. When I moved home and bought a house I didn't make it 2 months when I came home from work one day and my dog was gone. Impossible to get over the fence and she never wouldve bothered doing that anyway. Whoever decided they wanted a new walker that day was kind enough to close and half latch my cut lock for me though 
. Anyways I started midnights shortly after that which im still on and started a family. I've only ran coon three times since in the last 8 years.... I need to get back into it. Will it make a difference ? Probably not I don't even know anyone that runs dogs anymore except my uncle. Will It feel like I'm a making a difference ? Absolutly and I'd have a blast doing it. Come august I'm fully vested where I work then I'm going to look for a day time job hard. I'd love to get back into it and drag my son along at night.
. Anyways I started midnights shortly after that which im still on and started a family. I've only ran coon three times since in the last 8 years.... I need to get back into it. Will it make a difference ? Probably not I don't even know anyone that runs dogs anymore except my uncle. Will It feel like I'm a making a difference ? Absolutly and I'd have a blast doing it. Come august I'm fully vested where I work then I'm going to look for a day time job hard. I'd love to get back into it and drag my son along at night.I blame farm chemicals for everything. Farming 1st then coons then democrats.
The only thing he can hurt is a case of bud light!I blame Dustin!
Ehhhhhh, My two cents hell maybe just a penny if that.. I don’t personally think there is a shortage of Turkeys.. Maybe males …Maybe……
I personally think there are way to many hens. When ya see flocks of 50 60 70 80 hens People May kill off some Toms jakes etc etc leaving an over abundance of hens.
why gobble if ya have 15 hens available at all times.. I sure as shit wouldn’t. Maybe it’s just like this in the area I hunt.
Seeing the winter flock tells me there’s 10 to 15 hens per gobbler where I’m at. Seeing a gobbler in a field last year last day of season 15 hens with it.
I think there’s just an imbalance in male /female..
Nobody shoots hens.
I can say I saw this tag reduction coming a mile away when a certain person started posting on other forums crying about no turkeys yet the same person for years showed off him and his 40 friends taking 2 birds a piece……
When them Turkeys dried up tho bamooo tag reduction… rolling my eyes if people feel it was because of hunters complaint.
I believe more hens need took in the fall. I’m only talking about my experience of where I hunt.
Cheers best of luck out there and FJB!
I personally think there are way to many hens. When ya see flocks of 50 60 70 80 hens People May kill off some Toms jakes etc etc leaving an over abundance of hens.
why gobble if ya have 15 hens available at all times.. I sure as shit wouldn’t. Maybe it’s just like this in the area I hunt.
Seeing the winter flock tells me there’s 10 to 15 hens per gobbler where I’m at. Seeing a gobbler in a field last year last day of season 15 hens with it.
I think there’s just an imbalance in male /female..
Nobody shoots hens.
I can say I saw this tag reduction coming a mile away when a certain person started posting on other forums crying about no turkeys yet the same person for years showed off him and his 40 friends taking 2 birds a piece……
When them Turkeys dried up tho bamooo tag reduction… rolling my eyes if people feel it was because of hunters complaint.
I believe more hens need took in the fall. I’m only talking about my experience of where I hunt.
Cheers best of luck out there and FJB!
Spencie
Senior Member
Skunks, possums, Raccoons and Black Rat snakes. Those are your main eggs culprits.
We could all kill an unlimited amount of predators on our property but unless our neighbors are doing it on a landscapes level I don't buy that it will help longterm. Just way too many varmints out there, and science has proven that when one is killed its spot is backfilled by immigration. I do think predators are a big cause of this issue but this is nothing new. Turkeys and especially turkey poults and eggs are at the bottom of the food chain. If we had the proper habitat this predation would still happen but not at nearly as high a scale, and the turkeys would be able to rebound naturally and accordingly. Our landscapes have changed, even if it isn't to the naked eye. Theres a 90% chance the woods everyone on here hunts is infested with invasive species that weren't there 10 or 15 years ago. I certainly don't think killing predators is a bad thing, and it may help on a smaller scale, but we need to think big picture as well.