Is fall turkey season bad?

[3B209]

A noble gesture. Following your lead, I shan't post any photos of any turkeys, any time of year, with any holes matching the calibers of any firearms I own.

I read this three times. I was thrown off by "shant"...

 

[Disgruntled]

Some Cliffs Notes from the meetings/workshops
-Bird numbers peaked in 2008.
-Avian pox and Lymphoproliferative Disease (LPDV) are the two most common diseases reported, and they see cases each year. No indication disease is the problem.

SE Kansas 2010-2015
- Winter Flocks 100-300 birds along major drainages
- Birds are in marginal habitats because the better habitat was already taken
-Hunters both resident and nonresident were happy and successful
-Landowners complained about turkey numbers- Claimed turkeys will follow the planter eating the corn

SE KS 2016 to present
-Winter Flocks 10% to 20% of what they were
-Birds absent from prime habitat
-Hunters are relatively unsuccessful and skewed more towards non residents
- Most common question fielded "What happened to the turkeys"
-Spring 2020 bag limit reduction was well received. Many folks called saying "What took so long" or "Its about time"
-Outfitters limiting spring hunts due to lack of turkeys and limited success.

Biologists notes:
Deer and quail are a priority for landowners. TSI and Native grass establishment top 2. In theory it should benefit turkeys.
Some KDWP employees haven't bought turkey tags in 3+ years
Landowners are pulling land out of spring WIHA because of the lack of turkeys. They would rather lose money than allow more turkey harvest.

 

[nobands]

Well excuse me.
Living in a rural area my entire life, the only urban myths I have ever heard have been from the interwebs.

It appears the turkey hunters are a very sensitive group and were triggered by some of the posted comments.
I apologize in advance if this post triggers anyone.

No more sensitive about about turkeys than I am of pheasants, ducks , deer or anything else I enjoy to pursue.

The one thing that has gotten better in the last 25 years is goose hunting . Most everything else is a downward trend .
The grouse deal reminded me of here in the late 80s. Quail took a big nosedive and turkeys were booming. So the big deal was turkeys eat quail eggs , has to be the reason, cause there's lots of turkeys and few quail.
Pheasants didn't suffer the same fate though till we started loosing the vast acreages of crp .
The turkey population has crashed across much of the states and no one seems to be able to answer the why . I think it's predators, with our pheasants and quail I believe it's mostly habitat and weather related, with predators 2nd.
Hope turkeys do a bit of a rebound along with your grouse and our pheasants and quail.

 

[orwfowlr]

orw,
Feel free to re-post the post, if you’d like.
I was trying to avoid a contentious back and forth.
I will rarely have to do that and even more rarely comment on it.

I won’t repost. I think I get it now. As an avid turkey hunter (Spring), you were ”triggered” by the photo of “Elly”, my GSP retrieving her hard won turkey from a couple weeks ago. I’m not on this site for a battle. We’re all hunters and should be able to express opinions based on our own experience. If someone thinks less of me for fall hunting turkeys, so be it. Just know that that feeling doesn’t reciprocate for your spring hunting.

 

[WOODIE13]

My only objection is that it should be gobblers only, maybe even no jakes. One male can breed an azz load of hens.

Jake's aren't "viable" to breeding says Chamberlain....but everyone shoots big gobblers....complains why they ain't no turkeys

 

[stevena198301]

Jake's aren't "viable" to breeding says Chamberlain....but everyone shoots big gobblers....complains why they ain't no turkeys

Maybe, maybe not. Tell Chamberlain that Jakes usually become Toms. That’s short-sightedness.

 

[Luigi Daniele]

I won’t repost. I think I get it now. As an avid turkey hunter (Spring), you were ”triggered” by the photo of “Elly”, my GSP retrieving her hard won turkey from a couple weeks ago. I’m not on this site for a battle. We’re all hunters and should be able to express opinions based on our own experience. If someone thinks less of me for fall hunting turkeys, so be it. Just know that that feeling doesn’t reciprocate for your spring hunting.

I wasn’t triggered by anything.
I like hunting them better in the fall, if I am forced to choose.

 

[WOODIE13]

Maybe, maybe not. Tell Chamberlain that Jakes usually become Toms. That’s short-sightedness.

Not a fan of him at all, but a lot tout him as the savior for turkeys, but those same people live to kill big gobblers, but bash fall hunters. Hunting season during the nesting/breeding season...we have to out of the woods by one, a lot of states are all day hunting.

Toss in the pitiful fur market prices, nest raiders and turkey predators abound. Maybe pick up some dog proof traps, catch some raccoons and Possums, they might see a difference since coons are the biggest nest raiders, followed by possum.

 

[WOODIE13]

Or hire a professional trapper

 

[stevena198301]

Or hire a professional trapper

Not many here will let you kill them now (land access). Predators are thriving. We have a giant pack of coyotes.