Something I should have added about some of those southern counties with big swings like Macon, Bullock, Russell......Those big increases are rebounds from 30-35% drops in last year's numbers......You're having a big up, down, up, down cycle.......That pattern is normal but the exaggeration of it is caused by our management practices


In a nutshell there’s an overabundance of “grass” due to our management practices which causes an overabundance of rats which causes and overabundance of predators…. The rats are having MAJOR boom bust cycles within these grass prairies that follows annual rainfall trends….more rain = that much more grass……the overabundance of predators that are feeding on those boom/bust cycles of rats are likely experiencing population swings too but they are also likely switching prey sources in the rat bust years and ultimately causing the turkey population to follow the same major boom/busts as the rats……Moderate the grass and I think you’ll moderate the rat population and make it easier to manage for more stable turkey populations instead of these dramatic up down swings.

This doesn’t mean that I’m saying we have to go in and completely change everything we’re doing tomorrow or that I’m saying don’t burn or anything like that…Folks tend to take things as black or white and run with it……We should however, be aware of what is happening though and understand it…..If we do that then maybe we can find ways to mitigate the negative effects.


On a big scale we have two extremes occurring across much of the landscape down here where its either being over grazed or under grazed....both to an extreme......