TN season 2023

Place where we hunt just informed me that the 2023 season will start two weeks later, which will be probably around April 15, 2023, two bird limit.

People laughed at me when I started calling this movement an anti hunting movement from the beginning - but I think they are figuring it out.

I sure wasn't one of them laughing. It fits right in with every other leftist scheme - anti-gun, anti-fossil fuel, anti-police, anti-work, anti-American.

I don't think any state in the nation has mis-managed a resource the way TN has turkeys. It was only a few years ago that they were letting hunters kill 6 hens a day. And now the same people are saying that they can't have but 2 gobblers per year. And it's all science.

Dang - that’s awful

Was thinking making TN one of my trips again next year - thinking I will pass now. May do KY and Illinois

All heil Chamberlain!

When will Alabama tell when opening day is for 2023?

What TN is doing is basically what KY has been doing for a few years in the spring. KY still has a fall season

Gives me two more weeks to hunt. May have to go up in northeast corner somewhere

What’s even more crazy is all the goobers on TNDEER that are happy they are taking away opportunities from them. Read this thread.

https://www.tndeer.com/threads/big-changes-from-the-meeting-today.419913/

I'm fine with the 2 week set back. Happy they are limiting the amount of jakes killed. Not too happy about losing a bird though.

Blows my mind! A lot are pretty deep in the turkeydoc kool-aid.

The same ones that celebrate chamberlain are the same ones who support the YouTubers. Either new to this game or dumb

They get pissy at me when I come at em with an opinion other than being like a sheep…They actually would be good with shutting down the season “ for the preservation of the species” like wtf…I’ve got the same username there…screw em

Well we have a bunch on here that celebrate new rules, regs and shorter seasons too.

Heck, they are even ASKING for more regulations even after the season has been knocked back two weeks and one less Gobbler a year last year!

Guess they think the Govt is here to HELP us all out!

1. The current data shows hens are initiating nests…..at around 78 +-%. That’s a pretty solid number in my opinion. Eggs are being fertilized as it is currently.

2. I saw bobwhite quail were brought up over there……they weren’t hunted into extinction. They were destroyed by habitat loss and predation. I’d say hunting was a zero factor

3. Arkansas has had no notable improvement from 10 + years of late seasons. Arkansas was the testing grounds for these theories and failed miserably

4. A common theme is a late season would push out the YouTubers and social media attention whores…… this is the real reason why many are happy with the regulations. They just don’t want to get labeled jealous etc

We aren’t happy about the delayed season

Everyone I know has just given up on ever having a decent population again and really don’t care what they do at this point.

The only thing the TWRA screwed up on was not listening to us 10 years ago. The fall season didn’t hurt anything. I only know two people that hunted in the fall and neither killed hens.

Is TN officially coming in mid April n 2023?

This is what I am being told by our farm folks

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Thanks
Wonder when Bama dates get set ? Heard there could b Some management changes w Alabama game and fish

I haven't hunted there in several years, so I'm sure you know more about it than me. But whether folks hunted in the fall or not, the message that the TWRA sent to hunters was that they had an unlimited supply of turkeys and you couldn't possibly kill too many. I had a conversation with a TN hillbilly on the border of one of my clubs and that was sure his attitude. I don't know if there are still turkeys around there or not, but even back then there weren't as many turkeys as the places I hunt in AL.

There was no reason to allow anyone to kill a hen period with the population they had. Letting folks kill 6 a day was criminal. I was in a club with a guy who absolutely murdered them in the fall using dogs. He would hunt with several other guys and they could wipe out a flock and put the picture on the internet.

Yes, why would anyone want to kill a hen?

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I don’t even want to kill a bearded hen - I been mad enough to want to put a hickory limb across one’s back amd work her over when she whips me 😀 - but I don’t rant to harvest one

I don't even shoot Jake's, personal preference.

I will have to disagree with the notion that TN has done a poor job in the past with managing the turkeys. For YEARS when you recorded your harvest the data was used to transplant birds based on harvest data. Areas that the kill data was low in they moved birds every year. It was nothing to stand on a ridge and hear 20-30 gobbling birds a morning. Its still good in some counties with exception to Giles, Lincoln,Lawrence and Wayne. Its not 20-30 birds a morning strong but there are plenty to hunt outside the 4 counties at the bottom of the state.

I know some guys that have or did have farms up there. Baxk in the 90s id never seen so many birds. One guy had a video of over 80 longbeards in one field. These guys had several hundred acres and then leased ri get to 1000 or better acres each.

Those days are long gone.

It used to be easy in the late 80's and early 90's to hear birds gobbling their heads off any morning you wanted to hunt. Choosing which one to hunt was the problem. The numbers are down, but are still fairly good in certain areas of Lawrence County TN. I honestly believe that the pine harvest practices are what has caused the decline in the numbers of turkeys. There is too much undergrowth in the woods for turkeys to see and stay away from predators. In open hardwood timber turkeys can see a predator from a long way off. They then run for 3 or 4 steps before taking flight to get away. Turkeys cant do this in the pine plantations they are now having to live in and the predators catch them before they can fly away.

Hawks and eagles are making a huge comeback also and they will absolutely decimate a turkey population. I have no use for a hawk or an eagle, or for that matter anything that preys on turkeys.

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I got a bunch of hawks - I think they been hunting mine - if I catch them in the act - b real hard not to shoot

S S S

They don't seem to live well around here, owls either. I had rather see turkeys and I will do my part to protect them.