Map apps and the decline of turkeys

We all talk about the predators and nesting habitat being linked to the decline of turkeys. What about the availability of apps such as OnX. I feel like these apps have made it easy for people to just go out and find public areas and hunt. People that would have never taken the time to look over paper maps and do the research to find the areas.

We’re the apex predator no one believe is in the mix.
It’s not necessarily the App but the ones using it

You’re correct though. Back when we were hunting some TVA land that was full of birds, I made aerial photos copies of TVA maps we got out hands on. Not everyone had easy access to their maps at the time so we blocked some land to access and hunt.

🤦‍♂️

I don't know the answer to this, but maybe someone here does. What % of the turkey kill comes off public land? You have to say if public or private when you check a bird, so somebody oughta know. I suspect that the number of public land gobblers killed in the state is not all that high, and certainly not high enough to cause the population statewide to decline.

I am still of the opinion that gobbler harvest is largely unrelated to any actual population decline. The turkey population depends on the nesting success of the hens, and it doesn't take many gobblers to hold up their role. I've never been able to see any correlation between the number of gobblers we've killed off our place and the population the next year. We've hunted it hard for 55 seasons, and the population is still very high. I am way more concerned about the current drought than how many gobblers were killed.

That's not to say that it doesn't affect your personal hunting on public land when it is highly pressured. Every time someone else kills a gobbler, that is one that you don't get to hunt. But I'm very skeptical of it being a cause of any population decline. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am.

I don’t really think it has much to do with killing gobblers overall.

It think has to do with how many folks are out trampling the woods up
More folks busting hens off nest. Folks putting cameras in nest so they can post about it. The list is endless.

As Outback would say. People are the problem.

As far as the OP, we’ve become much more proficient in our hunting and the app certainly helps access lands that once were left alone. I see it as it’s related to duck hunting too.

All I can do is look back at my past (early 90s) and the numbers of hunters in the woods compared to today. How much more efficient we’ve become, I’m not knocking any one thing. It’s the culmination. The claims to fame on social media is a driving factor.

The TVA land I once hunted is well known now. We joked about it being called the turkey masters because of the chaos as it was discovered. The private land I hunted next to it has suffered. If you wasn’t around it folks can not understand just how many birds were in that area. Bear in mind logging etc… has changed the habitat and not lost in me.

Those hardwood drains that were left concentrated the gobblers/hens and did lead to a lot of dead gobblers early on. So I do wonder about that

I talked briefly with a biologist over a WMA most of us are familiar with. 15 harvests for the entire season and I can't even begin the imagine the man hours put in to get those 15. He said the place was covered up all season and the vast majority of those occurred in the first week. Map apps don't give turkey killing skills, not a concern in the least unless your some weirdo who wants to keep public land more inaccessible than it already can be

Yes phone apps sxs four-wheelers gps have helped hunter get to the birds. Hunters competition,instagram,snap chat, facebook, aldeer,tndeer, bragging how many you killed. All this tells a lot of people all the fun your having. Sooooooo more people get involved.
I didn’t try to get my limit but I know a lot that do try and many will reach the goal then take someone else and call them up a bird. Then the talk on the street is there ain’t no birds?? Protecting nesting and the poults is big and the nest robbers need to be killed.

I despise Onx.

^^^^
I To cheap to use it

I think a lot of other things are hurting turkey population over Onx

I know. It’s harder to piddle and claim you didn’t know you were over the line.

Folks that travel turkey hunting swap dropped pins with each other. It saves scouting time for travelers. They also tend to be some of your better hunters.

I joined a club 2 years ago. 2500 acres and 1 guy turkey hunts it. 3 years ago they didn’t see many turkeys. The one hunter killed a gobbler about every other year to 1 a year. He didn’t hunt it real hard. The deer hunters got tired of the coons eating all the corn out of their feeders so they started trapping them. 3 years ago they killed over 100 coons. The turkey sightings during the next deer season more than doubled The next season they killed around 70. We killed 3 gobblers the next spring and heard plenty. Killed another 25 coons the next summer and turkey population has been growing every year.
The woods are mostly loblolly pines. Some thinned, some young, some old. Some hardwood bottoms. Still have a ton of coons, especially in the areas around the Sepulga River (which is basically a glorified creek where our lease is). I think the coon population has a lot more to do with this issue than most people think. What are y’all’s thoughts?

Nah. Its them damn YouTubers

Haha yeah I figured my situation was just a coincidence 😂

I trapped in ONE spot behind my house this spring for 2 months and ended up catching 40 coons and possums. I finally just pulled the traps after things started growing up.....I was still catching them every few days. It would be interesting to know what the true density is for the larger area

We’re gonna have to get a couple biologists to weigh in here and figure this one out. Anybody know Dr. Turkey himself? I’ll need his opinion. Sound like a true dam mystery you got on your hands.

I doubt they even put a small dent in the coon numbers on 2500 acres. Would be interesting to know how many there actually are and how far they travel.

Keep feeding corn and the coons will show up and reproduce with a solid food supply.

Are turkey populations cyclical or steady?

I know when we hunted grouse we were told grouse cycle in an 8 year up swing/down swing.
I’m assuming turkey population do something similar

Small dent huh? Ok.

Fifty coons per square mile would be roughly 200 living on 2500 acres at any given time. The number 1 nest predator was roughly cut in half year 1. But - maybe you are right - we need some experts to chime in so we will know for sure.

Not an expert by any means but we have killed a pile of coons over the past 3 seasons and they just keep being replaced. No noticeable difference via pictures and I would guess we have taken more than the op mentioned on half the acerage. Which is why I said it would be interesting to know how far they travel and how many there are. Seeing as you seem to know everything I was hopeful you would enlighten me with an answer.

This guy has a raccoon problem.
https://youtu.be/Ofp26_oc4CA

From my observations I’m gonna say that there’s likely a lot of shuffling around going on amongst the young male coons…..There’s probably a constant struggle for dominance going on and a sizeable percentage of the young male population is being kicked on down the road day in and day out. As soon as you take one out there’s another one being shuffled back in within a few days. I'm guessing that this behavior has probably been exacerbated due to all the corn feeding peaking out the overall populations above normal carrying capacities