I don't think many people were feeding much corn 10 years ago when the turkey population disappeared from my place. We haven't had birds since Hurricane Ivan took most all of our timber.

Well shoot...... I'm out.

Good luck in your new position Hal.

corn ain't got shitt to do with any turkey decline in Alabama.

Lock the thread.....captain aflatoxin has spoken!

I'd reply to yer dumb ass but I have you on ignore.....

You have me on ignore.....,and still can't resist the urge to reply.

And of course back to the cursing and name calling.

Pull the strings and watch him dance!

BC, you are passing on a job that would pay you a 7 figure salary, let you hunt in every state, hunt from March thru June, make a fall trip to New Zealand to see what we can learn by killing a bunch of their feral turkeys, and then do nothing the rest of the year. You would pass on that just to avoid saying, "War Eagle" ?

You understand we gotta put up a united front? And what did uat ever do for the wild turkey anyway?

War Eagle!.... War Eagle!....War Eagle!.....

There! I put my application in!

I'm going to have to rethink that then.

PCP: this killing stuff for long periods of time and in far off places has me interested and re-thinking my current employment options.

And if if helps, I graduated from AU.

WAR EAGLE!!!!

Hey you are still gonna let me put out corn, right?

I graduated from UAB. Their little brother syndrome is three times as bad as Auburns. That's almost like graduating from Auburn, right?

No. No, it isn't.

Poor Uab. Its the only school in the country where their own trustees want them to fail.

A7F, you gotta change your way of thinking. There will be no need for corn once I am the Czar.

I'm more inline with this thinking. I've heard of several bird species that cycle. I know we seen numerous poults early and then after all the rains very few poults.

I know of one area that used to hold numbers of birds that no longer does. Used to see 2-3 flocks with 50-75 birds almost always in the fields against the wood line. Lot's of corn piles and chicken liter used in the area.

There was a club that used to corn them up that had what most would think to be terrible turkey habitat. Basically natural regrowth hardwoods that were 10-12 years old. I killed birds in similar habitat just down the road. Seems the birds actually use that habitat more than thought of, at least in that area.

Lot's of gobblers killed in clear cuts thru 2 yr old pines and drains around here.

I'm sure further studies will be done.

This past year the birds just didn't gobble, towards the end of the season we kinda felt jakes were the problem. They were gobbling sporadically and had several groups whoop lone gobblers.

Negative Ghostrider. There will ALWAYS be a need for corn. Always.

Tell em Matt, what the two answers to all of the world's problems are. Tell em.


***** Just to clarify this particular topic, I am absolutely not in favor of dumping out a bag of corn and then sitting in a pop-up blind and murdering him over said pile of corn.....well, unless they deserve it. In that case....

I do not believe corn is the reason for turkey decline. If there is a decline, it seems to be in north Alabama and southern Tennessee.

I have been saying for several years that the population was going down. I do believe it will go back up eventually.

I no longer worry about asking the guys that have power in either Alabama or Tennessee, neither one of them care or even think there is a problem.

Who would you be referring to? The state agencies?

Yep, professional biologists have no idea what they are doing nor do they care

Strange they dedicate their lives to working/conserving the natural resources for the benefit of everyone.

Matt Brock and Nighthunter, excuse my ignorance, and I am being real, no typical aldeer sarcasm or bull.

Inform me please. Besides the restocking of turkeys in north Alabama, what else has the state done to promote turkeys in North Central and northwestern Alabama?
Turkey hunting isn't a culture or way of life up here for many, simply because there were no turkeys here until about 1995.

I just think they could do a better job of teaching people and hunters about turkeys and turkey habitat. All of the focus is in the southern portion of the state.

Again, excuse my ignorance.

By the way, I am still loosing respect for whoever makes the rules to liberalize baiting rules even more.

I mean, could you name specifically on if or when anything will be done or is being done? Specifically in Limestone and Lauderdale county?

Perhaps I could even put forth some helpful insight. I do anything could can to help there be more turkeys?

I'll start and Matt will probably add to it...

For starters we have a Turkey committee that works with several other states to stay on top of turkey issues. Currently there is research taking place throughout the state on turkeys, and yes in north AL. I am not going to dive off into the weeds on the research. I am not on the turkey committee, so I only know a little about it.

I do know there were stakeholder meetings a few months ago strictly on turkey in your district.

We also have a Technical Assistance team, which I am over, that will come out and assist landowners in all kinds of management. If you want assistance in turkey management, great, or heck we will come out for deer, quail, and even songbirds if that is your thing.

Our staff is here to help. Whether people believe it or not, we do know what we are doing Some may not agree with some things in the past or even now, ok, I get it. Don't let that get in the way using the valuable resource that is available to you. I think if you find some folks that have been in contact with Matt or myself you'll find that we try very hard help folks meet their goals and hopefully they will tell you we provide a quality service. I sure feel like we do...