I don’t usually post but I’m going to chime in here. I’m 36 and have been turkey hunting since I was old enough to tote a shotgun. Turkey hunters have been killing over the limit as long as there has been turkey hunting so nothing new there. I don’t believe it’s a big mystery why turkey populations are in decline. Predator numbers are through the roof, habitat is going away at a high rate, and the amount of people who hunt turkey is as high as I have ever seen. So right off the bat numbers in my mind should be in decline. Now add the legalization of decoys, and the onset of the tech age of hunting with trail cameras that not only take photos and scouts for you, but will send live pics to your phone.
Now take all that into consideration and add a whole new group of “hunter”, who has no knowledge of how to kill a turkey or respect for his quarry, but he’s got a shotgun and pics of four toms in his deer plot so he goes and slips in his shooting house and kills him a turkey. Except he might not kill just one he may see how many he can kill before they get away. He don’t worry about the limit cause he really just wanted to post his pic on Facebook with a bird and won’t go back hunting unless he gets one back on cam in one of his plots.

More good points Juggy, every one talks about the weather but nobody ever does anything. The wrong weather at the wrong time is a baby turkey killer for sure. However, Red tail hawks and even eagles have made a strong come back. There's no $ in trapping , nobody does it for $ like the old days. To a man turkey managers sing the praises of trapping in increasing the population . Several on here have told me it's amazing the positive impact that a serious trapping program can have.

Also now with new ammunition everyone is using ,I believe folks take a lot of shots that are too far, resulting in wounding surrounding birds that may not have been a target. I said all that to say this. Hunting has changed so I’m not against making some changes myself. I believe that I could get behind pushing season back a week, as much as I enjoy the now limited time I get to spend afield, to try to lessen what I described above and give these turkeys a little more time to split up.
I used to be as hardcore of a hunter as there was, but years of rising lease prices and increasingly crowded public land I just don’t go as much. A good year for me now is between one and three birds. But I have a hope of one day taking my boys and teaching them woodsmanship and calling techniques and watching them grow into hunters and stewards of the sport, which I hope endures. We as hunters control more than you think...