Dang, you guys pulled Kicker out of a coma. Good to see you chime in.

I hate it for y'all. It's coming though. They did the same thing in SC. We had a 5 bird limit my entire life and March 15-May 1. It is now March 20-May 5 and 3 birds. Everybody scratching their heads as to why.

What's coming? You all still have the same number of hunting days right? 3 birds is still s good limit if you guys have the declining populations like we have in Bama. I would have no problem with a 3 bird limit or the dates you posted.

1. We are going to lose hunting days under the new regulations.

2. A limit reduction has basically 0 impact on total harvest numbers. How did you come upon the conclusion populations are decreasing? I heard more birds gobbling this year than I can remember in the last 5 years. I have also seen a very successful crop of young birds this summer. I'm guessing we will have a gang of Jake's issue next spring.

Ben, have you ever killed a limit?

Your posts have been so awesome lately - so why don’t you explain, in great detail, how it’s gonna help improve the population. Please give examples of multiple states where it has worked perfectly. Please use biological facts, like how more gobblers sitting on the nests helping raise the babies will help.....stuff like that.

Crenshaw and turkey 247. I have no biological data. Crenshaw I have killed limits but not in the past 7 or 8 yrs. We killed 4 this year off 1500 acres and that's the most we have killed in 5 years. I have not heard more than 1 turkey gobble in a morning in the last 5 years. I only hunt a few times a yr with kids. work fishing activities etc. Dad and Mr. J hunt every weekend and normally a few days a week. This year Mr. J heard 0 turkeys. Dad killed 2 and heard 1 turkey about half the mornings he went and 0 the rest of the time. I took the kids 4 times 2 times we heard a turkey and killed it 2 times we heard 0. I run lots of cameras during turkey season as well. We used to hear up to 10 birds a morning. Everyone I know who with the exception of 1 guy kills fewer than he ever has. I know I never see turkeys when driving anymore where I used to see them constantly in large numbers in areas in central and north alabama.

Those of you who have great populations I am jealous of what you have. We had that once and it is gone. I have not seen a hen with little ones in 3 years in our area. Just mature hens by themselves. If I had great numbers I would do anything possible to keep them, if that meant hunting fewer days or not killing quite as many I would be good with that as I would love for my kids to get to hear and see what turkey hunting was 10-15 years ago.

You are free to do just that. You may limit yourself any way you see fit.
No regulation changes required.

Yes I know, I like to make sure there is a gobbler on the place when dad goes hunting. So typically if I find a turkey I will leave it alone until dad has a chance to hunt again
Last year was the kids first season going with me so we killed the 2 we heard.

This is how I felt about youth season for deer and turkeys. Why do we need a youth season, just take your kids hunting.

Absolutely agree with you there.
Youth season gives a few greedy adults a head start.
Purely political.

Maybe they realized that youth season is just like a normal hunting weekend so instead of taking away youth season they would just replace opening weekend with youth season which does not sound as bad to the public maybe.

Your property is a perfect example for the point we are trying to make. Lower limits and a few days later opening will do absolutely nothing to change what is harvested on that property, and more importany and relevant to the topic - it will not change /help the turkey population for you.

The limit for you could be 3 or 5 or 100, and absolutely nothing changes.

Possibly but if the neighbors only killed 2 or 3 as opposed to 4 or 5 and more gobblers survived there would more gobblers to hunt the next year. The few places I know whose populations have grown the last few years have stopped harvesting turkeys for 3-5 years and killed lots of predators. I am about to start working on the predators.

I completely understand your point and agree with some of what you say however killing fewer turkeys mean more survive each year which leads to a better next year every yr imo.

I read where chuck Sykes killed or was in on a kill every 1.8 days hunting last yr. He said his average for the past 10 yrs is a kill per 2.3 days of hunting . It does not seem like he would have any desire to do anything that would damage turkey hunting since he really likes it.

Ben, how is saving a few gobblers going to increase your hens nest success? You need to trap the coons and possums for a couple years and I bet you would see an increase in hens and poults. Predators didn’t decimate the turkey population all by theirselves everywhere, but in certain areas (especially around good nesting cover) they put a big dent in nest and poult survival. If you don’t believe me, ask any trapper how their turkey populations have responded. Even if you only save 1 nest, that is an average of 8-10 birds that is added back to the population. Over a few years those numbers will add up.

I understand this as well, but I also know of places that fencing, hunting and trapping have been done to reduce predators, 1 for example 2000 acres used to be covered up with turkeys they shot the crap out of them for 8 or so years everyone getting a limit now you can still hear a turkey or two but it does not have a quarter of the population it once did. Timber has been managed and feed and food planted for turkeys. It is basically a turkey paradise and its numbers have plummeted?

Youth seasons were done nationwide, along with "special" seasons like muzzleloader-only, to be PC, help placate the whiners, sell more equipment and give the impression that kids are special so they get their own weekend because a lot of adults are a'holes who don't want to take their 12-year-old when the "real" opening day arrives.

The special seasons are about money, and the youth seasons are about perception and getting on the bandwagon with other states so you "won't be the only one not doing it."

Coonhunter is on it, predators .

Last fall I went to SD Pheasant hunting . It was an eye opening experience about predator control, they trap and hunt very aggressively anything that will kill a pheasant. They can legally night hunt/spotlight on THEIR property for predators . Two of us went along as shooters one night. They have a ongoing war with ANYTHING that will kill a pheasant. Think about that awhile.

Here's how it goes down , they can only do it on property they own. They can have up to 4 in a vehicle and there are limitations as to what guns can be used. They do not flip the light on until they are on their property. And they flat "brang the pain" !

Trapping and predation control - real predator management, and not shooting 2-3 coyotes during deer season - is still pretty big in the Upper Midwest and in the Dakotas.

Seems like your limit should be 0. You killed the 2 you heard, how is that helping the population? Oh yea, you just want to put limits on the neighbors: