For you guys that hunt Kentucky
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FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – Disease, predators and poor property management are taking their toll on two of the state’s most popular game animals…
And it has the group responsible for managing the state’s hunting and fishing rules worried.
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“We’re going to be making some really hard changes like Arkansas has, or Louisiana is talking doing or Tennessee has done. I mean these states are at the point where it is kind of like a crisis mode..."
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The board will consider some recommendations next month and also develop programs to help land owners better manage their wildlife, especially wild turkeys, which are falling prey to bobcats, coyotes and other predators.
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Dr. Turkey is causing nearly every state to implement drastic changes! KY already has a late opener and a short season along with a 2 bird limit. At least they are smart enough to outline the true issue. However, more restrictions on the hunter will fix none of it

Grant Woods has it pegged IMO.

Has anything Chamberlain pushed actually proven itself on the ground and not just “paper”?

I’m not putting the guy down, he seems like an intelligent person.
But just hate to see everyone jump on the bandwagon before we know all the facts.

Best I can figure they are pretty much anti-hunters. Some weird form of jealous hunter at a minimum.

Anybody ever wonder if the decline is a lot worse than they’re letting be known. I know some people still have good seasons, but I’ve talked to several people that basically have zero birds now on properties and clubs that had ample gobblers less than 5 years ago. I’m taking about decent sized acreage too with good habitat. I’m talking about more states than Alabama.

I know for a fact there is a decline across Alabama and multiple states. I have personally seen and experienced it. My beef with this whole get on the bandwagon with Dr. Turkey is that none of it addresses the real issues. Limiting the length of season and reducing the bag limit isn't going to fix the problem of a declining turkey population. All you have to do is look at Arkansas as a prime example. Will it save some gobblers absolutely, but on the large scale I simply do not see it as the saving grace of the wild turkey. I personally feel as though the more these states limit and restrict the hunters the worse the problem will become. They simply will take the incentive away from the backbone (private landowners) of producing turkeys, therefore it will get worse in my personal opinion.

The issues are numerous and more complex than they are willing to admit in my personal opinion. The only thing the state can control are the season dates and bag limits in addition to managing the properties they control more intensively. Most of us already know how well our state manages the public resources they control.

I’m curious if the chemicals being Sprayed on the pine plantations are having reproductive effects on turkeys causing issues.

It's as simple as this in my opinion. Regardless of how many gobblers you leave to breed the hens, she has to successfully hatch and raise the clutch. Until that happens the turkey population will continue to decline. You can't increase the population by saving gobblers. From all the research I have seen we have a recruitment issue. That stems from a lot of complex known and unknown issues I'm afraid. Turkey_neck the answer to your question is probably known, but will not be publicly made available due the amount of money involved in the logging industry and the same goes for chicken litter!

The true issues will not be addressed and they will continue to take more and more away from the peasants. It's the easy thing to do you know!!

I couldn't agree more squeaky!

Most herbicides take years to go through the licensing process before coming onto the market and have been researched thoroughly. The toxicity of most common forestry herbicides is less than table salt.

I don't think you could say the same about chicken litter and it's potential impact. Every chicken house you drive by has biohazard signs and warnings about disease, yet we take the litter out and spread it across the county. I know they say the risk is that you may bring something into the chicken houses but I'm not sure how you couldn't also be spreading a disease into the wild as well. This is one factor that all of the experts seem to keep discounting or overlooking.

I hunt KY. A lot of locals up there believe what is being sprayed on fields before planting has a detrimental effect on turkeys.

I know you specifically pointed out pine plantations, but I would bet there are some similar active ingredients....

Chemicals today I promise are not like they were 30 years ago. It’s an easy blame but if it was the cause there would be zero turkeys anywhere near ag production areas and that’s simply not the case

Chicken litter kills turkey as soon as they come in contact, stay away from all fields fertilized with it.

🤣🤣🤣

Most herbicides widely used today have lower LD50’s than baking soda.

Can’t tell the common public that. Adds on tv and idiots everywhere saying it’s all harmful

Ive sprayed 1000s of gallons of roundup and am still alive. But I wonder if certain chemicals could be causing issues in turkeys. It would be the biggest common denominator across most of the country besides massive corn feeding.

Idots with pop up tents and jake decoys are 1000 times worse than any chemical on market today

Yep. Definitely 2 constants. Not that they are the culprits, but something is up