Yes, why would anyone want to kill a hen?

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I don’t even want to kill a bearded hen - I been mad enough to want to put a hickory limb across one’s back amd work her over when she whips me 😀 - but I don’t rant to harvest one

I don't even shoot Jake's, personal preference.

I will have to disagree with the notion that TN has done a poor job in the past with managing the turkeys. For YEARS when you recorded your harvest the data was used to transplant birds based on harvest data. Areas that the kill data was low in they moved birds every year. It was nothing to stand on a ridge and hear 20-30 gobbling birds a morning. Its still good in some counties with exception to Giles, Lincoln,Lawrence and Wayne. Its not 20-30 birds a morning strong but there are plenty to hunt outside the 4 counties at the bottom of the state.

I know some guys that have or did have farms up there. Baxk in the 90s id never seen so many birds. One guy had a video of over 80 longbeards in one field. These guys had several hundred acres and then leased ri get to 1000 or better acres each.

Those days are long gone.

It used to be easy in the late 80's and early 90's to hear birds gobbling their heads off any morning you wanted to hunt. Choosing which one to hunt was the problem. The numbers are down, but are still fairly good in certain areas of Lawrence County TN. I honestly believe that the pine harvest practices are what has caused the decline in the numbers of turkeys. There is too much undergrowth in the woods for turkeys to see and stay away from predators. In open hardwood timber turkeys can see a predator from a long way off. They then run for 3 or 4 steps before taking flight to get away. Turkeys cant do this in the pine plantations they are now having to live in and the predators catch them before they can fly away.

Hawks and eagles are making a huge comeback also and they will absolutely decimate a turkey population. I have no use for a hawk or an eagle, or for that matter anything that preys on turkeys.

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I got a bunch of hawks - I think they been hunting mine - if I catch them in the act - b real hard not to shoot

S S S

They don't seem to live well around here, owls either. I had rather see turkeys and I will do my part to protect them.