Really? I think that it has been readily apparent throughout the first half of the season that kills/ gobble reports were way up compared to the last few years.

It was nearly identical to this in 2012, which was probably the best season statewide in a long time. Warm winter and extremely warm early spring had them on fire early and it petered out over the last two weeks of April. The main difference between that year and this one was the incredible amount of rainfall before (and continuing through) this season.

The gobbling reports and kill numbers in the first 2-3 weeks in AL this year were extremely high. Not just kills, but gobbling. And, that came from a bunch of different areas.

However, gobble reports are a lot like customer reviews. For every 100 hunters, the hand full of hunters that aren't hearing them are the vocal minority. As usual, the vast majority are hearing them but sure aren't going to post much (if any) about it at all. It stinks that it is that way, but it is and always has been.

There are exceptions here and there. I have heard far fewer than normal in my main area, but have seen as many as usual which is a good number. The quarantine has increased both the number of hunters and frequency of hunting, especially on public land I would presume. That could affect those areas going forward for the immediate future, but I can't prove that. But I don't think that the" apocalyptic decline in the statewide population" agenda is validated from this season's reports at all.