Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk ALTurkey Talk -- Beards and Spurs Turkey Populations in Alabama?

Perry. Have had 2 properties about 10 miles a part and both of them went from large populations to extremely small populations. I am talking about seeing flocks of 30-60 birds at times and hearing 6-12 gobblers a morning to hearing 0-1 bird per morning, seeing 0 babies, seeing a few hens a year and rarely seeing any turkeys in the winter

There’s probably single days here that many are killed there.

That’s awful. I’d be flat out depressed.

The good news is having hardly any turkeys has made me a better turkey killer. When there is no option you stay on the bird that gobbled longer and become a better hunter imo. But man I would love the kids to hear turkeys like we used to hear.

We have 1200 acres on the one spot and have never killed more than 5 turkeys off it in a season in the 30 yrs we owned it

Been dealing with it for 13 years now in TN and I’m still waiting on it “cycle back around”. Whatever it is y’all better get used to it, hundreds die off and a handful is all you are left with for years to come. I’ll continue to chase them around the South until there are no more populations nearby worth hunting and then move out west somewhere I guess. Southern middle TN went from Mecca to wasteland, north Alabama is too, and other areas are heading that way along with other areas of the state as well.

What’s weird about your part of the world is that it can back pretty strong about 3-4 years ago but then seemed like it kinda faltered again.

It was/is spotty and I just don’t see how it can ever return to anywhere close to what it was. Thousands of acres and a couple dozen turkeys is all that inhabits any of it.

So obviously a reduced limit isn’t going to help the population problems much..

Welp yall have thuhruhly dapresst me....might as well take up a new hobby...maybe collectin fanny packs..yeh that sounds nice.

Correct.

I credit it to a lack of nest predator control...a lot of it is the lack of education of the damage that coons and opossums do...Also, burning during nesting season on WMA's and National Forest lands...

It's probably got a lot to do with the guys who don't abide by the 5 bird limit. I've known several people over the years who boast about killing 15+ a year. Hell I can't even break my 3 in one year record.

I have a place that I've had for 8 or 9 years now and there have been over 100 turkeys killed off of it since we got the place and until this year we only had 1k acres. there are more coons, yotes and bobcats than any other place I've ever been to, they cut the absolute piss out of timber around there and there are chicken houses everywhere. guarantee you on a good morning you will hear 12-20 gobble on just the 1k acre section. between 6 counties last year I saw 43 longbeards, 63 or 67 hens and 17 jakes on less than 3k acres of land, I don't think the states popluation is declining I jst think certain areas are low on numbers, same thing with deer populations

I still to this day don't understand why DCNR went from the three bird allowance to the 5 bird allowance. That's over a 60% (sixty percent!) increase of the killable population, and then not expect an already fragile population, along with rising number of turkey hunters and natural predators, to be drastically reduced.

Populations were good in my area in the 90s. I could hear 1/2 dozen birds gobble any given morning. Now lucky to hear 2. Used to see several flocks during deer season, seldom see them these days. Even saw a bachelor group of gobblers that numbered 17 back then. I suppose some areas hold more birds but pretty sad hunting in southeast Coosa these days at least on the properties within hearing distance of the property I hunt.

David

Same deal for me, and I'm probably not far from you. Our place is off of 231 below Rockford.

Folks think I’m kidding about Skyline but there isn’t 1/4 of the birds we had 15 years ago.

Serious question, is there a good reason to suggest that reporting rates would vary by county in Alabama? For example, differences in internet/smartphone access? Amish (or similar) communities that may not report? Etc...

To my knowledge, AL has never had a 3 bird limit. It was 5 in 1959 for sure; could have been 3 at some point before then but I have never heard of it. Charles Kelly said that they wanted a generous limit so that landowners would be encouraged to manage their land for wildlife. It was just the basics of capitalism applied to wildlife. I think it worked very well; AL had good populations of turkeys long before most southeastern states.

Gobblers don't assist in raising poults. I've always been of the opinion that legal hunting makes no difference to the overall population. I know for certain that I have hunted the same land for over 50 seasons, and our turkey population is about the same as it ever was.