Originally Posted by deerhunt1988
Originally Posted by Hogwild
The proposed changes have nothing to do with propagating the population of wild turkeys. It has far more to do with ‘spreading the wealth’. There are more hunters in the woods chasing turkeys in the Spring than any other time in history. And, if you will just do a minimal amount of research on all of the proponents of moving the Seasons back and reducing the bag limits for individual hunters, you will find that they have ALL freely expressed this. Beginning with the Covid Pandemic, more people flocked to the woods and waters than any other time documented. However, the harvest numbers remained the same. Gobbling activity did decrease on a lot of Public Land due to the sudden increase of hunting pressure, though. That info is collected through Autonomous Recording Units and is well documented if you know where to look. In order to capitalize on these new hunters (and license buyers) though, they need to have at least some limited success. It has been said for years by various Wildlife Researchers and other professionals that 10% of the hunters kill 90% of the turkeys. So, if you want more hunters to have success, you have to reduce the harvest by those 10%. This did not just come to the limelight. It has been lurking there for quite some time. However, it gained a tremendous amount of traction due to the influx of new hunters spawned by the Covid Crisis. So, appropriately, they are taking it and running with it!
Problem is, things just don’t really work that way in Nature. It is hard to build an excess. And, if habitat cannot support a turkey population, having too many next door would not matter anyway. There is a certain skillset required to consistently call in and kill mature gobblers. And, it is neither acquired overnight nor are all people capable of it. So, in my opinion, the theory is flawed.
I would also like to add my personal take on these changes. They primarily seem to be affecting Public Land hunters.


As a wildlife professional, I agree 100% and warn everyone I can about the slippery slope we are now on. I see the future frameworks taking away from the seasoned, accomplished public land hunters in order for these new turkey hunters to have a better chance at killing a bird. The YouTubers have created a ton of new turkey hunters, especially on public land. As these new hunters don't have the experience the consistently take birds off public land, they will be all for any restriction that they think will help the population even though the restrictions aren't backed by science. You see these new hunters all over social media spouting Chamberlain's gospel as truth and shouting "the sky is falling!" when these same hunters haven't even been around long enough to see a turkey population cycle like they have always done naturally. By the way, when I say 'new hunter', i'm primarily referring to those who just started in the past 5 years or so. Social media has had a major influence on recruiting those in this time frame.

Once opportunity is taken away, we won't get it back. When all the YouTubers and Instagrammers slowly start losing their public land hunting opportunities, its going to be partially their own damn fault.



So you're saying that the decline in population throughout the southeast is due to a population cycle and that there will be a rise in population soon? When could one expect this rise?