I have been turkey hunting the same area since 88 and this is my take on the decline of turkey hunting. Our lease had a real good turkey population until the late 90's when the land management changed in one season. We had about 300 acres of ag land taken out of production and planted in long leaf pines and the land around the fields were clear cut. Over the next 10 years most of the place was clear cut, poisoned , and burned. The turkeys just disappeared in a few years. We haven't kill a turkey on our place since 2013. Wildlife in general has suffered.
And you take this and multiply it by about 10 million acres and there is your answer if you have fewer turkeys in your area. My place that I mentioned in gobbler's thread that we have hunted over 50 years went through some similar times. From 1984 through 1989 we didn't kill a single turkey on it. Not only had our timber been clearcut, but so had most of the land around us. The trees grew, the habitat improved, and the turkey population rebounded. There have been ups and downs in population since then, but it has never completely collapsed, mainly due to insane management decisions I've made to put turkeys over dollars. That ain't gonna continue.
Brent, we have talked about this a number of times, and agree on most of what you posted. I've always appreciated your understanding of the difference in AL hunting and the rest of the country, and you have described it very well. I've always thought that difference is primarily due to the season and limit we've had in AL through the decades. With a 5 bird limit, hunters have the opportunity to become good hunters and develop a genuine appreciation for the wild turkey that I seldom see in other places. Taking that away is gonna result in us eventually being like everyone else. I guess some folks want that; I don't.
I don't doubt that decoys and fanning are hurting the hunting experience for traditional hunters. If your neighbor fans up a flock of gobblers and kills all of them, it's bound to hurt your hunting experience next door to him. Are so many being killed that there are literally none left to breed the hens? I don't see that happening around me, but maybe it is in your area. If you are having a gobbler overharvest, then you should be seeing a really skewed gobbler to hen ratio. Is that happening? I've seen it in the Midwest, but not in AL.
It sure wouldn't hurt my feelings if they outlawed fans and decoys. I would hate to see TSS outlawed; my one shot kill % has gone way up since I started using it, and I think that is a good thing for everyone, especially the turkeys.
