Originally Posted by teamduckdown
Originally Posted by turkey247

The number 1 goal he had in that video (and everybody who likes to blame logging), is to blame “new” timber harvesting practices. While doing so, he openly admitted two things that have been true for years. Turkey are extremely adaptable and can live in many various habitats. And predator control is the number one thing to help turkey. Plus - nobody complained about turkey numbers in the 90’s and 2000’s - and most clear-cut conversions had already taken place by that “new” strategy.

It is fun to watch guys talk in a circle, though.


Logging isnt the problem. Clear-cuts aren't the problem. Timber Management Practices are the problem. It's the spraying after the clear cutting has taken place that causes the initial problems. You can defend it til you're blue in the face. We get it. It's your industry. But the fact that you mention circles is funny, because the problem is indeed cyclical. And yes, these practices started being implemented in the late 90s, and early 2000s, but it wasn't until the mid to late 2000s that I would consider them widely adopted. With the percentage of landowners and timber management companies increasing yearly until we were at a point in the mid 2010s when it reached a high adoption rate (probably 85% or higher now with the exception of a few private land owners who manage for wildlife or are too old school to change their ways). It takes time to see a decline. As this new strategy wasn't implemented over night, neither is the decline of the wild turkey. You act like 20 years in the big scheme of things is a long time, when it just simply isn't. Turkeys are adaptive, and your correct, they can live in many different forms of terra. BUT, they cannot live where there isn't any food.



I would agree this is a significant contribution to the problem. Also "mid rotation" herbicide with a helicopter and arsenal. And while the intense application of herbicide mixes can be damaging both short and long term, it is just as bad to have these clearcuts in the multi hundreds of acres. Not only timber companies, timber REITS, trusts but also landowners that manage specifically for timber income. We are blessed to work with the "few private land owners who manage for wildlife or are too old school to change their ways". While we use many of the same herbicides to site prep and plant, we also tend to use less intensive rates and manage on smaller stand size specifically because of wildlife considerations. We do "mid rotation" woody control in pine stands but we also use targeted application with hand crews and lower rates of herbicide - protecting mast producing hardwoods in the mid story and throughout pine stands. We don't use herbicides in the place of fire, etc... Ive always said stand size is a massive factor in wildlife management. Partridge pea is an excellent quail plant but 300 acres is a biological desert, soybeans or clover is excellent for deer but 300 acres is unusable for deer, Bottomland hardwood is great habitat for turkeys but 300 aces is usually devoid of turkeys for part of the year, pine plantations in various ages and management classes can be excellent wildlife habitat but 300 acres in one block is not ideal either, I love burning but a 300 ace burn is not used effectively for deer and turkeys until well greened up and only a small portion would be used for quail -in fact it is a death trap for quail to burn that much in one block..

Last edited by gobbler; 05/14/22 02:44 PM.
I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine