Turkey Tags

I would disagre

How much do you trust the wis dnr to count accurately? I know i dont trust them at all.
By the eye test and talking to others I would say turkeys were low numbers last year. Very low, this year a little better.
Regardless of numbers ,my question is why do some guys feel the need to have so many tags?
I don't on some things. I don't see how they say they won't increase or decrease. They also thought they wouldn't survive in northern WI and MN. I went from 0 birds when I bought my land to good numbers in 15 years. They definitely increased on my property. I don't believe I just pulled them from a different area. I see 15-20 poults almost every year. If they are increasing on my land why not others? The dnr has been way off on bear and bobcat. They cut bobcat tags cause trappers were getting to many. The trappers were saying they were so successful because bobcat numbers were way up. I'll side with the trappers. I don't think anybody needs anymore than 2 turkeys a season. No reason to be a pig, unless the numbers are so high they are causing major problems.
 
I'm curious how or what metric would be used for too many turkeys. Auto collisions? What would be the downside of having too many turkeys?

I doubt any place has reached any issue with Biological carrying capacity or cultural carrying capacity with turkey yet. Keep in mind that populations have been restored in many locations through transplant. We do hear the rare story of a mailman having his pecker pecked but a gobbler, but that is likely simply anomalous individuals rather than an overpopulation problem. So far, there are not enough negative human/turkey interactions for anyone to care. Eventually when any one species numbers get too high, they will impact other species. I doubt any place is close to that.

For the foreseeable future, the balance is between providing recreational opportunities and keeping sufficient populations.

I have heard some folks complain about seed predation but I find that hard to understand. I have flocks in my fields after planting and have seen no appreciable impact on germination. My guess is most of those are anecdotal explanations for some other issue with planting.

Thanks,

Jack
 
Our turkey population is going down here. The state dropped limit to one bearded turkey this spring...hope they cancel the fall season too, it is either sex.

I’m not even going out for them this spring, I love seeing them at the farm.
 
Our turkey population is going down here. The state dropped limit to one bearded turkey this spring...hope they cancel the fall season too, it is either sex.

I’m not even going out for them this spring, I love seeing them at the farm.

Same here in the northwest corner of Mass. Mass Wildlife published harvest totals last spring for the past decade....450 birds were taken in 2010. It was a steady decline every year until 2020 when 250 birds were taken. I hunt mountain ridges where back in the late 80's and 90's you could find birds gobbling everywhere on the LAST day of the season. Now it's tough to find one gobbling the day BEFORE opening morning.
 
Same here in the northwest corner of Mass. Mass Wildlife published harvest totals last spring for the past decade....450 birds were taken in 2010. It was a steady decline every year until 2020 when 250 birds were taken. I hunt mountain ridges where back in the late 80's and 90's you could find birds gobbling everywhere on the LAST day of the season. Now it's tough to find one gobbling the day BEFORE opening morning.

Yep, five or six years ago I would hear a dozen different gobblers early in the morning…now I might hear 2-3.
Between the boys and I we would only shoot one every few years because we enjoy seeing them.
Our county only reports that 5-10 even get killed by hunters every year…I think many are not reported.
I don’t know if it’s yotes or coons or both getting them ..seems everything likes to eat them.
I’ve had hawks/eagles/yotes/coons/fox all come in to my calling while hunting. And about everything eats the eggs, I’ve found destroyed nests and good nests over the years.
We usually get at least one hen nesting in our big orchard every spring.
 
I doubt any place has reached any issue with Biological carrying capacity or cultural carrying capacity with turkey yet. Keep in mind that populations have been restored in many locations through transplant. We do hear the rare story of a mailman having his pecker pecked but a gobbler, but that is likely simply anomalous individuals rather than an overpopulation problem. So far, there are not enough negative human/turkey interactions for anyone to care. Eventually when any one species numbers get too high, they will impact other species. I doubt any place is close to that.

For the foreseeable future, the balance is between providing recreational opportunities and keeping sufficient populations.

I have heard some folks complain about seed predation but I find that hard to understand. I have flocks in my fields after planting and have seen no appreciable impact on germination. My guess is most of those are anecdotal explanations for some other issue with planting.

Thanks,

Jack

They have reached cultural carrying capacity on my farm. I would be happy if another one never came here.


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They have reached cultural carrying capacity on my farm. I would be happy if another one never came here.


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There are many who thirst for your problem. :emoji_smile:
 
My opinion is that numbers now are a bit low. But that's not my issue with multiple tags.
My question is what drives it? Selfishness? Blood lust? Recognition? I just dont understand the thinking that you need to kill 4.,5, 6,7.or more birds or deer in a year. What drives that?
 
My opinion is that numbers now are a bit low. But that's not my issue with multiple tags.
My question is what drives it? Selfishness? Blood lust? Recognition? I just dont understand the thinking that you need to kill 4.,5, 6,7.or more birds or deer in a year. What drives that?
That may be true for some, but I know lots of guys who have no such drivers. These guys just love to turkey hunt. I know lots of guys in VA that tag out (can't buy bonus tags here), and then take out new turkey hunters and call for them. For many of these guys, it is more about the interaction with a spring gobbler than the kill. I've watched guys move from a 10 gauge shotgun, through a 20 gauge, and finally hunt with a bow to increase the challenge.

Now one likes selfishness or bloodlust and for any that have those drivers, I'd agree with you. However, I'd be hard pressed to project those drivers on someone unless they directly confessed them. Keep in mind that the same action by two different folks in different circumstances could have vastly different motivations.

THanks,

Jack
 
Just to throw something out there . Here in NY you get 2 spring turkey tags. The successful harvest rate is less than 50% on the first bird. The success of those actually harvesting a second bird are very low. Even if they had 4 or 5 tags the harvest numbers are not there for any success. There are always exceptions of course but overall harvests of spring birds by the whole hunting population is very low on spring birds. Studies do show that spring gobbler harvest have very little impact on populations. In the fall that is a different matter and with hens being harvested can affect populations. And also, it’s easier to harvest more birds Mostl places are in lower populations right now and have went to one tag and or really short seasons to counter that .
 
Just to throw something out there . Here in NY you get 2 spring turkey tags. The successful harvest rate is less than 50% on the first bird. The success of those actually harvesting a second bird are very low. Even if they had 4 or 5 tags the harvest numbers are not there for any success. There are always exceptions of course but overall harvests of spring birds by the whole hunting population is very low on spring birds. Studies do show that spring gobbler harvest have very little impact on populations. In the fall that is a different matter and with hens being harvested can affect populations. And also, it’s easier to harvest more birds Mostl places are in lower populations right now and have went to one tag and or really short seasons to counter that .

I think spring tags are more of a "fairness" thing since harvesting gobblers is not really a population factor in huntable populations. It is a matter of making hunters believe that someone else is not killing so many that I don't have an opportunity to take mine. In VA we get 3 tags but can only use two in the fall when hens are legal.
 
That may be true for some, but I know lots of guys who have no such drivers. These guys just love to turkey hunt. I know lots of guys in VA that tag out (can't buy bonus tags here), and then take out new turkey hunters and call for them. For many of these guys, it is more about the interaction with a spring gobbler than the kill. I've watched guys move from a 10 gauge shotgun, through a 20 gauge, and finally hunt with a bow to increase the challenge.

Now one likes selfishness or bloodlust and for any that have those drivers, I'd agree with you. However, I'd be hard pressed to project those drivers on someone unless they directly confessed them. Keep in mind that the same action by two different folks in different circumstances could have vastly different motivations.

THanks,

Jack
Zero issues with guys who take other hunters out and call / guide them. I think that is great. Im talking only about the guys who get their tag in the mail, then when the excess go on sale jump online and get 6 or more extra tags . Ive seen guys shoot one in first period, then brag how they have another tag for first and one at least in each of the remaining periods.
 
Zero issues with guys who take other hunters out and call / guide them. I think that is great. Im talking only about the guys who get their tag in the mail, then when the excess go on sale jump online and get 6 or more extra tags . Ive seen guys shoot one in first period, then brag how they have another tag for first and one at least in each of the remaining periods.

I have a hard time imputing motives, but I don't encourage bragging in any domain. Having said that, we don't have that kind of system here. The guys I see taking new hunters out here are often the same guys who start hunting early in Florida and work up the east cost in Spring gobbler. The just love turkey hunting. None are braggers, all follow the law and get licenses in each state. These are some of the same guys who have taught a turkey hunting class with me.

One thing that I've expected to see when tags for any game animal are at a premium is a PETA DOS attack. I would expect them to get hunting licenses in a state and then get every tag they can and burn them to save the animals. Looks like they don't put their money where their mouths are. I would expect to see more of this with the big "cuddly" animals rather than turkey.
 
A flock of turkeys can scout up a small crop of acorns with none left for the deer.

Second reason, they are not native to some areas where they have been stocked.


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Don’t pay attention to Art —he hates turkeys !! LOL
 
I know a few other deer hunters that don’t like them.


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Yeah, me. Turkeys are to the woods what carp are to a lake... I cant believe how well they are doing in my neck of the woods between Leech Lake and Grand Rapids. I see the stinky bastards all the time. I dont mind seeing turkeys in S MN. Up in N MN I would rather see more grouse.
 
Yeah, me. Turkeys are to the woods what carp are to a lake... I cant believe how well they are doing in my neck of the woods between Leech Lake and Grand Rapids. I see the stinky bastards all the time. I dont mind seeing turkeys in S MN. Up in N MN I would rather see more grouse.
lots of good overlap between quality turkey and grouse habitat. They coexist pretty well in PA.
 
Yeah, me. Turkeys are to the woods what carp are to a lake... I cant believe how well they are doing in my neck of the woods between Leech Lake and Grand Rapids. I see the stinky bastards all the time. I dont mind seeing turkeys in S MN. Up in N MN I would rather see more grouse.

Perhaps we will get lucky and the wolves will develop a taste for them!

I know the guy where they were first released in the county where I live. I give him a hard time about that and we both laugh. He is the one who said that a flock of turkeys is like a vacuum cleaner on acorns, especially on a low acorn year.

Turkeys have less and less support as you go north in our state. I hate seeing them when I am hunting in the thick woods and I just want to go home. Too damn much noise!

We really need to shoot more hens in my opinion. They don’t belong this far north.


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Perhaps we will get lucky and the wolves will develop a taste for them!

I know the guy where they were first released in the county where I live. I give him a hard time about that and we both laugh. He is the one who said that a flock of turkeys is like a vacuum cleaner on acorns, especially on a low acorn year.

Turkeys have less and less support as you go north in our state. I hate seeing them when I am hunting in the thick woods and I just want to go home. Too damn much noise!

We really need to shoot more hens in my opinion. They don’t belong this far north.


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Assuming 10 hens at 12 lbs and 10 gobblers at 20 lbs a flock of 20 needs to consume about 10 lbs a day. They probably could not consume 20 lbs/day if they wanted too. By comparison, a single 150 lb deer consumes about 12 lbs of food. I don't think turkey are a limiting factor for deer....
 
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