Turkey Tags

Bill Loser

5 year old buck +
So I went on the DNR site last night to buy a left over turkey tag for this season. Everything in my zone is sold out. OK , no problem, my fault for not getting it done sooner and not sending in for one last fall. My issue started when I went to another outdoors site and read reports from guys, most of which bragged about having 5 to 8 or 9 more tags for this season. My question to all of you is what is your opinion on guys buying so many tags?

Who needs 7 turkeys? Its right up there with the jags who buy 12 deer tags around here and feel like they have to fill everyone of them. Seems like pure blood lust to me, nothing more than the need to just go kill something.

Whats your opinion?
 
Agree 100% with your assessment
 
DNR has kill quota’s that they want see for their managment oftentimes when not enough sportsman step up to manage the herd they let the meat hunters take care of it for them. It is what it is I’ve been in both camps in my lifetime my real problem is with spotlight poachers taking the trophy class bucks makes me angry.
 
I could eat 7or 8 turkeys in a year. But not 12 deer.

I think the weird thing is that they distribute them so unevenly.
 
Totally agree. I don't think turkeys are a problem except in a few cities where they can't be hunted. Allowing one person to kill that many birds in one area is a bad idea. I think one extra tag is enough. Those extra tags should be available for hunters that struck out bagging one during their week or people that forgot to get a tag or not the zone/time they wanted.
 
I wish Minnesota would allow us to buy leftover tags so we have the opportunity to harvest more than one turkey. I always had an extra tag or two in my pocket when I turkey hunted SW Wisconsin and it was a blast. I don't think anyone needs 7 or 8 turkeys, but if that zone has enough birds then have at it.

There are areas with too many turkeys, so allowing a higher harvest there is a good thing.
 
I wish Minnesota would allow us to buy leftover tags so we have the opportunity to harvest more than one turkey. I always had an extra tag or two in my pocket when I turkey hunted SW Wisconsin and it was a blast. I don't think anyone needs 7 or 8 turkeys, but if that zone has enough birds then have at it.

There are areas with too many turkeys, so allowing a higher harvest there is a good thing.
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 know they can be huge pests in cropland. I've seen the damage. Still I'd be upset with anything more than a couple tags per hunter. Right now our numbers are low enough that people shouldn't be given more than one tag IMO. My 10 year old didn't have much action during his 1st ever youth season (in March, when turkeys aren't doing much around here anyway) and so I went to buy him another tag and of course they were sold out. I wouldn't be surprised if guys bought 2 or 3 tags. Snooze ya lose, I know.
 
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?

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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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?
According to the WI dnt, turkey numbers are at a plateau here. They said the numbers that we have now is what they are going to be every year. Not sure how that works with turkeys, it sure doesn't work that way with deer.
 
According to the WI dnt, turkey numbers are at a plateau here. They said the numbers that we have now is what they are going to be every year. Not sure how that works with turkeys, it sure doesn't work that way with deer.

I feel most wildlife goes in cycles. In many cases, man hasn’t identified the average period between peaks and lows.


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I would disagre
According to the WI dnt, turkey numbers are at a plateau here. They said the numbers that we have now is what they are going to be every year. Not sure how that works with turkeys, it sure doesn't work that way with deer.
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?
 
Makes them look tough on social media.

Suppose it's also like some dudes at my local lake. They fish and keeps limits of fish practically daily. Guess they just like eating fish and let the resource be dammed.
 
I think hunting celebs like drurys aren't helping with them going live and showing all these birds being killed. It should be a 1 tag limit.
 
Agree that wildlife goes in cycles with peaks and valleys and offer that one person's lifetime is maybe too short a perspective.

I like to tell people the story from my aunt when she was a little girl (Mom's oldest sister) about everyone and the neighbors being excited to see A DEER! in Waupaca county in the 1930s. Up till that time deer hunters 'went up Nort' (northern WI forested areas) to hunt. Waupaca and neighboring counties just did not have any deer to speak of. Of course today Waupaca has been the #1 or #2 county for deer kills for decades.

She always speculated they had to learn how to live around seeing folks and that farm crops were tasty compared to forest grub they ate for generations. Something we take for granted today.
 
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?
Turkeys can cause a lot of ag damage and farmers can get pretty upset about that. In the winter they congregate around the farms and shit all over the cattle feed as well as eat a lot of it. In the spring I've watched them walk down the rows of recently sprouted corn and pick them off one at a time. I don't think it is possible to have too many turkeys since I really like hunting them, but farmers that deal with the ag damage often disagree.
 
In NY it's 2 per season males only, and only 1 per day. I only hunt them in the fall.

Keep in mind between the depression and the last World War, many game animals were decimated. There were market hunters out there. I think it took ohio until 1961 to reinstate deer hunting. Squirrel hunting was their main hunting back then. I also believe winchester made commerative 94's to celebrate the return of deer hunting in a few states.

Extra 2 or 3, maybe.... Maybe make it like doe tags with farmers. They have management permits for crop damage issues.

Can't wait until states have stuff like this for harvesting fish................
 
Keep in mind between the depression and the last World War, many game animals were decimated. There were market hunters out there. I think it took ohio until 1961 to reinstate deer hunting. Squirrel hunting was their main hunting back then. I also believe winchester made commerative 94's to celebrate the return of deer hunting in a few states.

Again, it was during the depression that people starting seeing deer for the first time and expanding south, not their numbers were reducing from that area. The observations were not really from my aunt but the adults and others around her born in the later part of 1800's which again means a long time span is needed for perspective.

Most modern expects claim deer numbers are way higher now than during the 1800s. Man has created a lot of edge habitat and changes since then which benefit some critters. Now bison and carrier pigeons, not so much.
 
So I went on the DNR site last night to buy a left over turkey tag for this season. Everything in my zone is sold out. OK , no problem, my fault for not getting it done sooner and not sending in for one last fall. My issue started when I went to another outdoors site and read reports from guys, most of which bragged about having 5 to 8 or 9 more tags for this season. My question to all of you is what is your opinion on guys buying so many tags?

Who needs 7 turkeys? Its right up there with the jags who buy 12 deer tags around here and feel like they have to fill everyone of them. Seems like pure blood lust to me, nothing more than the need to just go kill something.

Whats your opinion?

Bill,

I know guys who love turkey hunting so much that they start in Florida and work their way north as season open hitting multiple states. It can be an addiction! When I was younger, I would hunt every morning at Quantico. Here in VA we only get 3 tags per year. There are no bonus tags for turkey. We have an odd setup where our license years begin in the summer. So, the 3 tags for turkey are good for either the fall of the year you buy them or the spring of the next year. In Virginia, you can only use two tags in the fall. If you use one that leaves two for the next spring and if you use two, you only have one for spring. We can shoot hens in the fall but only bearded birds in the spring. I shot a longbeard and a bearded hen with a crossbow last fall so I only have one tag left this spring. I have not yet seen a longbeard this spring only jakes and I won't burn a tag on a jake.

So, here are my thoughts on the subject you raise. I can't speak to how well other wildlife departments do at managing game but ours in VA does a superb job for both deer and turkey. We are far enough south that we don't get much winter kill of turkey. So the number of hens harvest in the fall is the biggest controllable factor for population management. Our fall season is split to minimize the opportunistic harvest of hens by deer hunters but still provide ample turkey hunting opportunity in the fall. Deconflicting turkey season from the first week of general firearm season for deer did a lot to bolster our populations. The biggest uncontrollable factor is spring weather. Wet weather at the wrong time in the spring can reek havoc on recruitment.

Harvesting gobblers in the spring has no appreciable impact on populations. Given that, presuming your wildlife department does a good job of using tags and seasons to keep the populations healthy, I have no issue at all with folks buying tags and shooting as many gobblers as they like. Providing more recreational while keeping populations healthy is an objective of our wildlife department. Now, bragging about it is not something I'd participate in, but sharing success is. So, as long as it doesn't become a competition, I'm all for it. Competition and hunting don't mix well. It temps folks to stretch or disregard ethical boundaries and for some legality.

When folks stoop to illegal, unethical, or unsafe methods, I can get riled up, but short of that, I'm all for it!

Thanks,

Jack
 
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?

One is to many when I’m in a stand listening for deer movement and the elephant heard is close by.
 
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