It is the same way here. I wish they would find that corn is killing heck out of turkeys and all we had to do was stop baiting. It would help everything. Especially older age component in the deer herd.
Wild Turkey population is tanking across most of its range
- Thread starter Howboutthemdawgs
- Start date
Smelly buck
A good 3 year old buck
Remember in the deep south racoons were never worth much. Not many coon hunters when i grew up. Plenty in Alabama but not many in Florida but the decline in turkeys the last few years is the same accross the board. Everyone keeps saying the decline is a due to a decline in ppl harvesting preditors but I don't think there was ever any serious harvesting going on in Florida ever. I have one freind that owns a little private land and there is turkey all over it. He feeds deer probably thousands of pounds of corn a year and the coons are of course everywhere but still plenty of turkeys. The only difference is no one is turkey huntiing on his property.
This is the kind of place I would like to see a study done. I know of a place in my state that is covered up with turkeys when most places are really lacking. Do a study to find out why they are proliferating instead of dying. Might be as simple as a berry is at peak ripeness right during turkey season and the coons, possums, skunks, and coyotes are so full they arent roaming around very much. Could be a lot of things. Tall Timbers plantation manages cotton rats to increase their birth rates. The more cotton rats, the more food for the predators and the less they depend on eating quail.
fingers
5 year old buck +
The DNR says and I believe that fall hen harvest is not significant enough to worry about. I also struggle to see how killing toms in the spring affects reproduction....surely all the hens get bred before season or by survivors anyway. As such, I find it hard to believe the decline is due to hunter harvest.
Personally, I find it hard to believe they survive winter nights with below freezing temps with only a thick layer of skin covering their skull.....but somehow they do...
Personally, I find it hard to believe they survive winter nights with below freezing temps with only a thick layer of skin covering their skull.....but somehow they do...
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
He seems like a good guy but that Dave Owens with Pinhoti is definitely doing more harm than good. Running all over the country killing birds, a good bit on public land, and pimping himself on social media. Hate that crap
That kind of stuff has ruined public land turkey and duck hunting
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
Don’t get me going. Filming on public land should be illegal in my opinion
In the last 10 years fewer gobblers to be heard during season, direct result of population decreasing but then last year many more hens had successful hatches, so what caused the good year? I think predators were about the same, I think cover and nesting habitat was about the same, so what changed? I don't know but if I had to guess it was corn piles did not become toxic as much because of the random weather. Since birds can have 12 offsprings a little more nest success can go a long way. Baiting deer and probably turkeys is everywhere in my area, farmers sell out of fields to hunters as a cash crop and truck loads sell weekly. My guess most years this corn pile gets wet in hot weather and grows the toxins that kill the turkeys and quail but in a few outlier years the corn does not mold and is not harmful to the birds and they live and reproduce, which could also explain why different two hours away where the weather was different. Twenty years ago baiting did not occur near the level it does today in my area, in fact it was rare around here, so also explains the change over time. I think turkeys have evolved over thousands of years to handle raccoons, snakes and foxes but something suddenly thrown at them with no time to adapt can wipe them out like EAB in the ash trees. Maybe I am stretching facts to get rid of baiting
Electrodigical
5 year old buck +
It was my understanding that the next guy in line didn't just step up and take the job, but that it took some time for the "pecking order" to sort itself out, and by then it is often too late. (??)
Kansas has also initiated a study to determine the cause of a 15 year decline
kansasreflector.com
K-State biologists begin research to explain 15-year decline in Kansas wild turkey population • Kansas Reflector
A $1.8 million research project with Kansas State University biologists will explore reasons for the sharp drop in the state's wild turkey population.
kansasreflector.com
Doubt if it's feeder corn getting wet there was far more corn left in fields that got rained on many years before feeders,also theres probably not 10 toms killed within 2 or 3 miles any direction from my place. Like I said I bet we found 10-15 dying or dead turkeys while shed hunting and as far as I know there were few if any feeders around. The same thing occurred across the country in a wave.
Mortenson
5 year old buck +
Some guys way up north have been saying very strong pops. Has anyone in north country seen anything to the contrary?
I've only read one turkey book in my life. I think it was printed in b&w. Talked about how they want to roost where their poop lands on water, as a generalization I believe. Seems a theme that guys are saying their flocks disappear in winter. Are any of you guys situated on a river? Are there rivers within a few miles? I think our turkeys head towards a river in winter.
I am not saying baiting and aflatoxin isnt a problem - but it is only allowed on private land in AR. We have 100’s of thousands of acres of public land where baiting is not allowed that have suffered worse than where the private landowners dump corn out by the truckload. I have a piece of property adjacent to a 27,000 NWR, where laws are strictly enforced and bait is not legal and two days of quota only gun hunting. There are fewer turkeys there than surrounding private land. 15 years ago, place was full of turkeys. Zero to two turkeys killed every year. No baiting, very limited hunting, and almost no turkeys.
While we know aflatoxin can kill turkeys, I dont know if there is quantifiable research showing just how many turkeys are affected by eating contaminated corn. I would guess in my state there are a whole lot more turkeys shot in a corn pile than die of aflatoxin poisoning
While we know aflatoxin can kill turkeys, I dont know if there is quantifiable research showing just how many turkeys are affected by eating contaminated corn. I would guess in my state there are a whole lot more turkeys shot in a corn pile than die of aflatoxin poisoning
Sounds more like avian flu. A ton of snow geese have died from avian flu - and millions of chickens have been killed because of it
Thanks seems logical
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
This makes me happy
That would make me ecstatic!
Doublewide
5 year old buck +
I had the same attitude until 5 years ago when a friend took me hunting for them. I couldn't believe what a rush I got when he called one in for me and the excitement I had when I harvested it. You should send for a tag and have someone experienced call for you and see what it's all about. It got me hooked and I look forward to it every spring.
Nothing wrong at all with that attitude, but to me it is a little odd - there is no legal to hunt creature on my place that I dont enjoy pursuing - from crawdads crows.