Wild Turkey population is tanking across most of its range

Lol now he’s primed for the season! Surprised it was so slow. Should be on time right now?
 
He had a blast but his season is over. I didn't get a normal tag bought for him in time and then I mistakenly trusted the state website that 1st season tags were still available. Our farm is finicky. Can usually set your watch by when the turkeys are ready to rock. Mid April and not a week before. Youth tags are a donation from my experience.
 
Our season opens Apr 19. They been at it strong since first of Mar. It appears the hens started laying a week or so ago. Pretty sure they are not setting yet
 
I am seeing them everywhere now and it's been several years since we have seen this many.Yesterday there was 6 toms and 8 hens in field.Archery season opens tomorrow
 
Howboutthemdawgs said:
I don’t have an opinion on the season date issue. Part of me thinks it’s good because it allows hens to get bred. Other part of me has seen some research from Harper that said it didn’t matter on their test grounds. But here’s a chart showing population increase in Louisiana starting year 2 after delaying the season. May be coincidence but can’t rule out the timing.

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My parents have property in the Southeast Loblolly area in the Louisiana map. My anecdotal observations would say that the turkey population has increased in the past few years. I didn't realize the season had been moved back over the past few years. My mom took the photo below this past Saturday which was opening day. This guy and his partner decided to attack their reflections in the windows and door. We also have seen a couple of white turkeys the past few months which I assume are offspring from a farm raised and native bird.
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Birds are starting to get fired up in MN with this warming weather. Heard between 10-15 different toms from the house this morning as well as some pheasant roosters. It's a great time of year.
 
How far will a hen walk to nest each day? We picked up a new farm this past yr. I commented that we'd never doing any hunting on it. Way out in the prairie and 100% tillable. Today I was driving it's perimeter checking things out. On the far end where 2 other neighbors join there's a tiny clump of trees. Busted a hen outta there which totally shocked me. Looks like 2.5 miles to the nearest habitat that would even potentially host a turkey, but I've never seen any there.

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That hen probably has a great nesting % if she can get bred since there can't be many predators in that area.
 
Howboutthemdawgs said:
Worst opening morning I can remember. And the weather was perfect. Bummer
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Tough opening day here. Chris heard a gobbler but couldn't make anything of it. I saw 3 separate solo hens. Heard a shot on the neighbors which kinda sucked when I feel we're all hunting for the same 3 gobblers. Hunted til 8 then started planting season. High winds.
 
Mortenson said:
Tough opening day here. Chris heard a gobbler but couldn't make anything of it. I saw 3 separate solo hens. Heard a shot on the neighbors which kinda sucked when I feel we're all hunting for the same 3 gobblers. Hunted til 8 then started planting season. High winds.
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Sunday wasn’t much better. Heard 2-3 I believe all off the property. Only highlight was calling in 6 Jakes. Hadn’t seen a Jake in years so that’s encouraging. But we didn’t hear a bird past 8 am nor even get one to respond to our calling all weekend.
Hopefully the rest of the season is a little more productive for the both of us
 
Mortenson said:
Tough opening day here. Chris heard a gobbler but couldn't make anything of it. I saw 3 separate solo hens. Heard a shot on the neighbors which kinda sucked when I feel we're all hunting for the same 3 gobblers. Hunted til 8 then started planting season. High winds.
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How many acres are you guys planting this year? Do you guys do all corn/bean rotation for cash crops?
 
Brian662 said:
How many acres are you guys planting this year? Do you guys do all corn/bean rotation for cash crops?
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1300. Pretty small. C/B rotation. Not sure if my dad will be able to help much this spring or not. Last yr he helped some. The prior yr he couldn't because he was nursing a shoulder replacement. So I go slower than most. Father Time catches everyone.
 
I'd go turkey hunting now for an hour, but the wind is blowing 40. Any of you guys hunt in that crap or not? I do have some hillsides I could get below.
 
Good thinking. Little girl in this area was killed a couple yrs ago when a tree limb landed on her.
 
If I can’t hear I don’t go. Just sitting there hoping is boring to me
 
I’m in Kansas, so there are times you just gotta go with the wind anyway. Tough hunts for sure. You can sit for hours and think you heard a gobble. Probably just wanting to hear one…


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