if you put your finger on a map on ar. & go any direction,you will see a sharp decline in the last few yrs.of our turkey flock.game& fish,say bad wether& poor hatch.the problem is no hens to lay eggs to hatch.any body seeing the same thing?
Hopefully it's just a cyclical thing and not an overall trend. Some years are better than others, obviously, so hopefully this will rebound. Could be one of many factors as we all know. Good luck.
The Hunt goes on forever, the season never ends.
I didn't learn this by reading about it or seeing it on TV. I learned it by doing it.
Posts: 729 | Location: Central TX | Registered: 22 April 2005
Yup! 10 years ago on our 2000acre place in GA I can remember counting 93 turkeys in one day. Now we are lucky if we see a dozen. The habitat has not changed and we are doing more for tukey conservation than ever when it comes to planting food source and cover management. I blame it on the growing predator population, specifically coyotes and bobcats, that get the chicks. Also coon and opossums that raid the nests and get the eggs before they hatch. This past deer season, I saw more coyotes than I have ever seen.
30+ years experience tells me that perfection hit at .264. Others are adequate but anything before or after is wishful thinking.
Posts: 854 | Location: Atlanta, GA | Registered: 20 December 2007
Here in northern Kansas the populations are booming also. I watched a couple coyote-turkey fights this fall during deer season. I never saw a turkey lose. It was cool.
Larry
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history, when everybody stands around reloading" -- Thomas Jefferson
Posts: 3942 | Location: Kansas USA | Registered: 04 February 2002
Strange regional differences. On a tract I get a lot of access to in Central GA, turkeys are more plentiful every year for the past 6 or so...including this one.
Posts: 3563 | Location: GA, USA | Registered: 02 August 2004
the problem like ripples on a pond is spreading in all directions. g&f cancled the fall season this past yr. also cut the no. of days in the spring. but no one knowes what is wrong.some think a disease has jumped from domestic turkeys
Not out here. You can't turn around without seeing turkeys in the foothills. All the hens I have noticed have a good size hatch too, not just one or two. That's the situation in our neck of the woods FWIW.
Just a thought here, but the changes in the management strategies by landowners and the G&F depts., are contributing to the decline in turkeys and quail in many areas, including Texas.
Turkeys and bobwhites require a different habitat than white tails, yet most or many private individuals and state G&F depts., in the south and south-east are concentrating on whitetails in their management schemes.
The answer lies in finding management practices that work or multiple species, not just one or two.
I talked to g&f again this past wk. Again heavy rains this past spring was the problem,along with preditors.I thank we alwsys have heavy rains in the spring& all the coons & coyotes have moved to town.I don't see as meany in the woods as in the past. I thank it's something new.like hogs or armadillos,but probaly disease.
