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2022 Turkey Hunting Thread

I leave possums alone since they eat poisonous snakes (also largely immune to snake venom), and they eat about 5000 ticks per year on average each. Since I have no love of poisonous snakes, but I actually worry about ticks more, possums are OK in my book. Knock on wood, I have never been bitten by a snake, but have been bitten many times by ticks. I have several friends who have gotten Lyme Disease and one friend who contracted that allergy to red meat from a tick bite. I can't imagine how bad it would be to not be able to eat a steak or hamburger. I'll trade a few turkey eggs for less snakes and ticks. What has a turkey done for me lately, lol?
When you don't hear them gobble any much if at all anymore like I've been experiencing right now you'll wish you killed every nest raider there is. I'm hoping to get out tomorrow morning the weather has finally warmed up which I"m hopeing will get them gobbling up more too. We call possum's grinners, I've heard that about them and the ticks but I think the turkeys eat ticks too like they say chickens do. So there's that.
 
I leave possums alone since they eat poisonous snakes (also largely immune to snake venom), and they eat about 5000 ticks per year on average each. Since I have no love of poisonous snakes, but I actually worry about ticks more, possums are OK in my book. Knock on wood, I have never been bitten by a snake, but have been bitten many times by ticks. I have several friends who have gotten Lyme Disease and one friend who contracted that allergy to red meat from a tick bite. I can't imagine how bad it would be to not be able to eat a steak or hamburger. I'll trade a few turkey eggs for less snakes and ticks. What has a turkey done for me lately, lol?
You should look into the possum thing a little more. I used to think the same but most of the ticks they eat are ticks that they're cleaning off themselves and other possums. Now, they're still eating those ticks, so it should be less ticks in the woods regardless. But I wonder if there were less possums, would there just be less ticks as well?
 
I might get out this evening. Been itching to get my new shotgun and chair out in the woods.
Do it! Never hunted evenings, we've not been allowed to in this state for spring gobblers. Kinda glad that restriction is in place though now too given the lack of gobbling and siting this year so far.
 
When you don't hear them gobble any much if at all anymore like I've been experiencing right now you'll wish you killed every nest raider there is. I'm hoping to get out tomorrow morning the weather has finally warmed up which I"m hopeing will get them gobbling up more too. We call possum's grinners, I've heard that about them and the ticks but I think the turkeys eat ticks too like they say chickens do. So there's that.
I just think it was a case of the turkeys not gobbling much (or while there is a season going) this year. They are here, we have them, they just weren't gobbling. The hatch forecast by the State predicted a good year. I think that they were just getting fired up about the time our season closed.

Case in point. I have a friend who is in a "Good" hunting club. They have 3500 acres, manicured food plots galore (1/4 of the place probably planted) and each of the long term members have those big 500 pound capacity deer feeders sitting in the middle of their food plots overlooked by an insulated shoot house. They sling corn year round. In spite of all this, the core members did horribly this season with turkeys yet my buddy, who is a hard core hunter, managed to kill one himself, but more importantly get a limit for his 12 year old daughter and 2 for his younger daughter out there. Same club, same turkeys, just he is good at hunting turkeys. He told me only a couple of other turkeys were killed out there. One was by the club president who came in, parked right next to my friend's truck while he and his daughter had a gobbler coming in, and he was up there calling to the bird from his truck. The next day the guy goes in early to that spot and kills that bird. I told my buddy if I ever got sorry enough to steal a gobbler from a 12 year old girl I would stop hunting. Furthermore, they have instituted a new rule out there where a member can only kill 2 turkeys on the club a year total. The state bag limit is 3 per hunter.

There are turkeys out on the public land I hunt. They were just very quiet this year. I think everyone is just convinced they are near extinction and I'm not sure that is the case.
 
I just think it was a case of the turkeys not gobbling much (or while there is a season going) this year. They are here, we have them, they just weren't gobbling. The hatch forecast by the State predicted a good year. I think that they were just getting fired up about the time our season closed.

Case in point. I have a friend who is in a "Good" hunting club. They have 3500 acres, manicured food plots galore (1/4 of the place probably planted) and each of the long term members have those big 500 pound capacity deer feeders sitting in the middle of their food plots overlooked by an insulated shoot house. They sling corn year round. In spite of all this, the core members did horribly this season with turkeys yet my buddy, who is a hard core hunter, managed to kill one himself, but more importantly get a limit for his 12 year old daughter and 2 for his younger daughter out there. Same club, same turkeys, just he is good at hunting turkeys. He told me only a couple of other turkeys were killed out there. One was by the club president who came in, parked right next to my friend's truck while he and his daughter had a gobbler coming in, and he was up there calling to the bird from his truck. The next day the guy goes in early to that spot and kills that bird. I told my buddy if I ever got sorry enough to steal a gobbler from a 12 year old girl I would stop hunting. Furthermore, they have instituted a new rule out there where a member can only kill 2 turkeys on the club a year total. The state bag limit is 3 per hunter.

There are turkeys out on the public land I hunt. They were just very quiet this year. I think everyone is just convinced they are near extinction and I'm not sure that is the case.
Make no mistake, turkeys are in real trouble. And you can do more good controlling ticks by running prescribed fire through your woods than saving an egg eatin possum. I dont want to wipe out the nest predator populations, just get them back in line with the environment.
 
Make no mistake, turkeys are in real trouble. And you can do more good controlling ticks by running prescribed fire through your woods than saving an egg eatin possum. I dont want to wipe out the nest predator populations, just get them back in line with the environment.
Tick borne illness almost took me out last year. Er doctor recognized the symptoms and put me on the appropriate antibiotics and I made a full recovery. Pretty freaky stuff. Make sure you check yourself after every outing. Pulled five off me after just an hour in the bush last week.
 
Use permethrin and it has been proven that possums don't really do anything for tick control, so wipe them out!
 
Make no mistake, turkeys are in real trouble. And you can do more good controlling ticks by running prescribed fire through your woods than saving an egg eatin possum. I dont want to wipe out the nest predator populations, just get them back in line with the environment.
Yes I believe the annual harvest has declined in NY starting in 2013. Since then less turkeys harvested. I was skeptical for the last several years as we always had birds on the property I hunt...... this year I've been humbled so far. The property owner doesn't hunt them any more but he enjoys getting out and listening and watching them. I am completely blessed as I've had exclusive hunting for them on this property and man are the sightings and gobbling super non-existent this year though. There is some side property pressure as one owner lets anyone hunt and we have a public spot bording the other side but he's at his property every day and hasn't witnessed the pressure this year like we used to have either.
 
Tick borne illness almost took me out last year. Er doctor recognized the symptoms and put me on the appropriate antibiotics and I made a full recovery. Pretty freaky stuff. Make sure you check yourself after every outing. Pulled five off me after just an hour in the bush last week.

And this is another opportunity for me to sing the praises of gamehide tick killing clothes. No spraying permethrin on every couple to every six weeks. Clothes are good for about 70 washings.

Put a tick on my gamehide pants. It took 2 steps,then fell off dead. I have not pulled ticks off me since wearing gamehide clothes.

Not sponsored or affiliated in anyway, just a very happy customer.



Get the bundle. There are usually sales. Looks like a 15% sale going on now.

And if you don’t like gamehide, go to


And you can send them in your clothes to do the same tick treatment.

Not affiliated in any way to insect shield either.
 
And this is another opportunity for me to sing the praises of gamehide tick killing clothes. No spraying permethrin on every couple to every six weeks. Clothes are good for about 70 washings.

Put a tick on my gamehide pants. It took 2 steps,then fell off dead. I have not pulled ticks off me since wearing gamehide clothes.

Not sponsored or affiliated in anyway, just a very happy customer.



Get the bundle. There are usually sales. Looks like a 15% sale going on now.

And if you don’t like gamehide, go to


And you can send them in your clothes to do the same tick treatment.

Not affiliated in any way to insect shield either.
I will be asking for them for fathers day. Thanks for the link.
 
Last chance I have to get one this spring thanks to work. In a little natural ground blind. We shall see.
 

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Good luck petrichtor!
Thanks! Well my first TN turkey season (first season for turkey anywhere) is about in the books. Not a gobble only got out three or four times and only for a couple hours each time. But got to see some beautiful public land and spring squirrel opens in 3 days. Here is hoping for the fall turkey. Really enjoy working a slate call. Can’t wait for a gobble.
 
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