2023 Turkey Hunting Thread

[Camelcluch]

Merriums? Beautiful birds! Congratulations and great work!!

I live on the border of Merriums and Rio country. Could be a hybrid but the Merriums are usually mountains and I’m plains.

 

[BTaylor]

Chicken nuggets


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[GCTerpfan]

My 13 yr old son, my dad and I went out this morning and my son killed his first bird. Had this Tom, 4 jakes and 4 hens come in. He shot the Tom at 10 yds after getting to watch him strut for several minutes.

 

[woodsdog2]

Great birds!!!! @BTaylor @GCTerpfan congratulations to you all!!! Another turkey hunter enters the legion!!!

 

[ericabbott]

My 13 yr old son, my dad and I went out this morning and my son killed his first bird. Had this Tom, 4 jakes and 4 hens come in. He shot the Tom at 10 yds after getting to watch him strut for several minutes.

View attachment 84040

What a great experience, three generations of hunters gettin it done. Love it

 

[GCTerpfan]

Turkey nuggets for dinner.

 

[10essee]

Chicken nuggets


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Great bird sir. Congrats.

 

[Kayl]

Mature pine stands are ecological deserts as well. They are probably worse since they are evergreen, and the canopy blocks the sun year-round.

Interesting, I ran into some row pines during deer season that were loaded with turkey feathers, scratching, and crap. I'm planning on checking them out during my season.

 

[woodsdog2]

Interesting, I ran into some row pines during deer season that were loaded with turkey feathers, scratching, and crap. I'm planning on checking them out during my season.

Dusting site possibly

 

[dalton916]

It is the story of mid-south turkey hunting. I am well over 50 miles of scouting this spring in the mountains and my truck would cover all of the scratchin I have seen, I have laid eyes on one strutter and have heard exactly 0 gobbles. You want to find out how good a turkey hunter you are come strap on AR public ground. THP tried it a couple seasons and said on video they werent ever coming back. LOL

I had a good long chat with a GW in a delta county year before last and he said they used to have a lot of birds, but now they don’t even bother checking turkey hunters. Said he’d only laid eyes on 3 dead birds in the 2 years before that.

 

[dalton916]

Wisconsin released 39 wild turkeys in 1976 after they were basically extinct in Wisconsin. We recieved the birds on an exchange for grouse from Missouri. 0ur first season hunting them took place in 1983.
Today we have an estimated 350,000 birds and possibly 38,000 will be harvested this year.
We have had a great success story here in this state. Maybe your biologists and ours should meet for beers and discuss what's going on!!

Don’t get too excited, your time’s coming and then you’ll be singing the same tune as your numbers are artificially high.

 

[woodsdog2]

Don’t get too excited, your time’s coming and then you’ll be singing the same tune as your numbers are artificially high.

I had to travel yesterday so I listened to @Tjraley2 ’s excellent podcast with Wisconsin’s DNR Turkey (and other fowl) state biologist/ecologist. They seem to have it somewhat figured out with the draw areas and stuff. Keeping pressure and Hunter activity spread out…… they have a 18% hunter success rate which is really good. So every 5th or 6th time you’re out in Wisconsin you connect. The big take away as I suspected is the land reclamation compared to the south and large ag practices. They also discussed a seed treatment that many believe is poison to the turkey that consumes it. Pretty interesting listen I must say.

 

[Tjraley2]

I had to travel yesterday so I listened to @Tjraley2 ’s excellent podcast with Wisconsin’s DNR Turkey (and other fowl) state biologist/ecologist. They seem to have it somewhat figured out with the draw areas and stuff. Keeping pressure and Hunter activity spread out…… they have a 18% hunter success rate which is really good. So every 5th or 6th time you’re out in Wisconsin you connect. The big take away as I suspected is the land reclamation compared to the south and large ag practices. They also discussed a seed treatment that many believe is poison to the turkey that consumes it. Pretty interesting listen I must say.

Thanks for listening! WI is, in my eyes, the holy grail of turkey hunting and management. It’s not often I go out with a tag in my pocket and don’t get close to filling it. I hunted Iowa this year and, in my opinion, WI public land has it beat by a long shot.

 

[dalton916]

That’s the beginning of the problem. The population explodes trying to find its carrying capacity in an area where predators aren’t adapted to them being there. Hunters have stupid high success levels. Most of these hunters only started turkey hunting because of all the hype. All these hunters know is success, doesn’t matter that it’s artificial, it’s now their definition of success. Nature adapts to having turkeys on the landscape, hunters increase, the other factors mentioned take their slice of the pie and the population settles into the carrying capacity that all of the above factors allow. Now you actually have to work to kill a turkey and that ain’t normal. Something’s gotta be wrong….. “where are the biologists from back in the day, they knew what how to manage turkeys, dammit!!!”

Wisconsin isn’t Eden for turkeys, in due time you’re going to see what others are seeing. Enjoy it while you have it.

 

[peteherbst]

That’s the beginning of the problem. The population explodes trying to find its carrying capacity in an area where predators aren’t adapted to them being there. Hunters have stupid high success levels. Most of these hunters only started turkey hunting because of all the hype. All these hunters know is success, doesn’t matter that it’s artificial, it’s now their definition of success. Nature adapts to having turkeys on the landscape, hunters increase, the other factors mentioned take their slice of the pie and the population settles into the carrying capacity that all of the above factors allow. Now you actually have to work to kill a turkey and that ain’t normal. Something’s gotta be wrong….. “where are the biologists from back in the day, they knew what how to manage turkeys, dammit!!!”

Wisconsin isn’t Eden for turkeys, in due time you’re going to see what others are seeing. Enjoy it while you have it.

Some good points here. But man. Keep your head up! Every day is a good day when you can walk out into the woods!

 

[dalton916]

I’m not down, I’m just applying some reality to the situation.

 

[dalton916]

And I walk in the woods for a living. When I walk in the woods with a bow or gun I’m doing it kill something, not watch a sunrise or a sunset. Yes, I absolutely take those things in and appreciate them (and my photo album on my phone proves it, lol), but I’m there to kill. If I don’t kill what I’m after is it a failure? No, because I’m learning something to make me more likely to kill something the next time I go.

 

[Tjraley2]

That’s the beginning of the problem. The population explodes trying to find its carrying capacity in an area where predators aren’t adapted to them being there. Hunters have stupid high success levels. Most of these hunters only started turkey hunting because of all the hype. All these hunters know is success, doesn’t matter that it’s artificial, it’s now their definition of success. Nature adapts to having turkeys on the landscape, hunters increase, the other factors mentioned take their slice of the pie and the population settles into the carrying capacity that all of the above factors allow. Now you actually have to work to kill a turkey and that ain’t normal. Something’s gotta be wrong….. “where are the biologists from back in the day, they knew what how to manage turkeys, dammit!!!”

Wisconsin isn’t Eden for turkeys, in due time you’re going to see what others are seeing. Enjoy it while you have it.

Yeah we discussed the population explosion and subsequent numbers correction of reintroduced animals in the podcast. What’s making Wisconsin and some other northern states different is that their population “correction” is much less dramatic than many other states currently in crisis. Wisconsins population has now stabilized below the numbers from 10 years ago with no signs of continued decline at a statewide level.

On the other side,strong populations, high hunter success rates, and a target rich environment seems like anything but the beginnning of a problem.

 

[dalton916]

That’s exactly why it’s a problem. Turkeys don’t have a long lifespan so it’s imperative you keep several fingers on their pulse or the “fat, dumb and happy syndrome” will bite you in the ass and you’ll have a mess on your hands. Back to back ill timed spring storms is all it takes to devastate a turkey population.

ETA: back to back as in consecutive years not consecutive weeks. Recruitment rate is already trending down to correct for the population so you are not filling all slots as it is and then, boom, you are filling next to no slots. That’s a giant hit to a population with a short life cycle.

 

[dalton916]

I had friends inviting me to come to Wisconsin and hunt in the early 2000’s but I never went. They had 5 one week seasons and you could not be assured of which one you would get. Makes it hard to coordinate so I never applied. WI was as close to a guaranteed kill as you could get back then as well. That’s an entire generation of spoiled turkey hunters and they’ll quit on you if the hunting gets tough (which I have no problem with because I despise turkey hunters so I WANT it to be hard, lol).