Harvest quota?

**Calibogue** · 03-01-2018, 09:11 AM

How many of you set a limit on the number of gobblers you will kill off of a piece of property before the season opens? Also, how do you determine what that number is?

**Tuffy** · 03-01-2018, 09:19 AM

Now, that is a fine question or two. I would assume that all serious managers do. No? Tell us your answers at some point. How much is hunting limited? Early in season?

**Glenn** · 03-01-2018, 09:21 AM

Interesting question, Cali. We don't as a general rule for most of the properties we have. Those jokers roam off and on us so much it's hard to tell which ones are "ours" and which ones aren't. I don't have a lease over 1k acres though. For some larger tracts I can see that being done but still wouldn't know how to go about determining that number. I would also be interested to see and hear some thoughts on whether or not jakes and/or young gobblers will displace to areas with less competition for hens if the gobbler/hen ratio is high. I don't know if they do. But it would make sense if they did.

**Duck cutter** · 03-01-2018, 09:23 AM

Hopefully LabLuvr can give us some of his valuable insight on this topic.

**2thDoc** · 03-01-2018, 09:24 AM

I picked up the lease on this 120 acre parcel down near estill. the adjoining land is in larger blocks and hunted a decent amount. Right now, my place is holding some birds. Since the stupid things really dont travel THAT far, I'm gonna try to bring as many friends down there to enjoy it as I can. I guess I'm saying I aint setting a limit other than the one the state enforces.

That's what friends are for. Plus, I expect to take these nice people fishing after we bag a gobbler or three. Its just who I am....

snicker

**ersepton** · 03-01-2018, 09:26 AM

I am fortunate to have 4 different places to hunt, but they are all relatively small. Between 60-120 acres. I usually try to take a bird off of each piece, until I am out of tags. No real science to it other than spreading out the harvest. If there were 1,000 birds on one tract, I would likely still hunt the other properties anyway, I just enjoy the different scenarios.

**Tuffy** · 03-01-2018, 09:26 AM

Originally Posted by 2thDoc

I picked up the lease on this 120 acre parcel down near estill. the adjoining land is in larger blocks and hunted a decent amount. Right now, my place is holding some birds. Since the stupid things really dont travel THAT far, I'm gonna try to bring as many friends down there to enjoy it as I can. I guess I'm saying I aint setting a limit other than the one the state enforces.

That's what friends are for. Plus, I expect to take these nice people fishing after we bag a gobbler or three. Its just who I am....

snicker

Good morning, FRIEND.

**PharmHunter** · 03-01-2018, 09:28 AM

I do but there's no exact science to it. Just based off the number of gobblers I see on said property.

**bitesize** · 03-01-2018, 09:32 AM

1600 acre farm- i shoot for 10-12 mature birds. Each year kids will take a jake or two. This quota has been in place going on a few decades.

**ccleroy** · 03-01-2018, 09:33 AM

I like to leave 2 out of every 3.

**trkykilr** · 03-01-2018, 09:35 AM

I take inventory on each property I hunt with scratch feed and cameras starting in Mid January. When turkeys are grouped up, you can get a fairly good read on the number of birds in an area and the breakdown (gobblers, jakes, hens). I have some places that I don't baby them and those are the places where the majority of the birds I kill or call in for someone get killed. I also have a couple of places where I don't shoot a bird at all. Those are places where birds are just getting more established and the population is growing.

**Spur hunter** · 03-01-2018, 09:36 AM

IMO you can't stock pile toms. I've rarely ever killed 2 toms (me, my family, friends) off any given piece of property, 4 acres or 500 and public or private. I just try to consider next year based on what I see and hear during the season. With 3 tags it's really less of an issue for a single hunter these days but I understand how a club would want to impose member limits. Passing jakes is some of the best scouting you will ever do. They don't normally disperse in my experience. I flat murdered them early in my hunting career so I ain't throwing rocks at anyone who shoots one.

**Gut_Pile** · 03-01-2018, 10:30 AM

On the 2400 acre place I used to hunt we stopped when we hit 14 birds. Sometimes that number was reached after the first two or three weekends.

On my 1500 acre club we stop at 10. That number doesn't usually get reached because the other 3 guys that hunt it are cromers.

**BRR** · 03-01-2018, 10:34 AM

1 per person per tract of land, knowing not everyone will kill a bird. With this guideline we have always had turkeys. Nice to still have some gobbling come May. This also seems to increase the odds of killing birds with bigger spurs, which I like.

**Arrowman** · 03-01-2018, 10:35 AM

I only leave one Longbeard per property for seed.

**2thDoc** · 03-01-2018, 10:35 AM

I had a club with a bunch of cromers but then a bunch of turkey hunters joined it and we had to set a limit.

**Gut_Pile** · 03-01-2018, 10:42 AM

Yep. The 2400 acre place was nothing but turkey hunters. We could have killed way more than 14 per year and still been okay.

My friend that owned the place saw 68 gobblers in one ride of the property one rainy January afternoon. Place was just stupid

**Coastal Woodie** · 03-01-2018, 11:08 AM

I usually stop at 2 per property. I did stumble across turkey heaven a few years ago, it is only 100 acres but backs up to 600 acres of pines and cut overs that aren't hunted about a mile from the river. I regularly saw up to 30 gobblers in a single hunt and almost every bird I killed had over 1 1/4 Spurs. Unfortunately the timber company that owned it logged a large portion last year and most of the birds have left.

**MKW** · 03-01-2018, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by Calibogue

How many of you set a limit on the number of gobblers you will kill off of a piece of property before the season opens? Also, how do you determine what that number is?

I don't kill any gobblers before the season opens.