I hunt a good many different tracts all over and don't have tabs on all of them. Don't deer hunt them to see fall flocks and populations. No trail cams to give me any idea either. Most don't open until April 1, some private, some public. I am contemplating not hunting turkeys where I killed one the previous year. Several spots had multiple birds in earshot, some only had one that I heard and killed. I can't control what other people do on public in terms of wiping birds out, but I can control what I do.

That all sounds well and good, but I have been met with silence scouting/listening more mornings than not in the last few weeks. Could be conditions, could be hard times. Makes not going back to a reliable honey hole hard, especially when I pay money to hunt there.

I understand the theory behind moving the season so hens get bred (and I'm all for it if it is true), but is there any science supporting huge numbers of them not initiating nests because of this? All the turkey science podcasts talk about hens storing sperm for 30 days and 60% of broods sired by multiple gobblers. That makes me think hens not getting bred would not be the issue. All the science points to the 60% of nest loss to being the driving factor in populations, not lack of hens being bred, from my understanding.

I'll admit a lot of my thinking is biased because I don't want to lose a tag that we likely won't ever get back. Per SC DNR's data, only a tiny percentage of turkey hunters kill their limit (2%). Limiting the small 2% to 2 turkeys vs. 3 will not do a thing to help turkey populations. Cutting tags is a feel-good measure so DNR/the legislature can put on the face of trying to help turkeys when there are much simpler measures that could be taken to limit the number of gobblers killed (if that is the true goal).