Lettuce Discuss

[trkykilr]

There is a lot of chatter regarding harvest methods of wild turkeys. Things are changing and are going to continue to change, as it pertains to regulations/limits/methods. I will go ahead and admit that I have killed turkeys in plenty of ways that I’m not so proud of now, but made some sense at the time. This may go quite poorly, but I would really enjoy an open discussion surrounding fanning/male decoys/tss/pressure/selective harvest/habitat management.

What ya got?

[mudnut1970]

Must have a tag to call or hunt.

[Whackumstackum]

Must have a tag to call or hunt.

Fully agree. Would save a lot of birds.

[PJ1012]

Must have a tag to call or hunt.

So you’re going to tell me because I’ve killed my 3 I couldn’t take my son hunting? This has got to be the dumbest thing I’ve heard of.

[sc sportsman]

So you’re going to tell me because I’ve killed my 3 I couldn’t take my son hunting? This has got to be the dumbest thing I’ve heard of.

Interesting response. Many turkeys are killed by people that have no idea what they’re doing with the assistance of somebody that does. “Got my 3 so I figured I’d put some buddies on birds”. If you really care about the resource and are serious about getting your son a bird, saving a tag doesn’t seem like such an outrageous ask.

[PJ1012]

Interesting response. Many turkeys are killed by people that have no idea what they’re doing with the assistance of somebody that does. “Got my 3 so I figured I’d put some buddies on birds”. If you really care about the resource and are serious about getting your son a bird, saving a tag doesn’t seem like such an outrageous ask.

I can assure you no one cares about the resource more than myself. If you question that, you don’t know me. What a lot of you don’t realize is some of us hunt across many counties in this state. Me personally, I hunted 7 counties. I wasn’t responsible for taking more than 2 birds off a given property. The smallest tract I hunted was 350. I can assure you I left twice as many as I was responsible for taking. A majority of them all survived through the season as well. I would never take more than the property could take.

[banded_mallard]

I’m am not for telling people how they can kill their x number of turkeys.

[Sportin' Woodies]

Noses will turn upward in 3....2....1....

[dumbduck]

Quota license for non residents. Lower limit to 1 bird. No controlled burning during hatching season. Extend trapping season. Fire ant mitigation. Wildlife violators should get harsher punishments instead of a fine that’s cheaper than most hunt clubs. No reaping - since people have been getting shot lately it seems like it’s the right to to end that. A couple of dry springs could do us a lot of good also. Maybe some wild turkey reintroductions as well.

[hunterjw]

Quota license for non residents. Lower limit to 1 bird. No controlled burning during hatching season. Extend trapping season. Fire ant mitigation. Wildlife violators should get harsher punishments instead of a fine that’s cheaper than most hunt clubs. No reaping - since people have been getting shot lately it seems like it’s the right to to end that. A couple of dry springs could do us a lot of good also. Maybe some wild turkey reintroductions as well.

Ha they make it tough enough on non residents. $100 for tags and deer tags are also lots of $$$. Taxes for non residents also $$$

Habitat, predator control, Jake/gobbler decoy ban. Personally I think they should wait a few years and see how the new regulations put in effect last year work. Not everyone has a shortage of turkeys…

[Gregory]

Ha they make it tough enough on non residents. $100 for tags and deer tags are also lots of $$$. Taxes for non residents also $$$

Habitat, predator control, Jake/gobbler decoy ban. Personally I think they should wait a few years and see how the new regulations put in effect last year work. Not everyone has a shortage of turkeys…

Not yet. Get your head out of the sand.

[banded_mallard]

Quota license for non residents. Lower limit to 1 bird. No controlled burning during hatching season. Extend trapping season. Fire ant mitigation. Wildlife violators should get harsher punishments instead of a fine that’s cheaper than most hunt clubs. No reaping - since people have been getting shot lately it seems like it’s the right to to end that. A couple of dry springs could do us a lot of good also. Maybe some wild turkey reintroductions as well.

I’m fine with no mass nesting season burns on state land but not for the private land owner.

[YoungBuckTX]

I'm interested to see the results Alabama had with their no decoy rule for the first week.

With the exception removing turkey season, no regulation changes will negate the decrease in population due to habitat loss and nest failure.

I personally believe a major contributing factor is cutting timber to the banks of the creek and planting it all back with pines. Turkeys need hardwood stands and bottomland. Both are disappearing quick in my area and so are the turkeys.

[Smilee]

I’ve been saying it for years. SC forestry practices have decimated the quail and turkey populations.

Saw 4 coveys of quail in last few days. Guess what not a single one was in a stand of pine trees.

I'm interested to see the results Alabama had with their no decoy rule for the first week.

With the exception removing turkey season, no regulation changes will negate the decrease in population due to habitat loss and nest failure.

I personally believe a major contributing factor is cutting timber to the banks of the creek and planting it all back with pines. Turkeys need hardwood stands and bottomland. Both are disappearing quick in my area and so are the turkeys.

[StrutnBPS]

I'm interested to see the results Alabama had with their no decoy rule for the first week.

With the exception removing turkey season, no regulation changes will negate the decrease in population due to habitat loss and nest failure.

I personally believe a major contributing factor is cutting timber to the banks of the creek and planting it all back with pines. Turkeys need hardwood stands and bottomland. Both are disappearing quick in my area and so are the turkeys.

I think this gets overlooked, a lot. The area I live in used to have a really good turkey population. Over the years it started to shrink and now it's pretty low. It's obvious that just about the only tracts/farms that still have a good amount of turkeys are the lands that have not been cleared and planted back with nothing, but pines.

[pee dee]

April 5-may 1
3 bird limit(1 in first 7 days)
Wmas open sat sun
Trespassing to turkey hunt 2 year minimum no hunting…caught killing more than three same

[Duckman#1]

We’ll bill put it this way I’ve killed a bunch by using a male decoy over the years. Have no problem with banning them. Seen the affects. At one time people always talked about the old field gobbler that no one could kill, well now a day they just stick a strutter up in the field and 9 out of 10 times he comes running. Just watch and tv show. They don’t hunt without one because they want results. Now their are some that will comment on here and say get rid of pop up blinds. Their a way of hiding. Never seen a gobbler run across a field to one unless it had a male decoy standing in front of it. Sooo if that’s the case then you shouldn’t be able to wear camo if shooting them with a gun

[banded_mallard]

We’ll bill put it this way I’ve killed a bunch by using a male decoy over the years. Have no problem with banning them. Seen the affects. At one time people always talked about the old field gobbler that no one could kill, well now a day they just stick a strutter up in the field and 9 out of 10 times he comes running. Just watch and tv show. They don’t hunt without one because they want results. Now their are some that will comment on here and say get rid of pop up blinds. Their a way of hiding. Never seen a gobbler run across a field to one unless it had a male decoy standing in front of it. Sooo if that’s the case then you shouldn’t be able to wear camo if shooting them with a gun

A old gobbler will run to a blind in the middle of a field without a decoy at all. Ask me how I know.

[sc sportsman]

Banning reaping and fanning will save some turkeys for sure but the guys that can’t reap them will still be setup 20 yds behind their strutter or jake decoy and once the turkey is within eyesight, the reaction is the same. I don’t agree with fanning a turkey but I also don’t see much of a difference between reaping a turkey in a field and sitting over a male decoy in a field. Decoys today are incredibly lifelike and leaps and bounds ahead of where they were 10 years ago. I believe a few things, 1: Decoys in general are an issue and causing an increased harvest but I dont think you can ban them all together at this stage in the game. 2: our population issue is very complex and bad recruitment and over harvest seem to be playing a major role. 3. If both points above are even remotely close to being true then one thing that would help turkeys is less of them being killed, regardless of how they’re being killed. If we as hunters aren’t going to show self restraint and hold back some then they’ll have to lower bag limits and limit opportunity.

[ShortMagFan]

Ban male decoys. Or all decoys.

No burning during nesting season

Must have a tag to hunt or call for someone else. If you are a legit guide they can offer a special guiding permit

Raise prices across the board for licenses and tags - resident,non resident, all of it. Use the funds to provide a financial incentive for people to trap

On the out of state quota idea - how do you handle landowners that are residents of another state? I live in NC but have been managing a tract in SC I bought 10 years ago. I’ve put a lot of money and sweat into it for the good of the wildlife. I’ll be damned if I’m going to have to get a quota tag to hunt my own land