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Thread: Turkey decline

  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by darealdeal View Post
    Turkey numbers on decline. A lot of reason why.

    Seems best thing to do… small scale burn, trap predators, diversify habitat, and protect area that are left from development.

    Would help if we could trap nest predators on WMA land not just private and not burn 500 acres at once while destroying all the hardwoods… attach some better farming practices maybe improving habitat for quail and would bring back some healthy populations…. Lots of reasons why and lots of researching going on currently.

    Any other suggestions?
    You nailed it.

    The "over harvesting" is only one component. I'd argue the smallest component. There are 2 sexes and only one can be hunted, at least in our state. I've noticed a huge rebound in our numbers. Complete opposite of the graph. This is US meaning property either I control or is next door. But we do a ton of habitat improvement and trapping.
    Yup, he's crazy...


    like a fox. The dude may be coming in a little too hard and crazy but 90% of everything he says is correct.

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  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Silentweapon338 View Post
    You nailed it.

    The "over harvesting" is only one component. I'd argue the smallest component. There are 2 sexes and only one can be hunted, at least in our state. I've noticed a huge rebound in our numbers. Complete opposite of the graph. This is US meaning property either I control or is next door. But we do a ton of habitat improvement and trapping.
    Same with our property since we bought it in 2011.

  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by CofC Waterfowler View Post
    Throw chicken shit being used as fertilizer into the mix as well, until it starts killing eagles the government won’t care.
    What makes you come to this conclusion?
    cut\'em

  4. #24
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    Ignorance.

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Glenn View Post
    The solution is to advocate for trigger restraint, habitat improvement, limiting methods of take based on individual moral compass direction then use all your time, money and resources to kill as many of them as you can in one season every season.
    Lol

  6. #26
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    Have decent numbers the last few years around here. I haven’t harvested a bird on private land at my place in 3 years. My neighbors will send me pictures of the birds they kill and after the second or third picture I don’t hunt my place anymore. I would rather spend hours wondering the woods anyhow.
    “Duck hunting gives a man a chance to see the loneliest places …blinds washed by a rolling surf, blue and gold autumn marshes, …a rice field in the rain, flooded pin-oak forests or any remote river delta. In duck hunting the scene is as important as the shooting.” ~ Erwin Bauer, The Duck Hunter’s Bible, 1965

  7. #27
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    We're seeing turkeys on our place in Abbeville county where we haven't seen any in 6-8 years.

  8. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by CofC Waterfowler View Post
    Throw chicken shit being used as fertilizer into the mix as well, until it starts killing eagles the government won’t care.
    I'm curious to hear more about this theory. Disease vector?

  9. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by Coastal Woodie View Post
    All these yankees moving down here aren't helping either. It seems like half the farms that used to have turkeys have turned into subdivisions the last few years in Horry county.
    County Council has been waging war on Horry County farmers since I was a kid. That said, with the buyout there's not much reason to grow anything but subdivisions, trailer parks and strip malls down there. I crossed the river had do my level best to not cross 501.
    "Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are for wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration" -Izaak Walton

  10. #30
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    I don't know hardly a thing about turkeys. I'd say that if we killed every gobbler alive each year, but only after the breeding was over, we'd still have new turkeys every year. If hunting is the problem, it's because we're hunting them too early in the breeding season.

    Of course, control fires in March, April and May aren't good for any bird species.
    Ephesians 2 : 8-9



    Charles Barkley: Nobody doesn't like meat.

  11. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rubberhead* View Post

    Of course, control fires in March, April and May aren't good for any bird species.
    False. Burning 4000ac at a time is not good for any bird species anytime of the year. Small scale (50ac<) on a every other year rotation in the early growing season is far more beneficial than not burning at all.


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    Conservation means the wise use of the earth and its resources for the lasting good of men. -Gifford Pinchot

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    The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.

  12. #32
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    I'm not saying to not burn at all, so that's not a good comparison.
    Ephesians 2 : 8-9



    Charles Barkley: Nobody doesn't like meat.

  13. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rubberhead* View Post
    I'm not saying to not burn at all, so that's not a good comparison.
    The vast majority of the burning that I do 200-300 ac a year, is done in the months of March and April. I have seen more turkeys since February this year than I have in the four years I’ve been managing this property. I’m not saying that the burning is necessarily helping them but it’s damn sure not hurting them. Not to mention the numbers of wild quail I am seeing and the quality deer browse it is providing. This year will be the first year I burn some in Sept-Oct and I’m eager to see what the results of that are. Growing season burning is necessary! And I’d wager that in my time as a wildlife manager I’ve maybe burnt up 3-4 turkey nests. None that I can actually confirm though. Now on the flip side of that if I were lighting up 500-1000 acres at a time I’d almost guarantee I’m burning up some nests it’s an inevitability once you take it to that scale. And in my opinion on our public lands that’s where the turkeys are being hurt. I have defended the folks burning for the government before but I’m not so sure I can do that anymore.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Conservation means the wise use of the earth and its resources for the lasting good of men. -Gifford Pinchot

    The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it. -Thomas Jefferson


    The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done.

  14. #34
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    Burn hot and burn often.

  15. #35
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    Some of the research I was reading from Chamberlin was saying burn in stretches of 50acres or less if possible. Turkeys and other ground nesting birds will only drift so far from cover into burned areas for food. Large scale burns and pines equal perfect habitat for predators to eat and kill turkeys plus the nest.
    “Duck hunting gives a man a chance to see the loneliest places …blinds washed by a rolling surf, blue and gold autumn marshes, …a rice field in the rain, flooded pin-oak forests or any remote river delta. In duck hunting the scene is as important as the shooting.” ~ Erwin Bauer, The Duck Hunter’s Bible, 1965

  16. #36
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    A82E0376-42E8-49EC-AEBA-4187B0629E5E.jpg

    Category 5 the next two days. Gonna let it eat
    .
    80-20 Genaration

  17. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rubberhead* View Post

    Of course, control fires in March, April and May aren't good for any bird species.
    Or rabbits.

    Sent from my motorola edge plus 5G UW (2022) using Tapatalk
    Last edited by Catdaddy; 03-23-2023 at 09:20 PM.

  18. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by Duckman#1 View Post
    A82E0376-42E8-49EC-AEBA-4187B0629E5E.jpg

    Category 5 the next two days. Gonna let it eat

    How many acres you burn?
    “Duck hunting gives a man a chance to see the loneliest places …blinds washed by a rolling surf, blue and gold autumn marshes, …a rice field in the rain, flooded pin-oak forests or any remote river delta. In duck hunting the scene is as important as the shooting.” ~ Erwin Bauer, The Duck Hunter’s Bible, 1965

  19. #39
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    Average year 5-800
    .
    80-20 Genaration

  20. #40
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    Enjoy... Wish I were backing one right now.
    Be firing tomorrow and hopefully the rain backs off some next week.
    \"I never saw a wild thing feel sorry for itself. A small bird will drop dead frozen from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.\" <br />D.H. LAWRENCE

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