South carolina lifts public lands sunday hunting prohibition!

[JimmyD714]

No, I haven't noticed that. You've never offered any sort of actual conversation when you disagree with me on something, just insults. You're one of the ones on my list that aren't worth talking to. Carry on.

[2thDoc]

You know the answer to this. Which is why I say that if any more regulation is to be throw at us, it's restrictions on decoy usage. That will absolutely reduce the total kill while still giving us 4 weeks (hopefully plus Sundays soon).

Do you not agree that's a better solution? I already don't get to hunt for half of the weekend. Why in the world would I want even more reduction of what is already one of the shortest, if not the shortest, WMA turkey seasons in the country?

go buy your own land and fuck it up

[2thDoc]

and put me on the other list bc you dont listen to rational thought and are too busy trying to be heard over others.

slow down and think.

catdaddy is right and you finally admitted it but moved on with your same agenda...

there is some knowledge in this thread. you have to find it.

[w33kender]

and put me on the other list bc you dont listen to rational thought and are too busy trying to be heard over others.

slow down and think.

catdaddy is right and you finally admitted it but moved on with your same agenda...

there is some knowledge in this thread. you have to find it.

.

[JimmyD714]

When I buy land you won't be allowed to hunt on it.

And yes there is some knowledge in there. Shortening the WMA season isn't part of it, though.

[2thDoc]

that would be best for your turkey population

[JABIII]

[Carolina Counsel]

No, I haven't noticed that. You've never offered any sort of actual conversation when you disagree with me on something, just insults. You're one of the ones on my list that aren't worth talking to. Carry on.

Insults? You mean the one time I jokingly suggested you're from Ohio? Okay. Being asked to support your positions is not insulting unless you're full of shit and you know it.

[2thDoc]

and dont argue with a lawyer, for chrissakes

[JOHNSON]

and dont argue with a lawyer, for chrissakes

What did they say about wrestling a pig in mud?


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[JimmyD714]

that would be best for your turkey population

It would save some turkeys, yes, but it would be at the detriment of the hunter. Once those weeks are gone, DNR will never give them back to us regardless of how well the turkey population rebounds.

There are other options to control how many turkeys are killed that do not affect the length of the season.

Evidently I'm the bad guy for being 100% in agreement with everyone here that things are going poorly and need to change. I just suggested a few other options that don't involve a shortened season first.

This forum is a very strange place.

[w33kender]

[JimmyD714]

I don't run into them all day, only when I am on this forum. Actually only when 2th jumps in, to be more specific.

Such a great show though.

[2thDoc]

What did they say about wrestling a pig in mud?


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dont go ugly till last call?

[scatter shot]

Not sure why this thread has devolved into a turkey hunting pissing contest but not surprising.
Back to the original post, opening up WMA to Sunday hunting. I am 100% in favor doing so. I don't see any legitimate reason not to. Provide more days to hunt and lower the bag limits if needed.

I've hunted WMA almost exclusively for over 40 years except for a 10-year period from 2005 to 2015 when I was hunting in deer clubs but even then, I always paid the extra $25 and bought a Sportsmans License. Something I've always encouraged other hunters to do whether you hunted WMA or not. A $25 "donation" to help fund and preserve WMA lands is money well spent IMO. But that's another subject for another thread.

Regards to decreasing WMA acreage-

In the early 80s there was approximately 1,250,000+/- acres of WMA land. I spent the bulk of my time hunting in SMNF and it was outstanding with plenty of deer and turkey.
Rolling into the mid 90s and the total WMA acreage decreased to around 1,100,000+/- acres and stayed that way for quite a few years. Anectdotally, it seemed that my deer hunting success started to decrease but I was still able to kill 2-3 deer a year while seeing and ultimately letting some deer walk.

As of the 2022 deer season , there was 1,082,505 WMA acres to hunt which represents about a 13% decrease (-167,495 acres) in WMA lands compared the 80s. Anecdotally speaking, I see way less deer and turkey than I did years ago. I don't believe it is primarily due to the decreased acreage but primarily due to timber and management practices.
The pic below is from the 2022-2023 Rules and Regs that shows landowners that participate in the WMA program. Seems to be fewer private landowners participating these days compared to years past.

WMA acres.jpg

[JimmyD714]

It started because I dared suggest that we should also be allowed to hunt on Sundays for turkeys.

Good info, thanks for the history lesson. I didn't know so much had been lost over a relatively short time. Having 1m acres is nice but having lost almost 200k is pretty significant.

A lot of the acreage is far from me so I generally stick to what's close enough to drive to in a day. Now it'll be nice to know driving further to explore something new, camp all weekend, and hunt all weekend is a possibility.

This is very positive change for public land access and I applaud Bobby Cox for sponsoring this bill a 2nd time and making it work this time.

[scatter shot]

Open up Sundays and I'll pull my camp gear out and go more often.

[JimmyD714]

And as for WMA pressure complaints, maybe some of yall are just lazy. I barely see anyone for deer hunting except guys that literally walk 100 yds max from the truck. Most of the slobs I run into in the woods would have a cardiac event if they tried to drag a deer more than 50 yds. So they're risking it by doubling that distance.

Turkey hunting can be frustratingly high on the first Saturday. After that, much of the pressure goes away if you're willing to walk a bit. Most WMA hunters are incredibly lazy and they don't want to walk far. Sometimes it isn't even walking far that gets you away from pressure, it's just avoiding being near parking areas or nice trails. Park on the gravel and walk 200 yds through nothing but woods, nobody's there.

Of the total turkey kill, around 7-9% is WMA over the last few years. Not many people are killing WMA turkeys so if anywhere needs a season reduction or tag removed (and I don't agree with either), it certainly isn't on the WMAs.

What the WMAs and NF woods need is proper habitat so that the hens can actually replace what few birds we're killing. But I suppose that's also for another thread.

[centurian]

Interesting map and literature from 1974 when i started hunting in SC. At the time there were 1.3 million acres in GMA. Permit was only $4.25

https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/c...clmaps/id/1799

[scatter shot]

And as for WMA pressure complaints, maybe some of yall are just lazy. I barely see anyone for deer hunting except guys that literally walk 100 yds max from the truck. Most of the slobs I run into in the woods would have a cardiac event if they tried to drag a deer more than 50 yds. So they're risking it by doubling that distance.
.

I've never killed a WMA deer sitting in my truck but I've killed a handful of WMA deer within sight of my truck or the road.
One of my favorites was my buddy finished the morning hunt around 9am and drove back to camp a mile or so away.
I came out of the woods about 1030am and walked up to where he was originally parked overlooking a deep ravine. I took about ten steps off the side of the road overlooking the ravine, sat down and started eating an apple when a truck drove by and I heard one of the guys in the truck say, "....... what a dumb ass."
A minute or two later a doe stepped out and I let the air out of her. My buddy heard the shot and came around to pick me and the deer up and headed back to camp. We pulled into camp and my buddy wanted to take a right to go to our camp site and I told no, take a left and when you get the camp site with the white Ford truck slow down a second. We rolled up on those two guys that rode by me on the road and told them to take a look in the deer in the back of the truck........

Morale of the story= Don't be such a smug asshole.