South carolina lifts public lands sunday hunting prohibition!

[Carolina Counsel]

Should have to have a tag in your possession to be able to call for others

I disagree 100%. I tag out and can’t take my kids. Bullshit.

[Coastal Woodie]

I love shooting March turkeys as much as anybody but I’d rather see the season pushed back 2 weeks or so to let the birds breed rather than lower the limits or any other restrictions. I hunt both SC and NC within 15 miles of each other and there’s far more turkeys across the NC state line and the season opens the second Saturday in April and ends around the second Saturday in May. I can’t speak for the Lowcountry or the upstate but the grand strand region has historically always opened on April 1st and there was no logical reason to move the season forward into March.

[2thDoc]

I know it's easy to just type that, and that kind of thing flies a lot on here, but can you actually defend your reasoning or do you just like these (not so) clever 1-liners?

Private landowners limit pressure just by owning the land and controlling the number of hours spent hunting. They can also make their own rules on bag limits and hunting restrictions.

Thats two lines. Suck on it

[2thDoc]

I don’t have a dog in this fight other than to call Toof out for this comment.

Yes. Most, if not all, wildlife issues on designated WMA lands are directly SCDNR’s fault, every day and twice on Sunday.

Show me a Waterfowl Area, I’ll fill a spreadsheet with State retardations that prevent maximum waterfowl usage.


No dolphin for you.

DNR does not control everything. I think of it like a private landowner. I can only do so much. Granted, I am not working with the budget they have.

We like to call out The Man because its the way the world is. We always look UP to whoever we think is in charge and blame them for everything. What has Jimmy done other than bitch? Is there a more proactive way to affect change?

Managing waterfowl is not rocket science....but the way i think you should do it does not allow for all the public access people would clamor for. Read this thread. Its all MY land that THEY wont let ME hunt on sundays. You want to try to have a duck under those conditions?

I think they do the best they can.

[JimmyD714]

2th fairy - then how do you explain the other 47, and counting, states that have absolutely no restrictions on Sunday hunting but have better game populations than us?

[Carolina Counsel]

2th fairy - then how do you explain the other 47, and counting, states that have absolutely no restrictions on Sunday hunting but have better game populations than us?

Do you have actual data to support this contention? I believe you have repeated it multiple times and would like to see the evidence that 47 states have better game populations than SC.

[JimmyD714]

He whines about the DNR not managing the WMA properties, but when a scientifically sound and proven management tool is suggested,....he's against it.


The difference between private land and WMA is the # of hunters per gobbler is probably 10 to 20 times greater on the WMA land.

If the average harvest/success rate on WMA is .25 per hunter, reducing the tags to 1 will have ZERO effect.

If they are harvesting too many gobblers, you have to reduce the days.

Sent from my motorola edge plus 5G UW (2022) using Tapatalk

That last part is not true. Do you not think limiting the usage of decoys and blinds will reduce total kill while giving us the same number of days afield?

Honestly how many people these days, especially on WMA, can call a bird to shooting range without decoys or sitting in a tent? Everyone wants it easy because posting social media content is more important than learning how to truly outsmart a turkey. In the event the blind and decoys don't get them close enough, no worries we'll just shoot them 80 yds away with TSS and possibly just wound it. Just tell people we "missed".

[2thDoc]

2th fairy - then how do you explain the other 47, and counting, states that have absolutely no restrictions on Sunday hunting but have better game populations than us?

i dont give a fuck what ohio does.
that help?

[centurian]

Question? Is private or the GMA best for management of wildlife on the large scale? I remember when the entire upstate seemed to be GMA, long gone. Now is is scarce at best and over crowded in places. The only thing the state did was limit access to the roads and harass hunters.

[Highstrung]

hippie hipsters

[Catdaddy]

That last part is not true. Do you not think limiting the usage of decoys and blinds will reduce total kill while giving us the same number of days afield?

It is true,.....you just don't want it to be.

I have no problem eliminating fanning or any other type of decoys, but controlling the days afield is the #1 tool to manage harvest.

Sent from my motorola edge plus 5G UW (2022) using Tapatalk

[JimmyD714]

Question? Is private or the GMA best for management of wildlife on the large scale? I remember when the entire upstate seemed to be GMA, long gone. Now is is scarce at best and over crowded in places. The only thing the state did was limit access to the roads and harass hunters.

I suppose in a state like SC you'd have to say private. Aren't we right around 7% public land? Of course that doesn't mean the other 93% is suitable habitat for game, a lot of that has been developed.

There used to be more public land in the upstate? What happened? Must've been before my time but did it get sold off?

[Glenn]

I suppose in a state like SC you'd have to say private. Aren't we right around 7% public land? Of course that doesn't mean the other 93% is suitable habitat for game, a lot of that has been developed.

There used to be more public land in the upstate? What happened? Must've been before my time but did it get sold off?

Here’s what happened to it…

[JimmyD714]

It is true,.....you just don't want it to be.

I have no problem eliminating fanning or any other type of decoys, but controlling the days afield is the #1 tool to manage harvest.

Sent from my motorola edge plus 5G UW (2022) using Tapatalk

I'm not in favor of anymore regulation, but if something is gonna happen, any option that doesn't involve further restriction of our access to hunt is what I'd support, begrudgingly.

The idea of shifting opening day to mid April is a great idea as long as the end date shifts to mid May. No more reduction of turkey season, no more reduction of tags.

Going from 3 to 2 will do almost nothing because so few birds that are killed are bird #3.

[w33kender]

That last part is not true. Do you not think limiting the usage of decoys and blinds will reduce total kill while giving us the same number of days afield?

Honestly how many people these days, especially on WMA, can call a bird to shooting range without decoys or sitting in a tent? Everyone wants it easy because posting social media content is more important than learning how to truly outsmart a turkey. In the event the blind and decoys don't get them close enough, no worries we'll just shoot them 80 yds away with TSS and possibly just wound it. Just tell people we "missed".

You're using method of kill to deflect from a fact Catdaddy stated. It is a fact that reducing days afield reduces the overall harvest. DNR doesn't limit days afield on the WMA's in Horry County, for example, just out of spite, sir. Be reasonable.

[JimmyD714]

I love shooting March turkeys as much as anybody but I’d rather see the season pushed back 2 weeks or so to let the birds breed rather than lower the limits or any other restrictions. I hunt both SC and NC within 15 miles of each other and there’s far more turkeys across the NC state line and the season opens the second Saturday in April and ends around the second Saturday in May. I can’t speak for the Lowcountry or the upstate but the grand strand region has historically always opened on April 1st and there was no logical reason to move the season forward into March.

Do you think they did that to increase OOS tag purchases from hunters in nearby states who don't want to wait until April?

[JimmyD714]

You're using method of kill to deflect from a fact Catdaddy stated. It is a fact that reducing days afield reduces the overall harvest. DNR doesn't limit days afield on the WMA's in Horry County, for example, just out of spite, sir. Be reasonable.

I don't disagree that limiting days afield will limit total kill. Of course it will. It's just a stupid idea, an abhorrently stupid idea and nobody should support further reduction in the time we get to spend doing what we love.

[FULLCHOKE]

I'm glad you finally admitted it.

So riddle me this? Do you care more about the sustainability of a turkey population, or your ability to be in the woods at any date and time that you wish to?

[JimmyD714]

I'm glad you finally admitted it.

So riddle me this? Do you care more about the sustainability of a turkey population, or your ability to be in the woods at any date and time that you wish to?

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?

[w33kender]

I don't disagree that limiting days afield will limit total kill. Of course it will. It's just a stupid idea, an abhorrently stupid idea and nobody should support further reduction in the time we get to spend doing what we love.

It's the greatest part of the solution needed for a species in decline and you say it's stupid but you also say it works?