L B L

[Sirhuntsalot]

Hows the turkey hunting been at LBL ? I used to hunt there alot but haven't hunted there in about 4 years. Seemed like there weren't as many birds there as it used to be . Just woundering if the number of birds has increased. I was hunting Westvaco but they sold all of their land last year. Now I'm down to Peabody along with 10 million other hunters.

[Tom Threetoes]

I haven't been down for three years myself. I'm curious if the hunting has improved under the management of the Forest Service. Do the applications have to be in this month?

[P. Beyer]

Yes, I believe the 18th is the deadline.

"It makes no difference whether I got anything; it has to do with how the day was spent"

Fred Bear

[Ky Headhunter]

I've been drawn for the quota hunts last two years. Also deer hunt a couple days each fall.

Hard to get away from the other hunters during the turkey hunts, so I figured might as well chat with them a minute when we bump into each other. Talked to four different parties of hunter(s) that were pretty local & had hunted LBL quite a bit; they all said the turkey hunting was definitely in a down cycle. I asked why & got several replies including poor hatches compared to most of the state, too many trapped & transferred during the restoration, and out-of-control predator population.

I dont' feel qualified to judge the turkey status myself, since I've just not been there enough. I will say this, after back-country camping several times, the out-of-control predator population theory makes a whole lotta sense to me. That place is crawling with coyotes, areas 3, 4 & 5 anyway.

[Wildcat]

In the past 3 years my party has only run into one other party while turkey hunting at LBL, I guess we go into some spots that doesn't have other hunters.Funny thing is during the quota hunts I see more trucks parked than I do during the open season at LBL.

I can back up what was said about the coyote population, it is unbeleiveable. I've been out to LBL the past few weeks after it snowed and there are tracks all over the place, in fact in some spots I saw more coyote tracks than I did deer tracks. I've been to the Preator Masters forum and they had a yote hunt with 17 hunters at LBL this past weekend. they said they had never seen so much coyote sign in a public land open to hunting before. One problem with the coyotes there is they've been educated by hunters that just drive the roads with their callers stuck out the window trying to get a respond then go set up. That makes it hard to set up right then call them in. Everytime I'm bow hunting and turkey hunting in LBL if a yote comes in range I try to get him, if anybody else gets a chance to please do.