Low jake percentage

[turk2di]

Just dont add up to me. With a good to great hatch in 06, coupled with tryin times for hunters this season, should have put jakes lookin down the bead of many a frustrated hunters. Not sure of the percentage, but only 3500 or so out of nearly 23,000 is below whats consodered normal, isn't it? Multi? Ril7572? Others? Any thoughts?

[Feedman]

I saw several jakes this yr. I had jakes come in on 2 different occasions and passed. More hunters may be looking for a long beard.

[scratch]

Ive seen more jakes this year, than in the last few years..I think that 99.9 % of the hunters have opted to not shoot jakes for what ever the reason..Next year looks great for two year old birds and hopefuly we will end up with a good hatch this year.I think alot of hens have had to renest so we will see alot of late hatched poults meaning younger fall birds to hunt..Time will tell

[Multidigits]

Jakes were hiding low and very few of them gobbled at all, fewer came to calls because of the higher number of mature toms in the flock. The jakes know where they stood and what chance they had to do any breeding, which was almost nil.

[Hammer]

guess I see a jake like I see a fork horn or 6 pointer. I'd just rather not shoot.

[PSEaxis]

Myself and everyone else I know saw a TON of jakes this year. By far the highest jake population I've seen in 10 years.

[ril7572]

I think most hunters will pass jakes in hopes of killing a longbeard.

Nothing wrong with killing one, but most hunters would much rather kill the bird as a 2 yr. old.

Also for me the jakes were more vulnerable during the early part of the season. Not sure why, but the jakes seemed to be less visable as the season progressed.

[MrHank]

I will not kill a jake now and never have, but that being said I have only saw 1 jake in the last 2 years of hunting and he was with a hen. It bothers me that I have only seen 1 in the last couple of years, I know there are more than that out there but you would think that I would see more than just one. I thought maybe the hatch has been down some the last couple of years, but I have been seeing as many hens as usual.

[sirgiovanni]

I usually see a ton of jakes but only one this year.

[Valley Station]

Spring of 2000 jakes were 32% of the harvest, 2007 jake harvest was 14% of the harvest.
Low per centage jakes in the 2007 harvest???
It's pretty simple, there were fewer jakes in the woods this spring, due to "poor" 2006 hatch.
If jakes had been there, they would have got blasted, with low number of 2-year old birds.

[Multidigits]

The most jakes I had in front of me at one time this year was 8. Back a few years ago, I had 14 at one time within 25 yards, so you could make an wild guess that there was a few more several years ago but it would be hard to prove out.

[vabirddog]

It's pretty simple, there were fewer jakes in the woods this spring, due to "poor" 2005 hatch.
If jakes had been there, they would have got blasted, with low number of 2-year old birds.

?

Your low #s of two yr olds were the result of 2005. Jakes in the flock were hatched last year (2006).

[slickhead slayer]

The poult reports for 05 and 06 were bad.
Which is why the numbers were significantly down for both gobblers and jakes this year.
We need a good hatch this year badly.

[Feedman]

Gentlemen,
I am from the south central Ky area. Let me tell you, we have had 3 bad hatches in a row in our area. When you get these big down pours of rain at the wrong time, it must kill a lot of poults. Bird numbers were lower this past winter and spring. I saw fewer gobblers and heard less gobbling than I have ever heard. I saw a few jakes at home, some in Adair and Mercer counties.

[Tha' Hat]

I personally saw fewer jakes this year than normal, but others I hunt with during season did see them. But, most of the turkeys I saw in general consisted of several hens and one dominant tom in a group. Like Multi said, a jake isn't going to go messing with that.

[Pollcat]

This year on the fifth day of season I saw 27 jakes on one farm I hunt. On the last saturday of season on a diferent farm I saw 6 jakes. From my observations I would say there are more jakes than I have ever seen.

[KY_Fried]

I didn't see a single jake this season while hunting. I saw 6 Toms and they were all by themselves.

[bcdh1]

I saw several jakes this yr. I had jakes come in on 2 different occasions and passed. More hunters may be looking for a long beard.

I agree. I had plenty of jakes in front of me this year, just chose to pass. I saw 8 one morning before 10.00. They are there so hopefully next year will be awesome. We can only hope though.