From my experiance there are about 75% less birds then there were in 2003 when they were everywhere. Not enough birds to have bow hunters shooting gobblers that happen to walk by. That's just my opinion but I never cared much for hunting turkeys that dont gobble and strut anyway.
Wouldn't hurt my feeling if they stopped the fall harvest for a few yrs! But I doubt if will help much, the ones who don't worry about tagging them will still shoot all they see.
I actually prefer fall hunting to spring. The harvest numbers are a fraction of spring numbers. Given the current low numbers in some areas I'd be in favor of limiting or eliminating the hen harvest for a while in those areas and only allowing 1 male bird. Problem is bird numbers are fine in some places and harvesting a hen may be okay depending on your location but kdfw tends to paint with a broad brush versus looking at specific areas of concern and adressing them. If you want to really increase overall numbers kill nest raiders. Coons, possums, skunks etc...
I agree with WD. I bet the lack of interest in fur trapping/coon hunting etc has every bit to do with it. Young boys on their phones and computers instead of running lines and skinning coons and such. Lest we forget the yotes too..
You obviously haven't, so try it in the fall some time. They'll gobble and strut all the way to the gun, often times better than a spring bird.
Low numbers. I killed my first fall turkey with a crossbow last October. I’ve been deer hunting 20+ years. I know tons of deer hunters that could care less about fall turkey hunting. As a matter of fact, I don’t know anyone who actually turkey hunts the fall. Not advocating either way but thinking a decline in numbers can’t be Fall hunting.
I mean if a person kills limits in fall and spring he ought to have plenty of turkey! Isn’t it like 4 of either sex in Fall?
I thought it was something like only one can have a beard 3 inches or longer? Meaning you can only kill one “gobbler” but jakes with short beard and hens were still legal? Heck, I don’t know. I’ve killed one in the Fall total.
Id say a bunch with corn in their crop are not checked in. Ive killed a few on the rare occasion i was not baiting. I could take it or leave it personally.
I ought to get into it. We see them all over the place in the Fall but they’re nowhere to be found when the Spring season starts.
