Interesting to see guys just a short 10 minute drive North of me have a different opinion on what Alabama is doing to our turkey regs.

https://www.tndeer.com/threads/alabama-leading-the-way.400534/page-3#post-5069060

Meh some like some dont, guess everyone just want turkey numbers to return to what they once were.

Oh, for sure - we want zero turkey on thousand of acres. See how that works.

The doom and gloom idea is unproductive.

They buying the dominant gobbler BS.

lots of Georgia hunters saying the same thing....dumbasses.

answer is quit destroying the habitat...

Georgia DNR's proposals for the 2022 season include a reduction to two a year, pushing the season opener back a week and made mention of the "dominant gobbler" theory.


What's going to happen in 5-8-10 years when there still aren't "turkeys like in the old days!" and everyone clamoring for changes now are bitching about "all these hunters in the woods!"

Because that chit will happen. It does every generation, every 10-15 years, every time some Turkey Hunting Public Goobers video-tv-media "stars" get running around "huntin' their public grounds!" and so forth. What then? More regulations and restrictions? More clampdown? Perhaps a draw system for turkey hunters -- you can hunt this year, but not the next two years?

It's interesting that for nigh on 50 years the deer and turkey populations in Alabama, along with the majority of hunting satisfaction, was steady, stable and fluctuated normally.

And in the last 15 years with the "do something!" progressive data-crunching management tinkering gotta have hands on crew in there, it's turned into a raging dumpster fire sh**show with more disgust and distrust than I've seen in decades.

Huh? Who said anything about 0 turkeys or gloom and doom. I was stating that folks on both sides want more turkeys

Wisdom, age, and experience speaks.....smart people will listen.

Similar to quail populations.

Old days - patchwork farms, overgrown fencerows, shoot a few but not all, shoot and trap predators including avian predators = healthy populations

Today - line-to-line farming, ample herbicides and pesticides, fire ants, less hunting-trapping of predators, protections of avian predators, less wild food, declining interest thanks to BigGame Money Species = woeful population and more preserve-release businesses

From what I read some of the members of their version of the CAB board isn't, including Dr. Craig Harper. He's a UT hardwood/wildlife biologist , professor. He knows how to manage hardwoods for wildlife as well as anyone . Good on them.
They still shoot hens North of the border? Any place that shoots hens would follow any pied piper of turkeys.

Correct, luckily their leaders are smarter than ours....it’s those dorks posting that think it’s relevant because some self-proclaimed expert came up with a theory so he could get published and make money off selling his BS

“Return to what they once were” = thousands of acres and entire counties with no turkey at all. What are the good ole days? The good ole days are right now for a lot of places.

Your rhetoric never changes though.

I know its hog wash for most guys to “save birds” but being that almost all of my private land in Alabama is in Limestone,Morgan or Lawrence co i feel its the only way i have a chance to hunt a bird every year. I spread the love and only shoot one per farm in the face per season. I jump from property to property until the season is over. Its the only way I feel like I can pad myself for future hunts.

My TN property is always good to me and my kids but we are careful not to de bird that property either. So while these are not necessarily the good ol days for me they could be worse. I have a bird or two to chase close to home and have just bought into the idea that if i want to go on a slaughter i will have to put in some windshield time.

You're doing that with common sense and without having to be told or mandated to do so by the state.

I do the same thing with does. I choose not to shoot them. I don't need to be told or mandated or regulated by the state to make that decision. Same with turkeys. Same with ANYTHING.

And yet we have many in the "more regulations!" crowd who are just fine with being mandated to and losing more and more.

If I was from Tennessee and I hunted a couple weekends in AL per year, I would be happy with a lowered limit in AL! Shoot, I'd be happy with a 2 bird limit if I was an out of stater...Granted that a reduction in bag limit would cause there to be more turkeys to hunt, that is...

And I think control the hogs or at least attempt to put some type of effort by no means are they going anywhere

I'm convinced that whatever problems places may be having with the turkey population is almost 100% habitat related. There might be a few places where disease damaged the population, but other than that it is habitat.

Good habitat produces lots of turkeys, poor habitat produces few or none. If you want to have more turkeys, give landowners and lease holders the incentive to produce them and they will. If you want to have fewer turkeys, place more restrictions on those same people and they will produce fewer. It's not that complicated.

Just too many hunters will never figure that out. I’ve said the limit could be 5 or 500 and it wouldn’t really matter. But we are gonna go backwards.

Here here! How hard would it be to incentivize landowners to manage their properties for turkeys? Encourage and reward lease-holders and landowners for doing the right thing. For example, Chuckie Inc could issue property-specific tags that wouldn’t count against your bag limit (bonus tags) for landowners that put specific habitat practices in place.