If I have 3 or 400 acres, what my neighbors are doing directly effects me. If the 10 bird a year guy is my neighbor, I can burn, thin and trap to my hearts content but his actions will effect me FAR more than my good management.

Most of the guys hunting before the season, ain’t killing there birds. They killing other folks turkeys. You think a guy that hunts way before the season is worried about poaching, he’ll no!!!

Neighbors do indeed have a huge impact on the presence or absence of gobbling turkeys, especially on acreages less than several thousand acres.

I said 30 miles down the rd. Not a neighbor.

I said 30 miles down the rd!

I understand what you’re saying, but the reality is your neighbor probably also hunts.

My neighbor owns thousands of acres of which I'm the property manager of. Pretty good situation. I've got no control over the neighbors that border that land but I can sure as hell turn somebody in for hunting before season. You can hear a shotgun blast pretty good on a clear morning. Private landowners have plenty they can do to make sure they have turkeys. Not much you can do on public land.

A turkey load can be heard from a long ways. Hunting before season was out out of control this spring.

Illegal baiting is right there with it. I never thought we would see the day that feed stores would be selling pallets of corn, corn chops, milo, scratch, and wheat in turkey season. The few that baited years ago would buy it in the winter. Now, they just buy it from February all the way through the season.

Everything has only gotten more messed up since the state ditched the “honor system” limit and tried make us collect data for them. What happens if you don’t have a cell phone? I don’t work for the state and they don’t pay my phone bill. Maybe they should get in the woods and do their own research instead of trying to be a smart ass on Facebook

Nailed it. They should put the phone up and should never been allowed to hold a pen/pencil from the beginning. Spot on BC.

Rumors get around and there’s always a grain or two of truth to them. We have a LOT of local kids killing birds as soon as deer season is out. They ride the roads and kill all they can in between deer and turkey season. Most people (like myself), stay out of the woods during this time, so it’s tough to catch them. I’m sure it’s happening all over. It’s not all doom and gloom, but then you add to that the people who bait and disregard landlines too. It’s disheartening. I’m lucky to have 3-4 birds total on all my properties. I occasionally get to kill ONE.

What few people I associate with are mostly turkey hunters and we talk turkey hunting. I’ve never heard of anyone hunting early or over bait that I can think of. I’d probably turn a feller in over either. I can’t think of any game laws or other animal violations that would make me mad enough to rat on somebody. I handle my own trespassing problems.

Took 2020 for me to see how bad poaching really is. Being on the properties every day lets you see it firsthand. Caught one of the most notorious outlaws red handed. Watched several running through the woods and got close enough to most of them to scare them badly. Got a few free decoys. Just generally harassed them until they went elsewhere. Went to court and watched the outlaw combine other offenses into a plea deal. The trespassing/hunting without permission never entered into the equation. These guys hunt the best properties in every county starting when they first gobble until they quit. Almost impossible to catch them as most are dropped off. The fines or lack of fines make it cheaper than joining a club.

I am still struggling to make the link between shooting a bunch of gobblers and turkey numbers dropping.....all this talk about poaching and shooting over the limit and hunting out of season(and yes, its wrong and I despise it, but I don't know how it affects overall turkey numbers)...as long as you don't shoot the last gobbler, can't he impregnate several hens?....I have never known anyone to shoot a hen on purpose and very few folks are intentionally shooting jakes.....imagine being the last gobbler on a property. You busy lol

According to the latest Wild Turkey Science podcast we're only killing 30% of the adult gobblers

Watch the podcasts from the other threads - they cover side issues to this fairly extensively

And several of those gobblers and hens will travel out of their home range to find each other. I don’t see turkeys much in my yard til after season then hens show up with Jakes breeding them. Watched a pair last year and it was almost June

Don't really know how much it hurts the turkey population. If you are hunting near one of these outlaws, it means a lot of the gobblers you are hunting are dead before the season even starts.

It’s bad but I can’t police it. I have to work for a living and I have multiple places. I’d have to get real lucky to catch somebody or them real unlucky.