There is no difference.... 5 is 5... It doesn't matter when you kill em...

In response to TDD, I have no data to back this up, but with the population of birds this state has, I bet less than 5% of hens go unbred in a spring season. That is their sole purpose and they travel until the find a gobbler or jake who can get the job done. I really don't think harvesting male turkeys has any significant impact on populations. Now if we started smoking 5 hens a year I think that could cause some problems

I would have to disagree with that. If you call up a group of 5 longbeards together on opening day before they get busted up and the breeding has started........ Then let's say you and a buddy get em lined up and kill 3 with the first volley of shots and kill another one of them on the run when the other 2 are trying to get gone you are putting a ton of responsibility on that one gobbler left to try to get all those hens bred in that area before he gets killed himself.

I've never understood the concept of trying to kill more than one at a time anyway. Anything more than 1 is just a dead turkey you gotta fool with and a bird that you will never have a chance to try to trick again.

I agree Brent.

Like Ive said a dozen times, if the limit is 5. 5 is my goal.

But if the state collects the data and determines a lower limit is needed, i would be in favor of it. But i dont see that happening so its really a moot point. Lol

I disagree. I see gobblers together most of the season. You could kill one/day the first 5 days and it would be the same thing. The scenario you described doesn't need 5 birds taken off of it anyway. If the State says a limit of 5 then you should be able to kill 5 at anytime during that season. If there's a problem with killing 5, then maybe the limit is too high.

No actually killing 5 in one day and 5 in 5 days is very different.
1.... 5 on opening day allows no days for breeding during what is the peak breeding season in a good part of the state. 5 in 5 days is still extreme but it does allow some breeding time.
2......Nobody is gonna call up the same group of birds for 5 consecutive days and be able to kill one of them each day. You might possibly kill 2 or maybe even 3 in extreme cases in 5 days out of the same flock if you're hunting them over a pile of corn or ambushing them out of a chufa patch which is about the same thing.

I think the turkeys that survive out of those big bunches of 5 or 6 that we sometimes call up early season are the absolute hardest turkeys to call up and kill a second or third time. They are a real good insurance policy that you're gonna have some gobblers left over for next season and they are also the most fun/challenging/frustrating to fool with. I've had it happen accidently a couple times over the years but you couldn't pay me to shoot two or more at once on purpose.

TDD - blaming "timber practices" is an easy out - easy to say - an easy target. But you need to deal with the fact you are wrong.

If you want to discuss that. Bring some facts. We can see if you know more than I do about this subject (and others on this forum).

You first!

Brent, that sounds like a case for a later season opener.

It has been my experience that most of the ones who annually kill their limit do it on thousands of acres. I am not saying that small tracts can't produce a limit, but most of the ones I know that kill their limit consistently (which is quite a few)do it on scattered tracts which they are fortunate enough to have quite a few of to hunt. Most of the limit killers I know, won't wipe out a particular tract....which may be why they kill a limit most every year. They kill a turkey off of a tract, then move on to somewhere else. I basically do the same thing, on a much smaller scale. A 2-3 bird season is great for me, rarely do I kill more, but as a turkey hunter I will not overhunt a place. I don't think that most turkey hunters will kill more than they feel they should on a particular tract. I feel like most seasonal turkey kill numbers per man are most likely proportional to the amount of land and time a hunter has to hunt turkeys. I would like to know opinions about this relationship as I think that there may be something to it.

I'd be happy with March 25-May 10 in the northern part of the state. I'd just come down there and hunt with some of y'all for the first 10 days :-)

How am wrong? Its a well known fact that timber companies spray and use pelletized chemicals to kill under growth in pine plantations. This kills many of the plants species as well as insect species that turkeys are heavily reliant on. Timber companies also cut more agressively than they used to. Leaving very few smzs and hardwoods along creeks. Definitely not enough to support a flock of turkeys.


And I disagree that most turkey hunters wont over kill a piece of property. Every turkey hunter I know will kill every bird they can up to their limit and a good many of them wont stop at their limit.

Hunters are naturally greedy. Its just a fact. Only a select few are interested in conservation or preserving what we have for future generations.

If you truly believe timber practices havent hurt wildlife populations in recent years, id suggest you pull your head out of your rectum and look around.

TDD I know this is completely off topic and has nothing to do with this thread but, what do you do for a living?

Please don't whitewash hunters with such a broad brush.

Not "every" hunter wants giant trophy rackhanging monster bucks. Nor is "every" hunter a brown=down hunter. Nor are all hunters "greedy" and have to kill a limit of turkeys or ducks or skwerrels every time they go out.

Guess this would all depend on your turkey population... If your unable to sustain it I could see this being the case....

TDD - when you use the phrase "well known fact", there is a general understanding you are suppose to know what you are talking about. When it comes to timber production practices, it is painfully obvious you don't know facts.

Since I'm obviously so ignorant, please enlighten me...




I work with and produce a wide range of chemicals. Many used in pesticides and herbicides.

I didn't say every hunter wanted those things. I said there were a few who were conservation minded and looked toward the future. But just in my honest opinion, most are just out there to pull the trigger every chance they get and couldn't care less about the actual future of hunting. Im not blanketing anyone.

this past season was the first time in many seasons that I didn't kill my limit of 5 birds,It had nothing to do with the number of birds available.Health issues and time constraints kept me out of the woods.Where I hunt we have a very healthy/huntable population,and I would vote against a limit decrease,but if your area will not support a five bird limit then stop killing them when you get 3 birds.

I agree with you turkey 24/7 as I am on the front lines of our current timber management practices. I think that most of the tracts I manage have improved wildlife habitat. In the forest industry, pesticides are primarily used at seedling nurseries, not in the woods. I have not ran into a shortage of insects in my career. What about the herbaceous layer that is released by the use of forestry herbicides ? Are they not good for wildlife, or is 10 foot tall sweetgum with no herbaceous layer better? I go above and beyond to surpass the standards of Alabama Best Management Practices by leaving wider smz's and other sensitive areas when I set up a timber sale. How about the hundreds to thousands of acres that get burned every year in normal forest management practices ? If I'm not mistaken, that helps many game and non-game species.

What happened to turkeys and deer in this state by the 1950's ? They had to be restocked as they were near extinction....but how could that be as there were thousands of acres in huge blocks that were primarily mixed pine and hardwood ? There were no chemicals used in forest management back in those days either. How did turkey populations explode in the 80's especially considering that most of today's forest management practices were being used by then ?

TDD, I know that you live in the heart of the wood basket of the southeastern U.S. Your primary hunting ground could very well be in the midst of thousands of acres of pre-merchantable plantations owned by investment companies and other industrial forest landowners. From a landscape point of view, you could be in a turkey lull from a lack of standing timber, and prescribed fire regenerating early successional habitat. On a large landscape point of view, your area is a drop in a bucket.

All wildlife populations fluctuate, and they have since the beginning of time and will as long as we are here. I am not saying that there is nothing going on with wildlife populations in Alabama, but to say that the forest industry is the number one culprit is misguided.

My opinion is that we have had several less than average nesting years in a row due to weather, and increased predator populations as a more viable culprit. A wild turkey has an amazing ability to adapt, but there are always numerous biological factors that they must deal with. I don't see suitable forest habitat, which is controlled in this state by 97% private, non-industrial forest landowners as a main biological factor limiting turkey populations.