As far as protecting jakes......it can't hurt. Whats overall jake harvest? Nobody knows for sure.... Neither do the surveys and especially the wma harvest #s. Many people prob wouldn't admit to killing a jake anyways especially to a state biologist. I'd bet everyone reading this knows of several jakes that were killed by either themselves or acquaintances. Will this be the golden bullet to revive areas with declining turkey populations...... Absolutely not, but if goverment regulation is due, protecting jakes makes all kinds of sense.

Tagging checking etc......everybody knows killing over the limit isn't hard to do with 45 days of season. Writing down your kills on a license that you can hit print on a computer and get another instantly is assinine.

If your goal is save gobblers the above options still allow your traditional days in the woods and your five gobblers. I'm for leaving it as it is, but if regulations are the answer for many these are a place to start

All I'm saying is for me to have more than enough turkeys where I hunt, why should I have to suffer because N AL doesn't have a huntable population? Sounds like its more of a problem there, then it is in S AL. 3 turkey breast are not enough and a shorter season is complete BS. I wait all year for this, I carry calls in my pockets so I can practice when I have free time, I even start getting in shape after deer season to prepare for my turkey season. not only will a shorter season take money out of my families pocket, it will take money out of our states pocket and local economies where hunting lodges are. you won't stop people from killing over the limit and you might " save" a few turkeys each season but that's just going to increase the probability of them dying of natural causes. How many of you from N AL that are wanting a change made, manage the predators on your place? have you made any habitat improvements? have you ever seen two gobblers on your place and thought to yourself, I may find a couple of other places to kill a bird or two this year and leave these to breed all season? I'm guessing very little management of the predators and I'm guessing you've never considered leaving birds alone for seed. I for one am always conscious of how many birds I take off of a piece of property and try and divide my limit and everyone else's limits I help with up amongst different counties and properties and I have had nothing but success in practicing this. If the turkey numbers are as bad in N AL as said, then something needs to be done but I disagree with the whole state changing.

I think another thing that people aren't factoring in is that the past 3 springs (at least in north Alabama) have been very odd ones. 2013 and 2015 were damp, cool and overcast all the way into May. In 2014 temperatures hit 90 a couple times in March and then mid April it started raining every day.
'13 and '15 were both real weird years for gobbling but it wasn't because there weren't plenty of turkeys here.
The places I hunt went thru a real bad lull from around 2003-2007 and then the numbers started to rebound.
In the 1999-2000 seasons there were mornings where I heard 20+ turkeys gobbling in Jackson county. In 2003-2004 lots of times I didn't hear any. Nobody killed them off they just had bad hatches. They're birds. They are gonna go thru some pretty wild population swings.
Only thing we can do as a state to help them is make sure we don't let them die off from some kind of exotic disease, give them some good habitat and keep predators in check.

you never will there was never any law ever written that prevented a poacher from poaching.

I don't think I've ever seen a "killer" that was a jake shooter. I guess maybe there are some folks that greedy but I don't think I've ever known one.

Quiet Turkeys is directly related to predator pressure simple as that. This brings me back to predator control. WAY too much focus on people killing them and no viable predator habitat solutions.

I haven't forgotten about weather patterns, predation, or habitat. The theory I've had and have seen proven true includes all of those factors.

Quiet Turkeys is directly related to predator pressure simple as that. This brings me back to predator control. WAY too much focus on people killing them and no viable predator habitat solutions.[/quote]

It has a lot to do with predators and habitat. That's why turkeys that live in thick places where timber has been cut and have to walk skidder roads generally don't gobble very well.
Weather has a big effect on gobbling too

What theory is that ?

Be glad.

Ok..Ill put in my 2 cents worth.

I think a lot of hens start getting bred before the season starts...and then ALL through the season.

Heres a pic of 2 gobblers with hens beginning of March. Hes with her because hes breeding her...




Remember this picture..Im going to show you more from the same spot.
It is a road into a food plot.
I kill gobbler after gobbler here every year...Most dont gobble except MAYBE on the limb once or twice.

The reason? THEYVE GOT GIRLS..they dont need to attract more and call in other gobblers to steal their chicks!

Also Ive seen gobblers breed multiple hens in one morning many times.

Heck...Ive even seen strutting jakes tend more then one hen in a field in one am.

I dont feel the problem is lack of breeding in the turkey woods thats for sure.

And while some areas of Alabama (like where I live) have little to no turkeys..I can drive 30- 45 minutes and be where there are higher huntable populations.

I dont think the problem where I live is from hunting.

No one CAN hunt them here legally at ALL. They just had a die off. They were here for a few years...looking like a huntable amount...then GONE the next.

I like the limit at 5 to be honest. A LOT!
In 13 years here in Alabama I have been fortunate enough to tag out every year but one.
That year I shot 3 in Bama...but killed 9 more in other states.
I love turkey hunting and I love eating turkey.

The last 2 years I was done by April 5th Or so. Tagged out and people around where I hunt thinking there were hardly any birds...you could hardly even get a bird to gobble is what they said to me,...No more birds!

Id just shake my head and tag out with birds that just werent GOBBLING hardly at all. They were just walking around with groups of hens strutting and breeding them.

They had gotten all worked up about a SOUND a male turkey makes. They didnt hear it...must not be any birds left!

I guess in their minds..no gobble SOUND..no gobblers. SMDH!

I cant eat a sound..I kill turkeys..not the noise they make. They would walk all over..calling everywhere...buggering non gobblin birds.

Id try to tell them.."THEY JUST ARENT GOBBLING MUCH!" Set up where you usually kill them and call them in.

Nope..they just kept walking all over owl hooting..crow calling..coyote calling. Theyd come back beat..Id be done by 8 am with another non gobblin bird.

Id set up where I always kill birds and call them in. Usually by calling in the hen. And heck..many times shed be making a racket cutting back to me..me cutting at her..and the gobbler STILL wouldnt gobble.

Theyd tell me they would rather not kill one then hunt like that. Id say youd rather run around trying to get a turkey who IS NOT going to gobble..to gobble? Good luck with that!

Id stake out some blind material in front of me..throw out a couple decoys and call a bit. Soon..Id see a hen enter the field...then a few more..then see a big old gobbler strutting in behind em and whack em.
Or Id get close to where they usually roost and call as it got light...and here them flydown..then spitting..then when I saw them...BOOM!
Theyd show up 3 hours later worn out...and never hear or see a bird.

I feel that gobblers just dont gobble much early season. As it warms up...and hens nest...they gobble MORE and are easier to hear and then get on.

I feel a big thing may be the turkeys reaction to predators. Lots of coyotes and bobcats....I think theyve learned to be quieter.

After I tagged out by April 5th...I still left my cameras out . All where roads or gas lines enter food plots...natural travel corridors.

Now heres pictures FROM the same spot AFTER I was tagged out. Mind you that I killed two birds from that very spot, and even up until I did I didnt hear but a handful of gobbles all season.
My friends thought I must of killed all the birds. LOL.







and these pics are from Another camera i ran on a different plot where I shot 2 gobblers as well off of.





The gobblers werent all dead like they thought. Or NO gobblers like they thought. There were a bunch of dang birds left. Just henned up and keeping quiet.

So just because you DONT hear gobblers..doesnt mean there ARENT gobblers is what Im trying to say!

and on a side note..I always try to be ethical and law abiding...but after harvesting my 5...I finish!

I dont go shoot more then my limit...though I easily could have killed a couple of these dang birds.

Got to follow the law...even though as a die hard turkey hunter it tears me up to be home during the season and not huntin.

Doesnt say i wasnt tempted though..lol.
Last year I just took another guy from here that hunted my club and he killed 2 more.

I hate game hogs who will shoot over the limit. Thats lame to me. Leave some for other folks.

Anyways..thats my opinion. Keep the seasons and limit the same.

but if you do shoot your 5 get the heck out of the woods...or if you are in them be with another hunter and call him i his bird and leave your shotgun at home.

This is what I see as the problem. You want to help turkeys..kill those dang predators whenever you can.
Im pretty sure most hens are getting bred somehow...so restricting the harvest of male birds would have very negligible results IMO.

Is that what you and the wife call it Matt? a "meeting"???

Just kidding buddy.

Good to see your opinion...but you dang fish and game govt dudes are just trying to make it so I cant even eat. 3 dang birds??? That SUCKS!

...just saying! What the heck can I do after the first 2 weeks of the season then???

Can I come hunt that plot?

heck..I bet you could come AFTER I tag out and stand a good chance between those two plots.

I hate to say though,,thats a coal mine now. Broke my heart. Both those plots are!!

I ended hunting there after that being where I started when I first joined. Killed a 150 inch buck there my first year too.

Educate





Among the other things that PCP said, how about listening to a radio interview last weekend with one of the CAB members who said unequivocally that 1) we are having a decline, 2) we need to go to 3 bird limit and 3) he noted the turkey committee giving these suggestions, and 4) he said we are not raising enough poults and the main reason for the decline were weather, habitat and predators. I didn't have time to call since I was working but I wanted to ask him what the gobbler limit had to do with weather, habitat and predators or poult recruitment. Based on my usual answers to this inquiry I just figured I would be considered a argumentative azzhole.

After all this, let's regroup. No one, including our state biologists, have provided a logical answer to the original question.

I didn't hear that interview. But it makes me sick to my stomach that there's a CAB member that either - believes what he's saying, or succumbing to political pressure. And I am referencing the NEED for the state (assuming entire state) to drop straight from 5 to 3.