Part II.

During this 11 page thread:
http://www.aldeer.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1623980&page=1
From those on the Turkey Committee, we heard that lowering the limit wasn't really even being talked about or considered nor were there any recommendations of lowering the limit on a statewide, much less regional basis, being promoted. However, although I was not at the CAB meeting (while they were talking about perceived declines and regulations on turkeys, I was burning/increasing turkey habitat), I just got a call indicating that the recommendation was made to lower the limit from 5 to 3 and shorten the season to boot. Looks like those who said "What are you talking and arguing about, this isn't being proposed?!" were misinformed. While my info is second hand, maybe he was wrong. If so, someone enlighten me.

Why don't they lower the limit on quail while they are at it. Quail are in FAR worse trouble than turkeys in AL and lowering the limit would make EXACTLY the same amount of sense.....0000

They knew it all along. They tried to float it here and when several folks pointed out how stupid their reasoning was they crawfished.

What pisses me off is the reasoning to "do something" even if it does no good. That is how we got Obama... Hope and Change. If I am sick and I cut off my finger, I am "doing something" even though it only makes things worse. I will be very vocal if the turkey population does not recover to what we had 10 years ago due to these more restrictions regulations. They should be held accountable if they pass it.

This speaks volumes about the quality of thought level at the state DCNR level and other committees. What a travesty.

That thread is the one where Matt Brock left the building. Before he took his ball and went home though,he said this...

I'm sure he knew of this all along.

I know alot of state folks have spent alot of time on Skyline doing some kind of turkey study the last several months.

I've always wanted to kill one that had a transmitter on it

Also..... If they'd spend just a little time and money at skyline keeping the existing food plots up in the summer they would have a really nice place for poults to thrive as opposed to another briar patch for coyotes and bobcats to hide in.

That would be too complicated I guess though. Better idea is to hire more state people to levee more regulations

The only way to really fix turkeys and quail is shoot, trap, etc...whatever it takes to get rid of yotes, coons, and opossums; and burn.

Simple as that.

It's just more of the same old crap.They don't have a clue what needs to be done so they just do what ever some Joe blow suggest,and hope something happens that makes it look like a good idea!

Yea its way better to hire more state folks at 50k a year than spend a little time and money on actually improving habitat...makes good sense to me

They got signs all over the place "No Hunting Of Any Kind" all over the place. I went to one of my favorite spots to listen and it was covered with these signs in middle of WMA.

X2. It's amazing how incapable most all government workers and elected officials are.

Tennessee is in the same shape they said last year that Turkey limits were going to be put on the table this year, instead of getting to the root of the problem

We need to move some of those around!

It's a mind game, or a math problem with different answers.

I will hold out hope to the end, that regs are zoned. Maybe I shouldn't put my faith here, but I will because I know there's some good folks involved.

However - if it's a statewide change - the following could happen.

If we have some really strong hatches, the population will increase. It could even drastically increase. And if these regs are put in place, you know where the credit would go - to the regulations! Then it would be solid "proof" that lowering the limit helped statewide. That better hatches happened because of the regs. When it may have only marginally helped a few areas.

The shame is that the credit will not be attributed to a wild game bird that has consistently proven it is a tough, adaptable, survivor. I think managing for turkey and enhancing property is noble and good. But these birds can do it without a lot of human interference. They have survived and thrived in tough times and changing dynamics. Anything from land use changes to hunter and predator number fluctuations. They adapted and survived - and in places thrived.

Do what!? WTH is that all about?

From the other thread:



247, I tried to consider this as well and I think we are being fed bogus info here. No way that 28% of the harvest is made of turkeys 4 and 5. Assuming and even distribution of kills in each category and that the average turkey hunter kills 1, that should lead to approximately this:
1 - 50%
2 - 25%
3 - 13%
4 - 8%
5 - 4%

This would be at best, 12% of the harvest made up of turkeys 4 and 5. Undoubtedly not accurate but probably a better approximation of actual numbers and certainly better than nearly a third of the harvest being turkeys 4 and 5 and that 6,000 hunters kill a limit. Not believable. Saving 10% of the gobblers killed in Al would add an additional gobbler per 10 SQUARE MILES. Yea, HUGE impact!

Come on guys. When a state biologist publicly says it would be "foolish" to not lower the limit, didn't you know it was a done deal? Won't help the turkeys a bit, but it will make some people feel better. And so we get it.

I guess this is what it feels like to be a conservative living in a blue state. No where in the world has a hunting culture like the turkey hunting culture in the state of Alabama and they are trying to kill it.
I can see in the near future a 3 week season where its legal to shoot 2 gobblers a year over a pile of corn. Then we will probably get hen tags too