I would personally like to see a season for the southern half of the state resemble or mimic the season we had for a very long time. 3/20 opener and 4/25 close. It would also not hurt my feelings to see decoys outlawed. I have used them to kill hard headed field turkeys over the years and even fanned a few. It's not much of a challenge to kill one over a decoy or fan him.

Turkey Master - I use to say turkeys will walk thru corn to get to fresh clear cut 😀 - prob exaggerating but they do Lov clear cut

I I would think u are prob right on site specific but I no expert on turkey population

And traditionally Clarke County has lot of birds - I just don’t hav great property for turkey yet here - when they thin timber in near future that should help

Sounds like u hav some awesome spots - good for u

I got good deer and hav had good Turkey occasionally in the past - always looking for extra turkey spots

Ain’t no turkeys in Clarke County.
The hogs ate em all and rooted up the nests.

Now...up in N AL, man.....they are loaded with birds!!

Pine plantation can be very suitable habitat for turkeys. I’ve seen them thriving in pines almost more consistently than old growth hardwoods

Answerin this is like throwin a dart at the board..too many factors. Things that do work...habitat management, active non stop predator management, and trigger control...one of my overall oppinions..habitat diversity and connectivity....also...you can flat out grow some deer an turkeys in heavily managed pine plantation....you cant grow squat in unmanaged pine plantation

the hogs in Clarke are as bad as I've seen them anywhere.

I'm in agreement with hogs being a huge nuisance in my area. Wow, they can destroy chufa, turkey nests, and good food plot.

Guys I'm just not a believer in the whole "predator" numbers thing. That's just my opinion, but I don't see more or less predators now than I used to.

When everybody talks about increased predators being the reason, what do you base that on? I mean honestly, are you truly seeing (with your own eyes) some incredible amount of more "predators" today? Or are you just regurgitating the usual company line?

I understand individual properties could be more or less (therefore shaping your opinion), but just in general across the whole region (just say the southern U.S.), is there any true basis for saying there's more predators?
We act like 20 years ago 75% of the population trapped. Just not true, I doubt most folks ever knew anyone who trapped, especially anyone who did it at such a level to literally thwart population numbers.

I just don't "SEE" anything noticeably different from the 80's and 90's (when I believe we had manifold more turkeys), EXCEPT an insane increase in turkey HUNTER numbers. We had jillions of coons, possums, coyotes, etc, the forest service still burned right smack in the middle of nesting season. Nothing was different, except I might've known a dozen guys who turkey hunted, and today there's a dozen trucks parked along every road every morning.

I hunt a military base in Calhoun Co, and as of last Wednesday they had killed 49 birds. Lord, that's 50 birds just on ONE property, in basically one month. Just imagine the whole state. Sometimes I think we just don't want to look in the mirror and say the hard thing.

Maybe predators aren’t the problem but it sure isn’t hurting anything to kill as many of them as we can. Not sure about coon population but I can guarantee there’s a lot more coyotes now than we had 20 years ago. I do agree with ya that it seems like everyone turkey hunts now a days. Not sure how many are successful but a lot are trying

That “one” property is 24k acres, correct?

I look at it like this ikillbux, predators on most properties go unchecked this day in age. So yes, I think their numbers have increased simply based off the numbers I see on camera. Can I say they have increased more in the last 20 years, no. I'm not saying predators are the sole reason for reduced numbers, but they are part of the problem. It is also the one thing a turkey hunter can do if leasing property, as most hunters can't control what takes place on the property. For every nest predator removed, that is one that will not rob a turkey nest. My line of thinking is, every little bit of help might just produce a few more birds each spring. Is it going to make a huge difference in the large scheme of things, probably not. What I do know is it might make the difference for a particular property and give someone a bird or two too hunt that they might not have had otherwise. I can tell you it's helped me and others I know.

I also believe we have 10X the number of turkey hunters now versus, 20 years ago. That is a big drain on the resources especially, when you have those capable of killing more than 5 doing so. If we are honest, most of us know folks within our circle that get stuck on 4 each year There is a percentage of our GW that simply collect a check, I can speak from personal experience here. From my personal experience the ones I have spoke with are lazy!! It is nearly impossible for them to convict someone with our game check system, so I want hold that against them. I can tell you their presence and boots on the ground would go a long way in helping persuade folks to follow the law. I can't tell you the last time I was checked by a GW in Alabama.

I also believe the loss of habitat is an issue, but as stated above a lot of folks have no control over that. I can speak from experience that you do not need hardwoods to have a thriving turkey population if the pines are managed. Having vast amounts of hardwoods isn't a bad thing, but it's not necessary to raise turkeys.

I’m not sure if this link will work but if it will y’all take the time to read it if you haven’t. The author makes some valid points on several things especially when it comes to these new turkey hunters that have came out of the wood works.

https://b0ac17d9-5274-4533-9517-5fd...c17_eac37d77783d4a23b04ea0e28a9a4917.pdf

^^^^^ what squeaky said on pines and outlaws
Turkeys can thrive in Pines

Several outlaws out there that kill over - only impressing themselves

You take a rainy day and a lot of gobblers come out of the mtns to fields. Low gap, little coon and private fields next to wma they get hit hard. Before it greens up it’s not that hard to slip within a 100 yds of a henned up gobbler and show him a fan. The decline on Skyline IMO was almost to the year the population started to slide.There is really nothing else that has changed there in the last 40 years. I would say there was twice the hunters before the decline also.

There is absolutely more coons in Northeast Bama than 30-40 years ago. Take that from an old coon hunter and ask other old coon hunters for conformation . I also see more coyotes now. Like Mr. Turkey said the fan is a game changer and can make a feller a super start turkey killer who would otherwise struggle.

Coons population began to boom when their pelts lost most all their value

Of course, I couldn’t let misinformation slide

“Conversion” is in the past. Accepted definition of conversion would be converting a natural pine/HW or HW stand into a planted/artificial pine plantation.

For most of the south, especially AL - this happened in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. Heck, it was ongoing during what most consider the best turkey pop growth we ever had.

Most plantation acres, especially the southern half of AL, are on their 2nd or 3rd rotation. Did I mention conversion is in the past?

True conversion today would represent a small fraction of tons/loads entering local mills. Sure, there’s still a percentage, but it’s small.

Having a beef with pine plantations themselves - the existence of them - is a different discussion. But “conversion” is water under the bridge.

^^^^
Turkey 247 is more of a tree and land expert than most of us 😀 and he is a good dude

I want giv any more info out about u 247😀 and if I had a choice I would take hardwoods over pines - but the pines hav been a beautiful thing to the paper industry among other industries which has helped this type industry hav the ability to employ tons of people across the state and the country including myself - my dad and my brother

I hear people say the decline is site specific but I hunt a lot of places and I haven’t been anywhere that I would consider the population to be stable or rising. Heck I drove across 5 states last week and saw 2 turkeys. Hunted and rode over 16000 acres and saw less than 25 birds and of that 25 I’m sure some were the same from previous days, and this was all good habitat with cattle, food, and water. Something isn’t right and I’ve always blamed it on timber practices, but my land hasn’t been clear cut, and I know guys with land that is better than mine who only have a handful of bird on places over 3000 acres. I don’t think anybody knows what’s wrong but i can see this getting absolutely terrible in 2 to 3 years if the hatch is bad. I don’t think timber harvest causing habitat change is as bad as once thought. I think a skidder running over nests is bad but actually cutting and thinning may not be that bad. I don’t think anybody knows what’s causing this because there are too many theories.

Shoot more eagles!