If you get that last diagram then we can take the property lines away now ……zoom out……and just look at the landscape in the manner of burn areas and non-burn areas……When nesting season hits the hens are likely going to concentrate into the burn areas and these “squares” will be far and away the ones with the most influence over turkey reproduction. These are also the same stands that are likely to be heavily disturbed by late season fires. Take that same diagram now and lets say the burn property produces the same habitat but adjust its burn schedule so that its done outside of turkey nesting season…..Looking at everything we know about less disturbance being better for egg production…..Do we not have the real potential for productivity to increase if we took that disturbance away??

The area Gobbler is talking about would actually be a great area to try just such an experiment…..Take two of the 5,000 acre plantations…….Have one of them adjust their burning schedule to be well outside of turkey breeding season and the other to continue doing spring burning and see if there is a noticeable difference in success rates. Keep in mind that when I talk about this being a factor of influence I’m saying that the later the burn happens the worse the impact…..So in the years where folks are able to burn everything on Feb 11……those years are not gonna have the same impact as years when Feb 11 is wet and so is Feb 25…..and weather conditions push all of these burns back farther into March and April..... It’s the very fact that we are hitting some years just on time and some years late that I believe is causing a lot of back and forth swings. As warming trends cause spring to back up more and more we are crossing this late threshold more and more….especially in extreme south Alabama.