Originally Posted by gobbler
Originally Posted by poorcountrypreacher
Originally Posted by CNC
The problem seems multi-faceted…... a combination of several factors……JMO but to fix it I say…..

1) Make decoys illegal
2) Create a way to incentivize trapping
3) Encourage the inexperienced folks to burn earlier…..Educate the prescribed burn managers more on conducting May/June burns




I am personally good with #1, but I have never seen any evidence that it would make any difference in poult production. The state spent 5 years, millions of dollars, took away thousands of man hours of hunting opportunities, and lost the Scotch WMA for the purpose of finding any sliver of evidence that early gobbler harvest was hurting populations. And they knew that they couldn't find anything on well managed private land, so the did the entire study on hard hunted, non-managed public land. And they found........ Nothing. Not a single fact to use to justify the restrictions they wanted. They had to say that they did it on "the opinion of experts." And we all know who the Expert is - if anyone else on the committee had disagreed they would have found themselves working in a place like Siberia.

I don't know of but 2 ways to accomplish #2. One would be to bring back fur in women's fashion, and that will be difficult. The other that would work would be to have a long season with a 5 bird limit to encourage people to manage for turkeys. That actually worked for about 75 years.

I don't get #3. Every amateur I know burns in late winter.


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The caveat to that is May is actually a VERY easy month to burn if the fuel dries up. Feb and March is, as we have discussed, windy, low hum and dry fuels and the fire WANTS to be on the neighbors, preferably 2 neighbors over. Its a nightmare to manage. May is flowers and sunshine smile Fuels are greening up, fires move slower and a simple road that has been driven on is an easy firebreak. Hardwood drains are also excellent and easy firebreaks. May is for amateurs, Feb is for pro's beers


I don't disagree that May would be a good time to burn for us amateurs; I just don't think many are doing it. Don't you think that the majority of the amateur burns are late winter?

I guess I still don't fully understand what the argument is in this thread. I thought it started with the complaint that May burns were bad because they burnt up nests? CNC, isn't that your position? My argument was that hardly anyone does those, and it surely isn't enough to affect the population on a statewide basis

Maybe I need to go back and read the whole thread.

All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.