I’m almost tired of mentioning it, but promised I wouldn’t stop. It’s clearly needed, and that’s not really up for discussion anymore.

But will we get them? What’s the odds? Will the right people actually nut up and figure it out?

I’ll offer a southern 1/3 AL zone at M15-A20. Pretty simple really.

I would say March 10.

I can literally sit on one side of a tree and shoot a bird in front of me legally but if I turn around and face the other direction while sitting against the same tree and shoot a bird I’m illegal. And that’s hunting on private land. Im guessing the birds on the north side of the tree know their not supposed to breed at the same time as the birds on the south side of the tree. Yeah, that’s seems like an educated decision. I’m not a fan of the opening date(s) being pushed back at all. No where near as far south as y’all but I agree with the dates y’all have listed. Opening day no later than March 15.

For the sake of simplicity why not make it March 1 – May 1……Would that early of a start be detrimental to anything??......I think making decoys illegal would help offset a lot of the impact if that were a concern and if we could ever get something done about a trapping incentive then it seems like to me that would all make for a good combination of variables…..Lots of birds, plenty of time to go…..and a great hunting experience

Complete decoy banning is not a realistic option, regardless of individual opinions or if they are a problem or not. It’s a revenue stream - follow the money deal unfortunately. We can dream, but I’m not pretending anybody influential with regs will nut up that much.

I think there is a cab meeting coming up. Folks need to email the write people or show up.

All for the zones…absolutely garbage for those of us who hunt south Bama. North Bama season is great

3/15 would hav been great for me

I hear potentially CHanges are coming - not sure if they will be good - not sure if the turkey reduction across board will be solved - most states across country are seeing less turkey - think that has been mentioned here several times

Am I in the southern 1/3?

Problem is nobody knows anything and they sure don't do anything. I have dealt with the DCNR a bunch and it's broken promises or some sort of excuse everytime.

The only thing they seem to be interested in is how to make more money. If it involves them making money in anyway they are on top of it. I have no idea where all this cash ends up but I have a pretty good idea.

Far as the season changes this time, I think it was pure evil. Worse season I've had in 30 years.

Idk, but there’s gotta be a line somewhere between Mobile and Scottsboro, right? We know it’s not one size fits all for dang sure.

I was down in evergreen for Easter and walked a piece of land my wife’s family has. Meant to take a picture. The woods were so thick and greened up, you would almost have to sit on a road or field to be able to shoot a bird over 15yds away. I killed a bird a few days before on some NE Alabama high elevation land, and the woods barely had a hint of green.

The difference is laughable. The distance between Huntsville and mobile is the same as Huntsville and Indiana.

Right. I’ve said this many times here and elsewhere as an example. Just take a little north/south drive about April 1st.

There definitely needs to be a split but the traveling turkey hunters are gonna absolutely crush that southern zone if it has an early opener. Every warm blooded turkey killer with a drivers license will be sitting at a public land gate on opening morning.

Yupp. If I gotta wait a week up in the north lands I'll gladly drive two hours to hit up some public I've never seen .I won't be the only one either

The growing seasons are definitely different, but I use to kill the crap out of turkeys late season in South Alabama. Great hunting when I was there.

Yeah I hear that.........Maybe meet halfway and go with March 1 - May 1.... with no decoys until April 1.......

Most will be just getting started when the date of kickoff hits..

What public land in the southern zone. And it doesn’t matter - the little public land that exists can have a later start date. That already is in place. This is a complete non-issue.

The state just needs to go back to March 15th to April 30th dates. No need to complicate it with anything else. Especially "No Decoys" or other individuals "Dominant Gobbler Theory " or other individuals "wish list" BS.

You couldn’t hunt public until April 1 this year. If all public land starts later, and at the same time - it’s not an issue.

You are absolutely right and I apologize for taking up space in your thread 😉

Not trying to be a butthole at all - just clarifying.

Why does public land need different season dates???.....I was thinking about going to the National Forest one day earlier in the season and I got to looking at the regs to see when the season opened and was like WTF??.....Why does it have to be this complicated???......If there is any aspect of all of this that needs to remain simple it’s the season dates……Throw out a dozen different numbers at folks like 7, 16, 23, 27….while trying to read through a rule book for 14 different zones and public land parcels and you’ll confuse the chit out of most anyone…….Make it simple….If WMA’s need to be moderated then have a quota based on past data. For example…..Barbour Co would be March 1 – May 1…….or until 100 gobblers are killed or whatever is decided by those who run it. Nobody has to really be concerned with those numbers before they go hunt a WMA other than if they’ve been met yet or not. Just another possible way of running the public side of things

Traveling turkey hunters are why the public land dates were adjusted. Mississippi still has a mid March opening date, and they went to a draw system for OOS hunters.

I gotcha....Yeah, I guess you would have to come up with something to deter it if you opened before everyone else. A draw system for OOS hunters would definitely be a way of controlling it.

If they want to reduce the number of turkeys killed it is really simple. Do away with decoys, and do away with TSS. Problem solved. Neither of them are revenue streams to Alabama and it would cut harvest substantially. Not that hard to figure out and I don't even turkey hunt. The guys who hunt my place did not shoot one until the day after decoys were legal and have two now. They are not supreme Turkey Whisperers, but both have years of successful hunting so they re not clueless. During the period before dekes were legal they could have shot 3-4 if they used TSS, which they do not. I personally would not allow it to be used on my place. As with most things the solution is just to dam simple for a govt entity to comprehend.

Huh. Local businesses sell the chit out of both.

I don’t care about decoys one way or the other really. My household killed 7 the first 10 days without them, so there’s that. But it’s a revenue stream. And TSS is a huge revenue producer. You got to be realistic about those two things completely going away.

I’ve been using TSS for 3-4 years now and it hasn’t helped me kill one yet, I didn’t start using it to kill them at longer distances. If we gonna outlaw it then let’s do away with scopes on deer rifles as well. They can have the decoys, I have used them before but never seemed to help me much, haven’t toted one in a while unless my daughters with me

All of the current changes are an effort to save the "dominant gobbler". Outlaw decoys and the harvest of the dominant bird will dramatically decrease.

I expect the people using TSS will probably buy regular lead shells, not quit hunting. Plus, who the heck would use more than 3-4 a year. It is very little money in the big picture. Minimal revenue change there. And the amount of money that goes into the State DCNR from decoy sales I would bet is statistically nothing. And if folks were not buying the super holo certain death gobbler decoy they would probably be spending that money on the super duper gobbler guaranteed sceaming fire engine hooter. Which might work because my buddy had a bunch of gobblers cut loose last week when a fire truck went by on the highway. I am sure there are plenty of very good hunters who can consistently kill birds without decoys, but for the majority of hunters, especially inexperienced hunters, it is a significant benefit, and we are talking macro, not micro numbers. So sj22, if you aren't using them for the longer range what's the point of TSS. That's the whole reason it was developed are ya just trying to make them even deader. I guess with a wide choke you can get a super dense pattern at non tss turkey ranges but at those ranges lead does a fine job. So what's the point. I expect the point is when ya get one hung up 5-10 yards past where you would be comfortable shooting with lead in the chamber it dies. Like I said, I got no dawg in the hunt, other than an observer, but if the State wanted to reduce the turkey harvest, it would be a very easy simple way to do it. Just like, if the State wanted to reduce deer harvest, it could do away with scopes and harvest would go down.

Brad, you seem all about banning things. They dropped the limit of legal gobblers you can kill this year. That one tool has the most effect on the legal gobblers killed. If a man will kill more than the limit, he will trespass, use whatever decoys and shells he wants, no matter what you want to ban. The only way the DNR can help turkeys is by helping hens, not saving gobblers. Outlaws will do what they want, unless you can catch them. The vast majority never come close to being caught.

I use it because it’s the best thing available and I’m able to load it myself and can use a 20 gauge or 410 to kill em instead of toting a heavy 12 gauge. I’m sure there’s folks that shoot it to get maximum range but that’s not me

TSS does an excellent job when folks get the big eye and shoot 5-10 steps further than they thought. Bird dies with lead or TSS. Difference is the TSS bird is reduced to possession.

I don't believe that you know much about the history of the development of TSS. I think you are just making assumptions, and they are not true. It was originally brought to market by a guy named Kyle Smith, from Oklahoma. The sole purpose of it was to replace lead performance in waterfowl hunting, and all of his efforts were directed towards waterfowl. Hal Abbott thought it showed far more promise as a turkey load. He thought it would produce cleaner kills and allow hunters to use a smaller gauge gun, and he was right on both counts. Hal, more than anyone, brought TSS to turkey hunting, and he surely didn't do it to increase range.

The major ammo manufacturers ignored it for nearly a decade, and then it seems they all joined in at once. Some of them have indeed marketed it as good for longer range, but that was certainly not the original purpose.
You can't really understand the idea of cleaner kills unless you hunted turkeys in the old days with those lead shells.

I shoot to the same distance now that I did before TSS, but now I can do it with 5 lb 6 oz 20 gauge that has very manageable recoil vs a 3.5" 12 gauge that bruised my shoulder. It would make no sense to ban, it but that doesn't mean it won't happen.

Some of you have piss poor reading comprehension. I have no dog in this hunt and am not personally for banning anything. So I will go REALLLLLLLYYY SLOWWWWWWWLLLYYY this time. If the State is looking to reduce harvest, which is largely what this thread is about, removing decoys and TSS would do the trick. This is nothing more than a factual statement. If I ever start turkey hunting again I might use both. There are lots of other things that would do it too. Such as reducing bag limit. But how much did that really do? It affected only the very small number of hunters who have the opportunity and ability to kill a limit, and from what I see personally and what is posted here, there ain't a whole lot of them. So the overall effect might not be that great. The late season apparently worked for them based on my buddies and this Forum. I don't know I am not a turkey biologist. I had not thought about the use of TSS in small bore situations sj22 , so I will stand corrected on that, there is a use for it other than reaching out and touching one, but I doubt that holds true for the majority of TSS users.

Brad doesn't turkey hunt but apparently knows how everybody else does

Thanks for the info on TSS PCP, although its shocking when someone actually presents factual data on Aldeer. I did not know the history of it and most of what I have seen, and heard, about it is range. Blasting them out beyond that 30-40 yard range just to get a notch on the stock is what I would have a problem with. For me personally I believe it should be about beating him. Same reason I won't shoot a deer when I am riding around on the buggy, no fun for me unless I beat his arse. I can see the appeal of the 20's, since my turkey gun is an 870 Magnum I was shooting 3.5" TSS's out of. Maybe thats' why I have not been in quite a few years LOL Actually, life is why I have not hunted in years, but I see your point and when I start up again in about a year, it will be with a very different weapon, probably one of those 20's you mentioned..

Dirk see my post above about reading comprehension. Its getting easy to spot the stoopids on here, you still wearing a mask?

Reducing bag limits will produce minimal results in improving turkey numbers, otherwise all the states with 1-3 bird limits would already be overrun with birds. Doesn’t make any sense. I extremely rarely use a decoy. I’d be okay with removing them, but I don’t want to take away that option for other hunters. Reducing predators and improving nesting habitat will have more positive influence than reducing bag limits. TV/YouTube hunters haven’t done the wild turkey any favors either.

I don't think you write nearly as well as your arrogant butt thinks you do.

I’ve only killed one turkey in my life with a decoy, just to say I did it.

I’m willing to bet my paycheck that more birds are crippled and left to die with ANY type of shot due to poor shot placement, poor patterning shotguns, too far, not getting their head down on the gun, etc; than are killed because TSS gave them the advantage needed on turkeys that couldn’t have been killed with lead.

I started the thread homeboy - and I can stone cold guarantee you it’s got no purpose to reduce harvest.

Maybe you should explain your logic as to why TSS would reduce harvest, and why you think that is a fact? Keep in mind, most of us you are trying to explain that to have been killing true alabama limits of turkeys with lead shot way before we even knew what tss was. And like I said, I’ve only killed one bird in my life with a decoy just to say I did it.

Ban tss tomorrow. Ban decoys tomorrow. I couldn’t care less. I’ll pick up my 12 gauges and keep clicking right along like I never missed a step.

If you look at the harvest numbers around the time they legalized decoys you can see that it had a major impact. Without decoys there were probably a lot more gobblers living to an older age and that “age structure” likely had a lot of influence on the quality of the hunts and such……flock dynamics I guess you would call it.