Then I guess I should have been more precise in my comment. I meant that the gobbler's only role in reproduction is breeding the hen. He may breed another one 5 minutes later, and he may breed the same one the next day, and he may breed hundreds more in his lifetime, but the only role he ever has in reproduction is breeding the hen. He doesn't sit on the eggs or assist in rearing poults in any way.

……If you’re one of these folks that goes hunting every day anyways then it wouldn’t be that big of a deal just to run a couple foot hold traps at one of your main road intersections.

That’s not exactly earth shattering, but I think you missed the point. Continue on.

I appreciate your response and willingness to share, sir! Obviously, you knew what I was thinking.

Honestly, I am clueless (but curious) about whether this phenomenon is a viable explanation for turkey numbers anywhere I have hunted. I haven’t been doing it long enough (started in 2010) to have lived through it, assuming it were viable. However, I am mostly curious specifically as it pertains to the mountain turkeys in Jackson County (which I have spent way more time with than anywhere else). My curiosity stems from dear friends who hunted them hard in the same locales in the late 80’s, 90’s, and early 2000’s. According to them, I missed the glory days. I certainly believe them too, of course. They talk of turkey numbers in our familiar stomping grounds being borderline stupid. Go and hear 15-20 most anywhere you wanted to go. Run one turkey off and walk away from one that had shut up and was probably coming (they were learning) and walk right around the mountain a few hundred yards to the next hard gobbling one and sit down and start working him. Repeat until one of them got there quick enough to kill him before you messed it up. Obviously, those days are LONG GONE. I have seen ebbs and flows over my 14 years chasing them there, believe when I started was the probably the highest numbers I have seen, hit a bottom out maybe 3 or 4 years ago, and now the hunting has gotten much better again. My experience is not really related to my question, but just thought I would share regardless.

With all that said, is the 20 year phenomenon a potential explanation for why my friends had so many turkeys to hunt back then? I honestly have no idea how long we have had viable populations, if/when there were ever stocking efforts in Jackson County, etc. Hence, my curiosity in a locale dear to me.

And the follow-on question is……what about other locations around Alabama and the southeast? Is the 20 year phenomenon a potential, viable explanation for perceived “declines” elsewhere? In the end, I wish I knew more about the timelines of stocking efforts around the SE.

Bumping this to the end as I don’t believe gobbler ever saw it and I would like his take. Simply put, was there reintroduction/restocking in Jackson County, timing wise, that could potentially explain the seeming over abundance of turkeys described above? I found in the “Wild Turkey in Alabama” by Steve and Victoria Barnett where they documented there have been 49 males and 126 females released in Jackson County, but I couldn’t find any timelines associated with any of the county’s restocking efforts.

I don't know anything about that area, but I will say, in general, that the high populations we experienced in the early 2000's were un-natural. I don't expect to see them again. I think we are at a "natural" population level.