>>>Spring season is only a function of hunter pleasure - they would rather kill one gobbling than in the fall - NO biological reason for it!<<<
Now wait a minute! I know better than to argue turkey biology with you, so this is probably just a question of semantics, but someone might not understand. Or maybe I am wrong; see if you disagree with this:
The spring gobbler is an excess bird in the flock. Seasons are set so that nearly all of the hens will be bred before the season even comes in. I've got to watch 2 being bred this spring, and that's the first time I've ever seen it more than once. Maybe the cold winter slowed them down a little?
At any rate, the gobblers job is pretty much done when the season starts. There won't be any more or less poults whether he lives or dies. If he dies, there will be plenty of other gobblers to take over for him next year. So from the standpoint of biology, this bird is the one to kill.
Doesn't that present a biological argument for a Spring season with a generous limit?
Theoretically, there were more of these "excess" gobblers in the fall, since the passage of time from October to April can ONLY result in lower turkey numbers. So, again theoretically, from a biological standpoint it would be wiser to harvest the appropriate number of "excess" gobblers the day after the last poult was hatched for the year (the day when the highest turkey numbers of the year is recorded). This would maximize turkey harvest.
Your timing scenario has a "little" merit
However, I would not say the gobblers job is done by Mar 15. I don't have any data to back me up but I would say that the majority of hens are bred in April that result in nests. Certainly some earlier but also a lot bred later, even into summer. Yea, the population does not need all those gobblers and many are excess, but some are needed all summer for potential "fill in" breeding for those hens who got broke up late!
When the spring seasons were originally set, I doubt they were considering whether breeding was done by Mar 20. I think they were more concerned with whether they were gobbling good yet
