Was there a dead hen in the back of his truck? Had he been scavenging nests and eating the eggs? Is he planning on walking around and jump shooting poults like quail?

This kind of information is what's concerning.

Nobody coon hunts anymore, I say predators of all kinds. Trapping predators imo will help more than anything.

"By 2014, the country had lost approximately one million wild turkeys or 15% of the population. By 2019, the number had dropped another 3%. "

I wish they could cite a source for this info. Ive never seen it. Who census birds?

studies have shown that 93% of statistics are made up on the spot...

We’ve seen more turkeys in the last 4 seasons than we’ve seen in the past 8 yrs on our property. 80% pine with hardwoods along our creek bottoms.Haven’t seen a coon or coyote sign in 2 yrs.That’s a fact.

For me this year was one of those throwbacks to pre-2020 hunting. Back when you could go to pretty much any random spot that looked good and at least hear a turkey. Last few years have been awful quiet.

Heard more this year than I have in quite some time and didn't even hunt half the days I did last year. The last few times I went I was hearing multiple birds, too. I'm hopeful that means the population is on the upswing in my area. Not saying it's that way everywhere as at this point it's clear to me that turkey populations can be a boom or bust thing depending on many factors. A good hatch changes things quick. Just my .02

I heard more birds this year than I have the past 4 I've been hunting. This year is the only year I've not had one gobble back to my calls though. Maybe I just suck at calling lol.

If your hens are nesting in hay fields the root of the problem is not being addressed... habitat.

Not sure why anyone would think it is ok for the State to spend my tax dollars clearing a field of turkey nests so a farmer could mow it anywayl

So all the south eastern states are colluding to limit turkey hunter rights?

My guess would be they’re concerned with decking populations effecting future license sales

No one has or will address why Colbert, Lauderdale and other seasons were closed for some time. Lauderdale was closed for 25 years and Colbert was closed for 10 is what I’ve been told. I can’t find any docs saying what the times frames were but I was there when Lauderdale opened back up for 5 days. They slowly opened back up for several years and advanced the area countywide. Those were some stupid birds for a few years.

This was Waterloo 2nd day of opening mid 90s. First day was a wash out
Funny story my friend killed his first one and I as pumped. Spent $800 that afternoon at Russell’s Sporting Goods. That’d be like several thousand now. He has a great piece of pretty loaded with turkeys. His population has barely fluctuated yet where I hunted as crashed. 🤷‍♂️

My guess.........

Back in the BC era…..before coyote……Turkey population growth rates were most likely higher across the board…..Your good land was likely spilling out a lot more turkeys onto the landscape without coyote's impact…..This kind of growth would have folks seeing turkeys who might not have the same habitat as the good land but were benefiting from their exponential growth……

Now add coyotes into the mix and the PC era….post coyote…..isnt producing that same growth rates……So the areas that used to benefit from the overspill of the good land don’t have it any more and more pressure is being applied to their lesser habitat.

Unless you were around in the 70s and 80s you really don't know what large turkey numbers are. What was happening back then? Trapping for money and alot of coon hunting. Oh and turkeys nested in hayfields back then also. Oh and thousands of less turkey hunters also.

So when did coyotes get here? Kind of thought they were already here with the T-Rex and Bham Fred.

I was in school when I remember some showing up around here. I was trapping hard back then caught one when something was eating my uncles watermelons. First one I had seen .

I think the 80’s and 90’s was the main expansion period where they filled in the landscape…..Might have run into the early 2000’s.......Something like that.....They may have even grown some since then as they've gotten better at utilizing the landscape and resources

Early 80's is what I remember. We had several fox pens in this area that had some and that's what it got blamed on.

Interesting how we had different experiences. The 80s were our worst decade by far. It was 20 years after restocking and a whole lot of timber was clearcut and our turkey population went way down. It came back starting in the early 90s.

The first coyote I saw was either 1979 or 80. I caught it in a fox set and had never seen such a critter before. It was the 90s before we started seeing them regularly.

way it was where i hunted in tallapoosa , clear cutting hurt them , was great for deer though .