Lowest harvest totals in last 12 years

[GrandSlammer]

Actually, 23 years ago was pretty much the early days of turkey hunting. We'd had a season statewide for under 10 years at that time. Other than Butler county and LBL, there was no turkey hunting in the state until '89 or so. I'm very happy for you in having good places to hunt. I too have pretty good places to hunt. But to say our numbers aren't down dramatically in the last 5 years is disingenuous at best. I don't think anybody is crying about low numbers, they're just speaking up and saying we have a problem. Just like millions of other hunters across the country.

I did agree that our numbers are down in the last 5 years. Luckily, around my places I feel like they have been better the last 2 years and I saw more Jake’s this year than I can ever remember. I just don’t feel like our population is at a point any drastic measures should be taken. I have never been in favor of killing hens ever for any reason at all. And I don’t think we have a “problem”. We were told our numbers would not stay where we were at 10 years ago.

 

[GrandSlammer]

Most people just can’t “go somewhere else” and hunt. Seasons prior to the mid 1990’s is what your pointing out, comical. 90’s was the early days. It’s definitely not “media driven”, if you think so then that tells me all I need to know about how much you’re hunting and talking to fellow hunters about turkey hunting. I honestly think about 99% of your entire post was horseshit. May add you to the ole huntress of light dimension of the board.

Anyone can “go somewhere else” if they are willing to put in the effort.
People just got spoiled around here for 10 years and now that they have to work harder for a bird just look for any excuse they can find as to why their hunting is no good now.
If you think I’m 99% horsesh!t come follow me one spring and I’ll prove you otherwise

 

[EasyE]

I’m not calling you out by any means. I just think it’s insane that anything should be changed. All this talk is just pure media, mainly social media, driven.
2022 harvest numbers are just 2000 birds below the last 23 year average for the state of KY. I never heard a single person say we need to make changes during the 2000-2009 seasons when those numbers were basically the same, or less, as the numbers this year.
If a person is not hearing birds where they hunt, go hunt somewhere else, the birds are out there.

If I based my opinion on the turkey population based on the success I had hunting on my farm it would be foolish. I had a great year, BUT driving around it is so obvious there are way less birds. If it wasn’t a problem then why was kdwfr banding turkey late winter?? Good friend of mine who was a state trooper drove around Breckinridge county during prime time last year and didn’t see any birds strutting. They had been given the order not to pull anyone over. So he cruised back roads and didn’t see any!!!

 

[rockhousehunter]

Anyone can “go somewhere else” if they are willing to put in the effort.
People just got spoiled around here for 10 years and now that they have to work harder for a bird just look for any excuse they can find as to why their hunting is no good now.
If you think I’m 99% horsesh!t come follow me one spring and I’ll prove you otherwise

There we go boys, the Turkey Whisperer. From your posts I’ve read so far I’d rather quit turkey hunting and take up darts than to follow you anywhere.
All you are is another dude that thinks because they filled both tags this year that makes the turkey population fine And that makes you a superior hunter and other hunters are lazy asses because they didn’t.

 

[Hoene]

In my part of this state if you don't own the land or have a relative that does you don't hunt unless it's public.

 

[GrandSlammer]

There we go boys, the Turkey Whisperer. From your posts I’ve read so far I’d rather quit turkey hunting and take up darts than to follow you anywhere.
All you are is another dude that thinks because they filled both tags this year that makes the turkey population fine And that makes you a superior hunter and other hunters are lazy asses because they didn’t.

I’ll say it again for the 3rd time since you only want to read into what you want. I do agree the population has decreased in the last 5 years. I am on the road a lot and am not basing what I am saying off of only the places I hunt. I just don’t believe we need to be in panic mode at all. We were told not to get used to the numbers we had when there were birds everywhere.
You can believe what you want about me but I am all for having a strong population and do everything I can on my farms to make sure of that. There’s nothing I love more than hearing birds gobble in the morning and then watching them do what I want them to do. And I stand by what I said, there are still birds out there to hunt if you want to put in the time and the miles to do it.
Have fun throwing darts

 

[Redlined]

I knew when this thread started somebody would show up to d*ck measure and say if you can't kill birds you don't know how to hunt. Congratulations, you finally showed.

 

[Feedman]

Well this year is in the books and season is over except for fall hunting.
Be interesting to see what happens to numbers next year. If the kill is down again, the KDFWR needs to look at starting to find ways to help with the turkey population. Go to a 1 bird limit, shorten the season, stop hunting at 1 o clock like Missouri.

 

[1wildcatfan]

No just your common Black Hawk (Birds)

Pls post a pic. I'm not familiar with any black hawks.

 

[rockhousehunter]

Well this year is in the books and season is over except for fall hunting.
Be interesting to see what happens to numbers next year. If the kill is down again, the KDFWR needs to look at starting to find ways to help with the turkey population. Go to a 1 bird limit, shorten the season, stop hunting at 1 o clock like Missouri.

I don't wanna promote anything because I know that others hunt different than I do but just wanted to say that I'm usually done by 1pm. I'm aware that many others hunt the evening for various reasons and glad they do, I'm just not an evening turkey hunter myself. I do love the midday gobbles, usually means the ole hen has left for the nest and he's lonely.

 

[ribsplitter]

When the Grouse population was declining several seasoned hunters rung the alarm to kdfwr. This was in the early stages while pockets of birds still existed. There were hunters on this very forum holding fast that birds were still thick, if you hunted the correct habitat etc. Small game biologists at F&W told me that all was well, I just needed to follow their guidelines and hunt the correct habitat because I was just hunting the wrong woods. If there truly is a problem with the turkey population declining,. I hope and pray that it is a country wide problem and not contained in a few state area. If turkey hunters have to rely on kfw to fix the problem, good luck to them.

 

[rockhousehunter]

When the Grouse population was declining several seasoned hunters rung the alarm to kdfwr. This was in the early stages while pockets of birds still existed. There were hunters on this very forum holding fast that birds were still thick, if you hunted the correct habitat etc. Small game biologists at F&W told me that all was well, I just needed to follow their guidelines and hunt the correct habitat because I was just hunting the wrong woods. If there truly is a problem with the turkey population declining,. I hope and pray that it is a country wide problem and not contained in a few state area. If turkey hunters have to rely on kfw to fix the problem, good luck to them.

Exactly.

 

[KY_Swamp_Beagler]

It seems to me he was saying he agrees turkey numbers are down, but doesn’t believe it’s a major issue.

There is quite a bit of talk on social media about the turkey population. I’m sure that contributes to the discussion.

 

[rockhousehunter]

It seems to me he was saying he agrees turkey numbers are down, but doesn’t believe it’s a major issue.

There is quite a bit of talk on social media about the turkey population. I’m sure that contributes to the discussion.

Anything that is having a detrimental effect on an entire population, in a dozen or so states is a "major issue" regardless of what anyone may think.

 

[littlebear]

No doubt that the number of turkeys overall is down in Ky. Some say that the harvest numbers are staying close to the same that the numbers are there. Only thing with that statement is the amount of hunters is maybe triple what it was 15-20 yrs ago. When the woods have 3 times the hunters we had back then we can still have about same harvest numbers even as total population is decreasing . Way too many hunters saying the same thing about not seeing as many while hunting and when just driving around. Turkeys have a hard time making it considering so many things. We should all agree weather, predators, hunters, habitat and disease all factor into the decrease.