Home Forums Birds & Dogs Turkey Hunting TN Turkey Season

I just saw a little blip that said TWRA is going to move the spring 2023 season back 2 weeks and cut the limit from 3 to 2.
Just last year 2021 season they cut the bag limit from 4 to 3.

Do you think it will help the decline ?

Dang sure ought to help the out of state pressure.

Good for Tennessee! From what I have seen Southwest Virginias turkey population is in more trouble than Tennessee and so far Virginia DNR is doing nothing! But Virginia DNR is a joke and I would not expect anything less....Hb

I think that cutting the limits might help but I don't know. I think it maybe should have been done a few years back. We try to not over hunt the farm we are on, but you don't know who is hunting on the surrounding land.
That and what predators and just nature in general is doing to them either. We have trapped several coons, killed some yotes and a bobcat which I am sure were not helping anything.

I really am not sure what the root cause of the decline is, but TN is not alone in the decline. One thing I do wonder about is all the out of state hunters but I don't think that is the root cause.

Truth is no one at TWRA or the Commissioners have a clue....the original root cause was over population in a lot of areas followed by the spread of disease.

Chicken manure on crop fields....Nest destruction by spring burnings, early hay cutting nest desruction by crows and skunks....Now a seed coating used on agriculture grains is a part of the equation.

All are a problem but they are all localized problems trouble is we need a Nation wide solution not a localized solution.

Most of Tennessee public hunting areas (WMAs) should be put back on a draw/lottery system like they originally were....truth is they should never have been opened with the statewide season.

I didn't agree with TWRA going away from a hard copy game tag and game checking stations.

I think if one wants to look TWRA leadership I think it is responsible for a lot of the blame.

These 3 things should have been addressed at the meeting Bearded hens should have been protected.

Fanning along with the use of any type of gobbler decoy should have been outlawed.

Nonresident hunters should be put on a draw system of some sort....

Cut the nonresident limit to one instead of cutting the resident limit.

"TN is not alone".....there is where the "root" is.

Almost a Nation wide turkey pandemic.

It's a mess in my hunting area. This year was the first season since 2009, that I didn't get at least one bird. Most mornings I didn't even hear any. Sad.

Its as bad or worse in Southern Ohio, a few years ago that area was covered in turkeys ( the most i have seen anywhere) BUT after two weeks of deer hunting last Fall I saw exactly two turkeys in Ohio....Its a shame indeed..Hb

The turkey hunters aren't the problem, recruitment is. Hopefully it's just a cycle and herbicides or pesticides are not the culprit. I don't know what the problem is, but the hens all have very few poults with them. I still see turkeys pretty much every day but there's less every year.

Turkey hunters aren't the problem but sadly we are going to be a part of their solutions.

Kinda like the "gun violence" mania going on in Congress right now. The guns aren't the problem, but...........

I'll be the first to admit I do not know all the reasons populations are dropping. Hunting techniques have become more effective. Choke and shotshell technology has become more effective. Nobody traps anymore and the fur market is most likely never coming back. Modern agriculture is not conducive to turkey (and a whole lot of other critters) populations. It's a wonder turkeys can survive at all.

It's going to be really hard to get game agencies to pull back decoying and fanning policies in any big way. Same goes for HTL shot. EVERY turkey hunter should devote time to predator removal. Raccoons, skunks and possums ESPECIALLY. But also crows, coyotes, fishers and bobcats. Modern farming isn't going to change for the betterment of wildlife, ever. But, even in the heyday of turkey populations where I'm at, the hayfields got mowed too early and the seed corn was treated with captan fungicide, so........ I don't know how you can gauge if and what other things are having a negative effect.

I guess, bottom line is........... I'm going to act upon the things that I can. We mow our fields as late as we possibly can. And, beginning this fall I am waging an all-out carnage on nest predators. Those are the only two things I have control over. So that's the direction my efforts will go.

I'm wondering if the Kentucky folks, KDFWR, will do anything about the turkey decline in our state. Traditionally, they are far more interested in selling hunting licenses than anything else, as they love to rake the money in. The turkey population is way down, and there are no birds in places where I used to hunt them.

As far as the cause of this, I believe there should be some serious study on it, instead of all the speculation. When the turkey population was increasing, they were dealing with predators, farming practices, hunting, and everything else, just as they are now. But, something has changed, and it will take a commitment by the biologists and wildlife agencies to find out what it is. We can speculate all we want to, but I believe it's more complicated than just controlling predators and cutting back the season limits.

The main reason I started predator/varmint hunting way back then. Got tired of finding deer and turkey carcasses. Gave up the 22LR for varmint though, have a little 17 Mach2 now and kinda like fairy dust, smaller is sometimes better!

Those 17's (HMR and Mach2) both shoot way out of their weight class

I need to get a sight in done.

Gonna go with the dinosaur........... 5mm Remington Rimfire Magnum. Never used it on yotes before. But it oughta be plenty bad for their health.

I got a friend that lives in Cumberland County, Ky. He's a super turkey hunter and he said this past season was the toughest he's hunted. Don't know if he scored or not.

Are you shooting the Aguila ammo in it?

Predators are not the problem.