General Discussion on the Season

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billjohnson
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General Discussion on the Season

Postby billjohnson » Wed May 13, 2015 6:01 am

I hunt in the Webster and Choctaw county area of the state mostly. Sometimes in Clay! I live in AL and hunted Jackson and Lowndes over here. I hunt OK every year also in the western part of the state below the panhandle. I had a pretty average season from a kill standpoint but definitely did not hear the amount of gobbling that I normally hear. I'm hunting areas where I know there are a lot of turkeys but they definitely were not as vocal this year. I hunted the middle of April in OK and I'm pretty sure that the birds were pretty much done where I hunted. Saw tons of jake and very few hens out there. Not normal for mid April there for sure.

I know a lot of people up here that hunt TN and they seem to have had good gobbling in that area. Just curious as to what turkey hunters from around the state thought as to the type of season that we had. We pretty much killed every good gobbling turkey that we heard early and nothing backfilled in behind them as usually occurs.

Just curious as to other folks opinions on this.
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msudawg8087
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Re: General Discussion on the Season

Postby msudawg8087 » Wed May 13, 2015 7:02 am

Guess I was one of the luckier ones of the season after reading this and other people's opinions on another site. Not sure if your experiences were on public land in most of the counties you listed but we have private land in Claiborne Co. I heard at least 1 bird every time I went out but only ended up killing one. I put in more time this year than I ever have. Had an above average season overall and should have been tagged out by the middle of April but a run of bad luck/rookie mistakes prevented that. Maybe skewed because this was on private land but overall it was good for us.
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billjohnson
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Re: General Discussion on the Season

Postby billjohnson » Wed May 13, 2015 9:21 am

Nope, this was all private land.
Hambone
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Re: General Discussion on the Season

Postby Hambone » Wed May 13, 2015 2:33 pm

I have kept records of my hunts for many years and this was the toughest season for me since the early 1990's. I am told that 2013 was generally a bad hatch year, which if true, would mean fewer of the loud, eager two-year olds that we all love. And the cold, wet first half of the season may have slowed things down. I know from personal observation that much springtime plant, bird and fish activity came a few weeks later than usual. We had decent gobbling, particularly after April 1, but most of it was either on the roost first thing in the morning, or right at roosting time in the evening. Encounters with late-morning and midday gobblers were pretty much nonexistent. I am grateful for the turkeys we killed, but it was most definitely not our best year. On a good note, we saw lots of jakes, giving us good hopes for next year.

A question: For quite some time, I have wondered if we might benefit from a season that starts a week or ten days later in March and ends sometime around May 10. It seems to me that most years, things don't really get going in the areas I hunt until the end of March, and the turkeys are still quite active when the season ends May 1. Any thoughts?
billjohnson
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Re: General Discussion on the Season

Postby billjohnson » Wed May 13, 2015 3:00 pm

That's pretty much the same experience we had. We saw lots of jakes also! Wholeheartedly agree on moving the season back about 10 days. Maybe it's just a cycle but the first 10 days of May for the last few years were perfect turkey hunting weather. That is probably better left to biologist though and not greedy booty turkey hunters. I did notice that we saw virtually no hens toward the end. We did see one strutting bird with two hens on the last day that left him about 8 a.m.
Hambone
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Re: General Discussion on the Season

Postby Hambone » Wed May 13, 2015 3:20 pm

I fully agree that seasons should be biologically sound and not just for hunters' benefit. I can't imagine that a later closing date could be harmful, as it would simply take us closer to the end of the breeding season - and I think there would be a good argument that a later opening day would allow the turkeys more un-hunted time at the beginning.
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DUCK-HUNT
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Re: General Discussion on the Season

Postby DUCK-HUNT » Wed May 13, 2015 4:47 pm

http://survey.constantcontact.com/surve ... nlp9/start


Opportunity to share some of your concerns


It was the worst season I can remember. Still killed quite a few and called in more that ended up getting dead but as far as gobblers heard and seen..... It's was terrible
Get em WET!............Their feet that is.
deltadukman
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Re: General Discussion on the Season

Postby deltadukman » Thu May 14, 2015 7:25 am

I think the dreary weather had a lot to do with it. The number of high pressure blue bird days were few and far between. I tried to hunt every one of them and pick my days. The "good turkey days" I hunted we either killed or came close.
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Hole Hunter
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Re: General Discussion on the Season

Postby Hole Hunter » Thu May 14, 2015 3:00 pm

This season was somewhat strange with us enjoying an early Spring bloom and then getting washed out on a number of days due to all the rain. I had great success on one piece of property in that we took four birds there, should have been five given a miss by a party that will remain nameless... Another piece of property was cold as ice. My brother got one bird there and little to no activity from there on out.

I heard a lot of good hunters saying that they experienced a tough season with very little gobbling and activity. I just think that the coyote pressure is negatively affecting the natural tendencies of these birds. They are gettiing tight lipped given the fact that they are being hunted day after day by these predators. So that is affecting their daily practices and the overall number of gobbling turkeys.

I had a great season filled with some memorable hunts. I even got one of my best friends his first turkey, so no complaints here but I can't say that I am not somewhat concerned for the future.
WAR DAYUM EAGLE!!!

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lilwhitelie
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Re: General Discussion on the Season

Postby lilwhitelie » Thu May 14, 2015 3:31 pm

Killed my biggest turkey to date but overall the worst year in a long time as far as numbers of birds heard. I can't remember a worse weather year than this one so I'm sure that didn't help things.
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billjohnson
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Re: General Discussion on the Season

Postby billjohnson » Fri May 15, 2015 7:02 am

Thanks guys, that's exactly what I was looking for. Confirmed what I already thought! I live in Huntsville and hunt north and east of there. I heard on our local news last night that we got 12 in. of rain in March and 12 in. in April. 14 days into May and none. I know that affected our season here but as I stated earlier, I hunted MS more than AL and 3 days in OK. It was the same almost everywhere. My son in law hunted N. MO and where 6 of them took 12 birds last year, the same group took 4 this year. This was my 30th year of chasin turkeys and I can tell you that some years they just don't gobble. We look for all of the excuses, i.e. weather, predators, etc. but I can tell you that all of these places that I talking about are different. Certainly wasn't wet in OK! Not may coyotes in the places that I hunt up here. Weather in MO seemed to be normal according the the son in law. I've talked to lots of old turkey hunters and I've decided that there really is no explanation. Tom Kelly talked in one of his books about hunting on a 1200 acre tract in Lower Alabama that was full of turkeys and not hearing a single gobble all season one year. Forgotten what year that was but it wasn't that long ago. The place that I hunted in Lowndes county AL this year was just like that. Saw gobblers everywhere down there on the weekend after Easter and only heard two turkeys gobble in 6 days of hunting. That's what makes this game so awesome! They always surprise you!
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Re: General Discussion on the Season

Postby JLT » Fri May 15, 2015 10:16 am

This year was ok, but my prediction is that next year will be strong!
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billyho
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Re: General Discussion on the Season

Postby billyho » Fri May 15, 2015 3:47 pm

Worst year I can ever remember in NE corner of Mississippi as far as gobbling goes. I think weather played a major role in that. Cool rainy days most of the season. I also saw several jakes so atleast that gives hope for next season. I completely agree with season opening later in MS. Two weeks later in my opinion....
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duckter
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Re: General Discussion on the Season

Postby duckter » Sat May 16, 2015 9:34 am

I have a few that have been Hammering all week up here in the NE part of the State. Otherwise, pretty quiet while in season.
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davidees
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Re: General Discussion on the Season

Postby davidees » Sat May 16, 2015 9:07 pm

I didn't kill anything in MS this year. Came close a few times. Didn't hear much gobbling close to the house this year, so I did a majority of my MS hunting near Holly Springs. They gobbled pretty good out there, but hens and gullies always seemed to mess me up. I killed one in MO and came very close to killing another one, but couldn't get a shot. Bad year numbers wise, but still got in the woods a lot and had a great time.

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