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Post by jimstc on Apr 2, 2015 14:21:55 GMT -5
www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/files/fw-MR_1087_Spring_Turkey_Harvest_2014.pdfThis was included in the weekly e-mail I receive from DNR. Some real good information. In 2014 only 18% of Spring turkey hunters were successful. The lowest success rate since 1986. Guess that is why it is called hunting and not harvesting......... Abstract: Hunters harvested 10,872 wild turkeys in 88 of the 92 counties. The 2014 harvest was 4% less than the 2013
harvest of 11,374. The majority of the birds was harvested in the early part of the season and the early morning hours. A
total of 1,185 birds (11% of total harvest) was taken during the youth-only weekend prior to the regular season. The
proportion of juvenile turkeys in the harvest was 17% with 53% 2-yr-olds, and 30% ≥ 3 yr-olds. The northern region, the
largest region, supported 25% of the harvest, with 46% of the harvest occurring in the south-central and southeast
regions. The estimated number of hunters afield was 59,237 in 2014, with an estimated hunter success of 18%, the lowest
success rate since 1986.
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Post by GS1 on Apr 2, 2015 15:55:31 GMT -5
The lowest success rate in 28 years. The lowest harvest in 10 years. Both in a season that followed a very successful hatch in 2012 in most of the state and should have had the woods full of gobbling 2 year olds.
Hmmm.
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Post by tomthreetoes on Apr 2, 2015 19:28:44 GMT -5
I believe predators are impacting turkey numbers more than we think. I always have a few bobcat photos on my trail cams and there's always tons of coyote pictures. Coons too.
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Post by jimstc on Apr 2, 2015 19:41:28 GMT -5
Not a great analysis. Seems like the majority of the birds are hugging the Ohio river. Got to think that through. Switzerland county accounts for over 3% of the birds. I wonder about the predator population there???
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Post by ridgerunner on Apr 2, 2015 20:29:49 GMT -5
Don't forget the Winter of 2013 was the worst in 35 years..this had an impact on the birds in Spring 2014..things were late last spring.....not to mention many birds probably did not survive the harsh Winter in 2013 with very cold temps, also snow covered the ground pretty much all winter making food scarce and hard for them to get to. Many variables to consider..I look for numbers to be back up this year Statewide.
We were fortunate enough to take 3 birds off my family's farm last year..looking back, what i seen last year on our Farm in 2014, it was just a later start than normal, coming out of the harsh winter I believe set things back a couple weeks, the hens didn't start sitting on the nest until early May last year..I hunted hard every day last year ,and killed my bird on April 29 ( late for me )..it was very slow going early on, from what i seen..by the last day of season the birds were on fire..I called 2 birds up that last day and my son-in-law punched his tag on a nice 3 year old gobbler.. when we left the woods there were birds still gobbling everywhere....this year I am seeing mature gobblers everywhere in the past couple weeks..so looks to be plenty of birds, at least from what I'm seeing...I'd just about bet most of the decline we saw last year stemmed from the harsh Winter..I'll be real surprised if numbers don't rebound this year.
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Post by GS1 on Apr 3, 2015 19:18:55 GMT -5
I believe predators are impacting turkey numbers more than we think. I always have a few bobcat photos on my trail cams and there's always tons of coyote pictures. Coons too. Exactly. Hopefully we get a bobcat season soon and they get some relief. Although probably only temporary before people shoot one or trap one or two and move on to something else. Gobbling and population reports from a lot of hunters have been declining across the Midwest for several years now. Either they are not there or they are realizing when they gobble something tries to eat them. I'm gonna stick with my "we are killing the gobble out of them theory"  |
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Post by tomthreetoes on Apr 4, 2015 8:26:40 GMT -5
"we are killing the gobble out of them theory" You are 100% correct. Numbers down with less gobbling makes for tough hunting. When I started turkey hunting 25-26 years ago they would start gobbling long before day light and gobble till 7:00 or so then start up again around 8 or 9:00. Now they gobble a few tims at sun rise and they're done.
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Post by Jamie Brooks 1John5:13 on Apr 4, 2015 9:49:40 GMT -5
"we are killing the gobble out of them theory" You are 100% correct. Numbers down with less gobbling makes for tough hunting. When I started turkey hunting 25-26 years ago they would start gobbling long before day light and gobble till 7:00 or so then start up again around 8 or 9:00. Now they gobble a few tims at sun rise and they're done. tomthreetoes (turkey feet), this sure is my limited experience. I like to hear about how it was. With my Haint gobble call on private land, I've had fun getting them to answer my call, but never once have they responded in the evening. Sure, I've heard them, but it seemed to be a shock response to another loud noise. Yep, just like the sweet old lady at the forest headquarters told me, "If you get one, it's a trophy." |
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Post by ridgerunner on Apr 5, 2015 17:53:28 GMT -5
We have bobcats, coyote, coons etc.. up here in Central Indiana too, birds still gobbling like crazy..i listened to birds gobble all day last season, this season I been out and scouted on more than one occasion, and as recent as today..birds gobbling all over this morning ...not sure the bobcat theory applies to us in Central Indiana..I'd wager the Indiana turkey harvest will be back to 2013 numbers of 11,300-11,500 for this 2015 season. I'm seeing and hearing birds more this year than I have in the past several years..Gonna be a great year for Indiana turkey hunters this year.
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Post by jimstc on Apr 5, 2015 18:06:12 GMT -5
ridgerunner,
I am in northeast Hamilton county. No turkeys here. If you don't mind, in what county are you located?
Central IN seems real poor for turkey hunting based on the 2014 DNR results and the NWTF article I read today.
Thanks for the knowledge,
Jim
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Post by ridgerunner on Apr 5, 2015 18:16:40 GMT -5
I believe predators are impacting turkey numbers more than we think. I always have a few bobcat photos on my trail cams and there's always tons of coyote pictures. Coons too. Exactly. Hopefully we get a bobcat season soon and they get some relief. Although probably only temporary before people shoot one or trap one or two and move on to something else. Gobbling and population reports from a lot of hunters have been declining across the Midwest for several years now. Either they are not there or they are realizing when they gobble something tries to eat them. I'm gonna stick with my "we are killing the gobble out of them theory" Man has hunted turkey since the days of Native Americans in North America...not sure turkeys can rationalize like we do, and just decide to quit gobbling, it's an instinctive thing for the turkey, it's what they do...Look at Texas, more predators in Texas than anywhere else in the lower 48, those birds in Texas gobble their fool heads off....turkey populations, much like deer populations are ebb and flow...bad winters, drought, disease cause numbers to drop one year, and then in a year or two numbers bounce back.. Our population of birds have stabilized in Indiana, but as far as birds not gobbling, I'm not hearing that.... I don't hunt Southern Indiana, but I can tell ya in Central Indiana, Missouri an Kentucky they gobble just like they always have..you guys may have over hunted your farms down there...Our harvest numbers will be back in the 11,500- 12,000 range this year would be my guess. |
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Post by ridgerunner on Apr 5, 2015 18:32:13 GMT -5
ridgerunner, I am in northeast Hamilton county. No turkeys here. If you don't mind, in what county are you located? Central IN seems real poor for turkey hunting based on the 2014 DNR results and the NWTF article I read today. Thanks for the knowledge, Jim I'm in Parke co. Jim...Yeah Hamilton county....lol.....do they have woods in Hamilton county? Don't know much about Hamilton county...other than 1 bird was killed in that county last year...but there are plenty of birds in West Central Indiana...last year was a tough year after that record cold Winter we had in 2013..worst Winter in 35 years..the birds were slow going....so was the crappie fishing...extreme cold works against us...means what we normally see in mid April , we may not see until early May...not to mention we probably lost some birds to the extreme cold temps in 2013....I will add this since it was mentioned....Turkey's are never going to stop gobbling..that just isn't gonna happen. |
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Post by GS1 on Apr 5, 2015 18:34:31 GMT -5
I heard birds gobbling in my back yard this morning putting out Easter eggs. Guess all is good. If guys used to see 200-300 or so deer in a field and now see 20 they would go nuts. Guess turkeys are just not that big of deal. That's a lot of hen killing to overheat that many birds.
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Post by ridgerunner on Apr 5, 2015 18:48:23 GMT -5
I heard birds gobbling in my back yard this morning putting out Easter eggs. Guess all is good. If guys used to see 200-300 or so deer in a field and now see 20 they would go nuts. Guess turkeys are just not that big of deal. That's a lot of hen killing to overheat that many birds. If we can get a couple years of good brood production sure things will get better...i remember in 1993 there were so many birds I'd get dizzy standing in the woods listening to all the gobble trying to decide which birds i was gonna go after...turkey populations will rebound when the weather and brood production cuts us a break...we haven't had many consecutive years of good brood production in 10 years..we're on the rebound now...last Spring the birds were there..but the harsh Winter had almost the entire season " out of whack"...many birds didn't get shot last year...I look for us to rebound this year, and hopefully even more in 2016...we need some good hatches the next few years..to get back to 13,000 bird harvest again...but i look for this year to be back up that 4-5%. |
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Post by span870 on Apr 5, 2015 19:21:23 GMT -5
Don't believe its the killing the gobble out of them or the lack of birds, I believe its the number of hen compared to gobblers on our farm. They do gobble in the morning just enough to get the hens to them then shut up. About 1 or 2 they get fired up again. The amount of hens seeing in southern Indiana is ridiculous. They gobble to get the hen to them. They fly down with 3,4, or 5 hens. No need to gobble anymore.
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Post by jimstc on Apr 5, 2015 20:53:37 GMT -5
ridgerunner, I am in northeast Hamilton county. No turkeys here. If you don't mind, in what county are you located? Central IN seems real poor for turkey hunting based on the 2014 DNR results and the NWTF article I read today. Thanks for the knowledge, Jim I'm in Parke co. Jim...Yeah Hamilton county....lol.....do they have woods in Hamilton county? Don't know much about Hamilton county...other than 1 bird was killed in that county last year...but there are plenty of birds in West Central Indiana...last year was a tough year after that record cold Winter we had in 2013..worst Winter in 35 years..the birds were slow going....so was the crappie fishing...extreme cold works against us...means what we normally see in mid April , we may not see until early May...not to mention we probably lost some birds to the extreme cold temps in 2013....I will add this since it was mentioned....Turkey's are never going to stop gobbling..that just isn't gonna happen. Yeah, we have woods, just not a lot. Beck's owns most of the land up here. Flat, woodless farm land. I did take a nice 10 point, 200 pound buck on my place in 2014. Now, deer and turkeys are a whole different conversation in Hamilton county. Not even many coyotes in the farm part of this county. They moved to the suburbs to eat garbage and pets... LOL |
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Post by ridgerunner on Apr 6, 2015 4:34:08 GMT -5
Don't believe its the killing the gobble out of them or the lack of birds, I believe its the number of hen compared to gobblers on our farm. They do gobble in the morning just enough to get the hens to them then shut up. About 1 or 2 they get fired up again. The amount of hens seeing in southern Indiana is ridiculous. They gobble to get the hen to them. They fly down with 3,4, or 5 hens. No need to gobble anymore. That's a good possibility too..good point. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 9, 2015 15:13:59 GMT -5
There has been a lot of habitat loss especially in central and northern Indiana. A lot of woodlots, and places that used to provide Turkey habitat have now been developed.
Also the coyote, fox, and bobcat population probably has a serious effect on the Turkey population. Also if nearly 60,000 people are turkey hunting in Indiana each Spring, that seems like too many Turkey hunters compared with the states Turkey population.
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Post by jimstc on Apr 9, 2015 18:51:01 GMT -5
Yep, KY Lake, 60,000 hunters in a state with an estimated 110,000 birds. Not good odds for the hunters, hence the 18% success rate. Where I live in rural northeast Hamilton county, I don't even consider hunting turkeys. Flat farm land, other than my hilly 15 acres.
What is interesting is the movement of yotes to the suburbs to eat garbage and pets. I call yotes and no response for three years. Go figure.....
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Post by ridgerunner on Apr 10, 2015 4:51:43 GMT -5
Yep, KY Lake, 60,000 hunters in a state with an estimated 110,000 birds. Not good odds for the hunters, hence the 18% success rate. Where I live in rural northeast Hamilton county, I don't even consider hunting turkeys. Flat farm land, other than my hilly 15 acres. What is interesting is the movement of yotes to the suburbs to eat garbage and pets. I call yotes and no response for three years. Go figure..... I don't have coyote problems..I trap coyote and the ones I can't get in a trap eventually get shot...maybe that's why I have so many birds running around...West Central Indiana is looking great this year..plenty of birds. |
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