Who hunts fall birds?

[Jim K]

It used to be here in PA that archery season ended Friday and fall turkey started Sat morning. We hunted turkeys a lot more in the fall then. Then they lengthened bow season 2 weeks and now everybody is in trees. Our fall harvest has really dropped off because of that. I love fall season if we have a good hatch that spring. I'm not sure about this fall. Poult production seems down around where I am.

[beakbuster10]

While it is true that in Virginia, you get three tags and can use them all in the spring, you cannot use all of them in fall.  No more than 2 birds in the fall.

You're right. That's not the point I was trying to make. No way am I wasting any tags on turkeys that aren't or would be gobbling in the spring. Plus the peak of pre rutting activity is going on. To each his own but not my cup of tea.


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[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

Love to fall hunt turkeys, no science to back up claims it is effecting spring turkey hunting.  Science does back up that it takes two jakes to get one spring gobbler, meaning based on disease, predation, etc. statistically only one of those two jakes will reach maturity.  Look it up, Lovett Williams published it.  Second, there are far fewer fall hunters than spring hunters so the killing of hens has minimal impact on the population as a whole.  Third, the buck pictured below was killed out of a treestand in a patch of woods I fall turkey hunt in quite frequently so stinking up the woods is not a concern in my opinion




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If you're targeting male birds in the fall, you're right.  It doesn't affect the overall health of the flock. However, if you're killing hens, you're absolutely impacting that population.  The average clutch is 11 eggs per hen and statistically only 3 poults of 11 will make it to their first year.  Kill 2 hens off a farm in the fall and that's 22 fewer eggs the next spring.  No thanks.

You say stinking up the woods in the fall isn't a big deal.  Considering a deer lives and dies by what its nose tells it and the most successful trophy hunters in the country take extreme measures to keep their woods pristine from scent and disturbance that's an interesting statement.... Do you have a wall full of deer over 4.5 years old or just one?

[JK Spurs]

Many spring only hunters and many fall hunters as well don't know that often times fall gobblers can be called in just like spring when circumstances are rite.

Find them on the roost without hens in the fall and it is on. Find 2 together on the roost with no hens and it is really on. Have had them gobble and strutt into my set up several times. I love to hunt fall gobblers. Often I will hear those heavy winged Toms' flying up to roost while archery hunting and return predawn to set up on them just like spring.

I hunted a gobbler a couple years ago in the fall and the hunt played out exactly like it was spring. I had them busted the night before at roost and the next morning he gobbled his head off. He came right to me gobbling the whole way, but unfortunately couldn't get a shot.

[wvmntnhick]

Love to fall hunt turkeys, no science to back up claims it is effecting spring turkey hunting.  Science does back up that it takes two jakes to get one spring gobbler, meaning based on disease, predation, etc. statistically only one of those two jakes will reach maturity.  Look it up, Lovett Williams published it.  Second, there are far fewer fall hunters than spring hunters so the killing of hens has minimal impact on the population as a whole.  Third, the buck pictured below was killed out of a treestand in a patch of woods I fall turkey hunt in quite frequently so stinking up the woods is not a concern in my opinion




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If you're targeting male birds in the fall, you're right.  It doesn't affect the overall health of the flock. However, if you're killing hens, you're absolutely impacting that population.  The average clutch is 11 eggs per hen and statistically only 3 poults of 11 will make it to their first year.  Kill 2 hens off a farm in the fall and that's 22 fewer eggs the next spring.  No thanks.

You say stinking up the woods in the fall isn't a big deal.  Considering a deer lives and dies by what its nose tells it and the most successful trophy hunters in the country take extreme measures to keep their woods pristine from scent and disturbance that's an interesting statement.... Do you have a wall full of deer over 4.5 years old or just one?

Isn't it nice that we can all have different opinions?

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

Love to fall hunt turkeys, no science to back up claims it is effecting spring turkey hunting.  Science does back up that it takes two jakes to get one spring gobbler, meaning based on disease, predation, etc. statistically only one of those two jakes will reach maturity.  Look it up, Lovett Williams published it.  Second, there are far fewer fall hunters than spring hunters so the killing of hens has minimal impact on the population as a whole.  Third, the buck pictured below was killed out of a treestand in a patch of woods I fall turkey hunt in quite frequently so stinking up the woods is not a concern in my opinion




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If you're targeting male birds in the fall, you're right.  It doesn't affect the overall health of the flock. However, if you're killing hens, you're absolutely impacting that population.  The average clutch is 11 eggs per hen and statistically only 3 poults of 11 will make it to their first year.  Kill 2 hens off a farm in the fall and that's 22 fewer eggs the next spring.  No thanks.

You say stinking up the woods in the fall isn't a big deal.  Considering a deer lives and dies by what its nose tells it and the most successful trophy hunters in the country take extreme measures to keep their woods pristine from scent and disturbance that's an interesting statement.... Do you have a wall full of deer over 4.5 years old or just one?

Isn't it nice that we can all have different opinions?

Lovett Williams was the foremost authority on wild turkeys conducting countless studies to collect biological and physiological data.

Numbers such as the average size of a clutch and the average mortality of wild turkey flocks (30% annual loss of population due to natural predation) are derived from empirical data.  Therefore, it isn't an opinion that killing hens is bad for a flock.  It's an absolute based on quantifiable data.

Considering the FACT that wild turkey numbers are falling at an alarming rate in many places across the country, as stewards of the resource it may be prudent to consider that before you send a load of 6's into a Jenny's face this fall. 

As far as intrusion on a whitetail deer and its consequent behavioral modifications to hunting pressure/human scent, there are countless telemetry studies conducted by various graduate students focusing on deer management and various state agencies that conclusively show how detrimental detected human presence is to mature deer movement during daylight hours. 

Now that I've written this and think about it, I'm not really sure how you can reference opinion.

[wvmntnhick]

Would it have still ruffled your feathers had I said "views" instead of "opinions"? I'm just curious. Bottom line, some people are going to hunt in the fall and others aren't. Not arguing about whether hunting pressure effects deer movement. Seen it first hand. However, some are of the "opinion" that it doesn't matter as it hasn't appeared to (for them) in the past.

Therefore, here's my formal apology. I'm sorry that I used the term "opinion."  Isn't it nice that here, in America, people are entitled to their own "views?"

[trkehunr93]

http://www.nwtf.org/hunt/article/4-wild-turkey-populations

Interesting article from the NWTF.  It appears we are having a carrying capacity issue, not a too many fall hunters issue. 

A quote from a previous post
"Considering the FACT that wild turkey numbers are falling at an alarming rate in many places across the country, as stewards of the resource it may be prudent to consider that before you send a load of 6's into a Jenny's face this fall." 

BTW I prefer 5's 

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[wvmntnhick]

http://www.nwtf.org/hunt/article/4-wild-turkey-populations

Interesting article from the NWTF.  It appears we are having a carrying capacity issue, not a too many fall hunters issue. 

A quote from a previous post
"Considering the FACT that wild turkey numbers are falling at an alarming rate in many places across the country, as stewards of the resource it may be prudent to consider that before you send a load of 6's into a Jenny's face this fall." 

BTW I prefer 5's 

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This makes sense to me. Especially here where the land is being harvested heavily for crops and housing. Same thing happening to our deer. Under weight and under sized. I'll be out after both species this fall for sure.

[Turkeyman]

Although I eat my spring gobblers they can't compare to the eating quality of those 5 or 6 month olds; thus my fall hunting is for excellent table fare. I no longer shoot hens, though. If a fall jake and a long beard are standing side by side in the fall the old guy will walk.

[TauntoHawk]

I don't hunt them in the fall... not because I think its wrong or I think the population can't handle it its simply because I don't want to because the elements i love about spring aren't present and Im busy deer hunting which provides more and IMO better tasting meat. I see lots of birds in the fall while deer hunting but I usually just watch them and day dream about the coming spring when I hope to run into them again.

[Uncle Nicky]

I am proud to say yes, I do. I trained a dropper last year to hunt with me, and she is my pride & joy. If anyone within reasonable distance of me (Southeast PA) wants to hunt with her some time, send me a PM. I don't have much going on beside public land, but I'd be willing to travel, and if there are birds around, she will find them.

[Va3toes]

Haven't been fall turkey hunting in years. I think I'll give it a go this year.

[trkehunr93]

Haven't been fall turkey hunting in years. I think I'll give it a go this year.

Excellent! Glad to see this thread has inspired you.  Another good article below-
https://www.nwtf.org/hunt/article/fall-turkey-seasons-make-sense


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[greentag]

i hunt them every fall,i love it.although i do it totally different than the spring,i enjoy getting out there and hunting them in the fall,i have a excaliber crossbow that i use exclusivly in  the fall.i usually get my limit every year which is 4 here in ky.as far as buggering the deer,i had rather turkey hunt and the land i hunt is private and only me and 1 other guy has permission to hunt it,so i dont bother no one and no one bothers me with their deer hunting.getting them with the crossbow is as fun as getting them in the spring,and i usually manage to get a better longbeard in the fall than the ones i get in the spring.to me nothing beats a fall longbeard,thats a challenge in its self.