I suppose whether or not the sport of spring gobbler hunting is being "ruined", and the reason for that, is debatable. There are no doubt places in this country where the quality of the hunting experience,...not to mention the quantity of birds available,...has suffered due to the ever-increasing interest by turkey hunters to expand their hunting horizons.
For me, that interest is totally a result of the bird itself. That is, of all the species of game I have hunted, spring gobbler hunting is the most enjoyable. Wild turkeys are the ONLY species of game that I will gladly travel across the country to hunt, PERIOD. I hunt other big game animals with a passion at other times of the year, but none of them have the "grip" on me that hunting gobblers in the spring of the year does. If you really want to identify the bottom-line reason why spring gobbler hunting might be getting "ruined", look no further than the bird itself.
Now, recognizing there are problem areas that have been "ruined",...and the likelihood that there will be more of that in the future,...the real question is how do we resolve it? One of the most obvious solutions is to standardize hunting dates across the board.
Excluding Florida (and the Osceola) from this discussion, the state most often mentioned is Mississippi. The ONLY reason Mississippi is being inundated with hunters each spring is simple because it opens up first. Spring gobbler hunters are anxious to get going each spring asap,...Mississippi (and Florida) open up first. Somebody connect the dots here, people!
The solution is so obviously simple as to make a wild turkey manager say "duuuhhhh"! Just move the damn starting date back so that you are not the first and only state to be hunting at that time for gawds sake!!
The fact that the entire tier of southern states have not all huddled up and said,..."hmmmm, we can solve this problem by just all of us agreeing to start our season on the same date every year",...just absolutely floors me.
But enough for now.....
