Top States for Non Residents?

[idratherb]

Im sure most were staring at a Gopro talkin to themselves.

[ScottTaulbee]

I'm almost certain it has to be KY. I'm not sure where these guys got their info but every piece of public land within 150 miles of where I'm at has looked like a circus daily and the plates have been more colors than the rainbow.


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This. It's been unbelievable this year. The locals aren't thrilled. I'd never mess with someone's truck or set up but I've heard of more oos guys trucks etc... getting messed with on public land this year than in recent memory. Given what the commercial leasing companies have done to private access in this state and with more people than ever either choosing to hunt public land [because of shows like hunting public] or being pushed onto already crowded public land out of necessity I'm not surprised the frustration is boiling over with some folks. There was a time when even I'd point the odd oos guy in the right direction but if I hunt public land now that's never going to happen

I guided my dad on his neighbor's 30 acres opening day until about 12:30 and then went off to hunt the public that I favor. I drove 400 miles round trip, and covered 5 counties. Between WMA tracts and National forest I found 1 pull off that didn't have a vehicle in it and hunted it, was working a bird, he was within 100 yards strutting and all of a sudden he perked up and walked off. A couple minutes later here came two guys walking past me at 50 yards without a clue that I or the turkey were in the world. I backed out and left. I've hunted most of this land for 13 or so years and have never seen more out of state guys as I have this season. Typically we get a couple, as in less than 5 at these places. This year there were 25 out of state trucks at 3 pull offs on 3 tracts of the same WMA during that opening day drive. And the tracts combined total less than 700 acres.  Not considering the 4 on another 120 acres. Or the ones on National forest. I figured it would have fizzled out after opening weekend but 9 days in to season were still seeing a steady number. Mostly from Ohio, Michigan, and New York. But I have seen a couple odd balls, 1 from New Mexico, One from Oregon, and a truck full from Louisiana. In 6 days of our season more birds were taken off that particular WMA than the season average was from 2018 through 2021. The 2022 season is when we had a heavy rise in the OOS guys and there were nearly double the birds taken for the season off that WMA than in previous years.  Other hunters I know in other counties are seeing the same on their home public pieces. There were two shot opening week that I know of. It's getting to the point now where if you're not at the gate the night before you won't hunt at all unless you jump in behind them. I'm thinking about just switching over to fall hunting exclusively the way it's been this spring.


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I don't blame you. I killed on private land opening morning and went to a small piece of public the next morning for a quick hunt. I'm an early bird and was at the pull in over 2 hours before sun up. It was already full and there was a group from Illinois camped out with one guy sleeping on the hood of the car. This is not a huge piece of land and there already been something like 13 gobblers killed on it. Kill ratio to acreage that's a whole lot of birds. I thought Kentucky dropping to one bird per wma would knock down some of the pressure but it hasn't. The only piece of public I'll even consider hunting again this season is a piece of forest where I doubt any oos guys would venture. You've pretty well got to be tribe to get in and out in one piece of ya know what I mean. If turkey hunting is such a big deal in this state I'd like to see us go to a draw system with application fee. The department is missing out on a lot of potential revenue they sorely need.

I've told several of the guys I talk to that hunt locally here that I'm going to put a bug in the commission board's ear and ride them pretty hard about going to a draw system and limiting tags. As well as offering preference points if not selected. Nothing crazy. Something like 5$ an entry or something along those lines. About like our quota hunt system is.


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[Marc]

I'm almost certain it has to be KY. I'm not sure where these guys got their info but every piece of public land within 150 miles of where I'm at has looked like a circus daily and the plates have been more colors than the rainbow.

This. It's been unbelievable this year. The locals aren't thrilled.

Between WMA tracts and National forest I found 1 pull off that didn't have a vehicle in it and hunted it.

Typically we get a couple, as in less than 5 at these places. This year there were 25 out of state trucks at 3 pull offs on 3 tracts of the same WMA during that opening day drive. And the tracts combined total less than 700 acres.  Not considering the 4 on another 120 acres. Or the ones on National forest.

Because turkeys do not migrate...  Most turkey hunters are in our own little bubble.  When we have good local hunting, and read about the decline of turkeys in neighboring states we think "those poor saps," and go on about our business of hunting.

Turns out that many turkey hunters are pretty passionate about turkey hunting, and a lot of them will travel to hunt if hunting locally is no longer a viable option.

Conservation issues and hunting access issues of one state will quickly trickle down to other states.  For those of you with good local turkey hunting currently, would you give up on the sport if that local hunting was no longer viable, or would you travel to hunt?

While I do believe that locals should have priority...  At some point the state will look for where the largest revenue streams are coming from...  Higher license fees, hotels, food, etc...  Are the locals putting in more financially than OOS hunters?  If not, where is the incentive for the state to reduce OOS hunting license sales?

Hunting waterfowl is my primary passion, I am used to contributing to non-local conservation (as waterfowl are migratory).

But as it turns out, I think it would benefit turkey hunters to look at conservation funding a bit less centrally, and start thinking a bit more globally as well.

[ScottTaulbee]

I'm almost certain it has to be KY. I'm not sure where these guys got their info but every piece of public land within 150 miles of where I'm at has looked like a circus daily and the plates have been more colors than the rainbow.

This. It's been unbelievable this year. The locals aren't thrilled.

Between WMA tracts and National forest I found 1 pull off that didn't have a vehicle in it and hunted it.

Typically we get a couple, as in less than 5 at these places. This year there were 25 out of state trucks at 3 pull offs on 3 tracts of the same WMA during that opening day drive. And the tracts combined total less than 700 acres.  Not considering the 4 on another 120 acres. Or the ones on National forest.

Because turkeys do not migrate...  Most turkey hunters are in our own little bubble.  When we have good local hunting, and read about the decline of turkeys in neighboring states we think "those poor saps," and go on about our business of hunting.

Turns out that many turkey hunters are pretty passionate about turkey hunting, and a lot of them will travel to hunt if hunting locally is no longer a viable option.

Conservation issues and hunting access issues of one state will quickly trickle down to other states.  For those of you with good local turkey hunting currently, would you give up on the sport if that local hunting was no longer viable, or would you travel to hunt?

While I do believe that locals should have priority...  At some point the state will look for where the largest revenue streams are coming from...  Higher license fees, hotels, food, etc...  Are the locals putting in more financially than OOS hunters?  If not, where is the incentive for the state to reduce OOS hunting license sales?

Hunting waterfowl is my primary passion, I am used to contributing to non-local conservation (as waterfowl are migratory).

But as it turns out, I think it would benefit turkey hunters to look at conservation funding a bit less centrally, and start thinking a bit more globally as well.

I agree. I'm passionate about waterfowl hunting myself and am a member of DU and Delta as well as buying my Duck stamp here and the stamp for Canada yearly and will participate in other chapters DU auctions, etc. And I also buy turkey stamps from the couple states that I know that offer them. And as far as the OOS helping the local economy, at least for the areas I hunt, there are no hotels within 45 minutes of the areas, and the two towns, one being the one I spent the first 20 years of my life in, have one restaurant. There are also a couple gas stations in each that serve breakfast and supper and they have very steady business from the locals and farmers year round. Most of these guys are camping in their trucks, at the gates. Or from what I've seen from a few, leave a truck at a gate as a place holder and hitch a ride with a buddy on down the road. Other than the non resident license fees, and maybe at the fueling stations, most aren't bringing any more revenue than the locals.


Forgot to add that I asked 3 of them why they think that we've had an influx of OOS and all three said "I think the hunting public and because Tennessee, Kentucky, And West Virginia all open within a few days of each other and we get a head start before our home season".


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[Kylongspur88]

I'm almost certain it has to be KY. I'm not sure where these guys got their info but every piece of public land within 150 miles of where I'm at has looked like a circus daily and the plates have been more colors than the rainbow.

This. It's been unbelievable this year. The locals aren't thrilled.

Between WMA tracts and National forest I found 1 pull off that didn't have a vehicle in it and hunted it.

Typically we get a couple, as in less than 5 at these places. This year there were 25 out of state trucks at 3 pull offs on 3 tracts of the same WMA during that opening day drive. And the tracts combined total less than 700 acres.  Not considering the 4 on another 120 acres. Or the ones on National forest.

Because turkeys do not migrate...  Most turkey hunters are in our own little bubble.  When we have good local hunting, and read about the decline of turkeys in neighboring states we think "those poor saps," and go on about our business of hunting.

Turns out that many turkey hunters are pretty passionate about turkey hunting, and a lot of them will travel to hunt if hunting locally is no longer a viable option.

Conservation issues and hunting access issues of one state will quickly trickle down to other states.  For those of you with good local turkey hunting currently, would you give up on the sport if that local hunting was no longer viable, or would you travel to hunt?

While I do believe that locals should have priority...  At some point the state will look for where the largest revenue streams are coming from...  Higher license fees, hotels, food, etc...  Are the locals putting in more financially than OOS hunters?  If not, where is the incentive for the state to reduce OOS hunting license sales?

Hunting waterfowl is my primary passion, I am used to contributing to non-local conservation (as waterfowl are migratory).

But as it turns out, I think it would benefit turkey hunters to look at conservation funding a bit less centrally, and start thinking a bit more globally as well.

I've got no issues with people traveling to hunt but when hordes of people rush into a particular area with decent numbers and kill high volumes of birds in that particular area pretty soon those areas will also hold poor numbers just like the areas where people may be traveling from. The absolute number one predator of mature toms are hunters. I'm not willing to give up hunting but I'm more than willing to pay for draws and quotas where states are attempting to control pressure [Nebraska] or even limit  bag limits [Ohio] to ensure I can continue to hunt. With respect to oos license sales, I can tell you turkeys aren't our money maker. Deer are. But at what point does the department look at it's current model and say is this sustainable? Are we attempting to generate some revenue even if detrimental to wildlife populations? and/or alienating their own residents? Like stated above I'm also going to get in my local commissioners ear and offer some suggestions. If he doesn't want to hear I'll keep going up the ladder until I get to someone who does

[ScottTaulbee]

I'm almost certain it has to be KY. I'm not sure where these guys got their info but every piece of public land within 150 miles of where I'm at has looked like a circus daily and the plates have been more colors than the rainbow.

This. It's been unbelievable this year. The locals aren't thrilled.

Between WMA tracts and National forest I found 1 pull off that didn't have a vehicle in it and hunted it.

Typically we get a couple, as in less than 5 at these places. This year there were 25 out of state trucks at 3 pull offs on 3 tracts of the same WMA during that opening day drive. And the tracts combined total less than 700 acres.  Not considering the 4 on another 120 acres. Or the ones on National forest.

Because turkeys do not migrate...  Most turkey hunters are in our own little bubble.  When we have good local hunting, and read about the decline of turkeys in neighboring states we think "those poor saps," and go on about our business of hunting.

Turns out that many turkey hunters are pretty passionate about turkey hunting, and a lot of them will travel to hunt if hunting locally is no longer a viable option.

Conservation issues and hunting access issues of one state will quickly trickle down to other states.  For those of you with good local turkey hunting currently, would you give up on the sport if that local hunting was no longer viable, or would you travel to hunt?

While I do believe that locals should have priority...  At some point the state will look for where the largest revenue streams are coming from...  Higher license fees, hotels, food, etc...  Are the locals putting in more financially than OOS hunters?  If not, where is the incentive for the state to reduce OOS hunting license sales?

Hunting waterfowl is my primary passion, I am used to contributing to non-local conservation (as waterfowl are migratory).

But as it turns out, I think it would benefit turkey hunters to look at conservation funding a bit less centrally, and start thinking a bit more globally as well.

I've got no issues with people traveling to hunt but when hordes of people rush into a particular area with decent numbers and kill high volumes of birds in that particular area pretty soon those areas will also hold poor numbers just like the areas where people may be traveling from. The absolute number one predator of mature toms are hunters. I'm not willing to give up hunting but I'm more than willing to pay for draws and quotas where states are attempting to control pressure [Nebraska] or even limit  bag limits [Ohio] to ensure I can continue to hunt. With respect to oos license sales, I can tell you turkeys aren't our money maker. Deer are. But at what point does the department look at it's current model and say is this sustainable? Are we attempting to generate some revenue even if detrimental to wildlife populations? and/or alienating their own residents? Like stated above I'm also going to get in my local commissioners ear and offer some suggestions. If he doesn't want to hear I'll keep going up the ladder until I get to someone who does

I'd suggest speaking to all of them. Not just your local man. Brian Fisher is really great. Ralph swallows will act like he cares and will text or email you to set up a time to chat and then will never actually have that time. The rest, in my experience, won't even answer a email or call. As you stated above, I have no problem with people traveling and have held some really great tailgate conversations with OOS guys. My problem is the ones that act like the duck hunting crowd does. Example, you get to the gate 2 hours before day light, not legal shooting time, you ease in to the area that you plan on hunting, you know where a bird is roosted and you're within 120 yards of him in the dark. You sit there, no light, in the dark, waiting on go time. 10 minutes before shooting time you hear gravel popping down where your truck is parked, here comes 3 head lamps coming right your way. They are 100 yards from you now, you whistle and they continue your way. They are now 60 yards from you, you flash your head lamp at them. They continue your way, and come over to you. You tell them that your truck is the one parked at the pull off and that you're hunting this particular patch of woods in front of you, they say ok and continue past you in to the woods your facing and procedé to blow the gobbler off the roost, then seconds after the turkey flies off, the proceed to lay in to crow calls and owl hooters in such a way that would make the Grand Nationals proud. So you leave, obviously infuriated, and see that they were from a bordering state.

That's a real example and has happened far too often the past couple of years.  Absolutely no respect. Just "I drove here to hunt and by god I'm going to hunt right here so get out of the way".


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[deerhunt1988]

Ya'll be sure to click those like and subscribe buttons!

[deadbuck]

To answer the poster above me who asked if turkey hunting gets crappy in my local area will I travel out of state or quit hunting. I will just quit turkey hunting.

[bigriverbum]

To answer the poster above me who asked if turkey hunting gets crappy in my local area will I travel out of state or quit hunting. I will just quit turkey hunting.

i will too. plenty of other hobbies and passions to fill the void as much as it would hurt to quit. and i live 20 minutes from 2 other states. 

lol- "turkeys don't migrate. so lets all converge on the few places that still have them and kill all those too" 

some of ya'll like killing, not hunting

[ScottTaulbee]

lol- "turkeys don't migrate. so lets all converge on the few places that still have them and kill all those too" 

some of ya'll like killing, not hunting
[/quote]



Bingo, there's the real answer.


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[richard black]

I agree totally Scott. Why kill more than one just because the law, or rules, or whatever says you can. I remember when there were no turkeys to hunt and it looks like we're headed back slowly but surely.

[joey46]

PETA could not have said it better.  This forum is quickly slipping into the dumpster.

[WV Flopper]

 Joey, it is sad. I agree.

For one guy that tags out there are two tag holders that get nothing. But.....the guys that kill a turkey are supposed to move on with one.

That's what alot of these guys think. When I go OOS and have two tags I intend to fill both. Good for you if you don't, that is your choice. I choose to fill mine if possible.

Lots of these guys should stick to regulating their selves.

[Blackduck]

Hard for me to believe the people preaching these restrictions are very good(meaning successful) turkey hunters.

Want to restrict everyone to one bird on public, you have my support. Keep your hands off my private tags. You can't touch those birds anyway, and they're doing just fine. 

[Bedge7767]

Not Georgia. We full.