Be a responsible consumer and Mississippi

[silvestris]

The major cause of the problem is people.  Too many consumers chasing a limited resource.  If only people had shut their mouths rather than blabbing about what an exciting and "inviting" endeavor turkey hunting "was".  We have met the enemy an it is US.  This the circumstance in which we find ourselves, Get used to it or find another endeavor .

[sasquatch1]

Florida needs to join the others with no out of state hunters for the 1st 2 weeks.  Plenty of Alabama trucks around this weekend. And looks like THP was around the area as well.  To many residents hunting now as well.  Gonna need a quota draw just to make it safer. 

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Nothing has taken away our rights more than the good ole safety excuse.

Let me do what I can to protect me, not the government with more restrictions


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[Cowboy]

When hunting midwest states, many of the OOS  vehicles have MS and/or AR plates...

This is accurate for my state.....public land for us is absolutely covered up last 3 or 4 years...just saying.

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[arkrem870]

Make sure to like and subscribe.......loose lips sink ships.

[Howie g]

Covid , you tubers and the new "look at me " young hunters craze " has certainly added to the over abundance of hunters on public ground in ms . 
But I can assure you that nobody on this forum or anybody else drives though Ms public on a daily basis more then I ..... it was over crowded way before all these new issues .   Facts ...
   I honestly don't see this new Oos draw thing helping ... it's still over crowded .
Like silvestris stated , it's simply to many people in the timber .   Adjust , or just don't go . 

[Prohunter3509]

Mississippi really needs to start there season april 1st

[dirtnap]

The major cause of the problem is people.  Too many consumers chasing a limited resource.  If only people had shut their mouths rather than blabbing about what an exciting and "inviting" endeavor turkey hunting "was".  We have met the enemy an it is US.  This the circumstance in which we find ourselves, Get used to it or find another endeavor .

I agree and I've been saying this for years.

[ruination]

The major problem is your states don't reinvest in the resource.

Garbage land that holds plenty of turkeys is not exactly expensive.

But you guys would rather sell public land than buy more.

Extra couple acres here and there really adds up quick.

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[paboxcall]

Extra couple acres here and there really adds up quick...

Pennsylvania is a good example of this practice. Decades of doing just this.

But you guys would rather sell public land than buy more.

Of course, the new short-sighted thinking is the Game Commission has too much public land. Legislature is pushing back on the Game Commission's further expansion using funds from licenses, sales of timber, and natural gas extracted from those public lands they manage. Same legislature attempted to transfer $150 million of those funds from the Game Commission into the general fund.

Even when a state gets it right, along comes a misguided faction who think only about today.

[sasquatch1]

While helping to limit the amount of hunters, something else goes on it seems when these draw type of things happen. Like a psychological type deal with people or something. It's as if somehow a draw CREATES demand.

Example. This draw has now been in place for only 3 seasons.

Year 1, everyone who applied drew. Roughly 1k ppl applied (probably the same amount that mostly went before the draw)

Year 2, I think around 1500 applied so about 80% of the apps drew

Year 3, I believe over 2k people applied and now the odds were 50%.

Do you guys really think, if the draw never happened we would've had over 2k hunters that first 2 weeks this year? I somehow don't but I'm not sure. Maybe it's people having their whole
Families apply to try and up their odds? Maybe now the thing to do is like the YouTubers. All 6-8 people apply and long as 1 draws we can hunt and video and look cool.

The same sort of thing happened to the Idaho elk draw when they got away from OTC. The demand skyrocketed


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[AndyN]

Obviously time for total reciprocity.  If my state's residents can't hunt your state's public nationally owned land with your residents during a part of the season then your residents can't hunt my state's public nationally owned land for an equal time period.  I guess the Big Cypress and the Ocala National Forest will be the place for the Florida resident to be in the early season while chasing the Osceola.  No pesky MS or others from a few nearby states will be there.  Of course if your state doesn't discriminate enjoy the freedom of being an American with equal access to Florida's, and the nations',  public land.  For some reason the word "hypocrites" keeps popping up in my mind.   

Just because you're a "public land owner" doesn't mean you can do as you please outside of states harvest recommendations. Nobody is restricting your access to that ground. You can go walk around it all you want, you just can turkey hunt unless drawn. I could buy ground as an NR in IA and guess what, I'd still have to draw for deer and turkey.

[deadbuck]

I drove through a nearby local piece of National Forest in N Miss Sunday evening and talked to a couple OOS hunters that had been hunting 2 1/2 days. They said they came to Miss because it was the only thing open beside Florida this early. They also said just because it is open early does not mean it is good. They said they have more birds where they came from.

[arkrem870]

Alabama delaying there regular season 10 days and farther delaying public land until April 1 has a lot to do with the situation. Also add Georgia, Tennessee, and Oklahoma from an early season to the delayed season group...... more turkey hunters than ever pursuing turkeys on public lands influenced by social media. It's the perfect storm. 

I had a good discussion Saturday with a young man with a camera and a pinhoti hat.  He told me about all the guys coming to hunt from out of state and it used to not be near this bad.  I explained to him the evolution of Arkansas duck hunting and now the evolution of turkey hunting taking place before our eyes. I hope he took it to heart. Loose lips sink ships.  Hunt because you love to play the game. Don't hunt because you need to be validated by strange men online.

[ruination]

We need hunter recruitment, young men have no interest anymore...

"Not like that!"

[arkrem870]

I've been hunting the southeast for 30+ years and it's always been crowded here. Recruiting turkey hunters may be good for up north or out west but not around here.  The people recruiting hunters are brands that profit from public land hunters. Onx, first lite, mossy oak, thp etc.

Woodhaven turkey calls was a huge contributor to our current situation when they helped THP pimp out Alabama public.  Now they are selling calls partnered with them. Mossy oak is pushing pinhoti. They are all laughing headed to the bank.