taking hens or toms in fall

[Devastator]

I will take either this year as a there is an abundance of poults in my area. I love hearing all that turkey talk from a fall flock.

Same here!!

[aaron]

My personal opinion is that the taking of one hen (Ohio's fall limit, and where the original poster hails from.)  from a healthy population will not hurt one thing.  It also saves the gobblers for spring.  an NWTF study showed that as long as fall harvest does not exceed 10% of the population, population numbers will maintain or increase.  Most states come nowhere near the 10% mark as specifically targeting fall turkeys is exceedingly uncommon due to most guys chasing deer, waterfowl etc.  You are absolutely right, dead hens don't lay eggs, but the 49 other hens that were with the hen I shot will.  I just don't see shooting an occasional hen as a detriment.  Yes if you invited 10 of your buddies and you all shot hens, then you may see a decrease.  I think habitat effects the population more than any other factor

[firstflight111]

We shoot hens every fall 8 to 10 of us, never hurt our spring hunts ever may even help. without all the hen competition makes it easy pickings . We shoot big toms in the spring pass in the fall .

And our fall season starts Monday .

[perrytrails]

 I'm gonna fall hunt with my bow. I just enjoy it, always have. Can take hen or gobbler in my county. ( Ohio )

The Coyote always takes the blame when you talk declining turkey populations. And I'm sure they get their share.

Want to see more poults next spring? Get Ya a half dozen dog proof traps and thin out the coons and opossum. Very easy to set and bait. Those two are the biggest reason for decline if you ask me.