Did your season reflect harvest numbers in your state?

[Mountainburd]

Just curious if anyone was surprised by the high harvest numbers in their state/ home counties.  I know covid brought the hunters out of the woodwork, but did anyone else feel like they grinded it out like me (very few gobbling days) and managed to scrounge a couple of birds but felt the season was a struggle, only to see high harvest numbers?

I would have bet based on the season that people were not killing birds around me, but apparently they were.  Any thoughts?

[1iagobblergetter]

I guess our numbers were up in Iowa,but I think it was probably due to possibly more tags being sold..
It was a weird season imo. Gobble a little on the limb,fly down,and then for the most part quiet where I hunt. I never had a season where the safety came off as much and gobbler not appear. They would be coming in gobbling through the woods on a string,get close,and then vanish..
That's why I Love it. They keep you wondering Whhhy. 

[WV Flopper]

 I have not looked at numbers for WV. I assume they are once again a record number... To the point, No, my season did not reflect even an average number by our state.

I had a great time in a few days in Va. Moved over to WV and the fun never really began. 1st day of youth, prime private spot, never heard a peep. 2nd day heard two, youth killed a nice long beard. It was 13 days until I heard the next turkey gobble.

I set up three times in big boy season of WV. I hunted around 15 days, heard turkeys 3 days. Called up Jake's one day, got blasted by rain the second time, missed the third time.

I did not have any interferences from others, well one day a guy followed me for a few hundred yards. I only seen the one hunter all season. Other than that, it was wet, and unseasonably cold.

Definitely, not one of my more productive seasons. Turkeys just never gobbled.

[Greg Massey]

In Tenn 40,000 it was up... more people hunting , because of the virus ... I personally had good season.. had lots of fun and regardless it was great to just hunt these gobblers .

[LaLongbeard]

I had one of my best seasons, hunted 5 states and was into Gobbling birds most days. There were loads of extra people in the woods but I heard very few shots or talked to anyone that had killed a Gobbler. I didn't notice any reduction in Gobbling. I look at other hunters like a minor irritant like gnats or chiggers, just something you have to deal with. Looking back I think I had one day in La with no action and one or two rainouts when up north otherwise couldn't have asked for more. Oddly enough even with all the extra pressure this was one of the few seasons were I didn't have someone spook at least one Gobbler I was working?
     

[lmbunch69]

Indiana was up 2500 or so from last season. However, gobbling was great and I seemed to get on a bird every time went.

[GobbleGitr]

I guess our numbers were up in Iowa,but I think it was probably due to possibly more tags being sold..
It was a weird season imo. Gobble a little on the limb,fly down,and then for the most part quiet where I hunt. I never had a season where the safety came off as much and gobbler not appear. They would be coming in gobbling through the woods on a string,get close,and then vanish..
That's why I Love it. They keep you wondering Whhhy. 

I agree...birds went mute and stayed that way.  More time was spent in the woods I believe as well, which helped fill a few more tags here in Iowa.  First year my daughter got 2 tags and we filled them both.

[Improvinghunter101]

Numbers were probably down in Illinois since we couldn't hunt public land.  I know my wife and I had two site specific tags we were not able to use.  Even after the areas opened up on May 1, hunting was still not allowed.  I was at least able to take the time to get out of the state and do fairly well.

[Gooserbat]

Mine did not.  I have my theories. 

[bigbird]

Like mentioned in an earlier post Indiana was way up from what the biologists predicted that we would have due to poor hatches. I know some pretty good hunters that came down to the wire getting their tags filled. I did see way more people than usually do out there this spring.

[GobbleNut]

Here in NM, harvest results won't be out probably until next year some time (we don't even have numbers from 2019 yet).  However, rumor has it that 40% more spring licenses were sold for this spring.  I will believe that when I see it as fact rather than rumor,...just can't imagine that.

From personal observation, I think gobbler numbers were down a bit based on gobbling heard this spring.  In my circle of turkey hunting friends, success rates were way down, but much of that was due to them not going out as much because of the virus concerns.  Bottom line is, gobblers were around to be killed,...but you gotta go huntin' to kill one of them. 

At the start of the season, the woods were full of people, but it is hard to say how many of them were actually turkey hunters.  Seems like there were more campers, recreational ATV'ers, and antler hunters out, again probably due to being off work due to the virus.  Hard to say how many folks were turkey hunting, but it did seem like more than usual. As is usual, however, after the first week of the season, it seems like only the serious turkey hunters are still in the woods.

Speculating a bit, I am going to guess that our total harvest this spring is going to be close to the norm,...around 2500 birds +/- statewide.  Probably more hunters out overall, but with turkey numbers seeming to be down, the success rate was likely lower overall.  ...We will see in about a year how close I was... 

[joey46]

Florida, with no tag or report except on a few WMAs, is always a puzzle.  The private lands we hunt was steady.   Gobbling was minimal after flydown.

[Marc]

Bird numbers were decent, and hunter numbers exploded...

My season was in some ways representative of bird numbers, as I had a fair number of encounters...  Hunting with the pellet rifle proved to be a bit challenging, and I had many missed or passed opportunities.  I ended with two birds, and was NOT able to harvest one with a pellet rifle.

[BigSlam51]

Very little gobbling in my part of Ohio compared to years passed. Between myself, my buddy, and his little nephew we managed to kill 4. The ohio south zone which includes my county was down 2,000 turkeys from last year.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

[g8rvet]

Have not seen the reports for north Florida.  I would have been done on the second weekend if I had not invited my son to share in my special op hunt.  He killed the bird instead of me (no complaints).  We had lots of action all season long - both turkeys and hunters.  Had to have plans a, b, c and d several days.  We stayed on birds though and had good success in my family. 

I think our good season had more to do with how bad last year was due to the devastation of the woods from hurricane Michael.  Lots of folks struggled around here last year, public and private.