I'd like to send DNR an email asking that they push the 2018 spring turkey season off until July. I'd like to erase that final .06% chance that I might see a strutter or hear a gobble so that I won't be tempted to waste money or time off attempting to hunt them. Should be a win-win since it appears a state wide harvest of 14 birds is the goal anyway.
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Does DNR have an email address?
- Thread starter phylodog
- Start date
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Tough hunting right now... My son had 5 gobblers hit his field a couple days ago and not a one responded to his calling.. He is an excellent caller. All they did was feed and look his way when he called. The season is WAAAAYYYY too late..
Well, this season it is...although two years ago, I had hen clucking all around me, and gobblers gobbling their heads off on opening morning. Killed a big jake before 8:00 that morning. I figured it would be a tough hunt this spring with the very warm winter, and early spring warm-up we had, but even at that, my buddy had a gobbler coming to him, gobbling and double gobbling on Friday morning until an actual hen diverted the bird. I agree the season ought to start a little earlier than it does, but, I also believe each season is different, kind of like the white-tail rut, as to when the calling and breeding starts. Even when the birds aren`t necessarily coming to the call, they can be killed if you know where they tend to dust, and feed, by ambushing them.
I'd rather the season start early and the birds turn on at the end of it than have it this late every year where you have a 10% chance at an active bird and that chance diminishes every day thereafter.
We're going to start looking for a place to hunt in TN. If we can get one lined up I won't be giving DNR any more money for a turkey license or game bird habitat stamp. I'll gladly pay a few hundred bucks to hunt turkeys instead of $30 to dress up, sit in the woods and listen to songbirds.
We're going to start looking for a place to hunt in TN. If we can get one lined up I won't be giving DNR any more money for a turkey license or game bird habitat stamp. I'll gladly pay a few hundred bucks to hunt turkeys instead of $30 to dress up, sit in the woods and listen to songbirds.
w_ADAM_d88
Master
I've heard they only way to bag a turkey in Indiana is to hit one with your car.
I get your frustration, but I also know, this isn`t about just the hunter experience. It also has to be about the well being of the flocks.
Yeah, this isn`t as simple as just moving a date...
If it were about the flocks then cancel the fall season or cancel both. Either do it right or don't do it at all.
I'm all about conservation and management but this is the second year in a row the birds were gobbling and strutting in Indiana 4-6 weeks before season opened. May as well make May, June & July whitetail season and only allow hard horned bucks to be killed.
I'm all about conservation and management but this is the second year in a row the birds were gobbling and strutting in Indiana 4-6 weeks before season opened. May as well make May, June & July whitetail season and only allow hard horned bucks to be killed.
The Turkey are responsive is what I meant.
By "responsive" do you mean will answer your call or come all the way into your call?
Either way - Some are...most aren't.
Copy of an email I sent to a IDNR wildlife biologist:
I have been hearing a lot of complaints for the past several years regarding the timing of the hunting season in Indiana for wild turkeys. Most of the complaints have to do with what many feel is a season that starts, and runs later than it should in order to foster greater hunter success. Personally, I have seen mixed results depending on the particular year. Three years ago on opening morning, I had both hens and toms working and calling very aggressively around me, and I eventually killed a big jake later that morning. This year so far, I`ve heard not a single gobble and have only seen one hen. I`ve heard from other hunters that gobblers don`t seem to be coming to calls, and seem disinterested in breeding now, as though the breeding is done. I, of course cannot verify this, but I`ve heard no gobbling and as of yet, nothing has come to my calls or decoys.
Even in the years I`ve been successful in killing a bird, based on what I`ve heard from other hunters, as we get later into the season, and as the weather get`s much hotter, the success rate for taking a bird plummets. And of course, late in the season, certainly, the toms have lost all interest in breeding, so the hunting becomes hoping to ambush a bird on the way to a feeding or dusting site. My personal experiences have been the same, the later in the season it gets, the potential to kill a bird decreased dramatically, regardless of hunting pressure.
Has the IDNR received much feedback in regards to these issues? If so, have there been, or will there be discussion regarding moving the season back, to open, and close earlier? How might hunters petition the IDNR to look into these hunter complaints?
I appreciate your time, and also would appreciate your feedback on your thinking personally, as well as the IDNR as a whole, on this issue.
Thank you,
I will certainly post what, if any, reply I receive.
I have been hearing a lot of complaints for the past several years regarding the timing of the hunting season in Indiana for wild turkeys. Most of the complaints have to do with what many feel is a season that starts, and runs later than it should in order to foster greater hunter success. Personally, I have seen mixed results depending on the particular year. Three years ago on opening morning, I had both hens and toms working and calling very aggressively around me, and I eventually killed a big jake later that morning. This year so far, I`ve heard not a single gobble and have only seen one hen. I`ve heard from other hunters that gobblers don`t seem to be coming to calls, and seem disinterested in breeding now, as though the breeding is done. I, of course cannot verify this, but I`ve heard no gobbling and as of yet, nothing has come to my calls or decoys.
Even in the years I`ve been successful in killing a bird, based on what I`ve heard from other hunters, as we get later into the season, and as the weather get`s much hotter, the success rate for taking a bird plummets. And of course, late in the season, certainly, the toms have lost all interest in breeding, so the hunting becomes hoping to ambush a bird on the way to a feeding or dusting site. My personal experiences have been the same, the later in the season it gets, the potential to kill a bird decreased dramatically, regardless of hunting pressure.
Has the IDNR received much feedback in regards to these issues? If so, have there been, or will there be discussion regarding moving the season back, to open, and close earlier? How might hunters petition the IDNR to look into these hunter complaints?
I appreciate your time, and also would appreciate your feedback on your thinking personally, as well as the IDNR as a whole, on this issue.
Thank you,
I will certainly post what, if any, reply I receive.
Both. All my friends have tagged out. Usually as tags get filled one will help another on a bird. We were all done before opening weekend. Good cool weather for next week, the gobbling should continue.
Both. All my friends have tagged out. Usually as tags get filled one will help another on a bird. We were all done before opening weekend. Good cool weather for next week, the gobbling should continue.
CountryBoy19
Grandmaster
This ^^^
And this^^^
I've been hearing of LOTS of kills in Lawrence County saw toms out strutting this morning and heard some gobbling yesterday. My neighbor (has permission to hunt my place) went out for his first hunt of the season today and put one down...
Apparently we need to lease some ground in Lawrence County. I'm just about convinced turkeys are extinct here in Fountain. Been here for 5 days and have hear two gobbles from the same bird who went the other direction when presented with calls. I've killed 10 birds in the past four years so I'm inclined to believe I have a slight idea as to what I'm doing.
There has to be a way to have our voices heard. We are the reason the IDNR exists after all. If they can present a compelling case for why the season should stay as is, i.e., to keep the population healthy, then ok, ultimately, that has to be first priority, with hunter success/satisfaction a close second. If I hear nothing back, or get a condescending response, I`ll root around and figure out where to go next.
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