# Yesterday assessment.



## ryan-b (Sep 18, 2009)

Im calling for my son inlaw as I tagged a bird first week on public. Yesterday we logged 200 miles, 5 counties in K and J. 
In total we saw 8 hens all on private, only cut one Tom/ jake track that was made that morning, never got a single gobble. Zero to yelping, goose call, owl, crow notta. Ran into 13 hunters. Never saw a single jake or Tom anywhere the entire day. First time in my 26 years of turkey hunting I’ve ever not seen or heard a single male bird all day


----------



## Grampski (Jan 28, 2015)

It's a weird season for us as well. Live on farm land and haven seen hardly any birds hen or toms or jakes. Must have been bad winter on them. I did get lucky and scored my personal best . 27 1/2 lb, 11 inch beard, 1 1/4 & 1 1/8 spurs


----------



## ryan-b (Sep 18, 2009)

Grampski said:


> It's a weird season for us as well. Live on farm land and haven seen hardly any birds hen or toms or jakes. Must have been bad winter on them. I did get lucky and scored my personal best . 27 1/2 lb, 11 inch beard, 1 1/4 & 1 1/8 spurs


 Up in the NLP we had about as easy of a winter as they have ever had. My area didn’t even see 4 ft of snow all winter. Cut more coyote, ****, and bobcat tracks then turkey this year and the amount of hunters like last year is nuts.


----------



## Sam22 (Jan 22, 2003)

Same sort of deal for me. Bird numbers of public in the NWLP are so low, and hunter effort is high. My effort is low because I can't seem to find much to work with...I am hunting downstate when I can and trying to work my way onto private more.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


----------



## ryan-b (Sep 18, 2009)

Sam22 said:


> Same sort of deal for me. Bird numbers of public in the NWLP are so low, and hunter effort is high. My effort is low because I can't seem to find much to work with...I am hunting downstate when I can and trying to work my way onto private more.
> 
> Sent from my SM-N950U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


Every bird I have worked this year I have had to try and pull of private or out of peoples back yards. I don’t usually pay attention to tag numbers but was very surprised to see now they give out more then two times in a single draw hunt then they used to in both combined. Turkey hunting unfortunately up here is turning into a private land owners game only. Even on private the numbers are low. The flock that just as of of few years ago near the N long lake/ Harris road intersection that numbered 20+ birds is down to 4-5 ,and they don’t get hunted that I know of.


----------



## TriggerDiscipline (Sep 25, 2017)

Unfortunately your experience mirrors my own. I've seen plenty of hens, but no jakes or toms. Even in the usual spots the woods are quiet. It's all the covid hunters killing way too many. The tag system needs serious reevaluation.


----------



## Yankee#1 (Jun 3, 2015)

Bird numbers also seem lower in the SW SLP, but this has been difficult for me to gauge. 

New housing has drastically changed their travel patterns.

Harvest in 2020 was not monitored with a survey but entire groups of toms seem to have been wiped out. Traditional roost sites, which had held birds for years (and for some likely decades), are empty this spring.

The toms no longer stick to traditional roost trees - they feel pressure and they change their roost very quick. This was something that almost never happened prior to last year, and this year most of the birds I’ve hunted and/or just heard have been in very different roost sites. Some of this movement happens every year when the hens start sitting, but this year it seems extreme to the point I haven’t heard birds in the same tree at any point in the season.

I fear that with increased hunting pressure on private lands that we’ve created the ‘nomadic Tom’. It’s likely only a matter of time for these birds to start acting like the gobblers down south...


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


----------



## Ieatshrooms (Sep 19, 2019)

I complained about this in a LFTS and then ended up shooting a turkey that the neighbor wounded with a gun from 10 yards away. The newbs are everywhere from mushroom foraging to turkey hunting...call it the social media explosion I guess. 'Hunter recruitment' is shoved down our throats so much it seems its absolutely a sin to speak otherwise, so I'll just shut up.


----------



## ryan-b (Sep 18, 2009)

Yankee#1 said:


> Bird numbers also seem lower in the SW SLP, but this has been difficult for me to gauge.
> 
> New housing has drastically changed their travel patterns.
> 
> ...


Up here it’s getting to be just a extreme lack of birds. Ive got no issue with calling birds off private ground and on to public if the property is close to or but up to public. Miles and miles of prime public and private totally void of birds these days. No tracks, no sightings, notta. It’s actually getting rare to see a turkey crossing the road any time of year up here. Tons of predators and a very, very liberal tag allotment doesn’t help at all. Some areas have good numbers but there is no permission given to hunt and no public ground for miles.


----------



## TriggerDiscipline (Sep 25, 2017)

Ieatshrooms said:


> I complained about this in a LFTS and then ended up shooting a turkey that the neighbor wounded with a gun from 10 yards away. The newbs are everywhere from mushroom foraging to turkey hunting...call it the social media explosion I guess. 'Hunter recruitment' is shoved down our throats so much it seems its absolutely a sin to speak otherwise, so I'll just shut up.


Deer hunting may be one thing, those numbers are definitely down. Turkey hunting is a completely different situation though. It wasn't really popular until the last few years, last year particularly. With the shutdown, guys had nothing to do, so they took up a new sport. It was a perfectly timed storm to annihilate the turkey population. And it seems like many of those guys are sticking with it. With the science we know about the decline of turkey populations down south, the DNR needs to act quickly and decisively to protect the species. I'd be perfectly fine drawing a lottery tag every few years if it makes the population sustainable.


----------



## Ack (Oct 3, 2004)

Numbers are struggling in many areas. If people cannot restrain themselves when there are not many birds around, then the DNR seriously needs to look at cutting back on tag numbers. 

No different then not filling a doe tag when there are hardly any to start with.


----------



## QDMAMAN (Dec 8, 2004)

Ack said:


> Numbers are struggling in many areas. If people cannot restrain themselves when there are not many birds around, then the DNR seriously needs to look at cutting back on tag numbers.
> 
> No different then not filling a doe tag when there are hardly any to start with.



Maybe it's time to suspend the fall "any turkey a day" hunt.


----------



## Botiz (Oct 21, 2010)

Ieatshrooms said:


> I complained about this in a LFTS and then ended up shooting a turkey that the neighbor wounded with a gun from 10 yards away. The newbs are everywhere from mushroom foraging to turkey hunting...call it the social media explosion I guess. 'Hunter recruitment' is shoved down our throats so much it seems its absolutely a sin to speak otherwise, so I'll just shut up.


Hunter recruitment needs to stop. So much of a hunting is governed by lottery or controlled tags right now. Why in the world would anyone think that when we already have too many people for what the resource can sustain, that what we need is more people?

Call that inflammatory but it’s math. If you could only play golf once every three months because of how many people were wanting tee times, you’d get beaten to death with a 5 iron if you launched a golfer recruitment campaign.


----------



## ryan-b (Sep 18, 2009)

Ack said:


> Numbers are struggling in many areas. If people cannot restrain themselves when there are not many birds around, then the DNR seriously needs to look at cutting back on tag numbers.
> 
> No different then not filling a doe tag when there are hardly any to start with.


Yes they need to change the allotment numbers. Used to be only 1500 per draw hunt in K. Now it’s 4000 for the first and 4500 for the second. Then the 234 hunt


----------



## Ieatshrooms (Sep 19, 2019)

Botiz said:


> Hunter recruitment needs to stop. So much of a hunting is governed by lottery or controlled tags right now. Why in the world would anyone think that when we already have too many people for what the resource can sustain, that what we need is more people?
> 
> Call that inflammatory but it’s math. If you could only play golf once every three months because of how many people were wanting tee times, you’d get beaten to death with a 5 iron if you launched a golfer recruitment campaign.


Its a tricky deal because I would love for everyone to enjoy the outdoors...but when you are hunting and have three others guys within sight, it is hardly 'enjoying the outdoors'. The simple fact is we are reaching too high of a population, especially in rural and suburban areas, for everyone to enjoy the outdoors in tranquility. I really fear this is only going to get worse as more people work remotely and aren't stuck to urban centers. I get along with all my neighbors fine, I can't blame them for getting into new hobbies, its just sometimes I wish those neighbors were a lot further away.


----------

