# Never thought I'd see the day



## thundrst (Oct 7, 2007)

Picked up a Spring turkey guide yesterday & was (semi)surprised to see that the ENTIRE state was now open. I remember when they were just introduced & you could not hunt them at all. I was really happy when they allowed just a few hunters (by lottery) in the Mio/Fairview area only. I wish I would have saved that guide map just for comparison. Amazing how well the turkeys have done in our state. Looks like it is sustainable too. Anyone else remember the "lean old days"?


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## Mitchell Ulrich (Sep 10, 2007)

I can remember driving to Lansing and standing in line for a leftover permit.


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## DEDGOOSE (Jan 19, 2007)

Not only is the entire state open MI has slid into the #4 harvest state as of 2009..


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## lonzo (Oct 12, 2010)

i was shocked this summer to see turkeys in wayne county we seen some right here in the city of taylor


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## melvvin (Nov 21, 2007)

I can remember seeing a turkey when I was going trout fishing probably the late 70's or so. It was the 1st one I had seen thought it was the coolest thing ever. I was deer hunting a couple of weeks ago and had at least 30 turkeys go by all were toms or jakes quit counting at 19 as they passed. It was nice but not as great as that 1st one I saw years ago.


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## DetroitDave (Dec 19, 2010)

lonzo, they're here in Detroit too...Rouge park...did a double take as I was driving by..:yikes:


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## EdB (Feb 28, 2002)

I was present when they released the first birds in the Waterloo area and drew a tag when they held the first hunt in this area. There were some birds in Allegan but that was the start of the mass expansion of the flocks in in southern MI. There was not much interest and it wasn't difficult to draw a general tag for a couple years. That didn't last to long. You had to cover a lot of ground to hear a gobble. I never expected the sport would grow like it has way back then.


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

The expansion of wild turkey hunting to everywhere in the state is notable, but excuse me if I don't translate that to mean that we have huge numbers of wild turkeys in all parts of the state. 

We don't-in fact, in many areas of the state where the majority of public land is available, ie., the northern lower and the UP, there's fewer and fewer birds every year, in fact, in some of those areas, like quite a few counties in the UP, there's NO wild turkeys at all and never has been. Other counties, like most in the northern lower, are struggling just to hang on to a few birds, and are WAYYY down from the numbers that used to be present in those areas. 

An expansion of wild turkey hunting to all areas of the state could simply be another DNRE effort to sell more licenses. 

And a record number of birds taken in 2009 could mean a number of things-not necessarily that we are drowning in wild turkeys. It would also be a good idea to remember that, unlike a lot of other states, we do not have a mandatory harvest reporting system, at best, just an estimated guess of how many turkeys are harvested annually. But no hard core facts to back that up. 

It could mean that more people than ever before hunted wild turkeys in this state that year, which has its good points AND its bad points. 

It could mean that more people had access to private lands in southern Michigan, a very good thing if that were true...but it's unlikely...it could mean that more birds were taken from both public and private lands in the NLP, which is not really good news after years of bad hatches, rotten winters and...in the last two years, more and more people who are afraid to feed the birds in the winters, which means fewer birds that survive the winters...it is not good science to offer almost unlimited hunting on declining populations...

And it could simply be an effort by the DNR to keep up with all other states that offer turkey hunting. 

Or an effort to appease those who think we aren't hunting them hard enough...primarily people in southern Michigan in areas with all private lands, where it's almost impossible to hunt to manage populations at all. Areas that should have those extra birds trapped and transplanted into areas that are short on birds. 

So it could be an effort on the DNR's part to save themselves some money by hoping that hunters will get the problem birds that they SHOULD be trap and transplanting...but aren't. 

So excuse me if I don't get too excited about spring wild turkey hunting now being open in all areas of the state. Gee, the fall hunt, which is SUPPOSED to be a management hunt to manage overpopulations of birds, is now CLOSED in the entire NLP, again, where all those public lands are for the average guy to hunt, but the spring hunt is now expanded to all areas of the state. Tell me where the logic is in that. 

I'm not going to jump up and down telling the DNR what a good job they've done, that's for sure. And I never minded having to hope for a tag-the quality of the hunt was worth it.


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## MAttt (Dec 15, 2004)

Hey thundrst
I remember when they were first planting them and the sichuans
out around pickney back in the day. The area I was hunting was closed to all small game hunting for 7 years because of it.
It was stateland bowhunting paradise for a bit.

At this point I see more Turkeys than deer on my 40 minute drive 
out to my hunting areas nowadays along with more
turkeys on the stateland than deer too.

I have a buddy out in Howell that has to kick them out
of his garage once in awhile.
I think they like his blue truck. lol


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## Critter (Mar 3, 2006)

Linda G. said:


> So it could be an effort on the DNR's part to save themselves some money by hoping that hunters will get the problem birds that they SHOULD be trap and transplanting...but aren't.


Where should they be trapping and transplanting them to?


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## thundrst (Oct 7, 2007)

Linda G. 

I was just making an observation. You must admit that compared to any other MI game species introduction (except maybe some of the the fish), the Turkey X-plants went extremely well. I am well aware of the fact that many of the UP counties likely hold NO turkeys, but come on! I also don't think that the DNR can take all of the credit as there were several private groups and individuals that put in huge, successful efforts. I am also aware that some areas are seeing a decrease in population. I'm sure this will continue & vary in physical area and magnitude in the future. I don't know how old you are, but compared to 1968, you can't tell me that the turkey hunting situation in MI is worse! 

Didn't have time to read all you typed, but will read the rest later if I get a chance. JH


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## adam bomb (Feb 27, 2006)

A trap and transport to Roscommon County would be good. I deer hunted up there for 16 years and a wild turkey was a very rare sighting indeed. Might be lucky to have 4-8 grace our 860 acre lease if we were lucky. Some years we never seen them at all.


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