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JF Griffin - Index

JF Griffin - magazine - Index

THE
SETUP.
Adapts to
create the
perfect
seated blind
Mission: Longbeard
Tennessee
TBy GRAy AndeRson Turkey Program Coordinator
urkeyPopulations
Turkey hunting is one of the
TWRA’s success stories. We have
set harvest records annually
for decades as the population grew
and surveys consistently show hunter
satisfaction ratings over 90 percent
as turkey hunter numbers continue to
grow rapidly.
However, in 2007 and 2008 we had
the first back-to-back declines in the
spring harvest and many sportsmen
wondered if there were problems with our
turkey population. Five areas of concern
are discussed below that may impact
our harvest trends. They are: bag limit
liberalization, harvest trends, productivity,
fall harvest impacts, and weather.
Bag Limit Liberalization
Since the early 1990s turkey harvest
regulations have been constant with a
statewide four-bird-per-season limit.
The agency has liberalized the number
of county (non-WMA) birds that are
allowed from two, prior to 1999, to three
birds from 2000-2005, and then to four
birds from 2006 to the present.
The number of birds taken per
successful hunter (less than 25 percent of
hunters harvest a bird) has increased with
the liberalization of the county bag limit.
Before 1999, each successful hunter took
1.25 birds. From 2000-2005 this increased
to 1.43 birds and in the last three years this
has increased to 1.52 birds.
We expected changes with the
regulation liberalization but there is no
evidence that the changes have harmed
our turkey population. The change from
a two-county bird limit to a four-county
bird limit only meant an increase of 0.27
birds per successful hunter, which amounts
to about 5,500 birds. With an estimated
statewide population exceeding 300,000
birds, we are still within our harvest
potential.
Harvest trends
Turkey populations with high harvest
pressure will have higher harvest on yearold
birds or jakes than a population with
lower hunting pressure because when
large proportions of the population are
removed through hunting, the population
tends to rely on annual nesting to sustain
the flock. Essentially, under extreme
harvest pressure there are not enough
mature gobblers available and jakes are
harvested as a substitute. This means that
if Tennessee had extreme harvest pressure,
our annual harvest would be less than
50 percent mature gobblers. Currently
we harvest 88 percent mature gobblers,
which is a strong indication that our
statewide population is healthy.
Productivity
In order to harvest 88 percent of
mature gobblers annually there must
be excellent reproduction. Our wildlife
managers and officers collect data every
summer on the turkeys and broods to
monitor annual productivity.
Overall productivity in our flock
appears to be very good and seems to be
at or above expectations. There was no
apparent effect of the 2007 Easter freeze
or the drought on productivity. Nesting
was not disrupted and our final estimate
of brood survival was exactly what we
predicted for the long-term average.
Fall harvest impacts
The 2007 fall season set a record
with 3,017 birds taken, which is about 1
percent of our flock. Turkey populations
Continues on page 78
30 2008 Hunting & Trapping Guide