https://www.warnell.uga.edu/people/facu ... hamberlain

Copied verbatim from his FB page:

"Let's talk timing of hunting seasons relative to nest incubation on this Turkey Tuesday. I get this question a lot, "why are turkey seasons timed when they are"? That's an interesting question. Many years ago, managers recognized the importance of timing the removal of toms with peaks in nest incubation, so that most hens were already bred. These recommendations were published at the request of various fish and wildlife agencies (Healy and Powell 1999), but in reality, have been largely dismissed or ignored under pressure to open seasons earlier. This figure shows nest incubation patterns for a population in Georgia, along with the onset of hunting (black line) and period of peak nest incubation (red lines). As you can see, if we're trying to time the season to coincide with peaks in incubation, we're missing the mark a bit. I get many questions and comments about suggestions that the season perhaps opens too soon in many places. Here are a few with my perspectives.

1. "Turkeys breed in March, they're all finished by the end of March". This is false. Yes, turkeys do copulate in March (in the deep South), but they're not finished then. There is keen competition among toms to breed with hens during egg laying, which in this figure is well into April.

2. "You only need one tom to service a bunch of hens". True, one tom can breed with many hens. But this statement misses a critical point. Turkeys are designed to breed with multiple partners, many clutches have multiple toms represented in them. This is important to fitness of the population, and is why toms have such elaborate displays. Sexual selection. Hens are supposed to be able to select and breed with toms that are "the best", and that isn't always just one.

3. If we don't open seasons early, they will "gobble out" and "be done". We've clearly shown that gobbling extends well into May in most populations. And reproductive behaviors are driven by photoperiod, so although there might be slight variations each year, the timing of when birds start gobbling and displaying is pretty much the same each year. The reality is, toms are receptive earlier than hens, so we see birds displaying and hear them gobbling while hens are largely ignoring them, and think that it must be time to start hunting. It's human nature. I'm guilty of it like most.

In the end, when I'm asked about timing of seasons and nesting, I typically note this - turkey seasons are basically set based on tradition and political pressure, rather than on biology of the bird and it's breeding strategy. Many states have made tweaks to their seasons, but the recent changes in South Carolina illustrate some important points. One, making changes always is difficult, we don't like change. Two, biology loses sometimes, oftentimes. Anyway, I'll move on and talk more about this topic in the future, as it's an important yet polarizing one for sure."

bump

I responded in the other SC post there GN. But I like this political correct guy, and will discuss it later. But yea, like I said in the other post most legislatures do not listen to common sense.

Still waiting for the new turkey symposium book to come out where I hope they expand a lot more on breeding, nesting and early seasons.


Earl

I can't see any of the graphs the man discusses. Here in MD the season starts mid April and ends mid May. I think they tried to set the season with the second Gobbling peak which usually happens after most hens are bred and Toms are looking for hens missed or renesting. I think that would be about the best time to have season but I did see a lot of hens with Toms even after season starts. One thing this guy says I thought odd was that hens were to mate with many Toms to ensure strength of the population. I thought that a hen could mate one time and store the semen in her cloclea to fertilize all her eggs. She could mate multiple times but it wasn't necessary. I thought that hens only mated multiple times if their nests were destroyed by predation. Maybe I am in err.

Anyway, I think adjusting seasons could help with turkey numbers but there are many other factors that can make a difference. Removing predators, egg suckers, etc..........
Since trapping has become more and more rare I think raccoon, possum, and skunk numbers have increased and that has hurt numbers. Increased number of raptors affects populations, the list goes on and on.

It is like reading about Moose and the tick problem in Maine. Moose numbers are way down because of ticks. I hear a lot of biologists talking about the declines and observing the young calves dying from this but I have not seen any of them discuss doing anything about it.

We are stewards of this planet yet many now just want to let nature take its course rather than intervene. I plan to trap this fall to remove some egg suckers and hopefully shoot some fox and yotes to help the turkey and deer herds out. I see it as our job.
Vic

Wait.. GN is on Facebook?? That is the story I took from this

Surprising eh? I don't do any of the social networks. V