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Turkey Population

Just like anything, we're at the bottom of a cycle & areas with high predators will have low turkey numbers. Hire a good trapper if you can.
 
Same thing Daver said X3. I'm in S.E. Iowa and have some concerns.
I would like to see turkey quota go to one bird a season unless your a land owner and bobcat quota disappear or go to two cats.
 
Some of you boys wouldn't last a day in north central Iowa. On our way down to Decatur county as we speak to get a buddy his first bird with a bow. The amount of birds down in these parts compared to any "good" farm north of 80 isn't even comparable.
 
Same thing Daver said X3. I'm in S.E. Iowa and have some concerns. I would like to see turkey quota go to one bird a season unless your a land owner and bobcat quota disappear or go to two cats.

You are not going to help/affect the turkey population in any way by limiting the quota to one bird.
 
Some of you boys wouldn't last a day in north central Iowa. On our way down to Decatur county as we speak to get a buddy his first bird with a bow. The amount of birds down in these parts compared to any "good" farm north of 80 isn't even comparable.

FWIW, from the sounds of things...I get the impression that the south central Iowa region has not experienced the same downswing. Actually I was in Decatur County last spring and saw/heard quite a few birds. In my short 2 day stay there, it seemed as though things were good as far as turkey populations go.

Further east though, in SE Iowa, it seems as though things are quite different. Not even counting people that post here on IW, I have probably talked with a couple dozen long time turkey hunters in that area that would validate that a pretty large section of SE Iowa is probably running at 20%-25% of the numbers that were there even 5 or 6 years ago.
 
FWIW, from the sounds of things...I get the impression that the south central Iowa region has not experienced the same downswing. Actually I was in Decatur County last spring and saw/heard quite a few birds. In my short 2 day stay there, it seemed as though things were good as far as turkey populations go.

Further east though, in SE Iowa, it seems as though things are quite different. Not even counting people that post here on IW, I have probably talked with a couple dozen long time turkey hunters in that area that would validate that a pretty large section of SE Iowa is probably running at 20%-25% of the numbers that were there even 5 or 6 years ago.

I'm not saying numbers aren't down. Just saying your bird numbers are down 20-25% that puts your farms from 10 toms down to 7-8. See my point, come up to boone/Hamilton county and I'll show you poor bird numbers.
 
we wintered 120+ birds on one farm in decatur this year had at least 50 toms now the spring rolls around and we have 4-5 on the whole damn place.. i know they bounce around in the spring but man i wish they would've stayed
 
I'm not saying numbers aren't down. Just saying your bird numbers are down 20-25% that puts your farms from 10 toms down to 7-8. See my point, come up to boone/Hamilton county and I'll show you poor bird numbers.

Big difference between down 25% and at 25%... If daver had 10 toms, he now has 2-3, not 7-8..
 
Seems like our numbers in NW Iowa are down too. No significant bobcat presence, but lots of coyotes. We are also about 30 minutes from 2 of the big "bird flu" outbreaks that have been in the news recently. They are thinking it arrived in these flocks from migrating waterfowl, and if waterfowl can spread it to birds in enclosed facilities, surely it could spread to the wild population as well?? Just me thinking...who knows??

NWBuck
 
Big difference between down 25% and at 25%... If daver had 10 toms, he now has 2-3, not 7-8..

Thank you. I really am not interested in getting into a dispute over how many turkeys someone else thinks are on my farm, etc. But the numbers today are a fraction of what they were a few years ago.

If you would have heard the gobbling activity 10 years ago, when at times it sounded like a barnyard full of them...on nearly every ridge, to nowadays when you hear just a handful and sometimes none, something pretty significant has happened.

I think they will bounce back up if we avoid overly wet springs, but until then...
 
I have probably talked with a couple dozen long time turkey hunters in that area that would validate that a pretty large section of SE Iowa is probably running at 20%-25% of the numbers that were there even 5 or 6 years ago.

Big difference between down 25% and at 25%... If daver had 10 toms, he now has 2-3, not 7-8..

Sorry, guess I misinterpreted Daver's original response :confused:

And like I said, I'm not disagreeing bird numbers are down, just simply saying I'd give my trigger finger to know that within a short drive (my good buddy lives in Burlington and there farms are all "LOADED" with birds) I can be on turkeys VS living where I live and have to work your tail off to kill one. I hunt properties in 2-3 counties (Boone, Story, Hamilton) and I can personally tell you hunting up here and seeing 2 birds in a morning is pretty stellar; those standards once I cross highway 80 are out the window.
 
Dallas county I would say down slightly, but Lucas county they need to open hen season. Shed hunting I saw groups of 150+. 99% hens
 
Dallas county I would say down slightly, but Lucas county they need to open hen season. Shed hunting I saw groups of 150+. 99% hens

That's because they were still in there winter groups. You will not see any tom's in these groups until end of March first of April. The farm we hunt in Lucas had 80 hens this winter and as of last week there were only a hand full left. But the Tom's are there now!:D
 
I understand that but the ratio is minimum 20 hens to 1 male. When you get a Tom fired up and coming the hens come get him. Guess it's the way nature intended but makes hunting rather hard, lol
 
after hunting second season, and not seeing or hearing what I anticipated I got overly suspicious.

I spoke with some neighboring farmers. Between their stories and other local hunters trailcam pics, bobcats are a problem here, now...and had never been confirmed until a couple years ago. I can only conclude that the tough winters, spring floods and predator pressure (bobcats and coyotes) has decimated the birds in our area. This is East Central Iowa, Cedar River corridor...and there is certainly something impacting the birds. This used to be Turkey mecca!

About 5 years ago we could stand in my dads yard and count over 20 different gobbles in a 360 degree radius. He's retired now, and has been listening daily. While his ears may not be as good as mine, this year we have heard less than 10 birds gobble across the same acreage of the 360 degree radius. The last three years we have seen/heard a significant drop in gobblers.

In one field, where historically you could see a strutting tom every single day...dad has not seen a single strutter this year.
 
Went out this AM before work just east of Winterset and had well over 30 turkeys in a standing bean field (it flooded last fall so it never was harvested) and there were MANY fully strutting toms. WOuld have sealed the deal had 2 coyotes not come in to crash the party
 
Went out this AM before work just east of Winterset and had well over 30 turkeys in a standing bean field (it flooded last fall so it never was harvested) and there were MANY fully strutting toms. WOuld have sealed the deal had 2 coyotes not come in to crash the party

I'll come hunt with you :way:
 
thats how it used to be for us in ringgold.. sadly no more.. i haven't even bothered to hunt my favorite farm in a few years since theres only 4 or 5 on there the last couple of years and I'm banking on the neighbors killing a couple while I'm hoping they rebound
 
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