Big Changes for Kansas

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dsunday
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Big Changes for Kansas

Post by dsunday »

"Never trust what you quote from the internet" -Abe Lincoln
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aristico
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Re: Big Changes for Kansas

Post by aristico »

Guess no more KS for me...
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hookedspur
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Re: Big Changes for Kansas

Post by hookedspur »

What are the changes pop ups keep me from viewing this
dsunday
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Re: Big Changes for Kansas

Post by dsunday »

1 bird limit for units 3 5 and 6

Fall season is shortened to 40 days, ending when quail and pheasant so no more shooting them on the wing over your dog
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Southern Sportsman
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Re: Big Changes for Kansas

Post by Southern Sportsman »

I’ve never hunted Kansas. Was the spring limit 2 or 3 previously?

I’m good with fall hunting even with limited hen killing where populations are abundant and growing. But bird numbers have fallen significantly in many places. When that’s the case, I think protecting hens is the most obvious first step. Which typically means altering or eliminating fall hunting. I’m also all for reducing spring limits if bird numbers are suffering. I love spring turkey hunting more than any other worldly activity. But I have begged and pleaded with TN’s fish and wildlife commission to alter our season dates and reduce our limits the last few years. They did finally nix fall hen killing, but have refused to touch the spring regulations. So we still have a 4 bird limit and start killing them before most hens are bred. The commission seem to ignore the downward trend in populations statewide, apparently more concerned about maintaining non-resident license sales that protecting the resource.

Hat tip to Kansas. I wish TN would follow suit.
I go stubbornly into error by myself, and reach my own fallacious conclusions using my own faulty data. ~Tom Kelly
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poorcountrypreacher
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Re: Big Changes for Kansas

Post by poorcountrypreacher »

aristico wrote: November 30th, 2019, 10:28 pm Guess no more KS for me...
Me either, but I I had already decided that I wasn't going back before they made the changes. That was more to do with me getting old than anything about KS; I've hunted it many times and always enjoyed it.

If they really have a population decline, it looks to me that the first step should be eliminating the hen killing entirely. They have shortened the season, but 40 days of killing hens is 40 too many if you want more turkeys.

I've read every report I have found, and I'm still very skeptical about the theory that populations are declining due to spring gobbler seasons. It makes sense that it could be an issue in places with very few gobblers - kill the only gobbler around and that is obviously a problem. I think it would be better to just close the season in areas with that few turkeys. In the places I hunt, there are always plenty of gobblers who survive the season and are still gobbling when it ends. It's hard for me to believe that the lack of a gobbler for breeding is an issue in these places.

I wonder if any research anywhere has proven that spring gobbler hunting has any impact on turkey populations? Do they have research that shows, for example, that there are more poults per hen in unhunted areas vs hunted areas? I haven't found one that showed this. The SC study had access to an unhunted area, but the report I read never answered this most important question.

If they have research that shows 1.8 poults per hen in hunted areas, and 3 poults per hen in unhunted areas, I would certainly have to rethink my position. Does it exist?
Gar Commander
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Re: Big Changes for Kansas

Post by Gar Commander »

Preacher, I hunt next to you in Mississippi and we have gobblers still talking after season as well. I think the problem is that Kansas birds are too easy to kill due to the terrain. Not at all like our pine thickets that you cant see 20 feet into with property lines running everywhere on 20 acre parcels everywhere.
dsunday
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Re: Big Changes for Kansas

Post by dsunday »

When do turkeys reach sexual maturity? Can a jake breed a hen? Does making jake harvest illegal affect population?
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dirtnap
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Re: Big Changes for Kansas

Post by dirtnap »

dsunday wrote: December 4th, 2019, 7:39 pm When do turkeys reach sexual maturity? Can a jake breed a hen? Does making jake harvest illegal affect population?
I asked the former SC deer/turkey state biologist(Charles Ruth) that very question several years ago on the ability of a jake to successfully breed a hen. There is no definitive research on that either according to him. His answer was he didn't think so.

Kansas has been on a downward slide the last 6 or 7 years. Too many people going there. And it is super easy to kill birds.
dsunday
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Re: Big Changes for Kansas

Post by dsunday »

Another aspect to consider has to be weather. Drought in 2018, horrible winter. Then flooding this spring and summer
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timbrhuntr
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Re: Big Changes for Kansas

Post by timbrhuntr »

You can hunt them over bait also in Kansas !! How much easier can younget than that !
KPcalls
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Re: Big Changes for Kansas

Post by KPcalls »

There has been recent studies proving that hen's choose the gobbler they want to breed with. If that gobbler gets killed before the hen's get breed that disrupts the breeding cycle. The southeastern group of biologist have been pushing for later season dates for quite sometime. The problem is most most states don't listen to the biologist because they are politically driven. In recent years some states have set there seasons opener later to help ensure hens are breed. In my mind the biggest factor for the decline is the open terrain and farm land there and other states which makes it easier for anyone straight out of Wally world with a blind, stutter decoy and a fan to kill a turkey. Get ready boys it's just going to get worse. Instead of making the necessary changes they will all start cutting the bag limit.
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poorcountrypreacher
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Re: Big Changes for Kansas

Post by poorcountrypreacher »

>>>There has been recent studies proving that hen's choose the gobbler they want to breed with. If that gobbler gets killed before the hen's get breed that disrupts the breeding cycle. <<<

Do you have a link to a study that proves this? I'm not arguing that it doesn't exist, but I would sure like to read it for myself. Everything I've actually read so far makes it seem much more like a theory than anything that could be called proven. I can't imagine how you could set up a study to prove that a hen was willing to breed a certain gobbler, and only that gobbler.

If it really is established that it happens, do any studies anywhere show a higher poult recruitment rate in nonhunted areas vs hunted areas? It looks like they would put that information out front and center if they had it. I suspect that they don't have it.

I believe that it's very possible to set bag limits so low that the landowners will lose interest in managing for turkeys and protecting them. The population is really gonna crash if that happens.
KPcalls
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Re: Big Changes for Kansas

Post by KPcalls »

I'm not sure where I read it. It was more than likely a study through The southeast wild turkey working group. Brett Collier a biologist from LSU who is not affiliated with any game and fish commission or the nWTF has been in the center of most wild turkey studies. You can find some good reading by searching his name. There is another study going on right now in Georgia to determine if West Nile virus is effecting the turkey population. This will definitely be interesting to see.
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