| Author | Message | ||
| GN |
Seems like Va opens a week too late to me. If you are in the lower elevations east of the BR I would think you are missing some great hunting in the week earlier than the traditional opening day. Is there any biological data to support the mid-april as opposed to early april opening or is this a another political regualtion of some kind? Just curious as to what you guys think is driving the dates. | ||
| Knight_va
|
I think the Game Comm. here wants to give the birds a little time on the front end of the breeding season to get the job done...thats my thinking ...I could be wrong... I agree... one week earlier would be better for us hunters i think....I still like the fact of only 1/2 day hunting & no Sunday hunting in general...But would vote for moving season opener a week sooner.......Guys????? Max | ||
| HODY |
GN I think the date was moved into the mid-April a few years back. It used to be even later. I am for a week ahead, but like Max like the half day and no Sunday. I never thought I would say that I liked it, but everyone needs a day off, and I figure I MAKE time to hunt using my Vacation, so leave Sunday alone. Plus if I hunted on Sunday I might not have a very happy wife!!!! | ||
| GN |
In my view , Sunday hunting is a political decision. Is there any political pressure to NOT open earlier in Va(that you guys know of), or is this a true biological decison (which may be a rarity in the fish and game business anymore). Biologically, if hens can internally retain sperm or fertilized eggs for egg laying for the 3-4 weeks, I do not know realy what you gain to protect your flocks by opening a week later...ie, the hens can be bred anytime up to second week in April and still lay eggs on a renest in early May...right? | ||
| knight_va
|
Freddy?????????????? | ||
| HODY |
GN according to the artilce I read in either T & TH or Turkey Call the hens can retain there sperm for fertilization if they have to re-nest. However, they need to get it in the first place in order to nest at all. That may possibly be the reason for a week late, to allow soem hens that are ready to get fertilized before we come in and take a few Toms. Also not sure on the legality or political hold-up of Sunday. I'll let Freddy take the stage on that one. The article that I read on the Hens was most educational, and I learned some things that I thought were textbook that may not be, such as the actual time for incubation which is actually more like 26 days and not 28. | ||
| GN |
Direct quote fro m a Tenn expert on the subject of turkey egg hatching, posted earlier in the year: For whatever it is worth: "I talked to Doug Scott the TWRA biologist for turkeys and here is the right answer: Two weeksfrom mating to first layed eggs.Lay an egg a day. Total clutch is usulaly 12-16 eggs. Hen is around the nest as she is laying and sit s parts of some days until last egg is laid, then full time once last egg is laid. He says it is a miracle of nature that they all hatch the same day. Hen sits 30-40 days. Eggs almost always hatch between 28-32 days. Like some of us, the hens are not always a good parent, and he has seen 30 eggs in one nest where two hens laid in the same nest but only one sat on the nest. Hens can retain sperm in their body for at least a month for renesting , if necessary. Renesting has become more and more critical as varmits become mmore common(skunk, coon, coyote)." 2 cents | ||
| Freddy McGuire (Vaturkey)
|
Don't know of any political issue that would stand in the way of opening earlier. From my understanding from the state turkey biologist they try to set the season so that peak breeding has already taken place. Therefore, the hens have been fertilized and quite possibly already setting. They want to give the hens and gobblers a chance to do their thing before we possibly disrupt them. Would they do it even though the hunting pressure was there? Probably. That's the way I understand how the opening day is set. It used to be the Saturday closest to the 15th of April. Now it is the 2nd Saturday of April so in effect we could and will have opening day on April 8th in certain years (year 2006 being the next), which would be about right for the opener. My opinion is that our season starts a week too late. However, I think hunting pressure probably quiets the birds up more than we realize. Even though you may not see or hear a bird while you are hunting they know that we are there a lot more than we realize. The gobblers only get to breed once a year so they are ready, from March-May at least. I have had some incredible hunts the last week/day of the season recently. The birds that Amy and I hunted this morning we have not heard for over a week and they gobbled like crazy yesterday afternoon and again this morning... and had hens with them! The breeding is not over... are the birds quiet? For the most part they are, but given the right bird in the right circumstance he might act like it was opening day. Throughout the season a hen may loose her nest and even though she may not have to breed again, she can and will sometimes. So, I think some of the hens you are seeing now with the gobblers are hens that have had nests destroyed or juvenile hens that may have just matured enough to know what's going on. The hens that were with the gobblers that Amy and I saw this AM were definately young birds. What does this mean? Even though the season is late, it's never too late to kill a turkey!  Stay after them... | ||
| t.picker |
It seems to me that, biologically, it would be better to have an early season that closed early rather than the opposite. Why? It's my understanding that hens that are scared off the nest early during setting are less likely to return to the nest. There's some literature out there to support this. I've always heard that SC has an early season that closes early because of this -- scaring hens off nests. Honestly, I'm not sure there's much to it though, because across the river in Georgia the season opens in late March and runs until mid-May and they have plenty of birds every year, probably more than we do per acre. They almost have 2 darn months to turkey hunt!! Makes me jealous, and makes me think it's tough to make a biological impact on the turkey population by shooting spring gobblers. | ||
| GN |
TP and Others...is it not true that removing the gobblers that are breeding (folloewing a breeding)does in fact improve the brood production for that year becasue the gobblers do not follow the hens to the nest and thus are unable to to try to tread a hen there and crush the nest...way back in My Col Dave Harbour days I think I heardthis... true, logical or wives tale? | ||
| shopson
|
I once asked a Tennessee wildlife biologist how soon after restocking were turkeys huntable without hurting stocking efforts. His answer was the first year, because by the time season opens, first of April, most of the hens have already been bred. Even if she hasn't been, she will find another gobbler. If mating season is triggered by the amount of daylight, Virginias, Tennessees, and others should start at about the same time, and basically be over at about the same time. Our season ends two weeks prior to Virginias and the gobbling had died down tremendously by the last weekend, and that was about the time Virginians were making remarks about little gobbling on this forum. You can still find gobblers who will talk some and there are still a few hens not on the nest. It just gets much slower as breeding season draws to an end. Two theories that don't hold water are, No hunting past noon( which most people don't anyway) to protect the nests, and Open season late so they have a chance to breed. In Tennessee, we can hunt all day and have a 38 day season which starts around April first. Every year we have a record kill, and I don't think this year will be any different. Seeing a flock of turkeys is about as common as seeing a groundhog. The Virginia fellows who come this way for the early Tennessee hunt can attest to the fact that there is a lot of gobbling by April first and a lot of birds being taken, yet the flocks are still growing. | ||
| tp |
GN: I'm not sure. I know I got on a crazy mountain bird that was smack dab in the middle of a mtn laurel thicket gobbling his fool head off. I mean a rabbit would have a tough time navigating that mess. Darndest thing I ever did see. I slipped to within 50 yards and called and he went nuts. He slipped out the bottom side with another hen. I pursued and a hen flushed off the nest in exactly the spot he was in the thicket. I just really don't think hunting spring birds has an impact on population...whether the season is long or short. |