When should turkeys season open???Ga Biologist Assessment
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."