Who Here Is Happier With The New 2021 Spring Opening Date Of April 26th ? Last Year The Opening Day Was April 20th.

[Bucndoe]

15 minutes ago, Fred Flintstone said:

  I wonder if there will be more successful Spring Hunters this Spring because of this change or less so? 

   Up in New York, I  have written the DEC some years back about  moving back the opening Day to the last Saturday  in April.

   But, I  think May 1st is " set in stone".

NY population has suffered the last couple of years. That is why they shaved a tag and some time off the fall season. Depending on the area, coons and fisher populations have exploded resulting in more of them eating the eggs when they are laid

[Fred Flintstone]

1 hour ago, Bucndoe said:

NY population has suffered the last couple of years. That is why they shaved a tag and some time off the fall season. Depending on the area, coons and fisher populations have exploded resulting in more of them eating the eggs when they are laid

   The Turkey Population  in my area has grown greatly since 2015. Currently, I  feed 21 Wild Turkeys every morning. 

   2015 was also the year that the Fall Season in areas 3 + 4  was slashed from 6 weeks to 2 weeks. And the Fall take was lowered from 2 Turkeys to 1 Turkey.

  And in the same year- 2015- the NY Fall Turkey Season in " 3 +4" was pushed back from October  1st where it opened with Pheasant,Ruffed Grouse,Rabbit,etc to October  19th or later.

  In the same year- 2015- the Early Bow Deer Season was pushed Back from October 19th or so to October 1st.

  Basically a Reversal of the opening days for Bow Deer Hunters + Fall Turkey Season in NY.

   All that said- it has been a Solid 6+ years now since the Fall Turkey Change in those 3 areas- 1 Month Slashed,Take cut by 50% + the opener moved back almost 3 weeks.

    In those 6+ years- the Wild Turkey Population  has made a huge comeback in areas 3 + 4.

[Bucndoe]

19 minutes ago, Fred Flintstone said:

   The Turkey Population  in my area has grown greatly since 2015. Currently, I  feed 21 Wild Turkeys every morning. 

   2015 was also the year that the Fall Season in areas 3 + 4  was slashed from 6 weeks to 2 weeks. And the Fall take was lowered from 2 Turkeys to 1 Turkey.

  And in the same year- 2015- the NY Fall Turkey Season in " 3 +4" was pushed back from October  1st where it opened with Pheasant,Ruffed Grouse,Rabbit,etc to October  19th or later.

  In the same year- 2015- the Early Bow Deer Season was pushed Back from October 19th or so to October 1st.

  Basically a Reversal of the opening days for Bow Deer Hunters + Fall Turkey Season in NY.

   All that said- it has been a Solid 6+ years now since the Fall Turkey Change in those 3 areas- 1 Month Slashed,Take cut by 50% + the opener moved back almost 3 weeks.

    In those 6+ years- the Wild Turkey Population  has made a huge comeback in areas 3 + 4.

You are in the lower portion of NY then. The further north you go the more the population is effected. I hunt in both the lower and upper and the sightings are vastly different

Edited February 7, 2021 by Bucndoe

[Fred Flintstone]

17 minutes ago, Bucndoe said:

You are in the lower portion of NY then. The further north you go the more the population is effected. I hunt in both the lower and upper and the sightings are vastly different

   Zones 3 + 4 cover a huge area of NY. It was just these 2 Zones that had the 2 Turkey Limit as,I  wrote in my post above.

 The rest of NY already had a 1 Fall Turkey limit.

  And yes indeed the sightings are greatly increased in these last 6+ years.

[gregtpal]

4 hours ago, 230jhp said:

It seems they keep pushing it back more and more. Some time ago it was shortly after the opening day of trout season.

In TZ 6 I hear them gobbeling in March sometimes.

They gobble all year before sunrise while in the roost

[bushden]

3 hours ago, Fred Flintstone said:

  I wonder if there will be more successful Spring Hunters this Spring because of this change or less so? 

   Up in New York, I  have written the DEC some years back about  moving back the opening Day to the last Saturday  in April.

   But, I  think May 1st is " set in stone".

I think we will see more success coming from the less experienced hunters  because there will be birds on the nest a week later. I think we will see more jakes taken.

[bushden]

22 minutes ago, gregtpal said:

They gobble all year before sunrise while in the roost

True but they gobble most during the early spring when love is in the air.

[Bucndoe]

21 minutes ago, bushden said:

True but they gobble most during the early spring when love is in the air.

Baloney, they go nuts later in the year when most hens are bred already which is late May

[Turkeyslayer]

The season starts April 26th right

[bushden]

9 minutes ago, Turkeyslayer said:

The season starts April 26th right

Here you go all the dates. Your Welcome.

[MPSR]

Turkeys, what turkeys..?

North zone will need a stocking program again soon along with a stamp.

[Fred Flintstone]

3 hours ago, MPSR said:

Turkeys, what turkeys..?

North zone will need a stocking program again soon along with a stamp.

 This Spring will be better,I  think in Zones 5, 6, + 7.

 Hopefully,I  won't  call up any Black Bears again.

[bushden]

3 hours ago, Fred Flintstone said:

 This Spring will be better,I  think in Zones 5, 6, + 7.

 Hopefully,I  won't  call up any Black Bears again.

It those slow paced yelps that bring in the bears.

[Fred Flintstone]

2 hours ago, bushden said:

It those slow paced yelps that bring in the bears.

HAha- :)- Right- the slower Gobbler Yelps will bring a big Sow in.

   Hopefully, I  can get a Scrawny  2 year old Gobbler who is Dead Last in the Pecking Order to come in at 11.30am on the Spring opener- LOL.

[bushden]

16 hours ago, Bucndoe said:

NY population has suffered the last couple of years. That is why they shaved a tag and some time off the fall season. Depending on the area, coons and fisher populations have exploded resulting in more of them eating the eggs when they are laid

I have a private spot in Oxford (Army friend owns farm) I have hunted for a lot of years, Turkeys there are far and few in between. I usually do well with the deer.

Edited February 8, 2021 by bushden