Pequest is loaded with gobblers this year.

[Bucndoe]

2 hours ago, Fred Flintstone said:

Exactly! Your 1st sentence especially.  

 If a Man wants additional  Gobblers- PA offers 2 Tags. NY offers 2 Tags.   

   Fairness is the most important  thing. 

  

 

   

PLUS the price of a Non-Resident license which is ridiculous. It’s pretty simple when you do the math. Why should a NJ resident go out of state for that cost when they can use the very resources that their license fees go to purchase and protect, and at a reduced cost ? Flawed logic and real poor math. 

There are way more permits purchased and never filled or used than the amount of turkeys being harvested.

Edited March 26 by Bucndoe

[Fred Flintstone]

2 hours ago, Jcol6268 said:

Fred, if someone wants to hunt turkeys in this state, they absolutely can. Look at the amount of left over permits after the lottery all over the state. Even in the zones with the largest turkey populations. If someone doesn’t want to put in the time to do the research and apply for the lottery, or then buy permits online, then that is on them. It’s not for the lack of opportunity. I buy a bunch of permits, and I limit myself to a max of 2 birds in NJ. 
 

And as of this writing, only 12,16,22 are completely sold out. And yesterday you had the majority of the day to purchase tags in those zones (if you didn’t already buy them through the lottery). 
 

If you think this system is bad, your mind would explode learning to hunt big game out west. 

Right this System is similar to Wisconsin.

Going Through the 2024 Edition of Turkey Call- the highest Max limit is Montana/5 Spring Gobblers. Montana has a Turkey Population  of 120,000. 

  New jersey is the Nations Leader as far as a Max Limit. And with a Turkey Population of only 20,000. 

9 Big States have a 1 Turkey Limit

 A good 17 or so have a 2 Spring Turkey Limit.

  A few have a 3 Turkey Limit.

 Texas has a 4 Gobbler Limit with a Turkey Population  of 451,000.

   Georgia has made the Cut from 3 Gobblers to 2 Max. Alabama has made the cut from 5  to a Max limit of 4 Gobblers.

 New Jersey- Stay off Social Media after  showing 3 Kills and bag 5 More Gobblers. 

 Nothing will change- don't worry.

[nmc02]

There are plenty of opportunities here for turkey. So many birds out there. I usually locate them by putting corn out then the day before the hunt, remove the corn (except some in my pockets for scent). I was able to harvest 18 turkeys last year and ate all of them within a week (I only take breast meat and leave the rest in the woods for coyotes). Not sure why all the commotion....plenty of birds & tags to go around.

[vdep217]

5 minutes ago, Fred Flintstone said:

Right this System is similar to Wisconsin.

Going Through the 2024 Edition of Turkey Call- the highest Max limit is Montana/5 Spring Gobblers. Montana has a Turkey Population  of 120,000. 

  New jersey is the Nations Leader as far as a Max Limit. And with a Turkey Population of only 20,000. 

9 Big States have a 1 Turkey Limit

 A good 17 or so have a 2 Spring Turkey Limit.

  A few have a 3 Turkey Limit.

 Texas has a 4 Gobbler Limit with a Turkey Population  of 451,000.

   Georgia has made the Cut from 3 Gobblers to 2 Max. Alabama has made the cut from 5  to a Max limit of 4 Gobblers.

 New Jersey- Stay off Social Media after  showing 3 Kills and bag 5 More Gobblers. 

 Nothing will change- don't worry.

There is still 14 cs left  I would take you.  I usually don't get c as I call for friends

[vdep217]

So using the facts and data we have (regardless if you believe it) it's what we have.  A low of 2300 harvested Gobblers and a high of 3700. That pretty consistent.   So until we have different data I'd say it's pretty steady

[mazzgolf]

11 minutes ago, vdep217 said:

So using the facts and data we have (regardless if you believe it) it's what we have.  A low of 2300 harvested Gobblers and a high of 3700. That pretty consistent.   So until we have different data I'd say it's pretty steady

For anyone interested, I have been charting the harvest numbers for a while now... I have the data going back 20 years, tracked by zone and total numbers. This spreadsheet is up to date, including last year's harvest numbers

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HN2mrHhP-nCKukIcvXDQUb0EvcsZlQfdGO76syqttBA/edit?usp=sharing

The interesting one I think is the 5-year average... which has been dropping since about 2009

I provide no analysis here - feel free to guess why the numbers are as they are, I have no idea.

 

[fab]

So me n my family have been hunting turkey A long time.   Dad started in ny in 78 and pa in 79  then nj in 83.  

 

I started ny in 84. I hunted nj from 90 to 03.    Both states got better every season.  
 

I stopped nj due to work in 03 and didn’t hunt again till 20.I recall how hard it was to get tags in the 80s and 90s.  I usually only hunted a and c weeks.  And one zone.  Was hard fo get many more tags.  Except maybe a d week 
 

 I hunted ny pretty stead till 07.  Then after just a few days a spring because the birds sort of vanished .  Numbers seem to be coming back in ny   Nj where I hunt now. Not really.    
 

I don’t no how we get the population rebounding but it’s an eastern tuekey issue that’s effecting numbers in many states

 

btw.  I never knew how many coons lived in a spot till baiting and trail cams.  Lol.  Swear I seee morw coons than deer     
 

and everything eats tuekey eggs.   Nwtf did an amazing job bringing them back in the late 70s to nj and boosted pa and ny.   
 

as I stated before I don’t plan on hunting nj this spring.   Time wise 

 

will go to ny a few weekends.    I think I have to pass on pa again as well.   Life gets in the way. 

[mazzgolf]

31 minutes ago, fab said:

I never knew how many coons lived in a spot till baiting and trail cams.  Lol.  Swear I seee morw coons than deer

Couple years ago, there is a woman I know who told me she has a coon problem behind her house (she's got bird feeders and cat bowls and whatever out back that the coons regularly raid).

I told her I can get my trapping license and help. So I did. I just have 4 Duke DPs. It was my first time trapping anything ever. I have no idea what I'm doing... I just anchored them to some trees and threw in some cat food and mini-marshmallows.

I caught 7 in 2 days  

That was all I had time for. And she said afterwards there were just as many after those 2 days as before.

I really really want to find the time to trap more coons in the spots where I like to turkey hunt. I just don't have the time, nor the equipment/facilities to put the fur up. Those 7 I got went to one of those predator round-up get-togethers.

[Michael Britt]

6 hours ago, Jcol6268 said:

Those states also start their season before or during the breeding season. NJ already starts their season after a large majority of the breeding is done. NJ also has a permit system. Those states do not. If you have one guy in NJ that shoots 20 birds, it still won’t exceed the quota set by the state. In other states you have a bag limit. You can have the whole state go out and shoot 5 birds. That’s why they reduced bag limits, not tag limits. They don’t have a ceiling to how many birds are harvested like NJ does. And not for nothing, down south, turkey hunting is much more cultured and you have more sportsman in the field. 
 

And before NJ goes acting on changing things, it would be smart for them to have a baseline. Which they are doing now with their studies. To blindly make changes at the voice of the sportsman would be irresponsible. So in 5 years when we say again, it’s not working! What does the data say? “Idk, we harvested 3.2% less birds over the past 5 years compared to the preceding 5, but that’s the only stat we have….”

 

Its a step in the right direction. 

How late was the state closing Ruffed Grouse? Birdwatchers knew that the population collapsed decades ago...

[hammer4reel]

45000 available permits , turkey totals at 20000 .

good thing most turkey hunters aren’t successful .

5% success rate (less if account for many guys getting more than 1 bird ) 

with 2500 birds taken being the average .

40% of the harvest coming from 2 zones 

[NJNewbie]

8 hours ago, Fred Flintstone said:

 You can thank chenrossi for getting this going back on page 1.

  I guarantee many members here would like to say something- but won't risk it.

  This System has a bad Loophole that just a select few can exploit. Those with the most Time off- the most money- The quickest fingers- knowing the system inside and out- and access to Private and Public Lands in more then 1 Zone.

   I stand by what,I have always said- in a small state like New Jersey- 3 Spring Gobblers is more then Generous.  That should be the Max limit.

  Just  a Small group is taking advantage of the Prospect of killing Many Gobblers in New Jersey. Who knows how many. And that Small group will grow every Spring as many more Young Turkey Hunters try to emulate the Hunters killing the most Gobblers in just 1 State. Just stay off Social Media and you are good. 

  The only ones defending this are the ones benefiting from this Loophole.  Meanwhile there are men who can't pull a Turkey Permit- but would like to hunt.

 The Quotes can continue.  It brings this Thread back to the Top where more can see it.

Pretty sure hunting is a dying sport. Less hunters every year

3 hours ago, Fred Flintstone said:

Right this System is similar to Wisconsin.

Going Through the 2024 Edition of Turkey Call- the highest Max limit is Montana/5 Spring Gobblers. Montana has a Turkey Population  of 120,000. 

  New jersey is the Nations Leader as far as a Max Limit. And with a Turkey Population of only 20,000. 

9 Big States have a 1 Turkey Limit

 A good 17 or so have a 2 Spring Turkey Limit.

  A few have a 3 Turkey Limit.

 Texas has a 4 Gobbler Limit with a Turkey Population  of 451,000.

   Georgia has made the Cut from 3 Gobblers to 2 Max. Alabama has made the cut from 5  to a Max limit of 4 Gobblers.

 New Jersey- Stay off Social Media after  showing 3 Kills and bag 5 More Gobblers. 

 Nothing will change- don't worry.

Montana is 20 times the size of NJ. So if NJ was the same size and same population percentage, we would have 400,000 turkeys. more than 3 times as many as Montana. 

 

Texas is 35 times the size of NJ. So by the same math we would have 700,000 turkeys. 

 

I dont Turkey hunt but it seems like there's ample opportunity in this state. 

[Fred Flintstone]

35 minutes ago, NJNewbie said:

Pretty sure hunting is a dying sport. Less hunters every year

Montana is 20 times the size of NJ. So if NJ was the same size and same population percentage, we would have 400,000 turkeys. more than 3 times as many as Montana. 

 

Texas is 35 times the size of NJ. So by the same math we would have 700,000 turkeys. 

 

I dont Turkey hunt but it seems like there's ample opportunity in this state. 

Lol! Spring Turkey Hunting is growing every Spring. You are new to it yourself as you say.

[Fred Flintstone]

2 hours ago, fab said:

So me n my family have been hunting turkey A long time.   Dad started in ny in 78 and pa in 79  then nj in 83.  

 

I started ny in 84. I hunted nj from 90 to 03.    Both states got better every season.  
 

I stopped nj due to work in 03 and didn’t hunt again till 20.I recall how hard it was to get tags in the 80s and 90s.  I usually only hunted a and c weeks.  And one zone.  Was hard fo get many more tags.  Except maybe a d week 
 

 I hunted ny pretty stead till 07.  Then after just a few days a spring because the birds sort of vanished .  Numbers seem to be coming back in ny   Nj where I hunt now. Not really.    
 

I don’t no how we get the population rebounding but it’s an eastern tuekey issue that’s effecting numbers in many states

 

btw.  I never knew how many coons lived in a spot till baiting and trail cams.  Lol.  Swear I seee morw coons than deer     
 

and everything eats tuekey eggs.   Nwtf did an amazing job bringing them back in the late 70s to nj and boosted pa and ny.   
 

as I stated before I don’t plan on hunting nj this spring.   Time wise 

 

will go to ny a few weekends.    I think I have to pass on pa again as well.   Life gets in the way. 

  Plenty of Turkeys in New York as you say. Cynthia and,I have been out Scouting together. 

  I will probably  get my 2 NY Gobblers this year again and strike out in North New Jersey.

 I bagged a Husky Jake in Jersey this past Fall. Called a bunch in. Zone 7 might be getting better.

[Turkeyslayer]

32 minutes ago, Fred Flintstone said:

  Plenty of Turkeys in New York as you say. Cynthia and,I have been out Scouting together. 

  I will probably  get my 2 NY Gobblers this year again and strike out in North New Jersey.

 I bagged a Husky Jake in Jersey this past Fall. Called a bunch in. Zone 7 might be getting better.

do you take jake’s in the spring season?

[Septicdude]

14 minutes ago, Turkeyslayer said:

do you take jake’s in the spring season?

If you read the fine print on your license every tag is good for 2 Jake's or 1 tom.  Just alittle tid bit of info for yall