And you thought this year was bad for Spring turkey

[Doc]

Well I see....

1.stop hunting them (turkey)is the solution

2.realize it's mostly weather ...so forget egg perdition by under hunted, little valued fur

animals,don't hunt them as well.

3.understand that trying to come up with solutions to getting more live poults..which will still have to take a large hit from predators(with an increasing population),is not incentive enough to increase hunting them.

4.realize why hunting is headed the way it is.

Some version of #1 is probably the most realistic and practical answer. No, not stop entirely, but cut back on the season length and bag limit when turkey populations show stress. That is the normal and traditional way to manage any wild population. There may be places where temporarily closing the season entirely is the most effective way to go.

 

Thinning predators is not a bad idea, but likely there are no real ways to increase that activity. Predator hunting is primarily a function of fur prices, and that rightfully is a function of the free market. Their is no way to influence people to hunt predators when they don't want to. You can expand seasons, but if no one has any interest in summer hunting of predators, it likely ain't going to happen.

 

We have to accept that there are practical limits as to what we can or should do to help out one species vs. another.

[Pygmy]

Not to many nest  and poult  predators, such as ravens, hawks and owls are federally protected, and thus "untouchable" by state regulations..

[518BowSlayer]

well at least one hatched here in Rensselaer county