Vanishing turkeys are causing concern in Tennessee

Where have all the turkeys gone? That’s the question more and more hunters in Wilson County and some other areas around the state are asking, and so far they aren’t getting any answers. Roy Denney, whose Gladeville farm in years past had been a turkey haven, experienced a dismal spring season. Even more disconcerting in terms of the future is the fact that Denney has seen no newly-hatched turkeys this year. “I haven’t seen a single poult for the first time in five or six years,” Denney says. “And I’m seeing maybe one-fourth of the hens and gobblers I used to see. I’m very concerned.” Such dismal reports are not exclusive to Wilson County. A veteran turkey hunter in East Tennessee who normally limits out killed only one gobbler last spring, and his hunting partner got none. It is not known how many turkeys were killed in Wilson County and adjacent counties. Even though the season ended in mid-May, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has yet to announce the harvest numbers. For over 25 years I have hunted on a farm in Giles County that was once covered in turkeys. About eight years ago they vanished. I told the TWRA’s turkey specialist, and he said I was mistaken. He said the turkeys were still there, I simply wasn’t seeing them.

Source: Lebanon Democrat, August 2, 2017
http://www.lebanondemocrat.com/Hunting/2017/08/02/Vanishing-turkeys-cau…