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I took some looking but I found a hunting related article in this months 'OOD Fishing Annual' :)
The Turkey Statistics are out from the MNR...
In 2013 Hunters harvested 8,272 In the spring and 240 in the Fall...(2012 was 8079 and 274)
As estimated..approx 80% are harvesed in the AM and 20% in the PM...(my fav)
Surprisingly either a lot of guys ate Turkey Tag soup, or very few guys call in their Harvest report, because they sold over 55,000 tags....
I'll bet that most hunters did not report their harvest. If it isn't mandatory, some people won't report. 15% reported harvested of the 55000 tags sold. Pretty sad.
If they want people to report, they might want to consider having some sort of contest for every entry. Maybe a Wild Turkey hunting package??
I didn't get one the spring. That's 54999
I like the way you think...once your report is filed, you get a 'confirmation' number and a chance in a draw....even if it's just for a 'Free' tag next season would be a good incentiveQuote:
Originally Posted by JMatthews
Sounds good but you will have everyone calling in regardless if they got a turkey or not. Just to enter the draw. That won't work. Good idea though. Lifetime ban if caught with a turkey and the call was not made.Quote:
Originally Posted by MikePal
Hey Mike.....since you have more time than me to snoop.....find the Harvest stats before the telephone reporting system came to be...you know when we had to bring the birds to a check station......I;m curious.....I bet we will see a significant difference.
The article in the mag hints at it....says that 6 yrs ago the harvest peaked at 10,493....
Hmmm, interesting...that's the year just before we had that Brutal Winter when we got record amounts of Snow here in South/Central Ontario and the years following we started seeing the Numbers go down drastically(areas North of the GTA)....so maybe, just maybe the stats may be right.....numbers did start coming up last year but no where near what they were 6-8yrs ago.....I know this is not province wide but the area I talk about is probably has the highest amount of Turkey Hunters in the province because of its geographical location (close to the GTA)......interesting stuff!!Quote:
Originally Posted by MikePal
A tad excessive.Quote:
Originally Posted by Goosesniper
I agree with you that is excessive. But making an example of a few wrong doers could be in order. Maybe not a lifetime ban. To be honest I think the mandatory call in is a joke. I would agree when they first introduced the turkeys to monitor the population. The population is very healthy now. Nobody can argue that.Quote:
Originally Posted by WayneGretzky99
I am the only one of a group of 5 that shot his tag in 2013. So 15% reported tags makes sense around here.
Mandatory reporting is a joke, but they should make an example of 'wrong doers?'Quote:
Originally Posted by Goosesniper
What they need is mandatory reporting for all that bought a license, not just successful hunters. They have this figured out already for deer/bear, eventually they'll figure it out for turkey too. If you need to add a penalty, no license next year if you didn't report the previous year.
How in the world can a CO catch you for not making a phone call, possibly more than 24 hours after the kill? It is mandatory to report, but how is it even enforceable? If 55,000+ tags were sold, it is an impossibility to monitor that many tags.
You get a confirmation number after the report that you are suppose to write down and keep, if a CO asked for the number, I guess he could call it in and confirm?Quote:
Originally Posted by chris1395
On the subject of rewarding you with a prize for abiding by the regulations... I give my son a treat when he goes to school nicely without a hassle, because he's 2....
We're all big boys and girls and if you're responsible enough to have a firearms license and a hunting license and take game, you shouldn't have to be rewarded into abiding by the rest of the regulations such as reporting your harvest.
I very much like Werners suggestion, just make reporting mandatory whether you were successful or not.
Am also all in for not issuing a tag the following year should you fail to provide the report, that should go for any game that has mandatory reporting, your reward for following the rules, you get to hunt next year....
I also dont think they should let you buy a 2nd tag unless you have called in your first, but we all know they would never make it harder for us to give them more money...
Great idea.Quote:
Originally Posted by werner.reiche
That's if you made a telephone report that would work. If you went home, threw the bird in the deep fryer and ate the evidence that night before you are required to report by noon the next day, well then there's no record, and "no officer, I done shot no bird."Quote:
Originally Posted by TurkeyRookie
Werner's idea of reporting a yes/no harvest is good and would take care of that, as it is right now to report only a 'yes' harvest seems useless to try and regulate.
If they really need the data then that's exactly what they need to do. If you're going to bother to phone in, you're likely going to give somewhat accurate data.
Dan O.
I'm wondering if the reporting is really necessary now. I can understand the need when the seasons were first established. Turkey numbers have been fairly consistent. Numbers will fluctuate naturally now , due to predation and weather kills. I believe it's pretty much the same scenario with deer management. Hunter surveys give the biologists a clearer picture of turkey numbers now, rather than relying on the mandatory reporting.
Maybe we don't need mandatory turkey reporting. I think there is a greater need for accurate data relating to moose numbers than there is for turkeys, yet there is no mandatory moose reporting!
Just a thought !!!!!