Here's what I'd like to see:
1. Early spring archery turkey season, just like early archery deer in October. Shotgun will continue to open April 6, but let us have a whack at the turkeys with our bows starting around March 20 or 25th, somewhere in there. I hear those suckers gobbling in March and it drives me crazy - I think our season is too late. Yes, there's that early Youth Turkey gun weekend before shotgun, which is a good thing, but not all of us have kids or grandkids we can take, so we're out in the cold while the gobblers are gobbling before April 6th.
2. I'd like to see deer muzzleloader season extended from 9 days to 16 days, just like deer gun. I spend all this time and energy messing with muzzleloaders all year for a measly 9 days - give us a little more time - sheesh; some of us have to work a lot. At least extend it to 12 or 13 or 14 days!!
That's about it. I'm VERY glad they eliminated the 'doe only' requirement for deer archery from Jan 1 to Jan 15.
Also, I'd like to see one more change, but it's not a season change:
They reduced the number of bucks you can take to 1 during gun, 1 during ML, and 2 during archery, for a total of four. They need to change this to a grand total of TWO bucks for the year, not 4. You can get ONE during archery, anytime from oct 1 to jan 15, and ONE during EITHER muzzleloader or during gun - YOUR choice - then you have to think hard about whether you want to shoot that spike or yearling or 2.5 year old during ML season!
This would bring our ratio back into whack, which would pull out BIG bucks during the day during the rut, due to fewer does around and more bucks around. All these bruisers are dying of old age, because they've got 6 or 8 does a piece - no need to show yourself during the day at all during the rut or otherwise. But get back to 1 to 1 ratio or even 2 to 1, and they'd be out chasing and looking for does during the rut. They'd also make more rubs and scrapes, and respond better to calls and scents. Trophy buck harvest would go way up within about 3 years.
1. Early spring archery turkey season, just like early archery deer in October. Shotgun will continue to open April 6, but let us have a whack at the turkeys with our bows starting around March 20 or 25th, somewhere in there. I hear those suckers gobbling in March and it drives me crazy - I think our season is too late. Yes, there's that early Youth Turkey gun weekend before shotgun, which is a good thing, but not all of us have kids or grandkids we can take, so we're out in the cold while the gobblers are gobbling before April 6th.
2. I'd like to see deer muzzleloader season extended from 9 days to 16 days, just like deer gun. I spend all this time and energy messing with muzzleloaders all year for a measly 9 days - give us a little more time - sheesh; some of us have to work a lot. At least extend it to 12 or 13 or 14 days!!
That's about it. I'm VERY glad they eliminated the 'doe only' requirement for deer archery from Jan 1 to Jan 15.
Also, I'd like to see one more change, but it's not a season change:
They reduced the number of bucks you can take to 1 during gun, 1 during ML, and 2 during archery, for a total of four. They need to change this to a grand total of TWO bucks for the year, not 4. You can get ONE during archery, anytime from oct 1 to jan 15, and ONE during EITHER muzzleloader or during gun - YOUR choice - then you have to think hard about whether you want to shoot that spike or yearling or 2.5 year old during ML season!
This would bring our ratio back into whack, which would pull out BIG bucks during the day during the rut, due to fewer does around and more bucks around. All these bruisers are dying of old age, because they've got 6 or 8 does a piece - no need to show yourself during the day at all during the rut or otherwise. But get back to 1 to 1 ratio or even 2 to 1, and they'd be out chasing and looking for does during the rut. They'd also make more rubs and scrapes, and respond better to calls and scents. Trophy buck harvest would go way up within about 3 years.
