No Fall Turkey in Kansas

How many hen turkeys are actually shot in the fall? 5 or 6 hundred?
When you do the math, 5 or 600 hens is a decent dent in population. Most wild turkeys have a clutch size of 10 to 14. If we say they have 10 eggs, the survivability is around 30-40%. So each hen produces around 3 to 4 birds that make it to adulthood. So 500 hens being shot in the fall takes away about 2,000 to 3,000 more birds next year. Then it just keeps compounding, those 2,000 birds can produce how many more eggs the next year, and on and on. In one year you might not notice a big difference, but 3 to 4 years, you're talking 10s of thousands of birds not being hatched.
 
This is a good thing. Although I would have been fine if they made it 1 bearded bird fall limit. Cutting out the hen harvest. From another forum I heard they will be going to 1 bearded bird statewide, removing the second bird option in units 1&2. Also limiting non-resident permits starting in 2024. I think both of those ideas are great. Hopefully, they limit the non-resident permits enough to make a difference. Nebraska went to a 10,000 NR permit cap this year. I'd love to see them cut that number in half (5000) going forward. Maybe Kansas will follow suit!
Chase
 
At the very least, removing hens from the fall hunt is a great move & a no brainer. Hopefully all states with declining populations follow suit
The Nebraska restricted non res 10k permits sold out before shotgun season opened.
 
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