ENJOYING THE OUTDOORS: GROWTH OF KENTUCKY TURKEY FLOCK HATCHES PROPOSAL FOR FALL GUN SEASON

While they are turning up their clucks in anticipation of spring gobblers, Kentuckians can look forward to broadened turkey hunting options. in seasons to come.

Kentucky is presently producing an enviable hunter success rate of approximately 32 percent during the spring gobbler hunts. The population of turkeys in the state -- now estimated at some 65,00 to 70,000 birds -- continues to increase. In accord, the entire state in 1996 is expected to be open to spring gobbler hunting and fall archery hunting for birds of either sex.

Another major step presently is being proposed for implementation in 1996 -- a fall gun season for turkeys of either sex.

"We can provide a tremendous amount of recreation without hurting the resources," said George Wright, wildlife biologist and turkey program coordinator for the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.

Wright is proposing a five-day fall gun season in late October or early November that would limit each hunter to one turkey, either a gobbler or hen. The season would be open "probably in about 20 to 23 counties" that meet criteria based on turkey numbers, he said.

To qualify for a fall gun hunt, areas that are less than 60 percent forested would have to support more than one turkey per square mile of forest and produce a spring hunt harvest of more than 100 gobblers.

Areas that are more than 60 percent forested would have to hold more than one-half bird for each square mile and produce a spring harvest of more than 100 gobblers.

Small, moderately forested counties would have to produce a spring gobbler harvest of more than two birds per square miles to qualify.

Wherever fall gun hunting would be opened, it would have to be offered in a cluster of two or more adjoining counties.

Fall hunting under those conditions should produce a turkey harvest of about five percent of the turkey population in the ares hunted and, in effect, would represent sent the most conservative fall turkey gun season in the nation, Wright said.

Wright said he anticipates some resistance from turkey hunters based on the reluctance of some over the option of taking hens. "It's just like the way some hunters don't like hunting for doe deer," he said.

"It's would have almost no effect on populations, though," Wright said. "It is well established (through states where fall gun season already have been held) that a fall harvest of less than 10 percent of the populations will not have a negative impact."

Wright said the taking of some hen turkeys in the fall from high density counties actually would amount to the removal of "surplus" birds.

"Natural mortality on hens is high, with 40 to 60 percent of them dying each year," he said. "Many hens will not attempt to nest until they are two years old. Thus, most hens taken during a fall season would never live long enough to successfully reproduce."

In addition to conservative regulations restricting the number of turkeys which might be taken, hunter participation itself should keep the harvest light, Wright said. He predicted the difficulty of fall hunting -- when gobblers are normally silent and unlikely to respond to calling -- and competition from other hunting opportunities would be expected to keep a lid on the number of fall turkey hunters.

Wright said a fall season is a chance to offer more hunting opportunities without compromising the state's flock, but he conceded that the proposed season still will require public education to cope with the objections of some who see it as a move that would damage turkey populations.

"Most turkey hunters wouldn't have a problem with it if they understand it," he said.

Fall gun season or not, Wright predicts that Kentucky's turkey population could still be in for a tripling or quadrupling over the next several years.

"In think we'll end up with 200,000 to a quarter million birds," he speculated. "I used to think we wouldn't go that high, but in some of the eastern counties where all the forest is, it's going better than I expected.

"Over in Cumberland Plateau, where it's just about all forest, we may not get the density of turkeys that we have in some of the western agricultural counties, but there's so much forest land, it can hold a lot of turkeys," he said.

The ongoing turkey restoration program -- which began with turkeys almost extirpated from the state -- has met hug success to date. The effort, including extensive trapping, relocation and release of birds, is expected to be largely complete next year -- the year for which the first fall gun season is proposed.

~Steve Vantreese is outdoors editor of The Paducah Sun.