I just couldn't do it!!!

[howl]

I'll let some walk to extend my season some years. I have had something go wrong at the last second, not to mention flat out missing, often enough to not have any doubt as to whether calling one up is the same as killing it. BUT, the hunt is between the hunter and the hunted. It is whatever you make of it.

[KentuckyHeadhunter]

Congrats you won.  I have let many gobblers walk.  I prefer quality not quantity. 
These are not my words but the words of the great Kenny Morgan:
"A person who tries to kill as many turkeys as he can in a single day is without a doubt what is known as a slob hunter.  He lacks self confidence or something.  Our sport of turkey hunting should be above this stage by now".

I don't want to tag out on two year old birds.  I will learn nothing from them.  It's that monarch of the woods who is unkillable that makes you a good turkey hunter.

[rooster]

You are a true hunter,sir! My hats off to you,we need more like ya

[Spurs Up]

I totally get and respect your decision.  You won.

Oh heck yes. I'm totally unimpressed with "tagged out in fill in the blank.  Got over that >20 years ago. HH get its...

[JonD.]

I totally respect your decision, but man I love to eat wild turkeys(and deer, squirrels, rabbits and ducks). I don't care what else I got in the freezer, If ol' longbeard steps within range in my sights, I'm fixin' to put the seasoned flour to him and fry him in olive oil.

[Cottonmouth]

If I could bring back to life every bird I killed, i would do it so I could try them again. Nothing wrong with giving one a pass.

[Gobble!]

Mannnnnn

[jryser]

Awesome brother! I totally get it. I'm the same way especially at the end of quail season. Dogs work beautifully, stick a small covey, I break my gun open, walk in and just count. Good luck and make lots of babies. I think there's a very special feeling knowing you could have and didn't.

Best reply here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[silvestris]

It is a personal decision, one I have made many times and I only regret making the decision one time.  A gobbler gave me a morning to remember before finally landing fifteen yards from me and I just couldn't do it.  Half an hour later he was poached on an adjacent ridge.  I found where he was shot and followed the blood trail to the property line.

One can learn a lot from them by watching them eyeball-to-eyeball until they saunter off.  The new breed are too caught up in the killing by often nefarious, albeit "legal", means.

[Tracker12]

I have had a hunting license for 54 years and seen a lot of game fall before my gun and bow. Sometimes it is more fulfilling to let them walk. I passed on a couple jakes and a couple long beards that were a at the range that they could be crippled. I hate loosing a wounded bird so these days I pass on marginal shots. I do usually take pics of of the ones I let walk. I do have to say that I do think it takes a few years under your belt before you get to this point.  I went thru the kill everything then it has to be a trophy to now what makes it a good hunt.

[va wingbone]

To each their own, but if I wasn't there to kill a bird, I'd carry a camera.

what he said

[dejake]

Could've + would've + should've = didn't.  You don't win until the bird is on the ground.  Too much can happen.

[Marc]

There's nothing wrong with letting a bird walk.  I've done it many a time over the years, but never on the last day of the season with an unfilled tag.  If a guy feels better about not pulling the trigger in a given situation, good for them.

...However, your post suggests that you didn't shoot that gobbler because you felt that somehow his existence was the key to future turkey numbers in that particular spot.  If that is what you were thinking, you might as well have gone ahead and pulled the trigger. 

Spring gobbler hunting is based entirely on the premise that, if you time the season properly so that the hens are bred before you start shooting the gobblers, the male segment of the population is expendable.  Despite your noble intentions, allowing that one gobbler to live will have absolutely no impact on your turkey numbers there. 

Of course, if he makes it through another year, he will be there for you to consider shooting next spring, but that is the only difference your decision not to shoot him this spring has made.  Again, nothing wrong with that, but don't confuse benevolence with benefit.   

I agree...  Letting the bird walk for conservation reasons was likely nobly ineffective...  End of the season, that bird has done his thing (or not) to insure his genetic line.


But, I have found myself in the field and not shooting for other self-satisfying reasons...  Waterfowl hunting on two separate occasions (one with my father, the other with my grandfather), we had large grinds of geese right on us...  Literally a tornado of geese on each event, and due to being more interested in watching something (that was unusual), we decided to watch instead of shoot on both occasions.


Granted, not on the last day, but I once let a tom go, cause it was too easy...  He flew down, came in, and walked right up to me gobbling (early in the season) without me calling.  It almost felt like shooting a domestic bird...   Plus, I did not feel like a "player" in the game.


Personally, I applaud anyone passing on game when it "does not feel right."  The satisfaction of taking game should surpass the remorse of taking a life...  When it does not for me any longer, I will find a different activity.

[TauntoHawk]

When I get down to my last tag I pass birds in order to keep hunting usually find a particular target bird to chase something challenging to reset the whole chess match and occupy me the rest of the season. I hated the year I tagged first week in both states one season only got like 8 days in the woods that spring because I was out of tags after 5 and only was able to get other people out on 3 occasions.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[the Ward]

I've let a few birds slide in the past, so I could bring my son back to try for them. He has absolutely the worst luck ever when it comes to turkeys. Been a few times I didn't feel like pulling the trigger because I thought "if I shoot I won't ever hear him gobble again" so I get your sentiments in O.P.'s post. Sometimes the thrill of the hunt is sweeter than the success of the kill.