TURKEY FANNING & REAPING, NOT LEGAL IN ALL STATES

[LaLongbeard]

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Wow I didn’t realize there were so many saints on the forum....next thing you know baiting will be looked down on.
I got about $2500.00 tied up in tent blinds not to mention another $1500.00 in decoys if you think ima give up baiting and tent blind sitting your crazy. You really expect me to walk around in the woods....on my feet with no motorized vehicle?  I use a fan going and coming to my stand and if I’m lucky enough to shoot a turkey hen/gobbler/Jake on the way to my stand and save me from having to sit in my blind for two whole hours so much the better. The sooner I can get back to my couch and TV the better.
     All you “public land only” hero’s with your “all I use is a call and gun” make me sick. I’m not about to go stomping around in the woods all hours of the day and taking a chance of getting lost or blisters or who knows what out there in the dark wilderness. Give me a tent blind in a cut corn field, two dozen decoys and I’ll show you a Facebook page that will make anybody jealous.

[Ranger]

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Justify it how you want to but calls have to be used, a gun has to be used and in the right way.  I'm not a fan of it but even a man than sneaks up without ever making a call and ambushes him has at least done something, earned it in some way.  Put up a strutter decoy or reap him and you can "draw him in" without doing a thing.  Big difference.  All this is without mentioning the obvious ignorance of making yourself the target. 

[Ranger]

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Wow I didn’t realize there were so many saints on the forum....next thing you know baiting will be looked down on.
I got about $2500.00 tied up in tent blinds not to mention another $1500.00 in decoys if you think ima give up baiting and tent blind sitting your crazy. You really expect me to walk around in the woods....on my feet with no motorized vehicle?  I use a fan going and coming to my stand and if I’m lucky enough to shoot a turkey hen/gobbler/Jake on the way to my stand and save me from having to sit in my blind for two whole hours so much the better. The sooner I can get back to my couch and TV the better.
     All you “public land only” hero’s with your “all I use is a call and gun” make me sick. I’m not about to go stomping around in the woods all hours of the day and taking a chance of getting lost or blisters or who knows what out there in the dark wilderness. Give me a tent blind in a cut corn field, two dozen decoys and I’ll show you a Facebook page that will make anybody jealous.

That's what I'm talking about.  Outdoor Channel, social media, and call companies selling Strutter Shields.  MK GOBL you might want to get out front with that White Headed 2000 StrutShield, make a fortune. Avian C is about to launch their 1/4 and 1/2 strut 2000s

[JLH]

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I need LA Longbeard on my prostaff!!


Sounds like he can get $hit done!!

[eggshell]

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All good points. I'll just clarify my position against reaping. I am against the use of a fan to walk, crawl or move behind as you sneak up on a gobbler. I have no issue with decoys, or the use of a fan if it doesn't make the hunter a target. It's not a method issue with me, it's all about safety.
 
I am not a saint, but I am a "shot while turkey hunting survivor". An accident that nearly took my life. So I guess I am a biased asshole, so be it! I've been the target and wouldn't wish it on anyone. I understand we don't like giving up our choices in how we pursue our sport, but when evidence shows people will choose unsafe behavior and take serious risk just for momentary pleasure then we need to preserve life over pleasure. That's why drunk driving is illegal. Sure, millions of miles are driven safely everyday, but we all know drunk driving changes the risk of harm by a huge factor and thus a law was passed to try and protect us from ourselves.

[Hobbes]

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I don't necessarily disagree with you, but drunk diving endangers the lives of others.  Crawling behind a fan endangers your own life not others.  I'd compare to seatbelt and helmet laws, not DUI laws.

Either way, I don't like the method being referred to.

[GobbleNut]

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Wow,...some really good, thought-instilling posts here.  Good to see some rational discussion on this issue from both sides.  Hopefully, the same kinds of discussions are going on in DNR's and Game Departments across the country that are considering banning the use of a fan (or male turkey decoy).  Bottom line, this is not a "cut and dried" issue for a lot of us. 

Personally, I LIKE having a fan (flexible, so I can use it in multiple ways,...none of which include reaping) with me when I hunt.  I use it for imitating flydowns, wing adjustments for turkeys both in the tree and on the ground, and as a "flash" decoy, if necessary.  There are cases where it is totally unnecessary,...and there are cases where it will mean the difference between a gobbler closing the gap between a questionable-range shot and a sure-kill opportunity.

I am absolutely careful to evaluate every situation I might use it in for any safety issues that might arise,...even more-so than when I am just making a call-only set-up. 

I also do not use the fan because I am incapable of using a call-only to kill one.  I use it because it adds elements to the hunt that I find enjoyable.  I LIKE having a gobbler that is "out there" at 50 yards or more see the folded fan (hen decoy imitation), or the full fan (intruding gobbler imitation) when I flash it at him briefly come strutting in to five or ten yards.  Very often, I will observe his behavior, perhaps video a bit, and then sit quietly while he wanders away afterward.  (Note: You don't have to kill them all!)

Back to the safety issue for a moment.  Succinctly put, it is pretty darn hard for another hunter to sneak up on you when you have a gobbler standing ten or twenty (or even fifty) yards away eye-balling everything around him.  He WILL notice if something is out of place,...most certainly a hunter trying to sneak up.

Finally, it anybody wants to be a total turkey-call-only purist, have at it.  If you believe it makes you a better turkey hunter than me or the next guy, go for it.  Having been at this for 55 years now, I am about as good at it as I am going to get.  I LIKE hunting the way I do,...and I use a fan once in a while to do it. 

However, if someone really finds HARD EVIDENCE that using a fan is unsafe to a more significant degree than plain-old turkey calling,....or if wildlife managers find HARD EVIDENCE that allowing the use of a fan (strutter/jake decoys) is jeopardizing our turkey populations, I will be the first to jump on the "let's outlaw fans/strutter/gobbler/jake decoys" bandwagon.

Until that time, hunt turkeys the way you want to,...and with a mind-set towards conserving the resource rather than adding up your body count!

[eggshell]

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Back to the safety issue for a moment.  Succinctly put, it is pretty darn hard for another hunter to sneak up on you when you have a gobbler standing ten or twenty (or even fifty) yards away eye-balling everything around him.  He WILL notice if something is out of place,...most certainly a hunter trying to sneak up.

I would generally agree, but oddly enough that is exactly what happened to me. I had turkeys within 50 yards. Suddenly they spooked and ran off and I stood up wondering what spooked them. The next thing I knew it felt something hit me hard in the leg. I looked down to see gushing blood. He shot the movement he saw from where he had heard a turkey and he had snuck up behind me. For those who don't know I was shot through the thigh with a bolt from a crossbow and a mechanical broadhead.

Hobbes, believe me there are two victims in a hunting accident. The shooter is a victim as well. I'll concede the seatbelt is probably a better comparison, I didn't think of that angle.

All in all it's not a cut and dried issue. I suppose we need to wait and see if the evidence dictates legislation, but if we see what is by good reason dangerous practices do we really need to wait for someone to die? However, simply having a law won't stop it all. Gobblenut is right it needs a lot of discussion.

[kytrkyhntr]

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is this state wide or wma only? That would determine who I side with. Totally agree no fanning or reaping on public or state owned wma. But when I’m on my own back 40? Weather you agree with it or not this is America. On a mans own land let him make his own safety choices and hunt how he wants. We’re not all the same. I’m not like that but Some are just about killin. Not about hunting. Free country for the time being imo

[GobbleNut]

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is this state wide or wma only? That would determine who I side with. Totally agree no fanning or reaping on public or state owned wma. But when I’m on my own back 40? Weather you agree with it or not this is America. On a mans own land let him make his own safety choices and hunt how he wants. We’re not all the same. I’m not like that but Some are just about killin. Not about hunting. Free country for the time being imo

Not trying to be contrary,...or take the topic at hand too far off subject, but just to clarify and educate:
Wildlife (non-migratory) in this country belongs to the citizens of the state in which it resides.  It doesn't make any difference if it is on public or private land.  Rules regarding management of that wildlife are determined by state regulation, whether it is on your property or not. State wildlife agencies determine "manner and method" of the taking of wildlife at their discretion, not us private landowners.  Private landowners can lobby for special regulations on their properties if they want, but in terms of "final say", it is completely out of their hands. 

I could expand on all of this, but I will leave it at that in this thread.

[kytrkyhntr]

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oh Okay gotcha. Wasn’t totally clear on that. That makes sense. ??

[Flounder]

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Hmmmm. I'm too fat to Reap. It would be a funny video, my 300lb butt crawling across a field with a darn fan.

[Greg Massey]

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The only fans i use are my ceiling fans , my porch fan and of course my shop fans ...LaLongbeard .. you forgot the generator for the air-conditioning in the blind tent ... i like my my TV and recline in the tent blind with my DVD player , playing Primos video's on how to turkey hunt ....is this how you Reap...

[Rick]

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[Bowguy]

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Good news and article. I hope all the states make it illegal. As many of you know I can testify what happens when some one abandons
 all rules of safe hunting just for a chance to shoot a turkey or if they make a bad choice another hunter. A damn turkey isn't worth dying, injuring
 or killing someone over. I will live the rest of my life with the results of a bad choice, I hope you never do.

I was thinking about using scent. What type did you get and how did you use it?