So I just responded to the "how many shells do you carry" thread (great one Tail Feathers!), and it got me thinking of a hypothetical question for us turkey addicts still on this website in June.
Situation:
You're a resident in a state that allows 2 spring gobblers and which can legally be shot in the same day.
You planned it out at home/work and you're going to have a solid 8-10 full days to hunt this spring.
Bird numbers are decent, but not great. Filling a tag will be tough. To fill both makes you the talk of the town.
You CAN NOT go out-of-state, you CAN NOT call for a buddy, these two tags are your only tickets to the woods.
Now, it's opening day, about an hour after fly-down, and after a fantastic back-and-forth you've got 2 nice longbeards slowly strutting into perfect range completely oblivious to your presence. You got multiple shells in your gun, you know you can take them both cleanly.
What do you do?
A) Shoot them both, a clean kill double. Bragging rights for sure and a memory forever. But... your spring hunting is over. Done. Period. Walk back to the truck, see you again in 12 months. Go fishing, golf or whatever.
B) Shoot just one, let the other go. All while knowing that you may hunt hard the rest of the season and you would not be surprised at all to still have an empty tag in your pocket. But... you get to hunt another 7-10 days, with all the experience (good and bad) gained from investing that time.
Of course, this is just a theoretical question to have fun with in the off season. But hey, what would you do?
A or B? Why?
Just shoot one, maybe the other will work another day, to me a hunt is with one bird!
I'd shoot one and enjoy more time in the woods
Just had this happen to me. Shot a bird on May 27th-ish. He was a brute. Well there another longbeard behind him that I knew was there but lost sight of him/didn't believe he was behind the bird I was targeting. Needless to say when I ran over there, there was 2 birds flopping. It's a state that allowed 2 birds, so it was legal. But it sucked to end my season 3 days early
Just one. No way I would want to be through the first morning
I'd probably wait, since I had very similar constraints this season and still tagged out on a one-per-day limit, but there's a lot of wisdom to that adage of "never pass up on the first day, what you'd take happily on the last day".
Too many hypotheticals for me... just not in my game plan.
I have killed by myself (solo), with another or others 16 times since the first time in 1999 and have killed a double every year since 2013 and doubled twice in 2014. As long as I have the tags to do it they're going down.
This Years Double!!
MK M GOBL
Back in my younger days i would of shot both in the same morning. But I'm not near as mad at them anymore so i would let one walk...
Tough call! Seven more days to hunt? I'm taking one and hoping the next week produces bird #2. I love the spring woods and would feel shorted by ending it so soon. Even for two birds.
I've shot doubles and it's fun for about 15 minutes and the pictures are taken. Then you realize two things, there goes the second tag and you hope you have a sling on your shotgun because you now have two birds to carry out.
If I was strictly limited to knowing that I only have 7-10 for the year. Then yes I would double.if I was going to be able to hunt the whole season, then no. I would focus on my 1 bird and keep coming back for more.
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Option B for me......just the one.
I am all about the hunt......finding them and fooling them. I look forward all year to the Spring woods and all the sights, sounds and smells that they offer. If I can be out there for one more chance I'm all in.
I could have killed at least one more long beard opening morning this year.....never even considered it. Your mileage may vary. :OGturkeyhead:
I would just take one. I would rather have another day to hunt or take someone else. There is one place I hunt where I just take one bird period. We can get 3 tags a year but if I can take one gobbler per season and hunt several mornings and work them, I feel I'm a blessed man.
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Don't live in a place or hunt many areas that I believe can support a lot of doubles. I'm just shooting the one even if I got to go kick the other one off my dead bird.
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Not even a question for me. Just take one and leave the other for next year. I would look for a tom in another area for bird #2.
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Just the one, after losing hunting for 17 years every day I can be out there means more to me than it used to. I could care less about bragging rights. I let these guys pass on the last day of the season, to young, not a spur on a one of them. There was one more to the right as well.
(https://i.imgur.com/GXZgRjpl.jpg)
One a day ...
Shoot one and get to spend more time in the woods.
I finished my 24th season on May 30th, and in those 24 seasons I have not shot a double. I would shoot the double and not think twice about it.
Between owning a 168yr old home and a 3yr old running around, I have more important things to do than intentionally prolonging my season.
That's just where I am at in the current stage of my life. That way of thinking may change later on down the road.
shoot one and keep hunting
did just that last month. had 2 tags for our 4th season. called 2 in. shot one. carried bird up the hill and continued hunting out the ridge. called 2 more in. shot one. i'll leave that property alone next year
Many times in my past, I have let gobblers walk and not pulled the trigger because of the uncertainty of killing more than one. I would rather not shoot than risk killing multiple birds at one time, much less intentionally pull the trigger twice. Heck, a few years ago in Texas, I am pretty sure I could have killed my limit of four gobblers with one shot if I had pulled the trigger! As it was, they never separated so that I could be assured of only shooting one of them, so I let all of them walk. I can't even begin to count the number of times I could have killed two (or more) gobblers with one shot.
To summarize my personal position on this matter, I firmly believe that the regulation in every state should be that only one gobbler can be shot a day. One gobbler shot at a time is "turkey hunting". Any more than that is just "turkey killing",...and there is no longer room for that kind of attitude under the conditions most of us hunt under nowadays.
My apologies in advance if this offends anybody,...but that's just the view from here.... :icon_thumright:
That situation one, normal situation I am likely traveling to hunt elsewhere, so if that double sends me off to another place I probably double.
I have never doubled with a shotgun, only the bow.
Shoot only one.....why deprive myself of another hunt?
I fly/drive to other states just to hunt turkeys? Am I going to shoot two at once? That doesn't make any sense.
There's nothing to brag about shooting two at the same time. I'd take no pride in that.
I shot two in the same day once but it was a situation where I was traveling to a couple more states. However, with the OPs scenario I'd have to go with "B".
Just 1 ,here in NC it's one a day 2 for the season. If I was in a state that it was legal , I
definitely would.
I would shoot one bird and live to hunt another day. I wait to long for it to get here and have no desire to end it fast. Live to enjoy each day in the woods and playing with all my turkey hunting toys.
B...I have done both in the past and the thrill of the hunt, the competition/challenge of trying to beat him at his game, is much more satisfying than Bang and Done!
In your hypothetical just one, everytime. but it's not an option in my home state so I have no proof.
On a trip since many of my out of state ventures are a mere 3 days I'd double if allowable.
I've only hunted 1 state where I was legal and when the opportunity was there I never thought of it because of years of 1 and done for the day.
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I should have said depending upon the situation . I guess.
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B, all day every day. I won't even double with another hunter. I don't fault anyone who does so, but it's against how I was raised. One hunt, one bird period. No exceptions for me. But if it makes you happy then more power to you.
One.
I don't. Usually if 2 come in together where I hunt it's 2 year olds. I leave one for next year.
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Shoot 'em both and get in a little more crappie fishing than usual.
Just one. Hunt the other one another day or go to a different spot for number two. Shooting two is just being a hog.
I shot two in one set up once on the second day of a three day Out of State hunt in 2010. That was enough, just one for me from now on.
b
Depends on where I was and the turkey population in the area. Have passed on a double many times in the past. If on a place with abundant birds, I would double and not think twice about it. I hunt with enough folks that being the guide would still keep me busy all season. I have been the death of birds where I never pulled the trigger (I am sure I have also been the reason one was not carried out). But it would just be a game time decision and I have always passed it up in the past, due to where I was hunting. So I just don't know until it happens where every thing lines up right.
Shooting one at a set up is a beautiful thing.
Shooting two (or more) makes you a game hog.
If you have an abundance of them it might be OK but that's unlikely now days.
I've done it a handful of times in the past but there's no way I'd ever do it again.
Turkey breeding dynamics are a complicated thing and removing 2 birds simultaneously, especially early in the season when most of the hens are not bred, in my opinion, is a terrible decision.
These days we make a concerted effort to kill one and leave multiple gobblers in the area after that harvest to ensure the hens are bred we have healthy carryover.
Most of the states that allow multiple birds to be killed in the same day are experiencing incredible population decline. I think it's a bad policy from a sportsmanship and biological perspective.
If it was me I would kill both of them on the same day! The other one would die if I passed him up on that occasion. No sense being in the woods disturbing hens when I don't have too.
Quote from: WiLL B on June 07, 2021, 11:19:17 PM
Just one. No way I would want to be through the first morning
^^^
This