Does it work, to take a fan, and set it in a bush, near your hen decoy?I was thinking of trying it. Also, does the funky chicken work?
Just the fan might work, I'm guessing. And from what I've heard, the funky chicken works really well.
I've had several times where I wanted to watch gobblers , and wait to shoot, but I was worried about spooking them, and getting nothing.Last year, I called in 2 really old, big gobblers, and I had 2 tags, and I could have gotten both, but I let the biggest one go.Well, I think I got that bird this spring, but his beard was gone, probably from fighting.I would like to see a funky chicken fight, and I'm going to set a fan in a bush, and see what happens.
You never know what will happen when you think outside the box. Be safe
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Quote from: fallhnt on May 11, 2017, 09:08:46 PM
You never know what will happen when you think outside the box. Be safe
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yes, very true. I think a fan might work.
Quote from: High plains drifter on May 11, 2017, 08:21:33 PM
Does it work, to take a fan, and set it in a bush, near your hen decoy?
Will it work? Yes. ....Will it work all the time? Probably not. Are there instances where it will be the difference between success and failure in a particular hunting situation? Absolutely. Will there be instances where it will result in failure in a situation that might have otherwise been successful? Just as certainly, yes.
I wouldn't do it, but I've been shot so that will tend to put things into a different perspective.
Now ILLEGAL in Michigan. :fire:
RE the fan, be safe and wear Kevlar
Re funky chicken Had 10 jakes and 3 hens in the field at 30 yards the other day. Lookout jake periscoped just like the funky chicken decoy. It's all I could think of at the time. He'd yelp, let the others pick dandelions, check their plumage, run to catch up and periscope again.
A fan only works if there is a man crawling across a field holding the fan in one hand and a gun in the other.
Quote from: Natty Bumpo on May 12, 2017, 10:00:41 AM
Now ILLEGAL in Michigan. :fire:
I looked but couldn't find any info on this. What exactly does the new law state? I am interested in knowing how they define the use of a turkey fan. Does the law differentiate between the use of a fan as compared to the use of a gobbler or jake decoy that incorporates the use of a fan? ...Pretty slippery slope if you ask me....
Quote from: GobbleNut on May 12, 2017, 12:41:48 PMPretty slippery slope if you ask me....
Your probably just dizzy from tying your shoes or missing your morning meds.
Quote from: Natty Bumpo on May 12, 2017, 10:00:41 AM
Now ILLEGAL in Michigan. :fire:
I assume that's referring to reaping and moving with the fan or decoy and not the entire use of one fan or decoy.. I know reaping is becoming even more of a hot button issue and becoming illegal in some places.
Quote from: guesswho on May 12, 2017, 01:05:06 PM
Quote from: GobbleNut on May 12, 2017, 12:41:48 PMPretty slippery slope if you ask me....
Your probably just dizzy from tying your shoes or missing your morning meds.
Oh no he DIN'T just go there!!! :TooFunny:
The fan itself is not illegal in Michigan...un natural movement is..so even attaching a string to a hen decoy to move it is illegal.
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Quote from: Tail Feathers on May 12, 2017, 01:52:11 PM
Quote from: guesswho on May 12, 2017, 01:05:06 PM
Quote from: GobbleNut on May 12, 2017, 12:41:48 PMPretty slippery slope if you ask me....
Your probably just dizzy from tying your shoes or missing your morning meds.
Oh no he DIN'T just go there!!! :TooFunny:
:TooFunny: Totally expected. After years of going after each other, neither of us misses an opportunity to get a shot in when the opportunity presents itself. ...I should have been more careful... :toothy9:
Quote from: Dtrkyman on May 12, 2017, 02:04:08 PM
The fan itself is not illegal in Michigan...un natural movement is..so even attaching a string to a hen decoy to move it is illegal.
Does anybody know the exact wording of the regulation? I can't seem to find it,...probably due to my uncanny skills at using the internet... ;D
Quote from: GobbleNut on May 12, 2017, 12:41:48 PM
Quote from: Natty Bumpo on May 12, 2017, 10:00:41 AM
Now ILLEGAL in Michigan. :fire:
I looked but couldn't find any info on this. What exactly does the new law state? I am interested in knowing how they define the use of a turkey fan. Does the law differentiate between the use of a fan as compared to the use of a gobbler or jake decoy that incorporates the use of a fan? ...Pretty slippery slope if you ask me....
It is not a new law.
As I said above, that is how the current law involving decoys, mechanical devices, etc is being interpreted by COs and other LEOs in Michigan. We had a CO explain this at a local gun club meeting recently. He also cited the many hunting accidents occurring around the country re reaping.
Quote from: Natty Bumpo on May 13, 2017, 05:30:29 AM
It is not a new law.
As I said above, that is how the current law involving decoys, mechanical devices, etc is being interpreted by COs and other LEOs in Michigan. We had a CO explain this at a local gun club meeting recently. He also cited the many hunting accidents occurring around the country re reaping.
I am not a proponent or defender of the practice of reaping, but unless I have been completely out of the loop on things, I have seen little factual evidence to support the statement that there have been "many hunting accidents occurring around the country" because of reaping.
I suppose my real problem with hunters condemning others "reaping" or using fans is that many of those same hunters are perfectly fine with someone using a "strutter" or jake decoy in hunting. Both practices prey upon a gobbler's instinct to challenge other gobblers. The only real difference is that, in the case of reaping or fanning, the hunter is holding the fan or decoy, and sometimes moving toward the turkey rather the turkey moving toward them.
Frankly, I find it laughable when someone sets out a strutter/jake decoy, sits there in a tent blind calling while doing so, and then thinks their calling had anything to do with the gobbler showing up. In 99% of cases, that gobbler is coming only because of the visual stimulus of seeing the decoy. Yet many of those individuals take exception to someone reaping or using a fan.
Don't get me wrong,...if that is how someone wants to hunt, go for it. But let's not be hypocritical about it.
Which brings me back to the point I am trying to make about the Michigan (or any other state's) laws prohibiting the use of fans. Has Michigan outlawed the use of any kind of decoy that incorporates the use of a turkey fan? ....Or have they just arbitrarily decided that a guy holding a fan is illegal while the guy that sets out a strutter deke or a fan next to a hen decoy (the question in the original post) is not?
If there was an abundance of real, hard, factual evidence to suggest that someone actually holding a strutter decoy or fan is putting themselves in a more dangerous situation than the guy sitting ten yards from a strutter deke,...or even the guy sitting in the bushes using a turkey call,...then I could support the idea of outlawing reaping and/or fanning.
The fact is that more people get shot while turkey calling every year than those that are reaping or fanning, yet there is no outcry for turkey calling to be outlawed. Why is that? Again, let's not be hypocritical about it. You don't like reapers/fanners? Fine,...but don't use bogus arguments against it,...nor let your DNR use those arguments. The next law you see might be against using a turkey call in the woods because people get shot doing that.
....Again, a pretty slippery slope to start down...
Reaping is illegal in PA givin you can't stalk turkey but I don't see it stopping people who want to do it. It's a tough law to enforce
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Quote from: turkeyfeathers on May 12, 2017, 11:31:16 AM
RE the fan, be safe and wear Kevlar
Re funky chicken Had 10 jakes and 3 hens in the field at 30 yards the other day. Lookout jake periscoped just like the funky chicken decoy. It's all I could think of at the time. He'd yelp, let the others pick dandelions, check their plumage, run to catch up and periscope again.
I used the funky chicken decoy for a couple years doesn't spook gobblers as bad as full stutt decoy as far as i have seen
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I would never use a fan, to sneak up on a bird.That sort of goes against the grain for me.However, I may stick one in a bush sometime when I start calling. It might work well.
wow that michigan law is interesting....especially the part about tying a string to the decoy...unnatural movement???? Isn't movement natural based on the definition?? What exactly defines unnatural from natural...movement would be movement....and I am thinking a little more than pulling a string versus wind.
Quote from: Natty Bumpo on May 13, 2017, 05:30:29 AM
Quote from: GobbleNut on May 12, 2017, 12:41:48 PM
Quote from: Natty Bumpo on May 12, 2017, 10:00:41 AM
Now ILLEGAL in Michigan. :fire:
It is not a new law.
As I said above, that is how the current law involving decoys, mechanical devices, etc is being interpreted by COs and other LEOs in Michigan. We had a CO explain this at a local gun club meeting recently. He also cited the many hunting accidents occurring around the country re reaping.
OK, a little more information for the skeptics on here.......
The MI DNR meeting I referenced above was held at the Cedar Rod and Gun Club on May 4, 2017. It was held to bring all Hunter Safety Instructors up to speed on new teaching equipment available, new HS classes around Michigan, MI Hunting Laws updates, Accident Reports, etc etc. (I have taught HS for 40 years in 3 states).The HS Instructor speaker was a DNR Officer from the UP who is a long time turkey hunter, and who has hunted all over the USA for many years. The speaker cited several turkey hunting accidents caused by using fans from around the USA this season.
REAPING ( or whatever you call crawling around waving a turkey fan) IS NOW ILLEGAL IN MICHIGAN
Further Information can be obtained from the MIDNR, Law Enforcement Division.
Natty Bumpo, OUT :popcorn:
Quote from: Natty Bumpo on May 15, 2017, 10:34:14 AM
OK, a little more information for the skeptics on here.......
The MI DNR meeting I referenced above was held at the Cedar Rod and Gun Club on May 4, 2017. It was held to bring all Hunter Safety Instructors up to speed on new teaching equipment available, new HS classes around Michigan, MI Hunting Laws updates, Accident Reports, etc etc. (I have taught HS for 40 years in 3 states).The HS Instructor was a DNR Officer from the UP who is a long time turkey hunter, and who has hunted all over the USA for many years. The speaker cited several turkey hunting accidents caused by using fans from around the USA this season.
REAPING ( or whatever you call crawling around waving a turkey fan) IS NOW ILLEGAL IN MICHIGAN
Further Information can be obtained from the MIDNR, Law Enforcement Division.
Natty Bumpo, OUT :popcorn:
Honestly, I don't really care one way or the other about the law, other than I believe it opens the proverbial "can of worms" for turkey hunters,...and in particular, those that use decoys. Here's my problem with laws like that: it is ambiguous and subjective.
For example, if holding a fan or decoy is illegal, does that mean the guy who is carrying a strutting decoy or fan out into a field to set it up as a deke is illegal? And if not, then what is to prevent a guy that is reaping from just saying he was carrying a decoy out to set it up if he is confronted? Again, my point is that there is a lot of gray area and subjectivity in enforcing a regulation like that one.
To me, the only real way to prevent hunters from reaping or using fans in their hunting is to completely outlaw someone having a fan or strutter deke in their possession while they are "in the field" hunting. Short of that, I believe any such law is unenforceable to a large degree.
Just my 2 cents, but I am amazed hunters are shot carrying a fan. The shooters should lose their license forever. How can you shoot at a person with a fan and think it's a turkey? Then again, we have to label coffee cups as hot and there are people who believe the Earth is flat
I wish I woulda had a fan with me yesterday. couldn't/wouldn' have reaped, but I think I mighta been able to pull the moose I was chasing yesterday AM away from his comfortable river bottom, across Hwy 144, across the alfalfa and thru the 4 stand fence to where I was waiting,
Quote from: spaightlabs on May 17, 2017, 11:00:25 AM
I wish I woulda had a fan with me yesterday. couldn't/wouldn' have reaped, but I think I mighta been able to pull the moose I was chasing yesterday AM away from his comfortable river bottom, across Hwy 144, across the alfalfa and thru the 4 stand fence to where I was waiting,
It may well have worked. The question is how you would have felt about it if you had done so? Would you have thought that it was unfair and "unsporting"? ...Or would you have considered that you had just used another tool in your box of turkey hunting tricks to fool this gobbler?
...I'm not making a judgement one way or the other. Just curious as to your perspective on it based on the particular scenario you have described.
In that scenario I wouldn't think of it as an awful lot different than using a decoy - just using little different strategy from the palette of tricks. I think I would have enjoyed the excitement of pulling him out of his home turf and across the road and thru the fence, but after the shot it would have probably felt a bit 'off' and like maybe he deserved better. This guy is living on about a 4 mile stretch of river that doesn't get hunted at all and he was a great bird- in some ways I feel like he deserves to retire there and live out his life in peace, in some ways I feel like it is my job to help manage the resource.
My wife's friend says all hunting is a bit unfair. What we call woodsmanship and tactics some call trickery that any male even human males would be susceptible to at certain times. We use sweet talk and decoys and wait in places where we know the toms are gonna hang out looking for love - it's a bit like having a life sized picture of a great looking woman with a sexy voice hanging out outside of a bar at 2:00 am.
That is the conundrum of hunting.
Quote from: spaightlabs on May 17, 2017, 12:32:52 PM
In that scenario I wouldn't think of it as an awful lot different than using a decoy - just using little different strategy from the palette of tricks. I think I would have enjoyed the excitement of pulling him out of his home turf and across the road and thru the fence, but after the shot it would have probably felt a bit 'off' and like maybe he deserved better. This guy is living on about a 4 mile stretch of river that doesn't get hunted at all and he was a great bird- in some ways I feel like he deserves to retire there and live out his life in peace, in some ways I feel like it is my job to help manage the resource.
My wife's friend says all hunting is a bit unfair. What we call woodsmanship and tactics some call trickery that any male even human males would be susceptible to at certain times. We use sweet talk and decoys and wait in places where we know the toms are gonna hang out looking for love - it's a bit like having a life sized picture of a great looking woman with a sexy voice hanging out outside of a bar at 2:00 am.
That is the conundrum of hunting.
It appears our attitudes are similar. While some condemn the use of a fan in all its forms as "cheating", I happen to be one who thinks it depends totally on the circumstances. Yes, it can be a crutch for poor hunting skills if depended upon as a sole method of turkey hunting, but there are times when the circumstances at hand make the use of a fan nothing more than a tool in a hunter's arsenal,...no more or less significant than our turkey calls.
For 99.9% of turkey hunters there is a point where any method short of illegal is perfectly acceptable to use to kill a particularly difficult tom. The other .01% don't mind if it's illegal.
:newmascot:
And I'm a guy who said reaping didn't strike me as sporting while I was posting pics jake dekes I was repainting at the time (bought on sale really cheap). Another member got all skirt blown and panty wadded up over incorrectly perceived hypocrisy, was outspoken about it. Haven't sat with a gun over a jake deke yet but might one of these days. Fact is, I can kill them without dekes or fans and a lot of other stuff. I guess that's what really matters to me.
Quote from: THattaway on May 17, 2017, 03:41:12 PM
For 99.9% of turkey hunters there is a point where any method short of illegal is perfectly acceptable to use to kill a particularly difficult tom. The other .01% don't mind if it's illegal.
:newmascot:
;D :toothy12: :TooFunny: Don't know if the percentages are right on the money, but your point is duly noted....
Quote from: THattaway on May 17, 2017, 03:41:12 PM
For 99.9% of turkey hunters there is a point where any method short of illegal is perfectly acceptable to use to kill a particularly difficult tom. The other .01% don't mind if it's illegal.
:newmascot:
A very truthful post!
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Thats a load of crap. Got plenty of old school hunters who wouldn't think of resorting to visual aids/blinds/food plots/feeders to kill a gobbler. They don't need to violate the law and they don't need a crutch to rely on. They don't compromise and they don't justify the use of an unsporting method by the fact it was legal. The truth of the matter is they don't need them and they wouldn't want them. Any gobbler is capable of being killed with just a call and a gun at any given time.
Well hell - why not just hurl a rock at 'em then Judgey Judgerson? :smiley-char092:
I think the point of the post you were attacking is that at some point in our turkey hunting journey many of us have been at a spot where we would do anything within legal limits to kill a bird.
Once some experience is gained and a hunter gets out of his turkey killer phase, that changes and hunts begin to exercise discretion in how they choose the terms of their hunt.
Methinks someone has lived too long on Fantasy Island.... :toothy9: ;D
I want to entice some birds off another guys property. I think sticking a fan in the brush might help.I think they are a herd of gobblers, probably older birds.I think maybe I over called last time, but they were headed somewhere, and not where I was.They like to go to these big open meadows, and strut, and fight.I know I can't get on that land, but I might be able to bring them to the fence.
Tools
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Quote from: High plains drifter on May 18, 2017, 01:22:24 AM
I want to entice some birds off another guys property. I think sticking a fan in the brush might help.I think they are a herd of gobblers, probably older birds.I think maybe I over called last time, but they were headed somewhere, and not where I was.They like to go to these big open meadows, and strut, and fight.I know I can't get on that land, but I might be able to bring them to the fence.
I think if you stick that fan up in the air and move it around, slow, like a turkey in strut, you might make them move. One of 3 things will happen. They will run at you, they will ignore you, they will run away.
It will very likely work. Been there,...done that. I am not a big advocate of fanning, and I certainly think reaping is pushing it too far, but there are times and circumstances where the "judicious" use of a fan can give one a certain sense of satisfaction by incorporating it into your hunting arsenal.
We used to hunt a place in Oklahoma that the adjacent property owner would not allow hunting. A big group of birds roosted about 100 yards inside his property boundary. He intentionally started feeding the birds in a place so he could draw the birds away from the property line. We could not pull those birds out of their roost-to-feeder pattern no matter what we tried.
This was right when the word about using a fan was just starting to spread around the country, so we decided to try it on those birds. The results were amazing. Those turkeys would come on a bee-line to us when they would see the fan, with the gobblers often walking up to within feet of us.
Now, the fence on the property line at that time was an old, broken-down, barbed-wire fence that the turkeys could easily cross over. They would come right across the fence onto our side. Suffice it to say that a few of them ended up as turkey nuggets.
That is not the end of the story, however. The property owner actually saw one of my hunting buddies pull a gobbler off of his property with the fan one day. So what did he do? He replaced the broken-down barbed wire fence with a new, tightly-strung fence that the turkeys could not get through so easily.
After that, the gobblers would still come, but since they had no easy way to get across, they would walk up and down the fence-line trying to get through to our side. I remember one time when we had two big gobblers walk up and down the fence-line for fifteen minutes within ten yards of us trying to get through the fence. They would poke their heads through the fence, get their bodies hung up in the wire, and pull back to the other side.
We quit hunting there shortly thereafter, and I suppose that property owner ended up getting the last laugh, but for a while, it was pretty satisfying to figure out a way to get those gobblers off of his place,....even by having to resort to using a fan to do it. ;D :toothy12:
This guy has a good fence, and I've never seen anybody hunt back there. These birds roost on this place, then come down to the place I can hunt, at times. This guy has some sheep, and goats, and they like to root around in the barnyard.The dog, is very wary, and has busted me several times.There is a creek that they go to that's on my guys place, because this other place doesn't have water on it. I think I might build a blind this summer out there, at this funnel point, where I've seen tracks heading to water, or I might walk the fence line for miles, to scout.Anyway, there are only 3 days left, and it's a challenge to get a gobbler at this place.Ive gotten a few young birds here, but I still have not gotten a gobbler.One time I saw a 30 lb. bird rooting around with a goat.
Quote from: High plains drifter on May 19, 2017, 11:07:55 AM
This guy has a good fence, and I've never seen anybody hunt back there. These birds roost on this place, then come down to the place I can hunt, at times. This guy has some sheep, and goats, and they like to root around in the barnyard.The dog, is very wary, and has busted me several times.There is a creek that they go to that's on my guys place, because this other place doesn't have water on it. I think I might build a blind this summer out there, at this funnel point, where I've seen tracks heading to water, or I might walk the fence line for miles, to scout.Anyway, there are only 3 days left, and it's a challenge to get a gobbler at this place.Ive gotten a few young birds here, but I still have not gotten a gobbler.One time I saw a 30 lb. bird rooting around with a goat.
you sure he wasn't 40?