Would you shoot if you didn't call him in?

[runngun]

Marc, you are absolutely correct. I feel the same way.
I heard Phil Robertson say that the purpose of calling ducks is to get them to land in the decoys. Once they land, you have fooled them.  Like you once they have landed, I absolutely enjoy jumping them up.

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[Happy]

If the Good Lord(or fate, karma etc) puts you in the path of an advancing long beard then, yes, I most certainly will. If conditions are favorable, I have been known to actively do so myself- I consider it a viable tactic. As I have said,"Do not mess up a good thing with calling.". If it makes you feel better, call to make him raise his head- there, you called him?

11 pages and now the perfect reply.  Thanks Prospector! Just because I can't seem to help myself IMO some of the PA stuff that has been posted is truly goofy.  I do have wife's cousins in the Poconos and as I've mentioned we may visit there in mid May.  Their area is surrounded by state game lands.  I hope to maybe give it a try.  I was glad they dropped the orange hat shuffle but may need guidance on what the meaning of "conspiring" is in what has been printed in this thread.  If I ask my wife's cousins where they have seen birds are we both destined for prison if they didn't possess a call at the time?  Will a pre-dawn response from an owl hooter count?  A post dawn crow call?

Best of luck. Ignore the elitist trolls. We're not all snobby a holes. Most of what PA elitists lean on as "tradition" is mostly close mindedness and ignorance. Some guys just can't wrap their head around the fact that there's other ways to do something outside their own little bubble. Which of course means that all other ways must be wrong.

Oh lawdy! More elitist giving their opinions? Ma git the gun!

Good-looking and Platinum level member of the Elitist club

[g8rvet]

Had one sneak in today on a very windy day, had not called in a while.  I did not shoot. 



Oh wait, it was a hen.  Never mind.   

[Spitten and drummen]

Yes - in a minute.  Some of these posts are a hoot. To each his own.

lol. Doesn't surprise me.

[Spitten and drummen]

Nothing to do with being an elitist , I will not shoot one that does not play the game with me. Heck , I'm at a point where sometimes I don't shoot ones I fool. I enjoy the hunt and I do limit out with my 3 birds every year. I believe to shoot or not is a personal decision. If I sit and call one up that gobbles or not , it is  in my criteria to kill him. If not , he gets a pass and we will go one on one another day. If that opportunity does not happen again , I'm absolutely fine with it. When I was younger , I would kill a bird anyway I could as long as it was done legally . I was the same way with deer. Full of bloodlust.

[Howie g]

lol ,, proud dad of a up coming elitist...
My 10 year old son and I rode up on two long beards on our golf cart while going home after a morn hunt last week .   My dad asked him why he didn't shot one ,, my ten year old said " what fun would that be ?"
Proud "elite " dad moment .

[RutnNStrutn]

Oh wait, it was a hen.  Never mind.   

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[dublelung]

Yes I would and yes I have and it's still more sporting than those of you who set over your "flock" of dekes!

[Number17]

lol ,, proud dad of a up coming elitist...
My 10 year old son and I rode up on two long beards on our golf cart while going home after a morn hunt last week .   My dad asked him why he didn't shot one ,, my ten year old said " what fun would that be ?"
Proud "elite " dad moment .

Congrats on not raising a road hunter.
My boy won't shoot jakes or hens. I never told him he could or couldn't, but somewhere along the line he decided longbeards or nothing.
He's 9 this year and killed gobblers the past two years helping me call with wingbones and cane yelpers from Mr. Ezolt.

[Yoder409]

Nothing to do with being an elitist , I will not shoot one that does not play the game with me. Heck , I'm at a point where sometimes I don't shoot ones I fool. I enjoy the hunt.........

We could spend time over a cup of coffee, sir ...........you and me.

[Zobo]

lol ,, proud dad of a up coming elitist...
My 10 year old son and I rode up on two long beards on our golf cart while going home after a morn hunt last week .   My dad asked him why he didn't shot one ,, my ten year old said " what fun would that be ?"
Proud "elite " dad moment .

Exactly right! The kid gets it, I'd be proud too

[Bottomland OG]

I'm not at all for the road hunting crap or hunting over bait or anything like it. As far as shooting a turkey that doesn't gobble, well that's a choice that shouldn't be looked down on.  In the a lot of the southern states in certain areas the bird don't gobble much so if you only shoot if he comes in gobbling you are probably SOL. I'll also say more than likely if your setting somewhere and have called and a turkey shows up, he heard you. I'm probably gonna ruffle a few feathers but tree hugging is only half the game. I'm not being arrogant but I'm just as good at calling one up as anyone else if not better and I'm sure any seasoned turkey hunter feels the same way but being a good caller only goes so far. If he ant coming, well he ant coming. I'm going to play his game until I feel he ant playing far then I'm going to him if I can. Sometimes the terrain won't let you. Also it's way harder to kill one coming in silent because most are gonna pick you off before you even know they are there. Unless you're perched up in a ground blind or something like that. Being able to move on one and get in front of or in the right spot can be a challenge in itself also. Heck I know people that call them in and they sound like a dying calf in a hail storm. I'm not against sitting waiting, you just have to read the moment and do what you think is right. That's the beauty of turkey hunting as long as it is within the rules and regulations for the area your hunting get after it. I have killed them rascals both ways but that doesn't make me a less of a hunter. I have used the terrain to move on them and I have literally watched a bird fly off the roost and never move a tree, let him go clean out of hearing and wait on him to come back and kill him at noon and that's sitting by a tree not in a blind. With all that said if I just walk up on one out of the blue will I shoot? No, but I'm not going to look down my nose at someone that will. I hope I didn't get anyone bent over anything I said but just because your way is your way and my way is my way doesn't mean either is the right way. If it tickles your fancy do it.

[Prospector]

Yes I would and yes I have and it's still more sporting than those of you who set over your "flock" of dekes!

lol! Easy now. You gonna be disliked like me.... lot of truth rt there!

[Uncle Tom]

I worked a bird near the end of the season last year, and he was way across a field with some hens. I could tell he was a big, heavy bird. Was with some hens that morning and finally they left him about 11 o'clock. I had been sitting back in the edge of the woods since light, calling to him all morning....soft clucks and purrs. Well, when the hens left him he went under a fence and starting coming to that hen he had been hearing all morning. As he got closer, he would stop and gobble every few minutes....this went on for a long time as he made his way across this field toward me...like 30-45 minutes. At least 150 yards he came. Slow but sure....stopping every so often sticking he head up looking for me....one of the hunts you will never forget. Had ranged a big pine tree on the wood line at 52 yards, and knew if he got that close I could kill him with a load of TSS #9 in my 20 ga. Well, he was almost there but all of a sudden started walking in a circle, and I knew he won't coming any closer. Big head, full fan, deep gobble, and one of the biggest birds I had seen in a long. Did I shoot him? Well, after close to 6 hours of playing this game and heart pumping...I let a load fly. Dropped him right there. Don't like to shoot one that far, but did I call him in...I think I did and to me was one of the most exciting hunts I have ever had. That is what matters when all is said and done.....how it makes you feel in the end....close to 21 lbs and 1 1/2 hooks.

[jimmyg97]

If I roost birds the night before and they head my way in the morning, yes I'm shooting. I still hunted the bird, didn't have to call him in.

If I've thrown out some soft calling here and there and a tom walks in an hour later, yes I'm shooting. I very well could have called him in.

If I hit up a new spot mid day and flush one walking in, no. There's not much sport in that.