Name No States

[CALLM2U]

The challenge is that the people who need to learn this information, aren't visiting a turkey hunting forum.  Or even watching a lot of turkey hunting videos. 

Likely the best way for it to reach as many people as possible is if some of the bigger names in the hunting industry (both on and off of Youtube) produce some videos with scenarios to help educate. 

I know that won't be a popular idea with the anti-YouTube crowd, but if they have the huge impact they say they do, then this would mean a big impact for good.

[arkrem870]

What about this wild thought......you go hunting. You work hard - challenge yourself and your skill. That gives you satisfaction. The end

Solicitating likes from strange men is a bit odd.

Hunt for the hunt. Not attention from others.

Loose lips sink ships

[eggshell]

There is a trap that our mind sets for us that I believe almost everyone falls into sometime or other. This trap is the same one that causes riots and violence in some of our cities. That trap is I have a right to this bird, I earned it and I claimed it, I was  here first and by God I ain't giving it up! Now I won't be surprised if this comment gets me some negative feedback. My position is; My only right is the opportunity and privilege to buy a license and hunt. For landowners there some additional land rights, but not a right to the game (the state/government owns the game in reserve for the people). When we enter a property and we set up on a gobbler we get a battlefield attitude, I am killing this bird period! I will not give up this ground it is mine. We convince ourselves that our whole season is at stake on this one set up. Well, it's not and this is not YOUR BIRD.He is a free roaming animal and the right to the space is his. You have already exercised every right you have by being there and pursuing your sport. When someone else arrives and invades that space then one question must be answered; does that person have equal right to be here? If it is public the answer is yes, if it is private then that is to be determined by the landowner. However, in both cases you must ask yourself if one 13-25 lb bird is worth a war, injury or dying over. If you kill the bird you whoop whoop, show it off a little and then eat it and it becomes a memory. The other alternatives follow you the rest of your life. At best you rob your beloved sport of the joy and release from life that you do it for, it just becomes more of life's misery. In the worst case scenario you give up your life for a damn bird, you'll never spend another day with your family or friends and they will suffer the rest of their life for your pride. In the next scenario a whole host of legal issues are coming your way. Then there's the scenario that your just wounded, maybe severely. I can testify that this scenario is equally as bad. Unimaginable pain and anguish, legal issues, thousands upon thousands of dollars in medical bills. Dr appointments out the butt. You will physically never totally recover and your mental health is equally challenged. Now imagine, all you need to do is walk/drive away and say, "you can have that gobbler he isn't worth the cost". There will be another. Since my accident, I will not go into an area where someone else is parked unless I have talked to them and made a plan. If someone shows up where I am, even if I am working a bird, I make an effort to talk to them or I leave. I don't care if I have sat on that bird for hours, I'm leaving before I get in a conflict. Most time I yield even if I hear a call. I don't care if I was the first one at the gate. You may say,"but they are wrong, I was already here". That's the trap of the mind. I can assure you when your laying in a hospital emergency room and a whole lot of people are frantically trying to keep you alive you won't give a damn who was there first![/font]

[GobbleNut]

I do not experience as much hunter pressure as many of us on the forum and have a different feeling on what I saw in Trent's video. First off, he saw the truck pull up in the dark, pull a short distance past  his, but still park too close to him. I believe she should have drove past at least a half mile or more to park. Second, he had to whistle, and flash his light to her in the dark. At that point, she should have left. 3rd, while he was working his Tom, she appeared to be "stalking" towards the strutter. Trent whistled her away again, but she looped back into his set-up. This to me is a bit much, this sport requires safe-space and common sense ethics while pursuing and calling in turkeys. Ethical buffers must be adhered to to make things safe, fun, and successful. This is just my feelings and how I play the game. I do know it is tough to navigate popular public lands, thus these guidelines regarding ethics are of paramount importance to all involved. It would be a good thing for Donna to join this great forum to learn from the great fraternity here.

I preface these remarks by stating that I wrote all of this up before eggshell's last post. (His focus on the safety issues but otherwise note the similarities)

I agree with you about all of this Tom...and if everybody that decided to hunt spring gobblers would come to OG, perhaps they would hit the woods with a better understanding of what is expected of them from OUR perspective regarding those ethical and safety issues you mention above. However, I suspect Donna had no clue about any of that and was merely approaching the hunt in the same way she probably approaches deer, elk, or whatever else she might pursue.

Although you and I...and most other folks here...play the game based on those ethics and safety issues, there are still plenty of people that have taken up spring gobbler hunting that have no clue as to those concepts.

Here's what I would bet went on in Donna's mind: First off, if she lives in the area, she was probably aware that there were a bunch of turkeys there...and had already made plans to hunt that spot. In addition, she had most likely hunted there in the past and probably felt some sense of "proprietorship" about hunting there. Although she drove past Trent's truck, she probably thought nothing about it. Her thought was probably one of "Gee, I wish nobody else was here, but there are a bunch of turkeys here and, even though there is somebody else around, maybe I can get lucky and kill a gobbler anyway."

I would bet she probably did not have a turkey call, or if she did it was secondary to trying to stalk the turkeys (which is pretty obviously what she was doing). I'll give her credit for backing out after Trent whistled at her, but again her thought process was probably "I'll just hang around here and see what happens. Maybe a gobbler will come by me".  I doubt she ever contemplated the safety issues involved in that.

The above may vary a bit in the thought process, but based on my (and I would bet other's) experiences), I can tell you that there are plenty of people out here in this part of the country that hunt spring gobblers that way. They hear a gobble and try to sneak up on it and kill it...anybody else in the area be damned. That mindset of "It's public land and I have as much right to that gobbler as you do...and if I can get to him first, well, that's just too bad for you" is prevalent. 

It is an unfortunate reality that we must deal with...   

[NCL]

There is a trap that our mind sets for us that I believe almost everyone falls into sometime or other. This trap is the same one that causes riots and violence in some of our cities. That trap is I have a right to this bird, I earned it and I claimed it, I was  here first and by God I ain't giving it up! Now I won't be surprised if this comment gets me some negative feedback. My position is; My only right is the opportunity and privilege to buy a license and hunt. For landowners there some additional land rights, but not a right to the game (the state/government owns the game in reserve for the people). When we enter a property and we set up on a gobbler we get a battlefield attitude, I am killing this bird period! I will not give up this ground it is mine. We convince ourselves that our whole season is at stake on this one set up. Well, it's not and this is not YOUR BIRD.He is a free roaming animal and the right to the space is his. You have already exercised every right you have by being there and pursuing your sport. When someone else arrives and invades that space then one question must be answered; does that person have equal right to be here? If it is public the answer is yes, if it is private then that is to be determined by the landowner. However, in both cases you must ask yourself if one 13-25 lb bird is worth a war, injury or dying over. If you kill the bird you whoop whoop, show it off a little and then eat it and it becomes a memory. The other alternatives follow you the rest of your life. At best you rob your beloved sport of the joy and release from life that you do it for, it just becomes more of life's misery. In the worst case scenario you give up your life for a damn bird, you'll never spend another day with your family or friends and they will suffer the rest of their life for your pride. In the next scenario a whole host of legal issues are coming your way. Then there's the scenario that your just wounded, maybe severely. I can testify that this scenario is equally as bad. Unimaginable pain and anguish, legal issues, thousands upon thousands of dollars in medical bills. Dr appointments out the butt. You will physically never totally recover and your mental health is equally challenged. Now imagine, all you need to do is walk/drive away and say, "you can have that gobbler he isn't worth the cost". There will be another. Since my accident, I will not go into an area where someone else is parked unless I have talked to them and made a plan. If someone shows up where I am, even if I am working a bird, I make an effort to talk to them or I leave. I don't care if I have sat on that bird for hours, I'm leaving before I get in a conflict. Most time I yield even if I hear a call. I don't care if I was the first one at the gate. You may say,"but they are wrong, I was already here". That's the trap of the mind. I can assure you when your laying in a hospital emergency room and a whole lot of people are frantically trying to keep you alive you won't give a damn who was there first![/font]

I believe this perspective applies to almost everything we do in life. We always have to evaluate is the risk worth the effort and what are the possible consequence of any action. I got into a situation a few years ago where a "hot headed" friend got involved in a confrontation that started over a low hole fishing incident. The incident escalated into a prolonged confrontation over a long distance and time. Fortunately, at the final point there was a cooler head on the other side and nothing tragic happened. As I think back if we had just keep going, I was not driving, this would have never been a problem,

[DLPetrey]

What about this wild thought......you go hunting. You work hard - challenge yourself and your skill. That gives you satisfaction. The end

Solicitating likes from strange men is a bit odd.

Hunt for the hunt. Not attention from others.

Loose lips sink ships

So well said, my friend! Just hunt. Don't worry about posting it anywhere!

[deerhunt1988]

What about this wild thought......you go hunting. You work hard - challenge yourself and your skill. That gives you satisfaction. The end

Solicitating likes from strange men is a bit odd.

Hunt for the hunt. Not attention from others.

Loose lips sink ships

Boom.

Gotta boost that ego with the likes and subscribes though. Those little dopamine hits! Its a mental illness.

[Tom007]

I do not experience as much hunter pressure as many of us on the forum and have a different feeling on what I saw in Trent's video. First off, he saw the truck pull up in the dark, pull a short distance past  his, but still park too close to him. I believe she should have drove past at least a half mile or more to park. Second, he had to whistle, and flash his light to her in the dark. At that point, she should have left. 3rd, while he was working his Tom, she appeared to be "stalking" towards the strutter. Trent whistled her away again, but she looped back into his set-up. This to me is a bit much, this sport requires safe-space and common sense ethics while pursuing and calling in turkeys. Ethical buffers must be adhered to to make things safe, fun, and successful. This is just my feelings and how I play the game. I do know it is tough to navigate popular public lands, thus these guidelines regarding ethics are of paramount importance to all involved. It would be a good thing for Donna to join this great forum to learn from the great fraternity here.

I preface these remarks by stating that I wrote all of this up before eggshell's last post. (His focus on the safety issues but otherwise note the similarities)

I agree with you about all of this Tom...and if everybody that decided to hunt spring gobblers would come to OG, perhaps they would hit the woods with a better understanding of what is expected of them from OUR perspective regarding those ethical and safety issues you mention above. However, I suspect Donna had no clue about any of that and was merely approaching the hunt in the same way she probably approaches deer, elk, or whatever else she might pursue.

Although you and I...and most other folks here...play the game based on those ethics and safety issues, there are still plenty of people that have taken up spring gobbler hunting that have no clue as to those concepts.

Here's what I would bet went on in Donna's mind: First off, if she lives in the area, she was probably aware that there were a bunch of turkeys there...and had already made plans to hunt that spot. In addition, she had most likely hunted there in the past and probably felt some sense of "proprietorship" about hunting there. Although she drove past Trent's truck, she probably thought nothing about it. Her thought was probably one of "Gee, I wish nobody else was here, but there are a bunch of turkeys here and, even though there is somebody else around, maybe I can get lucky and kill a gobbler anyway."

I would bet she probably did not have a turkey call, or if she did it was secondary to trying to stalk the turkeys (which is pretty obviously what she was doing). I'll give her credit for backing out after Trent whistled at her, but again her thought process was probably "I'll just hang around here and see what happens. Maybe a gobbler will come by me".  I doubt she ever contemplated the safety issues involved in that.

The above may vary a bit in the thought process, but based on my (and I would bet other's) experiences), I can tell you that there are plenty of people out here in this part of the country that hunt spring gobblers that way. They hear a gobble and try to sneak up on it and kill it...anybody else in the area be damned. That mindset of "It's public land and I have as much right to that gobbler as you do...and if I can get to him first, well, that's just too bad for you" is prevalent. 

It is an unfortunate reality that we must deal with...   

Amen my brother, well said