Jakes on accident...

[Reloader]

How many of you have killed jakes on accident thinking they were a longbeard?

I've killed 5 jakes over the years and 4 of them I would have sworn were longbeards. The other was shortly after I started turkey hunting. 

[Trevor2]

I have killed one Jake and I thought it was a gobbler. He had a full gobble and never tried to strut, I couldn't see how long his beard was bc of high grass but I knew he had one. He made one last gobble and I rolled him at 52 yards. He had a 6" beard and no spurs just black dots.

[jperrotti]

Killed one last year. Didn't get a good look at him and he was moving fast through the thick stuff to my side. Didn't feel too bad about it. He should not have been gobbling...

[handcannon]

I did it last year. Full fan. Full gobble. Short beard and nubby legs. He died like a big boy and tasted like the rest of them.  Now if my team mates will let me live it down. Still getting slack over that one.

[Muskie03]

Not by accident but a few years ago it was the end of the season and a jake jumped up on my mounted hen and started wrecking it. Pissed me off. So I burned my last tag on him.

[Reloader]

I know what you mean on the gobbling.  Alot of them can't gobble worth a hoot, but I've come across several that could gobble like a big boy.  I've even seen them do the dance and breed hens.

[Tail Feathers]

Just one.  He was coming in with a longbeard and had a full fan.  He was shoving the longbeard around and acting like the dominant bird.

Due to limited visibility, I saw the longbeard on the other bird but couldn't see the chest on this one.  I thought this one was more dominant so must be another longbeard.

Wrong.   It was still a great hunt and I don't have any regrets.

[hobbes]

I've killed two that I thought were toms in the last two years.  The first in IL in 2009 after I let the first longbeard of three walk through an opening then blasted the second.  I could have swore all three were longbeards.  The second in NE last year that slipped in to our far right after gobbling into the wind a half hour earlier.  I didn't hear the gobble but my son did.  I could see beard and red head, but in my haste to swing around and kill him, I failed to notice the "jake" part.

I can remember four others that I knew were jakes when I killed them, one my first bird, one that I decided to kill on the last day of the season, and two that on separate occasions showed up late in the season that wanted to act like the big boys...........so I decided to treat them like one.  I believe as the season progresses, some of the jakes develop their gobble quite a bit and can fool you into chasing them around assuming they are toms.........I don't appreciate that.

I'm still not opposed to laying another one out if the mood strikes me.  

[BrowningGuy88]

There is one gonna die Saturday if he does what he has been doing. Busted me twice this week by coming in from behind me. He has got to go!

[TrackeySauresRex]

I once killed a Jake that thought he was a Tom! 

[Basser69]

I killed two, the first birds I called in and did not know any better. I have never had an accident but I am not saying that I am failproof by any means. If he struts or gobbles like the man, he just might eat like the man.

[turkey_slayer]

Killed 3.  My first bird was a jake.  The next was an accident and the last one I killed  many years ago was on purpose.  2 jakes came in and whipped my gobbler I was getting ready to shoot.  He was in range it was just to thick to get a clear shot.  I watched him get his butt kicked then busted the first jake  that I had a clear shot on out of frustration and to even the odds 

[guesswho]

I have a special beard board for those youngsters who have met this fate.

[barry]

I killed several jakes back when I started and some years that was the only bird I called in.
There was one in particular that I would have bet the house on being a longbeard. Played the game just like a 3 year old, even hung up on me. Finally he strutted into range, fan as full as you would want it to be. When I reached him I couldn't even find a beard for while, when I did it was only 1 1/2 inches.
Heckuva hunt and I don't regret shootin' him at all.

[hobbes]

OK....maybe the term "accident" isn't the correct word to use.  I shot both the birds I called an "accident" knowingly and safely.  They didn't die by accident, they died because I shot them with a load of #6's on purpose.  The closest thing to accident was I made an error in determining jake or tom.