Will turkey hunting ever.......

[J Hook Max]

 I'm afraid I would have called him a liar.

[Gooserbat]

Hmmm well I'm not apologizing for shooting a two year old hard gobbling. bird with 1 1/8 inch spurs!

Now I'm no biologist but me thinks that's quite a set of spurs for a two years old bird.

[guesswho]

That's what I was thinking.  1 1/8 here, I start thinking at least 3.

[jblackburn]

I can guarantee that if he has a full fan I'm going to give him as face full of #6s!  One of my most memorable hunts and hard earned birds two years ago in Kansas was a late season public land 2 year old with 5/8 inch spurs!  He had a full fan, 9 inch beard and two other shot sizes healed up in his neck/breast from earlier in the season!

[Rokhal07]

I can guarantee that if he has a full fan I'm going to give him as face full of #6s!  One of my most memorable hunts and hard earned birds two years ago in Kansas was a late season public land 2 year old with 5/8 inch spurs!  He had a full fan, 9 inch beard and two other shot sizes healed up in his neck/breast from earlier in the season!

Exactly how i feel. I love when I kill a nice mature long spurred gobbler, but it makes me laugh and shake my head when people brag about passing up two year olds.

[El Pavo Grande]

I am seeing an increase in turkey hunter #s and the trophy mentality, but think it might be leveling out.  With below average hatches, decreased population, later seasons here, I think many get weeded out.  You can bet opening week is crowded though.  I just agree with them when they say, "we have no turkeys around here" or "season is too late" or "they are gobbling in March, they will be gobbled out by season".   It's every year.  I just tell them it's a waste of time and crappie are biting anyway.

I've heard guys talk about "passing" on 2 year olds.  They instantly lose all credibility with me.  I heard a guy claim he determined one a 3+ year old because it had a large tail fan while strutting.

One reason I often seem negative towards decoys is in part to outdoor video marketing them as "must have".  Misuse of them can limit newer hunters' ability to improve calling, reading turkey sign, adapting to a gobbler's reaction, etc.......just throw out a spread and snap your safety off.  They have a place, but can become a crutch.  I would give anyone advice to learn how to consistently kill turkeys without decoys, then utilize them when needed.  Sorry, not trying to bash decoys.

I really don't understand the guys (and there are several of them) that don't turkey hunt here at home one single time, but travel out of state to one of the turkey hunting destination states so they can post pictures on FaceBook.  It boils down to being too difficult a challenge.  They want to play the part, but it's just cosmetic.  And that's what you see with many of these shows.  I think that's why the die hard group remains so small.  It's about the challenge and not just about posing for pictures.

[cphill]

Well I been hunting for several years and had so good years kill 3 birds and some years to Lucky kill a Jake ....its about the hunt and the challenge not the beard or spurs..sure it would be nice to kill a good long beard everytime ....I dont think turkey hunting will end up like deer because of the challenge. Around here by the second weekend most have given up and the rest of us have the good hunting to ourselves

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2

[Kylongspur88]

Antler porn and high dollar leases have killed deer hunting.


I don't see turkey hunting heading the same way. Success rates are lower than deer hunting thus newbies get frustrated and give it up quicker, seasons are shorter, and most importantly the emphasis placed on beards and spurs is not the same as that placed on antlers.

Anyone who only kills birds with 11 inch beards and 1 1/8 spurs is gonna save a a lot of money on shells, because they are very very very seldom going to pull that trigger..

[Devastator]

That's what I was thinking.  1 1/8 here, I start thinking at least 3.

x3,3 year old here.

[longbeard56]

Some good responses here. I'm right in the camp of enjoying the hunt. Part of the fun is when you get a bird going to retrieve him and seeing what you got. The most important or the measurement of my hunt is the set up and how the bird performs on his way in.
I use decoys sometimes. I'm famous for putting down a set-up only to head off after a bird and leave the decoys to be picked up later. I have had some success with a DSD set up of a submissive Hen.Feeding Hen & Jake. Not sure why but that set up has helped me a couple times finish off a tough bird.

[Eric Gregg]

The dedication that it takes to be a turkey hunter thins the herd out quick.
When you do it right, it isn't easy. And as Tom Kelly says "It ain't supposed to be easy"!
That is what keeps me going is the challenge. When we start doing things to make is where it is easy, like deer coming to timed feeders, is when we will mess it up like deer hunting.

[gobblinfever]

I hope turkey hunting never gets polluted with all that like deer hunting has. It will always remain pure in my heart. Hearing a two year old gobbling and drumming will always get my heart pumping, when it stops doing that, I will quit. All these so called trophy hunters (not hunters, but killers) seem to lose their way and reason of turkey hunting  which is being in the spring woods and listening to that gobbler on the limb and playing the ol chess match with him, hoping you made the right decision. Being in the outdoors and getting to hear their haunting gobble is satisfying to me, even if he does only have on inch spurs.