my thoughts on reaping

[Number17]

I can't speak on the reaping part but the biggest cancer where I live (Eastern NC) is douche bags riding around 2 or 3 to a truck and riding around until they find one in a field. They drop 1 off and he sneaks through the woods, gets close to the edge & shoots the unsuspecting gobbler if he gets close enough, which most of these douche nozzles will shoot at one at 100yds if able. If that's turkey hunting to you then may I suggest taking up another hobby, like knitting!

You've seen this happen how many times?

[silvestris]

I have had it happen to me three times that I am aware of.  No telling how many instances I am unaware of.  It is not turkey hunting, rather it is turkey killing.  If the latter, then they should take up knitting or some other harmless endeavor.

[Strutnut80]

I can't speak on the reaping part but the biggest cancer where I live (Eastern NC) is douche bags riding around 2 or 3 to a truck and riding around until they find one in a field. They drop 1 off and he sneaks through the woods, gets close to the edge & shoots the unsuspecting gobbler if he gets close enough, which most of these douche nozzles will shoot at one at 100yds if able. If that's turkey hunting to you then may I suggest taking up another hobby, like knitting!

You've seen this happen how many times?

Hell.. they will tell you what they do, I don't have to see it. Countless others have the same stories. They're not doing anything "illegal" since the ones I know who do it are on their property. Still a douche bag way to hunt even though it's legal

[bonasa]

I have no problem with reaping, people who participate in the tactic or states that ban it. NJ bans it and their turkey population is declining regardless, nope not reaping's fault. It is a very effective tactic, exciting and moderately physically demanding. The last point will limit the participation. Yes, I have reaped a turkey and had two other partners reap one each. It is fun, but neither of us have done it since, still prefer to call them in and see the show.

I hunt a neighboring state and some public land, mostly private but I do belong to several gun clubs and I know a fair amount of turkey hunters and even more general hunters. None of them have ever attempted to reap a bird, some say "that must be exciting". Most say that the fun is calling them in.

To say it's dangerous that someone from a distance will rip a rifle round at you, especially in a state that bans rifles? You stand a better chance of getting hit by a drunk driver early on a saturday AM going to your hunting spot to reap a bird than you are of getting shot.

States should ban shooting hens all year, no fall birds and no bearded hens in spring. Maybe ban fall turkey hunting all together. Move seasons back a week maybe even 2 weeks to allow more nesting, reduce bag limit of males. No two birds in one day, spread it out one in the beginning half and one the last half.

Seriously how many birds are "reaped" as a percentage of the harvest? I'm going to guess its less than 2.5% making it statistically not significant.

[Tarheel]

The experts say there are five stages of hunter development:

Stage 1:  Shooting Stage
Stage 2:  Limiting Out Stage
Stage 3:  Trophy Stage
Stage 4:  Method Stage
Stage 5:  Sportsman Stage

IMHO, every hunter who has reached the Sportsman stage of hunter development reached that stage by going through the other four stages in some manner or other during their development as a hunter.  Birds of a feather flock together....so the influence of a particular hunter's circle of friends strongly influences hunter's sometime getting stuck in stages 1 or 2.  Unfortunately. marketing focuses on stages 1 and 2, and the TV shows, YouTube and wannabes feed that area of development or lack of.....