Trophy Hunting

[Marc]

Shooting or not shooting a jake, is not a conservation act...  It is more of an issue of challenge.

I have shot some jakes, but currently, I would prefer not to...  My kid's certainly will if they go.  So will a guest if he/she wants.

Shot one on purpose a few years back when I took mine and a buddy's kid as observers...  Long morning, and he came struttin' in, there eyes wide, and he went home with us.

Last year I shot one on accident (last day of the season)...  Two toms coming in hard, and I had eyes one them, looked like twins...  Thick cover, and I lose them for a bit, and they pop their heads up about 15 yards away in some thick cover...  I take the best shot, and they both fly off with beards visible (almost took a shot at them in the air, cause I was sure I put pellets into one)...  No way I missed, and I run over to watch them hit the ground and run off unharmed...  Scratching my head with disappointment and confusion, I walk back to where I shot to look for feathers, and there is a dead bird on the ground...   Third one I did not see was a jake.  Somewhat relieved I did not miss, but a bit disappointed to end the season with a jake, I had to laugh...  Good eating bird with a now funny/pleasant memory.

[Meleagris gallopavo]

The non trophy aspect of turkeys is one of my favorite parts. The hunt quality is based on pre trigger pull, I've never told a turkey story and been asked "yeah but what'd he score" or "he needed another year to grow those spurs out to full potential". Gobbling, drumming, strutting the game itself is what matters

This right here.  Those memorable hunts when it's you against the bird are what gets me pumped up each year.  It's about searching for the next great experience.  Post-trigger pull is one of the most anti-climatic moments I've experienced.  I don't pass on an easy kill if it's a mature bird, and I've passed on jakes and mature toms that don't satisfy my sense of what I consider a nice bird.  Could have killed one dominant, mature gobbler several times last season, but passed on him because his beard had rotted off.  Jakes are more aggravating to me than exciting.  Give me quality gobbler that gives a good chase and I'm very satisfied.


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[Happy]

I am a bit of an oddball, I guess. With deer, I don't really care. I hunt them to eat them first and foremost. I hunt pretty basic. No bait, no trail cameras. I figure if I beat them, then I earned them. Doesn't mean I kill every buck that walks by. It just depends on my mood, how many tags I have, and what the freezer looks like.
Turkeys, on the other hand, I hunt for fun first and meat second. Don't get me wrong, they are delicious, but I am after the experience and the chess match first. Jakes don't thrill me. They are fun to watch and mess with, but I give them a pass. If I am guiding for someone and it gives them a thrill, then I am all for them killing one if legal. It's been my experience that after the first one, most never kill another jake.

[Paulmyr]

I would venture to guess guys on private are more likely to hold out for a better bird. The guys hunting public not so much.

[Mossyguy]

I would venture to guess guys on private are more likely to hold out for a better bird. The guys hunting public not so much.

I'd say that's spot on

[Flatsnbay]

A trophy is what you make of it. It might be a Jake for your first bird or a long beard if you are experienced.

For me, taking an adult gobbler is trophy worthy accomplishment. Beard size is not an indicator of age of a turkey. I admire bigger spurs and a heavy in weight bird.

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[Marc]

I would venture to guess guys on private are more likely to hold out for a better bird. The guys hunting public not so much.

I somewhat agree...  I think it depends on opportunity.  If I hunted two years without seeing a turkey and a jake walks in, he is gettin' it (private or public)!

I have hunted some really good public grounds, and some really poor private...

[ScottTaulbee]

I thank god that turkey hunting isn't a game of inches like deer hunting has become, though some try to make it that way. The trophy of turkey hunting is the sun coming up, hearing the whippoorwills, hearing the first gobble of the morning, and the feeling that comes over you of being home, where you belong. The experience of all that and using your knowledge and woodmanship, coupled with your calling ability and the ability to think 3 steps ahead of the turkey and then to fool the wariest of all the animals in the woods is the trophy. I don't care if he's 14 pounds with a 11" beard or 24 pounds with a 3" beard and knubs for spurs. If I fool him, in his own home, by getting in his head so well that he reversed the natural order of his breeding system to come find me, there's my trophy. The trigger pull and his measurements are the period on the sentence, to me.


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[Tom007]

Well put Scott!

[Kylongspur88]

It's more about spending time with friends and working birds for me. I'm enjoying calling birds for other people as much as I do for myself. I'm always chasing toms but I'll kill a jake in the fall. Years ago I'd take a fall hen but haven't in a while since numbers started trending down in some places I hunt.

[Paulmyr]

Yeah, we'll put Scott. I'll take it one step further. For me spring turkey hunting is like my church so to speak. Just being there is enough. All my troubles fade away and I'm at peace. The harvest, if it happens, is just icing on the cake.

[Neill_Prater]

Hunting should always be about the experience. Unfortunately, we humans are famous for screwing things up. Something inherently fun suddenly becomes a competition.  A bird harvested on the wrong side of an imaginary line in the sand becomes somehow less desirable than one killed a few miles up the road. The idea that a bird with a 10 inch beard and 1 1/4 inch spurs is somehow "better" than one that, in all other aspects, is identical, including the events of the hunt leading up to the shot, has an 8 inch beard and 1 inch spurs, is, if you think about it for a moment, totally absurd.



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[Marc]

Had an experience today that made me evaluate a "trophy" experience...

Spent over an hour working in 2 jakes (that got a pass)...  Walked a ways to another ridge (downhill, then back up), and called in a bird that was hammering away...  He hung up at 70 yards for about an hour.  Could not make out a beard, but he would periscope his head up, and bring it down to gobble.  I could see him, and knew he could see me, so I dared not call or move.

My face was itching something fierce, and some sort of insect landed and was crawling on my neck.  And I was thinkin' "This better not be a jake."

Then a second bird came in hard and fast, and there was a short confrontation...  Bird that I had been holding came past me, and he was a jake!  But the bird that ran him off was not...

Took some rubber of my soles today...  Made some good decisions, and had to use some patience...  It was certainly not the biggest bird I have ever killed, not even this season...  But it was the most exciting bird I killed this season, and I as dam happy!

As ScottTaulbee, it is the experience that adds to the value of the hunt.  Any bird that makes you feel like a 12 year old that just won a new bike is a trophy!

[Flatsnbay]

Well said Marc

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