Re: Pennsylvania bans rifles for fall turkey season

[THattaway]

I said "in SC". Same principle applies to a sport where full camo is the norm. You may be a responsible hunter, the guy drawing a bead on your hand, face or whatever may not be. Hate the tradition lost aspect for you but you won't find much solace on here. I know for a fact I could easily kill turkeys with a rifle each fall from a deer stand, much less effort than chasing with a shotgun which most probably don't bother to do. Fall turkey hunting went away in SC because of popular opinion on it, folks would rather hunt them in spring. Maybe you should be glad you still got a fall season.

[Southerngobbler]

Maybe the game dept figures with a rifle you can shoot them at distances where you don't have to worry about them seeing your breath.

[vt35mag]

Right change, wrong reason.

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[gunboy203]

Rifles should be banned in every state for turkey - spring or fall.

I 100% agree!!!!!

[howl]

Too many laws and progressives pushing them. Hate to people losing their way; especially turkey hunters.

[wvmntnhick]

Rifles are banned in the states I hunt.  However I would like to hunt turkeys with a rifle.  Same ethics, 35 yards and in.

As I've stated numerous times before, I couldn't tell you the number of birds I've killed well within reasonable shotgun range with a rifle. With a rimfire, you're still limited in many regards. They don't carry the energy (IMO) to reliably penetrate and kill a bird at distance. Centerfire is clearly a different story and I'm not opposed to that either. Again, target acquisition is paramount. If people had the common decency to make certain what they're shooting at and what's beyond, rifles aren't an issue. Have taken the heads off of more than a couple birds using 22 hornet, .223,  22 WMR and 22 lr over the years. I'll not argue that using a shotgun is more fun. But to limit the use of a particular weapon thinking it's going to save the population... that's been proven not to be the case for some time now. If it's a safety concern, the guy pulling the trigger is clearly at fault.

If they want to do away with rifles for turkeys, they need to do the same with deer. Bring everything back to sharp sticks, spears, slingshots and traditional archery. Just my opinion. If rifles aren't safe for turkeys, they're not safe for deer.


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[28roper]

I said "in SC". Same principle applies to a sport where full camo is the norm. You may be a responsible hunter, the guy drawing a bead on your hand, face or whatever may not be. Hate the tradition lost aspect for you but you won't find much solace on here. I know for a fact I could easily kill turkeys with a rifle each fall from a deer stand, much less effort than chasing with a shotgun which most probably don't bother to do. Fall turkey hunting went away in SC because of popular opinion on it, folks would rather hunt them in spring. Maybe you should be glad you still got a fall season.

Exactly, in "SC" you all can have it however you want.  PA is a distinctly different state, with a distinctly different hunting and turkey population.  Gun season for deer doesn't overlap with Fall Turkey for the reason you stated above.  Fall turkey doesn't overlap with any other gun season for that matter.  It is unique unto itself.  Hence the argument many on here have made.  It's a political play restricting hunting rights, plain and simple.  Folks on this board arguing against the bill aren't looking for solace, but rather pointing out that a political agenda is swaying game laws.  And that my friend is not good for any of us.

[bigriverbum]

The X health secretary of Pennsylvania is now the assistant federal secretary of health, so she is now all of our Country's assistant secretary of health. She was promoted to the federal level by Joe Biden. Now that is scary!


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is she the one proposing reducing nicotine in cigarettes?

some politicians are so stupid. you don't think people addicted to nicotine won't just smoke more to get their fix? nothing but a tax on the poor, yet at the same time i guess some people don't need id to vote cuz that's a tax on the poor lol.

prices better drop then. lol. yeah right. the taxes will probably still rise

[NCL]

Read this thread with much interest because rifle hunting for turkeys has never been allowed here. It seems to me that the the pro rifle guys have made better arguments, especially the statement that if they were concerned about populations then restrict the second tag. If the Commission had had applied both the riffle restriction and the removal of a second tag then it could be said they are doing what they can to help increase the populations. This is not to say these proposals are the be all end all but are helping factors. As to the safety issues, to me Fall deer hunting is allowed with a rifle, so how is that any safer?

[Happy]

Read this thread with much interest because rifle hunting for turkeys has never been allowed here. It seems to me that the the pro rifle guys have made better arguments, especially the statement that if they were concerned about populations then restrict the second tag. If the Commission had had applied both the riffle restriction and the removal of a second tag then it could be said they are doing what they can to help increase the populations. This is not to say these proposals are the be all end all but are helping factors. As to the safety issues, to me Fall deer hunting is allowed with a rifle, so how is that any safer?

You have some good points. The way I see it they want the money from the second tag, would rather upset the rifle hunters than everyone wanting a second tag and are hoping that that lowers the harvest rates enough. If they doesn't work then they have to make everyone mad by reducing tags and loose the income.

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[Marc]

Interesting topic...

Personally, I do not know much about hunting turkeys with a rifle, but I would think that .22.250 would be capable of easily and consistently killing turkeys out to and past 200 yards...  Using such a rifle, I would likely be able to harvest a bird every trip out.  If success rates of hunters went from 10-20% to over 50%, I would think that would take a toll on population numbers.

As Happy stated, there are multiple considerations, including income from licensing and tags (which I have no idea about in PA).  Money generated from such could potentially be used to generate and improve more and better habitat for a variety of game species...  However, my experience with governmnet funding tells me that while the potential is there, it is unlikely that such occurrs.

The safety issues go without saying, and I would hope that there are areas that would be regulated if for no other reason than safety concerns.  With some of the idiots I have run across on public grounds, I cannot imagine safely hunting turkeys if these yahoos were using a rifle.

I have never been a proponent of "if it is legal it is ethical" arguments...  I believe that hunters should be the biggest advocates for ethical hunting, and the most assertive stewards of the resources...  I would hope that hunters themselves would push for more (or less) regulations based on objective data...

I do not know enough about the hunting conditions, or the use of rifles to make an informed opinion about hunting turkeys with rifles in other states...  But I would be adamantly opposed to such in my state.

[paboxcall]

I've missed way, way more birds in the fall with a small caliber rifle than I have with a shotgun in the spring. Many of those hunts would have been successful had I toted the scattergun instead, so no advantage there. And, I've never lost a bird in the fall.

Perhaps those unfamiliar mistakenly picture guys perched high in permanent deer stands with a 22-250 on sand bags picking off field birds next county over. In the big woods of PA, to be successful one needs to put lots of miles on the boots going up and down those heavily wooded, steep mountain ridges to finally find the scratchings, then maybe find the flock, then try and break them. If broke, set up, try to call them back in (and in my case promptly miss them). That's fall turkey hunting in the big woods, no sand bags, no deer stands, no sniping required.

Banning rifles and handguns won't reverse years of declining populations and these board members voting as if it will are misinformed. That makes the board of directors casting a vote banning rifles, instead of identifying the real reasons for population declines, nothing more than political. And thanks to those politics, a long tradition of break them up and call them back in fall turkey hunting with small caliber rifles and handguns is over.

The lesson here everyone should pay attention too, and other posts have touched on it, once something is gone, its not coming back. Banning rifles was easy political work, when the board of directors should have devoted this time to change seasons, close seasons, reduce tags, address predators, reduce failed nesting rates, increase poult production, and improve habitat, better known as the hard work.

[knifeshark]

 Turkey , deer , elk , and bear are all considered big game in PA. by the PGC's definition. The endless mountains in Pa. are anything but easy to hunt, the reason rifles are permitted is the hilly hardwood forests. Bullets don't get too far in the mountains. So safety is not the issue here. This is about mismanagement of one of the largest turkey populations in the U.S.A. Now they are claiming we don't have enough, The Ruffed Grouse( our state bird) is all but gone now , another bad  move by the PGC. It is not the hunters that is killing our game birds. It is the failure of the lawmakers , biologists and the commissioners. Blaming and penalizing  the rifle hunters for the decline of the fall  turkey harvest is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500. This is total bull$hit, and I'm tired of the PGC throwing there weight around , and not having any type of referendum on the subject. Let them know! 

[tha bugman]

I have fall rifle hunted in PA and it never really felt like turkey hunting IMO. 

[THattaway]

Exactly, in "SC" you all can have it however you want.  PA is a distinctly different state, with a distinctly different hunting and turkey population.  Gun season for deer doesn't overlap with Fall Turkey for the reason you stated above.  Fall turkey doesn't overlap with any other gun season for that matter.  It is unique unto itself.  Hence the argument many on here have made.  It's a political play restricting hunting rights, plain and simple.  Folks on this board arguing against the bill aren't looking for solace, but rather pointing out that a political agenda is swaying game laws.  And that my friend is not good for any of us.

I made the assumption deer and turkey seasons overlapped there. Fwiw, someone else here stated rifles should be banned for deer. Apples to oranges really, hunter orange to be exact. Good luck with your efforts in PA.