My Thoughts

[Neill_Prater]

I've read many posts recently on this and other forums bashing the methods others use to bag their birds, social media hunters in general, some in particular, and the list goes on and on.

Now that the heyday of the wild turkey seems to be over with declining populations throughout much of the country, the elitists are quick to criticize anyone who doesn't play the game according to their rules. No birds where there were plenty five years ago? Must be SOMEBODY'S fault. Right?

If not the decoy toting blind sitting bunch, then surely it's the fan wavers, or perhaps even the use of technology itself: longer range ammo, optical sights, GPS, satellite imagery. Why I remember back in the day.......

My Dad was a simple man with an eighth grade education who grew up dirt poor, married the town doctor's daughter and spent most of his life working as a clerk in a drugstore. He also had more friends, from all walks of life than anyone else I've ever known.

He was also addicted to quail hunting. The heyday of the Bobwhite quail here in Missouri would probably be considered by experts as the 1930's, 40's and 50's. Small farms, lots of row cropping, hedge fence rows, in other words, perfect habitat, and my Dad, born in 1914, was a young man through the best of it.

For many years quail season started on November 10. If Dad ever missed an opening day, I never knew it. He always managed to get off work and often hunted at least a portion of almost every day of the season.

An excellent wing shot, he would sometimes buy shells for his Browning Sweet 16 by the case and back when such things were less frowned upon, would often fill the 10 bird limits of his hunting companions, often physicians or other people from the city who couldn't hit the side of a barn, as well as his own.

My Dad's uncle was a bachelor nicknamed "Prude". I never knew why. About 140 pounds soaking wet, Prude resided in the ramshackle old house on the hardscrabble family farm. He raised foxhounds and was what would now be categorized as a hillbilly before the moniker was popular.

Anyway, I was as addicted to bird hunting as my Dad and I remember a time when I was maybe 12 or 13 when Prude told us about "pot shooting" a covey of quail he spotted while driving through the sprout patch along the road to his house with his old single shot shotgun, killing 4 or 5 as I recall.

I was appalled. My Dad would never shoot a bird not in flight, and I felt the same. I expounded at length to Dad, telling him how unsportsmanlike it was of Prude to shoot birds on the ground like that. I've never forgotten his reply.

He told me that Prude didn't hunt for sport, just wanted a mess of quail to eat and saw the opportunity and took it. He then explained to me that Prude would maybe kill a dozen birds a year, if he was lucky, while he and I were killing hundreds, so, really, who was hurting the population more?

Those in glass houses.......

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[joey46]

Yes the game has certainly changed since when I first hunted the big birds in the 1970s.  It is what it is.

[owlhoot]

Puts things in perspective.
Man do I miss Quail hunting. And Pheasant. And Rabbit.
If MDC don't pull their heads out probably going to miss turkey hunting too.
Guess we better get the bear and wild hog hunting gear and tactics figured out.

[Greg Massey]

If we are not careful, we may not have a gun to hunt with in the future. Just look at the New ATF director they are trying to nominate .. agree it's all changing the way we know of hunting .. same with fishing..

[snoodcrusher]

Great post, NP. 
Perspective without judgement or emotion most often dissects issues to your conclusion:  those who live in glass houses......


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[grayfox]

If we are not careful, we may not have a gun to hunt with in the future. Just look at the New ATF director they are trying to nominate .. agree it's all changing the way we know of hunting .. same with fishing..

Yep, we may be throwing rocks at them before long if the demonicrats have their way.

[Which Gun]

Well said. How true.

[Gooserbat]

Exactly,

Most people who bash others haven't ever tried it or at least with an open mind.  It's like feeding someone really good deer meat who "doesn't like Deer"  it's perspective and as long as they keep it within the limits then let it be.

[silvestris]

There is a reason for the decline; was when our ancestors nearly exterminated the wild turkey and is today.  The main reason for today's decline, other than the new methods of "hunting", is the vast numbers hunting a limited recource.

[Crghss]

Predator and habitat loss are behind low turkey numbers IMHO. Killing a few more Tom's by using non traditional techniques has little to no impact. Hawks, Fox, opossums, raccoons, coyotes are rampant, way more then ever before.

[fallhnt]

I'm doing my part for turkeys. Didn't go last year because of the SCAMdemic and killed 1 this year in the first hour of my only hunt.

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[Cowboy]

Predator and habitat loss are behind low turkey numbers IMHO. Killing a few more Tom's by using non traditional techniques has little to no impact. Hawks, Fox, opossums, raccoons, coyotes are rampant, way more then ever before.

This is one of the biggest problems right here.

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[sasquatch1]

Man and his destruction of habitat and un checked population growth will always be wildlife's number 1 problem.


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[eggshell]

Some good history and writing, but I did struggle to realize a true point of emphasis. I guess what your saying is we all  have our transgressions, so we should not have an opinion or criticism of others. Sometimes the fact we have sinned helps us realize what was/is wrong and silence seldom resolves any issue.

I personally think it's a great American asset to have freedom of speech. It's also up to  the masses to decide what is wrong, through expressed opinions to our wildlife agencies and legislatures. Now I am not for rude, intrusive, degrading or threatening rants, but simply expressing one's displeasure of a technique is not something I consider as wrong. We are free to disagree and the law sets the standards of what we may or may not do. In summation, I would guess 90% of sportspeople want to protect and prosper the resource and the other 10% just want glory or don't give a dam either way.

I know it gets heated in here sometimes and people's passion sometimes leads to some uncivil comments, but I believe it's just people being passionate about something they love. Back in those glory days they commercially hunted with punt guns, killing whole flocks of ducks and commercial drives where they killed everything in range. I do believe that someone speaking up and saying it was wrong helped change the extermination of game.

My point is. I may not agree with a poster and vice versa, but we should all civilly express our opinions. I for one have changed my mind on some issues with good civil arguments. I harbor no ill feeling towards anyone on this forum for expressing an opinion. Actually I would hate to see it stop. Just keep it civil

[brittman]

Sorry Neil ... while your story is true enough and those of us growing up with rural and farming relatives can relate ...   

Prude and a few of the old timers I knew of were simply opportunistic ... they did not hunt out state ... heck I bet you most never hunted more than a dozen or two miles from their house.     Sure they ate what they killed, but these guys killed far less than most of the "sportsman" back then or today.