Summer thoughts: social media, money, Slams, and other gripes

[Tail Feathers]

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To each his own.  It takes a lot of effort to travel to 48 other states and kill birds.  Nothing inherently wrong with it and I wouldn't deny anyone the challenge.  But I have to wonder if the traveling hunters have any significant impact on the turkey populations?  I suspect they do.  I've seen some awfully crowded WMA's over the years.  Then you hear that it's ruined after OOSer's jammed it for a few years.
I post a kill pic or two here each season (luckily!) but I don't want to take away from the experience by carrying, deploying and messing with a camera during my hunt.  I like most of those memories in my head, not on my hard drive.  It doesn't bother me if others video, I don't have to watch them.  As stated, I kind of hope some more people take up predator hunting and trapping and they can post videos of it to Youtube!
I think we are all in for some lean years as traveling hunters, with lower limits and one bird states.  The states who resist that will be slammed and in time, have to follow suit to some degree.
I wonder if any of them lower their license prices along with the turkey limit?

[deerhunt1988]

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I wonder if any of them lower their license prices along with the turkey limit?

Nah, the demand will still be there for a while.

[PALongspur]

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Just last year The Hunting Public raised $35,000 plus put in $10,000 of their own proceeds for a research project in Alabama.
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These yahoos have also make money off of pimping out public lands and the wild turkey all across the southeast. Telling everyone how easy it is to get license with online apps, you get to shoot multiple turkeys, lots of public land, yadda yadda yadda. Then in their next episode they are crying with Dr Chamberlin about the decline of the wild turkey in the southeast and talking about research that needs to be done. They are simply trying to wash away their sins with that research money donation and look like good guys...

Time to take your ball and go home Chad.

[Greg Massey]

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This thread is almost as entertaining as watching someone try and sandpaper the arse of an alligator in a phone booth. Very entertaining indeed.

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All's alive and well on old gobbler ... LOL...

[Happy]

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come on Happy, you can do better than that? Stoke the fire and watch the barn burn....
I was thinking it was getting pretty quiet here. For everyone that claims that turkeys are their passion I find the silence after the seasons end a bit odd. However I don't need to throw any more rocks in the pond at the moment. But for the record the internet has done more harm than good in my opinion. I did realize that with my stellar  good looks and charm I would be a hit if i started my own utube channel. Now if I can just figure out how to kill a turkey I just might realize my dream of notoriety and fame.

[El Pavo Grande]

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And in the meantime while all of this banter does no good…….go trap a Coon or a possum (or 20) and knock him in the head!!!

How about both?  Tell some hard truths that need to be told AND take out some predators.  A good day for turkeys all around I’d say. 

[El Pavo Grande]

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 :christmaswindow:k

I just skimmed through your post, so sorry if I missed something. I have to say that forums like this one seem to be a place for a minority of hunters to complain about everyone else.

Yes there are issues in the hunting world, yes social media has spoiled a lot of good spots, I know from experience. I’ve been on Facebook longer than I’ve been hunting, and I’ve been on YouTube as long as I’ve been hunting (11 years), and believe me I’ve seen the good, bad and ugly. I have made a few mistakes along the way too.

But here’s the thing, do you think making enemies with your fellow hunters is going to solve anything? The real problem we are looking at is the human population growing bigger every year. If hunter numbers don’t grow too, we become a smaller minority every year. Unfortunately that means lower bag limits and shorter seasons in the long run. But we don’t want to become a minuscule minority of the general population, mainly for political reasons. People are worried about losing gun rights, but gun ownership is extremely strong in the US. Hunters on the other hand make a much smaller percentage of the population, and we need to stay strong because people do want to outlaw hunting.

We as hunters have done more for wildlife over the years than any other group of people has ever done. And we need to stick together and try to find some middle ground on our disagreements, rather than fight over petty BS. Our whole country is divided left vs right, it’s caused all kinds of problems and isn’t getting any better...let’s not let that happen to the hunting community.


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I think that’s what is good about debating such subjects.   Otherwise, one just sticks his head in the sand or looks the other way and in 5 years we are shooting wildlife legally with drones.  That’s why there are points made against what can be damaging.  Compromise is the goal, not a continual path down a dangerous road.  I challenge you to consider your statement of “petty BS”.  The health of turkey populations and the future of turkey hunting to be passed down to ALL, is extremely important to me, as I’m sure it is for you as well.  I will never step a toe in most of these states to turkey hunt, but I truly care about the well being of their turkey populations.  Voicing concerns over these issues isn’t “petty BS” in my opinion.   Not trying to argue, just trying to encourage a different viewpoint.  Social media has played a role in what we will now see with increased restrictions and regulations, much of which poses a threat to increasing hunter numbers in the future.  That’s why I don’t always agree with the “if it’s legal argument” or consider it bashing other hunters to voice an opinion.  There is always differing opinions in all walks of life or things get out of balance, and turkey hunting is no exception. 

[Tail Feathers]

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If the President would just make me Czar of All Things Turkey with a lifetime appointment and an unlimited budget I could make all of you do it my way and completely fix turkey hunting for the forseeable future.  Wouldn't that be so wonderful?!

[WV Ridge Reaper]

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I enjoy watching those yahoo’s on YouTube but at the end of the day that’s the problem along with the internet and humans

[Chad]

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[Howie g]

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I choose to put my money into things that I know 100% that is going to the good . Trapping , planting , habitat improvement etc . These turkey organizations nwtf etc You have no clue where your hard earned money is actually going .    As far as the you tube guys ?  I’ve noticed the last few shows I’ve watched they are steady complaining about the pressure on the public there hunting ,,, well , Mirrow meet face !!!!
The subject of slams ?  I hit a few back in my ball days .... no place for them in hunting IMO .
     

[eggshell]

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Thankfully our state game agencies manage the resource based on scientific data and not internet discussions. Back in the day, when I worked for such an agency, we had a similar problem with a species of fish and I was the genius that thought we should hold a public forum and see what the anglers wanted. So we scheduled a time and place and held a meeting. What a poop show that turned into. I thought we were going to be assaulted and a fist fight or two almost broke out. If we had a hundred people maybe 10 actually offered sound logic and concern and maybe 1/3 just listened. But, among the rest the predominate emphasis from most was, "I want you to do this or that" with no solutions offered. We presented research, angler surveys and population study data and most never even listened to it, they just wanted to bitch at somebody. In the end we invited the few that showed genuine concern and sound thinking processes to sit down in a closed forum and talk. What resulted was a compromise that everyone thought made sense. Twenty plus years later that strategy seems to have abated the problem somewhat. I will admit it's not the same glory that once existed but it stabilized and today's anglers still enjoy the resource. 

Wildlife agencies don't always do things right and it varies by who is leading the group. I have found the more interaction and control that comes from politicians the worse the management principles. Yet, in most states Wildlife agencies have become pretty independent of politics. I can assure you they see and hear you and they realize there is a problem. They have probably been working on it for a while. In nature and wildlife management things do not happen fast, it takes time. My best advice is to be patient and engage your wildlife professionals. Talk with them and when they hold public meetings be respectful with your interactions. No one likes being yelled at, it only makes you look like a jerk and they will tune you out, even if your right.

Internet forums are a crap show in most cases and not much different than the meeting I spoke of. I see some good well thought out opinions, but nothing will be done by this forum. This is just bitching, it's not doing. Before I get slammed with, "I do this or I do that". I am talking in general terms and I credit that a lot of you do manage properties and leases well, good for you, but it's only a drop in the bucket on the national scale or even state. We need our agencies to address the big picture and they will.

Opinions are like butt holes, we all have one. The internet is good for venting, but we need b soldiers in the field. All I ask is to examine yourself and your hunting and ask, Am I part of the problem or part of the solution?".

I also think much of the youtube and social media crowd are just "look at Me" based and self serving. People want to "be somebody". That is why so many younger hunters are producing the youtube channels. They see it as a path to establishing themselves and validation. Somewhere, us old timers are to blame that technology is the path they take to say, here I am I have value". If they aren't doing things ethically, in our view, then perhaps it's because they were left to their own inventiveness to establish right from wrong. Be a mentor if you value your position on ethics and foster that mind set in a young outdoorsman.

[THattaway]

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Don’t have time for summer thoughts. Pulled and put up 40 dozen ears of corn yesterday, picked beans, okra, squash, tomatoes etc. Finished up gutter guards today and then set 40 t posts on a new fence line, another 40 tomorrow then will pull wire. When that’s finished I am fishing till deer season. Turkey season will be here soon enough. That’s about as good a dissertation as I can manage right now.

Then why even make this post to begin with? U obviously had enough time to get on here to decribe ur day.

Felt the need to express my opinion. I check in here a few times a week. Thanks for asking. Turkey season will be here again before you know it. Plenty in life to worry about that is way more important. Some here lose sight of that.

[GobbleNut]

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Felt the need to express my opinion. I check in here a few times a week. Thanks for asking. Turkey season will be here again before you know it. Plenty in life to worry about that is way more important. Some here lose sight of that.

Great response.  We can all be avid turkey hunters while at the same time understanding that there are, or should be, lots of other things in our lives that should ultimately be more important.  It seems that to some that the line between turkey hunting as a passion and turkey hunting as a true addiction that needs to be addressed is a bit blurry. 

Then again, this comment is being made by a guy that probably spends too much time on OG commenting...   

[eggshell]

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Speaking of better things to do than bitch on an internet forum. This morning I went into the woods in an old timber cut to pick blackberries. I saw a doe and I think  her fawn. I had a Gobbler cluck at me as I walked through the leaves. Then I pulled back a briar and there was a nest of baby birds, so I backed off and watched for momma, a yellow warbler showed up.  I also picked two quarts of berries. Yup there's more to life