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

[Burtwill]

We are by far the greatest predator of the Wild Turkey. We also have initiated the rise in all the other predators with our practices( from timber management, lack of fur trade, feeders, etc). I too lament the crutches making it easier for "anybody" to increase their success...FB, etc helps them revel in it. I feel ya.

When the whole "predator" debate came along I said the same thing. The human population is the biggest predator that the wild turkey will ever have. From shooting them at 60+ yards, fanning, baiting, feeling the need to kill a limit of turkeys in every state, all the way to making new roads, subdivision, and building shopping centers where 10 years ago there was someone hunting. Do coons and possums and skunks eat eggs?, absolutely they do. But they don't go out hunting them down, they have a core range they travel in and when they happen upon a nest they'll eat it. But it's our fault for the hens having to nest in such poor habitat to begin with. I always get a chuckle out of the guys who say things like " killed my limit in 6 states so far and headed to the next one, hard to find a turkey in x state, more people need to trap nest predators". Or something along those lines, without ever stopping to think that himself and thousands of others are doing the exact same thing. We no doubt have a bigger impact on the turkey population than any natural predator ever has.


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I just spent about 10 days in Florida, I went down a few days before north zone opener to hang out with family (I'm a native Floridan who moved away) and do some turkey hunting. No one will ever convince me that I did more damage to the population calling a few birds to the gun for dad and I than the development. After killing a few birds over the weekend it was time for dad to get back to work (he works in the ever dying Florida citrus industry) we spent time criss crossing over central Florida. To say I was in shock was an absolute understatement. An orange Grove I had permission to hunt just 5 or 6 years ago as a senior in high school was now a swanky little apartment complex with a pool and communal gathering area. A cattle ranch I remember seeing sand Hill cranes and strutting turkeys in front the side of Florida's State road 528 was now a strip center with a Wawa gas station and a chipotle Mexican restaurant. An orange Grove we killed a turkey in had development creeping up from all 4 directions, it almost brought closure knowing that bird wouldn't have to suffer in a year or so when the pine trees he roosts in on the property border were made into a subdivision by some out of town national developer.

Seeing all this, and knowing this is going on in every corner of the state; Jacksonville is exploding rapidly, Orlando's suburbs keep growing into Florida cattle and citrus country, retirement communities being built in what I used to consider "the middle of nowhere", Tampa and Orlando will one day be known as "Orlampa" when the I-4 corridor connecting the 2 cities will one day be completely developed.

I was more saddened by my trip than anything, I'd read the book "A land remembered" by Patrick Smith which spoke on the old Florida that was destroyed by development. At 23 years old I didn't ever know the Old Florida he spoke of without the large cities and interstate highways and byways. But what I realized before my eyes these past few weeks is the Florida I grew up in is now a land remembered. Places I used to hunt and fish freely gone, by way of development.

I pondered what this would do for  hunting in peninsular Florida. Lease prices for locals will continue to rise, with an evergrowing demand from the exploding population. Outfitters who've lost properties due to development will have to search elsewhere to obtain new grounds and raise prices on the coveted Osceola hunts they sell. Public lands, oh boy. Public lands will continue to see more pressure as the population grows and people (like myself) lose opportunity to hunt private lands. I expect nearly all turkey hunting in peninsular Florida to be draw hunts in the next 15 years. And point creep in Florida is no different than for western big game, it's getting harder and harder to draw a good tag. Not to mention, the increased amount of users of Florida's public lands will put a strain on the resources. Disrupting ground nesting birds in the spring months, leaving trash and human waste seemingly everywhere with no care in the world for the enjoyment of the guy behind you, and eroding trails (and for the love of God people with 4wheelers and SXS in big cypress stay on the trails and treat it like it's your own land).

Like I said, Florida in my mind truly is a land remembered. I'm not sure if I wish to ever reside in my beloved home state again.

Interesting point I hunted florida recently and was amazed what the middle of florida looked like compared to everything within an hour of the coast. Got  a glimpse of old florida which will soon be gone.

Another point on florida development, these florida hunters are now all leasing in south carolina and georgia and for some reason they have plenty of money. I would venture to guess that 1/4 of the land around me is now hunted by floridians. I have lived here my whole life and I swear to you you can no longer find a lease what so ever and florida folks pay big bucks more than the locals could ever afford. There is not a stitch of private anywhere close to me that can be hunted and isnt.

with that being said this is why i go to public more now. All the florida people are hunting ALL the private around me and nothing i can do about it.

[soILstrutter]

It may have been said, but I hate that turkey hunting is the "cool" thing to do. I hate that the sport has been bastardized into 30 second clips of reaping, slow-mo head shots, and flopping birds. But what can we do about that part of the problem?

Well, I started this weekend by taking a youth hunter (16) out and we killed his first turkey. I showed him how I turkey hunt. I showed him how I set up and how I call and use the terrain as the most important factor in my setups. We also had a conversation and I told him how I don't like some of the tactics and things on social media I see that are "representing" our passion. I feel like it really stuck with him and we had a blast while I showed what my version of turkey hunting looks like.

I may have just created another disgruntled "old-school" turkey hunter, but I don't care. I know that I at least started the process of creating a respectful turkey hunter, and that he has one special morning in the woods as a great reason to not become like some of the people we see on social media today. Hopefully he now knows what turkey hunting CAN be, and chases that feeling the rest of his life.

[ScottTaulbee]

It may have been said, but I hate that turkey hunting is the "cool" thing to do. I hate that the sport has been bastardized into 30 second clips of reaping, slow-mo head shots, and flopping birds. But what can we do about that part of the problem?

Well, I started this weekend by taking a youth hunter (16) out and we killed his first turkey. I showed him how I turkey hunt. I showed him how I set up and how I call and use the terrain as the most important factor in my setups. We also had a conversation and I told him how I don't like some of the tactics and things on social media I see that are "representing" our passion. I feel like it really stuck with him and we had a blast while I showed what my version of turkey hunting looks like.

I may have just created another disgruntled "old-school" turkey hunter, but I don't care. I know that I at least started the process of creating a respectful turkey hunter, and that he has one special morning in the woods as a great reason to not become like some of the people we see on social media today. Hopefully he now knows what turkey hunting CAN be, and chases that feeling the rest of his life.

That's awesome, hopefully the social media bug doesn't grab ahold of him. There are two guys that are fairly local to me, that I consider to be turkey men, drop them off in the woods or the mountains with a mouth call, and a bottle of pop and at some point of the day, they'll be carrying a bird out. Anyway, they started a social media outdoor page and last year were having a tough time finding birds, they started telling me how predators are the problem, surely drunk the juice from something they read on social media, and then a couple days later started posting hero shots of bird after bird after bird and I thought man those boys really get it done. After talking to them, someone took them out reaping so they can get video for the page. The guy that took them missed a bird at several feet 3 times and the one dropped his camera and picked up his gun and killed it. After that, they took that decoy and started piling them up for the videos and they're "pro staff" for a company. Long story short, I know of 6 birds that were taken that way between those two guys and the one who showed it to them originally. Now that's fine and great, sure. But that's 6 birds that otherwise would have not been taken with what I would say most on here would consider fair chase tactics. For a round of applause from social media. The loss of habitat and this ever increasing "kill one at all costs, use whatever I can buy to do it for the pictures" attitude has contributed to way more predation on wild turkeys than any natural predators. And unfortunately, there isn't anything we can do. The ship has sailed on that a long time ago. Hopefully your protege keeps at it the right way and doesn't get tainted.


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[WildTigerTrout]

The same thing happened to fly fishing for trout after "The Movie" (A River Runs Through It).  Everybody wanted to fly fish.  It was the cool thing to do and the ranks swelled by a great deal.  Then it backed off and things went back to more normal after guys got tired of it and went about their business and on to next cool thing to do.

[WildTigerTrout]

IMO it is much harder to bag a gobbler on public land.  They see and feel much more pressure than most birds on private land especially if the property is good size.  That has been my experience anyway. 

[Prospector]

YOU would keep hunting;" maybe" I would too, but not everyone would. Yes, this is more of a problem because of diminishing birds and opportunities. But it's still a problem... would less hunters cure it? Maybe, but it surely would not hurt it! Truthfully it's multifaceted.... Habitat, predation, urban encroachment etc. Between you and I? I'm ready for the hub-bub to die down ( like mentioned about trout fishing) so I can quietly go about turkey hunting... if that's selfish, than so be it/ I embrace it and am just trying to be honest

[Burtwill]

YOU would keep hunting;" maybe" I would too, but not everyone would. Yes, this is more of a problem because of diminishing birds and opportunities. But it's still a problem... would less hunters cure it? Maybe, but it surely would not hurt it! Truthfully it's multifaceted.... Habitat, predation, urban encroachment etc. Between you and I? I'm ready for the hub-bub to die down ( like mentioned about trout fishing) so I can quietly go about turkey hunting... if that's selfish, than so be it/ I embrace it and am just trying to be honest

I mean yeah thats fair enough but why would it die down? why would there be an end to this anytime soon? The population goes so slow that most folks cannot kill one at all?