Reaping vs “drop back” callers

[ChesterCopperpot]

This is getting funny.  Now some are saying drop back calling is unethical or unsporting.  LOL.  That is funny.  Oh well, enjoy hunting the way you want.  I will drop back call if I am hunting with a buddy with zero hesitation. 

I am not sure I can keep up with all the "rules".  Maybe someone can post them for us.  This is silly.

Me too. Without question. Every time. And I'll be hunkered down praying I hear a gun shot rip apart the woods.


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[Yoder409]

Both are horesh#t tactics in my opinion. For me, it is me against him, a game of hide and seek. Me sitting against a tree and making him come look for me. If I cannot call him down my barrel to within 35 steps, he wins, period.

Ever put your hand to the side of your mouth and turned your head to throw the sound of your calling behind you in getting that bird to 35 yards ??

Just askin'............

[Zobo]

   I'm not sure if this is what they call trolling. In my world trolling involves hooks, lines, beer and the smell of diesel. The op is a false dichotomy being used to justify reaping.

[quavers59]

  Reaping is Dangerous.. Never know who will Trespass onto your Turkey- Rich Private Land. Maybe his Wife Drops him off at 4am and now he is in that Prime Field with the " Reaper"...
   Rolling a Gobbler off the Roost is definitely  Legal and Safer then putting your Mug behind a Gobbler Fan. Not all States- but plenty. Just read and reread your State's  Regs.

[Tom007]

To those saying "drop back calling" isn't fair chase, what about when you do it solo? When you've got a bird that won't commit to anything but an unkillable distance and he's done that more than once, and so you drop back to call then cut the distance between you and the bird? Is that unfair?


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Totally agree here. Whether you "drop back", or call then use the terrain to quickly move toward the gobbler has led to many Tom's coming  into range to look over the hill, BOOM.... the rest is history.......This is more a "Woodsmanship/Set-up tactic. I use it all the time, I hunt solo.....

[eggshell]

These threads remind me of being constipated. I spend a lot of time in the room and do a lot grunting, groaning and trying to make something happen, but all that happens is I end up irritated and nothing happens.

Is there such a thing as a forum laxative that makes all this crap dump and then we go on with our normal daily routine?

I really am getting tired of it all. I think maybe whoever asked if this was an attempt to justify reaping by vilifying another strategy may have hit on something. In the end there are no ethics police in the woods. I am fairly confident when most hunters are in the turkey woods they employ a vast range of techniques to bag a gobbler. I would even bet a lot of us have bent our own rules when no one is watching. It's easy to be purist and righteous on a forum, but when in a battle with a stubborn old long beard I will wager a lot of us put our pride aside and do what we think will kill him. Then crow about how we always do it right. I confess I have bent my personal rules plenty, but I never ever bend safety rules. That is why I set reaping aside as a "I will never do it" method, it's unsafe.

[CowHunter71]

Both are horesh#t tactics in my opinion. For me, it is me against him, a game of hide and seek. Me sitting against a tree and making him come look for me. If I cannot call him down my barrel to within 35 steps, he wins, period.

Ever put your hand to the side of your mouth and turned your head to throw the sound of your calling behind you in getting that bird to 35 yards ??

Just askin'............

Quite often, as well as dropping back and calling, then repositioning to give the illusion of live Hen drifting around. Difference is, I hunt alone, one on one, me against him. This is how I choose to play the game. Using a second person to drag him by, is horsesh#t to me. May be selfish, but I am not out there to call you up a Gobbler, just like I would not want you to call me up a Gobbler.. I have more respect for these Turkeys than I do most people. My Old School Code, and that of my Kin, demands the game be "won" honorably, period. Most will feel this is ridiculous, but I really do not care. I am sure 'nuff part of a dying breed, and cut from a different cloth than most. Proud of that

[Howie g]

I'm stuck home with dang covid ... I feel like I've been run over by a truck .
Reading these reply's is at least giving a chuckle, which leads to me coughing up something that looks like battery acid ... keep em coming

[Tom007]

I'm stuck home with dang covid ... I feel like I've been run over by a truck .
Reading these reply's is at least giving a chuckle, which leads to me coughing up something that looks like battery acid ... keep em coming

Get better soon my friend...

[Yoder409]

I am sure 'nuff part of a dying breed, and cut from a different cloth than most.

I would have to agree.

[GobbleNut]

Reaping vs "drop back" callers...

Regardless of personal opinions about hunting methods, the actual thing that matters is how one's methods of hunting impacts the resource,...and just as importantly, if each of us individually has the wisdom to understand that impact and adjust our attitudes about knowing when to stop pulling the trigger. 

Personally, I am a firm believer that gobblers can reach a point where they are pretty resistant to being called to the hunter's gun,...whether it be by "one on one" calling or by "drop back calling" with multiple hunters involved.  As such, a significantly larger percentage of the gobbler population will survive each spring when calling is the primary tactic used as compared to the survival rate when male decoys/fanning/reaping tactics are used.  THAT is the difference between "calling-only" tactics and "male-turkey-imitation" (i.e...."reaping") use. 

There has no doubt been a significant increase in gobbler harvest each spring since the inception of the use of male turkey imitations.  In addition (as has been pointed out), that harvest now includes that segment of the gobbler population that, up until that "discovery", were quite resistant to being killed by calling methods alone.

Simply stated, using all the modern tactics available for killing gobblers has resulted in a significant decrease in the number of mature gobblers on the landscape (in those areas where harvest is not being controlled otherwise). There are more of us hunting,...and there are more turkeys being killed each spring using tactics that were not prevalent, or even were known, not all that long ago.

At some point, we hunters have to admit that fact to ourselves and adjust our attitudes about how we hunt,...and how many gobblers we kill,...and how we go about doing it.  Then again, it really doesn't matter if we do that ourselves or not.  Eventually, wildlife managers are going to do it for us (some already are).  Under the circumstances that currently exist with our wild turkey populations, they will have no choice if they are truly "managing" the resource.   

[ChesterCopperpot]

I won't kill one unless I can grab ahold of his snood and finish him in a rear naked choke, but that's just how I was raised. We don't call. We don't use guns. We don't wear camouflage. It's loin cloths and fisticuffs or nothing. #LastOfADyingBreed


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[Tom007]

I won't kill one unless I can grab ahold of his snood and finish him in a rear naked choke, but that's just how I was raised. We don't call. We don't use guns. We don't wear camouflage. It's loin cloths and fisticuffs or nothing. #LastOfADyingBreed


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[Happy]

I won't kill one unless I can grab ahold of his snood and finish him in a rear naked choke, but that's just how I was raised. We don't call. We don't use guns. We don't wear camouflage. It's loin cloths and fisticuffs or nothing. #LastOfADyingBreed


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Wouldn't hunting in a loin cloth be considered baiting?

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[Yoder409]

It's loin cloths and fisticuffs or nothing. #LastOfADyingBreed

(Rare footage of Chester on the hunt)

NOW we know the man behind the screen name.     Fame walks among us on the OG Forums !!!!