Jakes! To Shoot or not to shoot? That is the question!

[joey46]

If they are legal and you count them in your yearly bag limit go for it.  Never had a problem with someone taking a legal bird.  I still have a big problem with the areas that have implemented a minimum beard length but that is a different subject I guess.

[crow]

Hey in my defense I specified " the last" !!!

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[Greg Massey]

Who named them Jake's ... ? Why not young gobblers

[crow]

Some of the old books do call them young gobblers and not jakes



If Happy had known that he would have admitted to shooting at least 32 of them instead of 31

[Greg Massey]

Some of the old books do call them young gobblers and not jakes



If Happy had known that he would have admitted to shooting at least 32 of them instead of 31

WE are telling our age .. LOL... because some of these young guns would have never known they were called young gobblers back in the early years ...

[joey46]

I started hunting them in the late 1970s.  In Ohio at that time and they were called "jakes".  My first bird ever was a jake.  The last jake I shot was in 2016.  Last day of the Florida season and he came in with 8 to ten other jakes to attack a Funky Chicken decoy.  I was allowed one more bird that season.  He was it.  Fun stuff and he tasted just fine.  No reason to be elitist and put down any legal hunter for taking a legal bird IMO.  The "other forum" has a prolific poster that seems to want anyone shooting a jake to be put in prison.  Counter productive and unnecessary - again all IMO.  This subject usually turns into a hoot.  It has again.   

[jb1069]

I didn't mean to start this controversy but then again I kind of knew it would. I was really trying to educate myself and see if anyone thought there were significant population reasons not to shoot one. But after 20 responses I am learning what I already knew. Big beards and big spurs are like big antlers. Mainly used to feed big ego's that we all have. The way I see it, if he gets my heart pumping, he did his job and I will be just as proud to carry him out of the field.

[joey46]

Good luck.

[tal]

I didn't mean to start this controversy but then again I kind of knew it would. I was really trying to educate myself and see if anyone thought there were significant population reasons not to shoot one. But after 20 responses I am learning what I already knew. Big beards and big spurs are like big antlers. Mainly used to feed big ego's that we all have. The way I see it, if he gets my heart pumping, he did his job and I will be just as proud to carry him out of the field.

I am not convinced lots of jakes make it to two years of age. They get run off from the family flock in early fall. The extra time that jennies get with the mother hen and other mature turkeys through their first year of life gives them an edge in survival. Jakes are the easiest bird to fool is why I think most hunters' personal goals leave jakes off the score card. When you think of how many hens a gobbler can breed and that only the dominant gobbler does most of it, high numbers of jakes reaching maturity is not necessary. The people that argue differently I know have a lot of private acreage and trap extensively. Of course shooting a jake guaranteeing he'll never reach two years old is hard to argue with also.
To me it's a personal choice that does not make you better or worse.  I think disease, predation, habitat, etc makes a much bigger impact. Let the controversy begin. 

[tal]

 Pssst, crow. It was 34 but they got lined up just right.... 


I was directing this joke at myself messing with crow, didn't word it clearly.     I think they got it though 

[Happy]

Pssst, crow. It was 34 but they got lined up just right.... 

I think y'all are just jealous.

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[crow]

It's nice and cool out today, did you get all of your corn trenches dug 

[crow]

Had a day this spring where a gobbler came in to a call, in range but out of sight below the crest of a ridge.
3 young gobblers ran him off, they came in to 23yards with one of them doing a Jake gobble several times. They all walked, hope they make it to next year or maybe see them this fall.

Had I been using an antique flintlock I sometimes hunt with I'm not sure I could of restrained myself


Shoot what makes you happy, don't worry about other people.

I think of jakes as button bucks,--- they taste good, most likely was fun but it's not as hard of a challenge as a gobbler and at some point you might not have the same sense of satisfaction as calling in a gobbler.


Now I need to go finish digging a trench, or 2

[jb1069]

I didn't mean to start this controversy but then again I kind of knew it would. I was really trying to educate myself and see if anyone thought there were significant population reasons not to shoot one. But after 20 responses I am learning what I already knew. Big beards and big spurs are like big antlers. Mainly used to feed big ego's that we all have. The way I see it, if he gets my heart pumping, he did his job and I will be just as proud to carry him out of the field.

I am not convinced lots of jakes make it to two years of age. They get run off from the family flock in early fall. The extra time that jennies get with the mother hen and other mature turkeys through their first year of life gives them an edge in survival. Jakes are the easiest bird to fool is why I think most hunters' personal goals leave jakes off the score card. When you think of how many hens a gobbler can breed and that only the dominant gobbler does most of it, high numbers of jakes reaching maturity is not necessary. The people that argue differently I know have a lot of private acreage and trap extensively. Of course shooting a jake guaranteeing he'll never reach two years old is hard to argue with also.
To me it's a personal choice that does not make you better or worse.  I think disease, predation, habitat, etc makes a much bigger impact. Let the controversy begin. 

So one way of looking at it would be. Killing a jake instead of a gobbler would improve the chances of more hens getting bred later in the season thus improving the chances of more reproduction. On the filp side, if you kill a gobbler will the Jake step up to cover the duties? and will the hen let him?

I agree all the other factors have a bigger impact.

[Prospector]

For me, it's no. I hunt in MS mostly and was not shooting jakes before the rules changed to make them off limits. It comes down to this for me: while I eat every turkey I take the bottom line is I hunt for the strut and gobble. Jakes do neither as well as they will as a 2yo.... No one taking time to read this forum has to feed a family on wild game- we do so bc we like it ( not as a necessity).Therefore I am personally content to pass him, give him another season and take the chance he ll strut and gobble just for me next season....