The socials!

[Greg Massey]

I personally don't have much problems with Facebook, i keep up with my call builders and high school friends and other turkey hunters i have met along the way. I also don't have a problem with YouTube i follow some awesome people on YouTube who share some good information. On both of these sites you have the control of WHO you want to be friends with and WHO you want to follow.  I enjoy watching some of the call builders and others playing turkey calls on YouTube and again Facebook. So it's all what you make of it for yourself, we can all complain about something we don't like most of the time..  Anything you watch or participate in is all your choice. So what if a person kills 2/3/4 turkeys, if he hunted and did it legal more power to that person in my opinion that pretty good accomplishment. I tend to worry about this day and time about my family and just hoping to see another sunrise. life is too short guys.... I disagree that Facebook groups are ridiculous, it all depends on which groups you are a part of on Facebook. IMO .... Social is a new or old part of life, it's called computers / Laptops and I Phones etc... I sure wouldn't want to give up my IPhone ... My wife can pretty much track my whereabouts 24/7 as long as i have that phone ...  ADD .. How many of you realize Old Gobbler is NOT just on this forum, but it's also on Facebook and a lot of  our members post and communicate with all of us using Cell Phones ....

[El Pavo Grande]

I personally don't have much problems with Facebook, i keep up with my call builders and high school friends and other turkey hunters i have met along the way. I also don't have a problem with YouTube i follow some awesome people on YouTube who share some good information. On both of these sites you have the control of WHO you want to be friends with and WHO you want to follow.  I enjoy watching some of the call builders and others playing turkey calls on YouTube and again Facebook. So it's all what you make of it for yourself, we can all complain about something we don't like most of the time..  Anything you watch or participate in is all your choice. So what if a person kills 2/3/4 turkeys, if he hunted and did it legal more power to that person in my opinion that pretty good accomplishment. I tend to worry about this day and time about my family and just hoping to see another sunrise. life is too short guys.... I disagree that Facebook groups are ridiculous, it all depends on which groups you are a part of on Facebook. IMO .... Social is a new or old part of life, it's called computers / Laptops and I Phones etc... I sure wouldn't want to give up my IPhone ... My wife can pretty much track my whereabouts 24/7 as long as i have that phone ...  ADD .. How many of you realize Old Gobbler is NOT just on this forum, but it's also on Facebook and a lot of  our members post and communicate with all of us using Cell Phones ....

As said, it's a free country and if a new, inexperienced turkey hunter has his own YouTube channel, that's certainly their right.  But, it just points out the fact of how much influence social media and YouTube have on the turkey hunting culture.  They see the popular ones highlighting states and public land, then they do it.  And it just multiples.  For validation created by influencers, pictures get posted at WMA signs.   That's what we are seeing now, and I'd argue it's just not a very conservative approach for turkey populations and already dwindling hunting opportunities. 

[Flatsnbay]

That's why I quit duck hunting. It's 100 times worse than turkey hunting. The Duck Dynasty show made it so popular that everyone including their brother duck hunts now it seems. I'm still holding on to a sliver of hope that turkey hunting doesn't get that way. I can still at times draw a permit and slip off to an unpressured part of a wildlife management area. I try not to pay attention to the knuckle heads on social media.

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[2flyfish4]

I saw a guy post a pic of the turkey his 3 year old shot during youth weekend. I highly doubt that kid shot that bird.

[TrackeySauresRex]

Scroll on my OG brother. Most of us know what they're all about. Enjoy the hunt and take it all in. Sit under that shady pine, look at them beautiful dogwoods popping and talk to the big man upstairs and thank him. Maybe ya get lucky and call one up 
Good luck, hunt safe and have a great season.
Johnny

[Bedge7767]

Speaking of measuring beards and spurs there's people on here in that contest who can't do it.

[RiverBuck]

3 year old is pushing it but a 4 year old can if the .410 is in some type tripod that holds the shotgun and the 4 year old understands how a scope works. I know of a 4 year old that did.
My kids were 6.. big difference from 4 to 6 but I wonder if all the gripe is temporary in the current time we live? The number of hunting licenses has been in a decline since the 90's. Seems like the most unhappy about the current situation are older than me... I'm 52 but what do you think it will be like if there are half the number of hunters in 20 years? Will there be more game because less people hunt? Do you think the look at me syndrome will subside from social media?

[El Pavo Grande]

3 year old is pushing it but a 4 year old can if the .410 is in some type tripod that holds the shotgun and the 4 year old understands how a scope works. I know of a 4 year old that did.
My kids were 6.. big difference from 4 to 6 but I wonder if all the gripe is temporary in the current time we live? The number of hunting licenses has been in a decline since the 90's. Seems like the most unhappy about the current situation are older than me... I'm 52 but what do you think it will be like if there are half the number of hunters in 20 years? Will there be more game because less people hunt? Do you think the look at me syndrome will subside from social media?

Overall hunter numbers may have declined, but no way that's the case with turkey hunting.  I think the "look at me" attitude will probably only get worse and we will continue to cut corners with the technology and tools used to hunt turkeys with..... not a good recipe for future turkey hunting.   

[Sir-diealot]

I am the one and only hunter in my family, my father started to deer hunt when I was maybe 13 and I went out one time with him, I did not care about the hunt at the time though, it was about spending time alone with dad and no sisters around.

I got introduced to hunting when I moved to where I live now and have been living for 32 years now. It started with deer hunting as that was what everyone was doing, I guess that was about 92-93 about 96 I had stopped at Dick's and bought a few hunting tapes and one of them was from Primos and they were turkey hunting, I was interested right off. My friends thought I was nuts for going after them but one did finally go with me. I did not get to hunt much with him, he had had a lot of his back and leg muscles cut out  and his spine fused because of cancer so I normally carried his stuff in for him. I was so happy for him when he got his first.

Anyway I had my few close encounters but messed them up or they did not pan out right. Then in 2001 I had my car accident and could not really hunt, I tried the Spring after the accident and had one stop perfectly for me but I could not get the front end of the gun up because of the back problems.

You guys all helped me to get my first turkey when I was finally able to return with some wonderful advise. (When they are quiet do not get anxious and over call)

For me it is the hunt, I turned down so many shots last year and the year before, last year because I was after one turkey and the year before because I did not see any til the last day and they were all jakes.

I get upset when I see the decline in the turkey, I had my accident when it was peak times and came back when it was anything but. The truth is if I never shoot another one that is fine by me, I begged God to let me get back to the woods so I could get just one mature tom and he did, that is good enough, I found last year that I got the same rush from photographing them as I do hunting them and to be honest though I would like to take another I always have to measure the amount of my pain to decide if I kill one if I am up to cleaning it.

I find myself using decoys less and less, though I am not at all opposed to normal stick in the ground decoys.

I do not care how long the spurs are so long as they are there. I do not care how long the beard is, so long as there is one.

I do want to see what is best for the turkey and turkey hunting including safety for those hunting them because each incident effects us all. I do not have a problem with only taking 1 a season if that has been shown that it will help the species.

I do not post many hunting related things other than here when I get a turkey. I did on Facebook when I got my first and only to date because I was so happy about it, nothing to do with likes, just a lot of friends and family that knew I had gotten back to hunting and I knew they would want to know how it turned out. I enjoyed the congratulations I got here more than I did there anyway because you are my fellow turkey hunters and have been there.

To go another way with this when it comes to deer hunting when my father hunted and when I started it was congratulations if you got a deer at all let alone a buck, now it is "You should have let him grow more" I hate that mentality, I saw somebody do that to a 13 year old kid, absolutely disgusting.

Would I like to hunt other subspecies? OH yes, but I could care less about getting this slam or that slam, I think Merriam's and Gould's are the prettiest of the lot and would love to get one of either or both, you add to that that they both tend to be in mountainous areas and I have never seen mountains in my life other than pictures and movies and then they are so much more interesting to hunt.

It needs to get away from being such a competition and back to the love of hunting and hunting calls. I lost it for so long and thought I would never have it back, I don't want to see it lost to future generations.

[Cut N Run]

Not a Facebook guy.  I signed up at a friend's suggestion, but realized that some people posted stuff to make it appear like they actually had a life.  I bailed pretty quick. It was too junior high-ish for my likes.  I already have enough friends anyway.

I enjoy watching some YouTube videos, more to learn techniques than find places to hunt.  I've never hunted turkeys outside of a 10 county area here in North Carolina, doubt I ever will.  It would be fun to hunt somewhere else, maybe one day I'll get the chance.  It's already hard enough for me to find good places to hunt around here.  Didn't used to be that way.  I remember hunting turkeys and not hearing shots in the distance.  Can't say that now.

I'm not going to tell anyone how to raise their kids.  I believe if you could trust a non-adult in the house with a loaded gun, then they could probably handle it in the woods.  With proper supervision in a controlled environment, a single digit aged kid can kill a turkey, but I don't think most of them grasp the concept of firearm safety as well as they should.

Fanning seems like a death wish to me.

I'm also the only hunter in my family, though I gained some hunting wisdom from my grandfathers. I wasn't allowed to tag along on their hunts, because they weren't doing it to entertain me, they were hunting for meat & I would have been in the way.  Some of that made me learn my way around the woods on my own.  I celebrate those who are successful on forum boards or thank those whose videos have aided my skillset.  The need to post for the sake of pounding on my chest has never driven me.

Forum boards are great places to voice an opinion & that's mine.

Be Safe, Be Smart, & Good Hunting!

Jim

[Spitten and drummen]

I just can't anymore y'all. Seriously. It's ridiculous out there. Prime examples:

A. Unverified weights of like 27 plus lb birds. Or more 24 lb birds than I have ever seen. I've killed a bunch. Rarely are they over 22 lbs.

B. Spurs  1.5 inches or so with no verification.

C. 4 year olds killing birds at 45 yards on youth weekend.

D. Pics of people in full blaze orange sitting on WMA's calling birds.

E. Thermal scopes shown on birds.

F. Unreal beard lengths with no verification.

G. Some of the most ridiculous posts and questions I have ever seen.

H. Unbelievable distances of kills.

I'm being completely honest when I say I miss Turkey hunting when turkey hunting wasn't cool. When you could walk into a WMA and be alone. Selfish? Yep. But I've been doing this long enough to earn it. I was hunting when all I had was magazines to read. I'm self taught. It took me many years to kill my first one. But I figured it out. Without the internet and people telling me it's okay to kill one at 60 yards. Without people telling me anything actually. It was trial and error for me. I'm the only one in my family to hunt. But I've always been a turkey hunter first. Deer...ehhh. Whatever. Turkeys tho..always been a passion since I was 13.

It makes me sick. No one respects the bird. I saw a photo the other day. It was a blood bath. Shot him in the body at 10 yards. It made me sick.  If I see thunder chicken one more time I'm gonna puke. Don't even get me started on states allowing rifles. I live in a state that does and it erks me to the absolute core. I won't even talk about allowing 3 year olds "killing them" cause I don't want to be banned here. But whatever. A 3-6 year old ain't gonna remember it. But it gives the adult a reason to hunt on youth day. So it's all about the adult. If you want to take someone that young..fine..they can sit in your lap or blind during regular season and watch and learn. But I'm not buying a 4 year year old killing one at 45 yards with a .410. Even if true. He ain't gonna remember it.

No one seems to care about the hunt. The thrill. They care about the kill. I don't know what's changed. But I'm sick of it.

I realize this isn't popular preaching maybe. And guess what..that's okay. I need to sleep tonight so I had to get it off my chest. #endrant. Blast me if you want. But it's total facts.

I agree with you 110%. It's disgusting. You and I along with several others around here are a dying breed. The good old days are forever gone and it's only going to get worse my friend.

[Spitten and drummen]

C'mon man, don't you know I'm after the slam? I don't have time to learn the birds, I dont have time to respect the animal or other hunters as I blast through these woods, I dont have time to think about fair chase, I don't have time to worry about spooking birds and how it effects their behaviour after I leave. I gotta get that bird killed as fast as possible with whatever means necessary so I can check this state off and move on to the next. Don't you know I've only allotted 3 days for this state in my 5 state 2 week swing? I gotta get it done now!!!!!

I could do the same for a tuber but you get the Idea.

I let you guess what the likely age group is of these types of so called hunters.

I know I'm stereotyping here. Some are not what I've described above but I feel they are the minority.

I think I goes way deeper than YouTube or the quest for the slam. Them outlets just provide a platform that enable the poor behaviour to be highlighted. The people I speak of are a product of society and their upbringing. They've never been told no a day in their lives and raised by people to busy to care or want to be friends instead of being a parent. I'm watching it happen right now with my girlfriend's granddaughter. Spoiled rotten and has a hissy fit whenever she don't get what she wants. She's selfish as all get out. Me, me, me, mine, mine, mine, I want, I want, I want.

They've been taught in school that the only thing that matters is how they feel. They let biological men compete in women's sports because it makes them feel good. They don't keep score in childrens games and everybody gets a trophy because we can't let little Bobby or Susie feel sad because they lost.

I'm sorry if this offends anyone and I'm more than willing to listen to your side of the story if you can tell me where I am wrong. If this labels me as a purist/ elitist so be it.

I just had a chat with a buddy who has some gobblers roosted on public land. It's a ridge point that's about 800yds long by about 400yds wide. Enough room for one man to hunt comfortably. When discussing how to set up to these birds the 1st factor discussed wasn't where to best set up to these gobblers it was where to set up to try and eliminate the possibility of somebody walking in on him or blowing past him and what he should do when it most likely happens.

Pretty sad that it's come down to this. Sorry fellas, I don't see it get any better. I guess we need to "embrace the suck" so to speak if we want to continue with our passion in the future.

Of course I'm speaking from a public land point of view.

Well said and you are spot on. " Embrace the suck". Made me smile. I haven't heard that in many years but we sure used that term when I was over in the Desert , AKA The suck.

[Spitten and drummen]

i'm with you deathfoot. also, i hate the word "thunder chicken".

Yep. Every time I hear that I throw up in my mouth. Total lack of respect for a bird that deserves proper respect. There are those that will disagree with me but I really could care less.

[Mossyguy]

3 year old is pushing it but a 4 year old can if the .410 is in some type tripod that holds the shotgun and the 4 year old understands how a scope works. I know of a 4 year old that did.

Yep...I have a friend whose son finished his grand slam at 4 years old....used a .410 with a red dot and one of those field pod type rests.

[tomstopper]

If it bothers you, you probably should stay off the internet.

Exaggerated claims and propaganda are a part of life.  I've never seen public ground unless it was very used and I've been doing this 36 years.  I've never killed a bird over 24# and I've never killed a bird with spurs oner 1 7/16.  I have killed two with a beard 12" or more.  Golder nuggets are out there and people like to brag when they find one.     

The problem is that people like validation.  I personally don't care about what people think.  I like the hunt and I do share my success publicly but I don't kiss and tell.  It's important to me that there's a future and I'm more than willing to help someone who wants to turkey hunt, but I'd rather see new turkeys than new turkey hunters.

This pretty much sums up my opinion. I post the success of my daughter's and myself on here not to brag. Instead it is just to share my experience with others as I believe many like to see fellow hunters getting it done. Prime example is the post for "dead turkeys only". When I was younger, I used to worry about others and scores etc. Now I just do me and for the most part could care less what others do. Unless I am in a contest, I don't feel the need to verify every measurement to people on here.

I post how my hunts go and some of them don't follow the script. Everyone wants that perfect scenario where you call the bird from a long distance and he finally puts on the perfect show strutting and gobbling within range and then is taken. It doesn't always work this way. I have been doing this a long time, and sometimes I even mess up and miss judge yardage. I had it happen earlier this season where I took a shot at like 55 yards. It happens. The sport is about patience and learning from your past experiences.

Experiences are what they are. I am not opposed to hunters filling their tags in other ways as long as it is legal. That doesn't always mean that I like it, but if they're doing it legally who am I to tell them how it should be done. At the end of the day we are all trying to accomplish the same goal. I'm sure the native Americans didn't just put their back up to a tree and just call them in. They stalked and got close to the animal before they had to kill it. I for one would prefer to kill him the traditional way that everybody sees fit, but if that way ain't working and I can use unorthodox ways to go get him for example using a hog ditch filled with water to get closer to him to take an ethical shot then I'm going to do it. That is a challenge in itself.

At the end of the day I say follow the rules and regulations and hunt how you want. Life is too short to worry about what other hunters do. Happy hunting and good luck to you all the spring.

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