Closet Reapers??

[joey46]

Nice reply.  I was thinking how to include that Biblical quote but you nailed it

[Marc]

As for the safety issue, I don't want to sound like I discount it, but I am somewhat of a "show me the money" guy in that I want ("require" is a better term) factual support for taking any position on that particular matter.  At this point in time, I just don't see it.  There are a LOT of things we do in our lives that are a lot more dangerous than any sort of tactic any of us might use in hunting turkeys.

As mentioned above, I know of several people involved in hunting accidents...  Never made the papers or the news...  So, unless you know the person being shot, this is not widely publicized (which is probably a good thing for the optics of hunting).

Even if the number of people shot from reaping doubled, it would still not be significant enough to make it to public information...  So how would we know if the numbers for hunting incidents from reaping are increasing (unlsess someone dies).

[Paulmyr]

After reading some of the most recent post I have drafted the following letter to the Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC).  I will await comments from this group of opinionated hunters before hitting the send button:

Dear FWC,

After being thoroughly educated on proper behavior by the Turkey Psychologists on the Old Gobbler forum I have no choice, in good conscience, to request the removal of my name and 2008 Osceola entry from the Florida Outstanding Gobbler list.  It currently stands at number 133.  Little did I know that even with getting up at 2am, walking through the dark into a deep cypress swamp, setting up behind a piece of camo netting (gasp), and calling to this bird for at least an hour his fate was sealed only because we used decoys.  I now feel like we poached him.  No other factors should be considered regarding this bird's demise. I could not be more embarrassed. 
I have hunted these wild turkeys since the late 1970s and my unofficial log and beard box shows my lifetime total at well over a 100 birds from multiple states.  I will attempt to purge my records and eliminate any birds from this count where I'm certain we had used decoys, camo netting, TSS loads or viewed them previously on a game camera.  I do often use an original tube call personally sold to me by Harold Knight in his Cadiz KY barbershop but I think that is still acceptable behavior. Thank heavens we never reaped or I would stick my head in the oven or take up reaping to get the same result.  I will also attempt to forget any tips I learned from social media even it requires hypnosis. After all fair is fair. 
Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

me

Should I hit send??
(note - no mention of not being snarky - we're well past snarky)

Well that's it! Close the thread! The debate has been settled and I've changed my mind. It must have been the way you so eloquently cited your observations of turkey behavior over your vast years of hunting experience. Or maybe it's the way you pat yourself on the back and feel the need for further ego stroking by stating the number of gobblers you've slain including your entry to the by god almighty 2008 Florida's Outstanding Gobblers list that did it for me.

My brother killed a 28lb, 11 inch bearded, 1.5" spurred gobbler his 1st morning ever turkey hunting some 30 odd years ago and yes he killed him using a Jake and hen decoy. He didn't know a thing about turkeys and how to hunt them. His calling was pathetic. All he knew was the gobblers looked different than the hens and they gobbled. There was no hunting involved. He got up at 3am, drove 20 mins to his spot, walked to a tree on the edge of a pasture, set out his decoys, sat down, and waited for the sun to come up. Shortly after flydown the brute emerged from the woods and promptly stomped the Jake decoy before my brother dropped the hammer on him. He was back in his truck before the sun came up so you'll have to forgive me if I don't stand in awe while basking in the radiance of your glory and take a knee to kiss the ring because of your great accomplishments and the fact you bought a turkey call from Harold Knight.

Wait, wait, I got it. I have been converted by the way you talk down to people as though you are the know all, be all, God of turkey hunting and I need to shut up and obey for the simple fact that it's you.


Thanks for opening my eyes with the great accounts of your experiences and the wisdom you've shared. I'm forever in your debt!

How's that for being well past snarky?

[El Pavo Grande]

After reading some of the most recent post I have drafted the following letter to the Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC).  I will await comments from this group of opinionated hunters before hitting the send button:

Dear FWC,

After being thoroughly educated on proper behavior by the Turkey Psychologists on the Old Gobbler forum I have no choice, in good conscience, to request the removal of my name and 2008 Osceola entry from the Florida Outstanding Gobbler list.  It currently stands at number 133.  Little did I know that even with getting up at 2am, walking through the dark into a deep cypress swamp, setting up behind a piece of camo netting (gasp), and calling to this bird for at least an hour his fate was sealed only because we used decoys.  I now feel like we poached him.  No other factors should be considered regarding this bird's demise. I could not be more embarrassed. 
I have hunted these wild turkeys since the late 1970s and my unofficial log and beard box shows my lifetime total at well over a 100 birds from multiple states.  I will attempt to purge my records and eliminate any birds from this count where I'm certain we had used decoys, camo netting, TSS loads or viewed them previously on a game camera.  I do often use an original tube call personally sold to me by Harold Knight in his Cadiz KY barbershop but I think that is still acceptable behavior. Thank heavens we never reaped or I would stick my head in the oven or take up reaping to get the same result.  I will also attempt to forget any tips I learned from social media even it requires hypnosis. After all fair is fair. 
Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

me

Should I hit send??
(note - no mention of not being snarky - we're well past snarky)

Seems like opinions that question 80-90 yard shots, electronic decoys, electronic callers, safety with reaping, etc. are considered anti-hunters should sit down and shut up.  Surprising for someone that's turkey hunted for 50 years.  It's like the argument, "that's why we have limits"..... breaking news - not all limits are meant to be filled or we would have none left to hunt.  But, as said before let's just not say anything and continue to cut corners as hunters and see where we end up. 

A guy at work has a brother trying to patent an audio device that could be set up with instant notification and eliminate scouting.... That's the gist of the product.  Yep, makes perfect sense.  Let's just continue with advancements and remain quiet.

[Hook hanger]

If you want to crawl around behind a gobbler decoy you should give up your rights to prosecute if you are shot or killed. People trying to defend themselves saying its always the shooters fault should be smacked upside thier heads. If you you act and look like a target animal in the woods its you who put yourself in that senerio plain and simple.

[joey46]

 "Banners" can throw tantrums (example a few post prior)hold their breath until they turn blue and kick their feet but social media is here to stay as long as it stays profitable to it's creator's.  The general consensus of what I'm reading seems to make this the biggest banner's concern with the exception of decoys.  Almost a toss up which is most worrisome to the forum elite. The big turkey decline will be solved or controlled with reduced limits and shorter seasons.  When this is accepted all the decoy, TSS, blinds, etc concerns may fade away.  Reaping will take care of itself when a few are blinded or killed while using this foolish tactic.  Never seen a bigger group of "we know best".  Many appear to try to brow beat until you give up, toss your decoys and TSS and admit you have been a worthless scumbag all along because you don't hunt like the new breed of cool guys.
Lots of animosity now.  I'll get over it.  Think about getting over it also Paulie you looked like a **** to me on your prior post. Yes I am proud of my Florida big gobbler even though I used a decoy. I have been blessed to take multiple gobblers over several decades. Bother to look and you'll see me often describe how I hunt and seldom suggest how others should hunt.  If that's a problem for some that is not my problem but yours.  Live with it.  Amen.

[Paulmyr]

The big turkey decline will be solved or controlled with reduced limits and shorter seasons.  When that is accepted all the decoy, TSS, blinds, etc concerns will fade away.

Sounds like opinion to me but you state it as fact. New research and investigations are starting to reveal the possibility that the biggest culprit in the decline in turkey populations is the drastic reduction in polt rearing habitat. Habitat that polts need for the 1st few weeks after being hatched. One of the biggest contributors to this decline seems to have been the introduction of CRP when the farm bill was signed in 1985. This program appears to be responsible for the desecration of millions of acres of possible polt rearing habitat by paying for the  implementation of poorly managed pine forest and invasive grasses that are of little use to turkeys just out of the egg in the name of erosion control and protecting water quality.

There is a distinct correlation between the implementation of these pine forest to the boom in wild turkey populations when vast acres of soil were disturbed to plant the trees. During the early stages of development these pine plantings provided excellent habitat for rearing polts during the boom in populations in the late 80's and 90's.

Many land owners were more than happy to convert poor and marginal ag/pasture land to these CRP pine habitats with the promise of a cash crop of mature trees after the land was to be withdrawn from the program. Great plan in theory for the land owner but here's the catch. After the advent of the personal computer and the internet the bottom fell out of the paper market. Emails are sent instead of letters and written works (private and business)are stored on hard drives instead of typed out on paper. It appears the internet is extremely culpable for the decline of wild turkeys in certain areas but not because of social media.

When the bottom of the paper market dropped out the management of these pine plantings went to the wayside. Mills closed and there was no way for land owners to cash in on their pine crops. Thinnings of the trees weren't followed through on and vast acres of this CRP pine grew into a jumbled mess of little use to wild turkey or their polts. The correlation between these maturing jumbled pine plantings and the decline in wild turkeys populations also exists. That's just the pine factor in this equation not taking into account the millions of acres of native habitat that was lost to the planting and spread of invasive mat forming grasses like fescue and bermuda.

As of now polt rearing habitat is a dismal percentage of the overall landscape available to turkeys. When or if land owners become aware of this problem and if they do something about it things will change for the wild turkey. When I say land owners I mean private, federal, state, and county. If the push is made to get these private owners and the govt entities to reclaim these converted areas and to stop the planting of non native mat forming grasses and start panting native grasses and forbes beneficial to the wild turkey they will recover. Those are big if's. Than possibly the talk of banning in the name of preserving the wild turkey will cease.

Still doesn't change my opinion on decoys because I believe it's a fair chase issue.

[joey46]

Well of course it is an opinion.  This whole forum is an opinion.  What you'll see is that I'll play this game until others cry "no mas". The older you get the more you reject the " we know best" crowd.

[Turkeybutt]

Suffice it to say: We grow old too fast and smart too slow!

[Yoder409]

Suffice it to say: We grow old too fast and smart too slow!

Ain't THAT the truth ??

[crow]

Suffice it to say: We grow old too fast and smart too slow!

Is this more of that Lanc. Co. cow manure you've been shoveling 

[Paulmyr]

I hear 70 is the new 50!

[guesswho]

I hear 70 is the new 50!

I'm in trouble then.   I barely survived 50 the first time. 

[Happy]

Haven't seen 50 yet, but I make the 40s look as good or better than the 20's.

[Paulmyr]

I hear 70 is the new 50!

I'm in trouble then.   I barely survived 50 the first time.

I hear that and I'm not sure I'm getting any more intelligenter either!