Would you shoot if you didn't call him in?

[The Lung]

Sneaking up on a weary longbeard and pot shooting upland birds is not, in my opinion, comparable.

Calling a tom in is far more fun, the back and forth that takes place can be quite the adrenaline rush. To imply that using careful woodsmanship and sneak tactics is somehow unethical is not a fair assessment.

[g8rvet]

Okay I have a question? I have heard "ducks" brought up in this conversation a few times. If you are set-up and calling ducks into your spead, and 4 or 5 ducks "sneak in" and land in your decoys, are you going to shoot them or not? You didn't see them until they were already on the water. What about one or 2 that swim into the decoys?

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They land, they safe.  They swim they safe.  I will jump shoot them though, just not a ground swat or water whack.  But I do not judge anyone that wants to  Like Rut said, early in my life I have, but not lately.   He also watched me kill a duck with a muzzleloader shotgun, so I definitely like the challenge. 

[RutnNStrutn]

But I do not judge anyone that wants to  Like Rut said, early in my life I have, but not lately.   He also watched me kill a duck with a muzzleloader shotgun, so I definitely like the challenge.

I remember it to this day. That was a great hunt!!

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[Prospector]

If the Good Lord(or fate, karma etc) puts you in the path of an advancing long beard then, yes, I most certainly will. If conditions are favorable, I have been known to actively do so myself- I consider it a viable tactic. As I have said,"Do not mess up a good thing with calling.". If it makes you feel better, call to make him raise his head- there, you called him?

[joey46]

If the Good Lord(or fate, karma etc) puts you in the path of an advancing long beard then, yes, I most certainly will. If conditions are favorable, I have been known to actively do so myself- I consider it a viable tactic. As I have said,"Do not mess up a good thing with calling.". If it makes you feel better, call to make him raise his head- there, you called him?

11 pages and now the perfect reply.  Thanks Prospector! Just because I can't seem to help myself IMO some of the PA stuff that has been posted is truly goofy.  I do have wife's cousins in the Poconos and as I've mentioned we may visit there in mid May.  Their area is surrounded by state game lands.  I hope to maybe give it a try.  I was glad they dropped the orange hat shuffle but may need guidance on what the meaning of "conspiring" is in what has been printed in this thread.  If I ask my wife's cousins where they have seen birds are we both destined for prison if they didn't possess a call at the time?  Will a pre-dawn response from an owl hooter count?  A post dawn crow call?

[squidd]

Okay I have a question? I have heard "ducks" brought up in this conversation a few times. If you are set-up and calling ducks into your spead, and 4 or 5 ducks "sneak in" and land in your decoys, are you going to shoot them or not? You didn't see them until they were already on the water. What about one or 2 that swim into the decoys?

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Instead of bang bang dinner, I'd add a third, bang bang bang dinner (3 shells).

Wood ducks are notorious for landing short/long and swimming to decoys.

I hope no one says we shouldn't use decoys for ducks and only rely on calling?

[Brianb3006]

If the Good Lord(or fate, karma etc) puts you in the path of an advancing long beard then, yes, I most certainly will. If conditions are favorable, I have been known to actively do so myself- I consider it a viable tactic. As I have said,"Do not mess up a good thing with calling.". If it makes you feel better, call to make him raise his head- there, you called him?

Well stated, good advice.


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[Prospector]

If the Good Lord(or fate, karma etc) puts you in the path of an advancing long beard then, yes, I most certainly will. If conditions are favorable, I have been known to actively do so myself- I consider it a viable tactic. As I have said,"Do not mess up a good thing with calling.". If it makes you feel better, call to make him raise his head- there, you called him?

11 pages and now the perfect reply.  Thanks Prospector! Just because I can't seem to help myself IMO some of the PA stuff that has been posted is truly goofy.  I do have wife's cousins in the Poconos and as I've mentioned we may visit there in mid May.  Their area is surrounded by state game lands.  I hope to maybe give it a try.  I was glad they dropped the orange hat shuffle but may need guidance on what the meaning of "conspiring" is in what has been printed in this thread.  If I ask my wife's cousins where they have seen birds are we both destined for prison if they didn't possess a call at the time?  Will a pre-dawn response from an owl hooter count?  A post dawn crow call?

The # 1 tactic for a successful turkey hunt is to be where turkeys are. The #2 tactic is to hunt said turkeys where they want to be. So if you know a particular gobbler is going to fly down and head to a particular place, do you mean to tell me that you won't try to beat him there/get in front of him? That you will sit and call from where he ain't trying to convince him to come there? When you know where he's going? Guys, we are splitting hairs here.  When you finally do get tired of calling from where you are, then you reposition to where he wants to be or the path to there, and he be-bops along right into your gun- was it your calling or was it your strategy that made you successful? Uh- huh, that's what I thought.....

[RutnNStrutn]

If the Good Lord(or fate, karma etc) puts you in the path of an advancing long beard then, yes, I most certainly will. If conditions are favorable, I have been known to actively do so myself- I consider it a viable tactic. As I have said,"Do not mess up a good thing with calling.". If it makes you feel better, call to make him raise his head- there, you called him?

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[Sanders153]

My 2nd turkey was a Jake in 2005. I was on a family friend's ranch around Tishomingo Oklahoma, and had roosted what I thought was at least a two year old Tom the night before in a patch of trees at the edge of a small clearing, and snuck in early the next morning to set up.

I stuck an old foam Feather Flex hen and half strut Budda Jake decoy pair at the edge of that clearing and waited for them to fly down, as I was pretty sure they would land right in the clearing. It turned out that what was roosted was two Jakes and a lone hen, and sure enough the came right down where I had thought, but to the right of me a little ways at the edge of the wood line. The hen pecked up around the decoys, but the two Jakes just stood in one spot and half strutted to the right of me for about 15 min.

Eventually, the hen went left out of the clearing, and the two jakes went to the right, walking on an old sand road that led to the clearing. Now behind me was an additional road that looped into this clearing, and connected to the one the jakes were traveling. When everyone was gone, I gathered the decoys and very quickly took off on a light jog on the road, with the plan to get in front of those Jakes, and head them off where the two roads connected.

Luckily these roads were really sandy, and I was able to move very silently and quickly to the intersection where the jakes were going. Once I got there, I set up on a big red oak tree that was right where those two roads met. I gave three soft yelps and those Jakes answered right back and were close. Very close. Like, we'll be there in a minute or less close. Moments later they came right down the road they were on, and walked straight into my shotgun barrel. That was the hunt were I learned what hevi-shot was capable of, even though that was the only year I had tried it. It just about decimated one of those jakes heads at 25 yards.

That hunt and that Jake I was quite proud of, as I had learned to use woodsmanship and strategic planning to put myself were those birds wanted to go and I was a young teenager at the time. Did I call those Jakes in, I think they were coming regardless.. But it really felt good when I pulled the trigger on that bird.

[High plains drifter]

Late in the season.

[jakebird]

Common scenario. A hunter is hunting pressured (quiet) birds, and so they're calling very softly and very rarely. As little as once an hour. A gobbler sneaks in, feeding along as he goes. Nearly an hour since you last called. Maybe you had even dozed off. Did you call him in or not? Are you going to ask him to be sure before you pull the trigger? ?

[jakebird]

So where is it illegal to kill a turkey you don't call in?

Pennsylvania

Read the language of the law again. Hunting by calling only. Since there is no way to know for sure what a gobbler was thinking, we can't honestly say it's illegal to kill a bird that you didn't "call in." More turkeys die from good scouting, patience, and woodsmanship, than calling by a long shot. As a challenge, please insist on always setting up at least a half mile straight downhill and across a river from any gobbling turkey. Just to be "sure" he is actually coming to your call and not possibly coming to a terrain feature or on his way to intercept some live hens over beyond you in the holler.

I'm a lifelong PA resident, and let me just say that PA hunters crack me up. Lots of fun at parties, these guys.

*Ease in tight for a good set up-  YOU'RE STALKING!

* Reposition for a better tactical advantage - YOU'RE STALKING!

* Use a decoy- SHOULD BE ILLEGAL! CALLING ONLY!

* Anything short of a hand crafted wing bone- YOU'RE NOT A REAL CALLER!

Yawn.....

[jakebird]

If the Good Lord(or fate, karma etc) puts you in the path of an advancing long beard then, yes, I most certainly will. If conditions are favorable, I have been known to actively do so myself- I consider it a viable tactic. As I have said,"Do not mess up a good thing with calling.". If it makes you feel better, call to make him raise his head- there, you called him?

11 pages and now the perfect reply.  Thanks Prospector! Just because I can't seem to help myself IMO some of the PA stuff that has been posted is truly goofy.  I do have wife's cousins in the Poconos and as I've mentioned we may visit there in mid May.  Their area is surrounded by state game lands.  I hope to maybe give it a try.  I was glad they dropped the orange hat shuffle but may need guidance on what the meaning of "conspiring" is in what has been printed in this thread.  If I ask my wife's cousins where they have seen birds are we both destined for prison if they didn't possess a call at the time?  Will a pre-dawn response from an owl hooter count?  A post dawn crow call?

Best of luck. Ignore the elitist trolls. We're not all snobby a holes. Most of what PA elitists lean on as "tradition" is mostly close mindedness and ignorance. Some guys just can't wrap their head around the fact that there's other ways to do something outside their own little bubble. Which of course means that all other ways must be wrong.

[Marc]

Okay I have a question? I have heard "ducks" brought up in this conversation a few times. If you are set-up and calling ducks into your spead, and 4 or 5 ducks "sneak in" and land in your decoys, are you going to shoot them or not? You didn't see them until they were already on the water. What about one or 2 that swim into the decoys?

We all have our personal ethics for duck hunting, which I think probably vary regionally to some degree.

Some say that the idea is to call them in, and water-swatting is the ultimate/ethical deception of the birds.

Personally, I tremendously enjoy the wing-shooting aspect of duck hunting, and am robbing myself of that pleasure when I shoot one on the water.  I was raised NOT to shoot them on the water.  If they land before I can see or shoot them, they are often safe.  On a tough day, I might jump them off the water and shoot...  I vastly prefer to shoot incoming birds on the wing, rather than jumping them off the water.

Common scenario. A hunter is hunting pressured (quiet) birds, and so they're calling very softly and very rarely. As little as once an hour. A gobbler sneaks in, feeding along as he goes. Nearly an hour since you last called. Maybe you had even dozed off. Did you call him in or not? Are you going to ask him to be sure before you pull the trigger? ?

I don't know...  Probably???  Maybe???

Was watching a podcast in which they studied birds on a transmitter in a given area, and then put (seasoned) hunters in the same area.  High percentage of the brids being tracked, went into the area the hunters had been calling hours later...

I do a series of calling before eating lunch, and see a bird coming in cautiously with is head up an hour later, I assume he is looking for that hen that (he thought) was there...  And I will shoot him.

I have often picked a nice comfortable spot where I can hear birds, to relax on a quiet day, and do a series of calling before settling in.  Many times I have been jump-startled by a bird that sneaks in quitely and suddely gobbles very close to me...  I assume trying to locate the hen he thought was there...  That is a shooter for sure. 

And quite honestly, if a bird wanders into gun range where I have been calling on & off, I will likely "feel" like he came to the call.

There is certainly a skill set for ambushing, and stalking birds...  ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG with harvesting a bird ethically like this...  The enjoyment for me is calling them in (which often involves repositioning)...

Hunting is not something I need to do...  Nor is killing.  I hunt and take game in the manner that makes it fun and/or exciting to me.  The thread did not ask if other methods were ethical or OK, it simply asked for a preference.  I enjoy calling them in, and with such a limited number to take, I will generally, only shoot a bird I "feel like" I called in...