Shooting Jakes ??

[1iagobblergetter]

I never have in over 20yrs of hunting other than in the fall season...
I leave the Spring season to only longbeards,but thats just me and i think whatever makes a guy happy and kept coming back to the sport is whats important..
My Son will shoot one on occasion if hes hunted hard and its crunch time..He lives&breathes turkey hunting and its his hunt..Myself im old and just like keeping on my spring longbeard streak and dont need to kill something that bad..He's getting more that way with age..

[mdmitchell]

I want a bird to gobble and come to the call, that is my main criteria. When we had a two bird limit I would occasionally shoot a Jake if he met that criteria, but it wasn't something I done the first 10 days of season. It has been years since I shot one. I would always shoot an adult bird with my other tag. The only reason I exclude jakes is because they are the seed for the future, it has nothing to do with a bird's beard, spur, body size or trophy value. However, if I find myself at the end of season and I am having a hard time filling a tag I will shoot a nice big jake in a heartbeat, I intend to have a turkey to eat. We enjoy eating them and the meat has more value then the feathers, spurs and beards in my house. In the end I hunt turkeys for that interaction between me and him, a jake can fulfill that just as easy as a longbeard. I always tell people who hunt with me to shoot whatever they want. Biologically there's no science says passing on jakes makes more turkeys that I know of. All other game bird species we shoot adults and juveniles the same and their populations are not devastated by it, like pheasants. I have a few questions to ask on this as well. Why do we look at a Jake differently and pass on them. There has been a lot of discussion on scoring in that thread. Are we applying trophy standards to not shooting jakes, in other words are we embarrassed over shooting a jake. I admit they are a bit more gullible, but often a lot of fun. If a birds score is not important then why pass Jakes, other then leaving them for the future.

This. I shot a jake on some public because he came in ripping gobbles. I had to walk a mile in the dark to get to said spot. So it just was my hunt so I pulled the trigger. Generally no, I'm not going to shoot Jake's tho.

[mlee3553]

Me personally no plans on shooting one. I've shot three in my life, my first bird ever and two others early on in my turkey hunting.  If my young kids want to take one, I'm good with that. Like others have said, maybe if it meant a father/daughter double, I might consider it, but not likely.

[squidd]

Bang bang dinner!!

[jb1069]

Most Jakes don't survive until the second year, and not only that but Jakes do no breeding. If they do, they aren't fertile. So realistically, killing a Jake has zero impact on the population, where as killing a breeding gobbler during breeding season does. I'm not above shooting a Jake, and if he comes in gobbling, he's taking a ride in my truck. I don't discriminate. I get very few days to hunt anymore and it's what I dream about every day, at least once a hour, all year long.

Here is a scenario that is very likely to happen in my life


After working 36 days straight, I get a day off, I have no clue when I might get my next one, I found a piece of public that surprisingly doesn't have 10 trucks at it, I am in god's creation, watching the spring woods wake up, feeling the cold morning air, hearing whipoor wills, and the little birds, a turkey gobbles, on the mountain, I climb 1,300 feet straight up, I respond, he gobbles again, closer, I respond, he goes silent. My heart is in my throat, my palms are sweating, I have no clue how everything can't hear my heart beating, 5 minutes later a red head pops up and he has a 4 or 5" beard, long legs, a Jake. I've played the game, I've won, and I'm pulling the trigger. It makes no difference to me if he has button spurs and a 4" beard or 1 1/2" spurs and a 11" beard. Once I get home, the kids ohh and aww over it a little, we take a picture and then the spurs and beard go in a box with the rest of them. The real trophy was the experience and that fine eating you can't get elsewhere.


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X2  Can't be said any better than this if you ask me.

[SoDak_JD]

I started turkey hunting as an adult.  My first bird was a Jake.  Kept the meat but didn't bother with the fan.

I haven't since then and probably wouldn't on my own (except MAYBE last day of season if I haven't had a chance at anything else).  I'm not bothered if someone else chooses to.

When my 4-year-old was in the blind with me turkey hunting and a Jake came out to our decoys, I didn't even think twice.  He got to hear them gobbling on the way in.  He got to see them go into the decoys.

Shot one of the two that came in.  We cleaned it and cooked it.  He was thrilled.  I also did the tail fan and it's hanging on the wall in his bedroom.

We're going to see how it goes with the .410 this spring (he's now 8 and we've been practicing with the Bog Death Grip).  If he's up to it and wants to do it, I'll get him a youth tag.  He's watched enough turkey hunting videos with me and heard turkey hunting talk that he'd obviously like to get a tom.  I'm doing my best to talk about how great it is to get a turkey—tom or jake.

It'll be up to him if he gets the chance at a jake while we're out.

[g8rvet]

I have shot one after I got more experience.  There was a gang of four that were running the Tom's off a small piece I hunted (watched them do it).  He came in gobbling to my call straight from the limb with his 3 buddies in tow, strutting and bright head.  I thought to myself, he came in like a longbeard so he took a truck ride like a longbeard.  Later that season I had the other three gobbling and strutting at 6 yards!  They got a pass.  I killed one of the longbeards they were harassing at the end of the season.

The closer a jake is to 12 months old, the more likely he is to have viable sperm.  There is no set date he becomes capable, it is variable. 

My nephew shot one on public and we were both stunned when we walked up to him.  A true super jake, like was probably the first bird hatched the prior year.

[Kyle_Ott]

I support allowing jakes for children (ages 16 & under), the disabled, senior citizens and for apprentice/first year license adult hunters.

I'll bite my tongue when it comes to my honest feelings about experienced turkey hunters shooting jakes.

[g8rvet]

I don't really care one way or the other what other hunters do legally, but honestly wonder why others do so much.  I chose not to almost all of the time-I made one exception on a gang of thugs (same for bearded hens-have passed the few times I had a shot).  If you have a good population, the longbeards are gonna do the breeding anyway. 

Where I live, you can kill one with a rifle and am 100% confident I could kill a gobbler right out my back door, but would not even remotely consider that. We all make our own rules to make it more sporting. 

[paboxcall]

No for me. If I have a junior or a new hunter, then I'm good with it.

[RutnNStrutn]

I killed a few jakes early in my turkey hunting career. I haven't shot one in years, nor do I intend to ever again.
However, with that being said, if jakes are legal where you hunt, and you want to get one, I'll wish you the best of luck.

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[Kyle_Ott]

Most Jakes don't survive until the second year, and not only that but Jakes do no breeding. If they do, they aren't fertile. So realistically, killing a Jake has zero impact on the population, where as killing a breeding gobbler during breeding season does. I'm not above shooting a Jake, and if he comes in gobbling, he's taking a ride in my truck. I don't discriminate. I get very few days to hunt anymore and it's what I dream about every day, at least once a hour, all year long.

Here is a scenario that is very likely to happen in my life


After working 36 days straight, I get a day off, I have no clue when I might get my next one, I found a piece of public that surprisingly doesn't have 10 trucks at it, I am in god's creation, watching the spring woods wake up, feeling the cold morning air, hearing whipoor wills, and the little birds, a turkey gobbles, on the mountain, I climb 1,300 feet straight up, I respond, he gobbles again, closer, I respond, he goes silent. My heart is in my throat, my palms are sweating, I have no clue how everything can't hear my heart beating, 5 minutes later a red head pops up and he has a 4 or 5" beard, long legs, a Jake. I've played the game, I've won, and I'm pulling the trigger. It makes no difference to me if he has button spurs and a 4" beard or 1 1/2" spurs and a 11" beard. Once I get home, the kids ohh and aww over it a little, we take a picture and then the spurs and beard go in a box with the rest of them. The real trophy was the experience and that fine eating you can't get elsewhere.


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This is actually false.  The Mississippi study conducted on jake mortality was only 6%.  Effectively 94% of jakes made it to their second year of life.

To add to that, most recently Chamberlain recently released a study where 85% of gobblers in UNHUNTED populations survived annually.

Point being, male turkey mortality is most significantly influence by HUNTING.

How you view success and what you're looking for out of a hunt is certainly your personal prerogative but justifying killing a jake due to low survivability just isn't a thing. 

[joey46]

To each his own. Shoot what you want as long as it's legal.

BINGO.  Great reply.  No elitist title for you.  LOL.  Btw - I really love this forum.

[ScottTaulbee]

Most Jakes don't survive until the second year, and not only that but Jakes do no breeding. If they do, they aren't fertile. So realistically, killing a Jake has zero impact on the population, where as killing a breeding gobbler during breeding season does. I'm not above shooting a Jake, and if he comes in gobbling, he's taking a ride in my truck. I don't discriminate. I get very few days to hunt anymore and it's what I dream about every day, at least once a hour, all year long.

Here is a scenario that is very likely to happen in my life


After working 36 days straight, I get a day off, I have no clue when I might get my next one, I found a piece of public that surprisingly doesn't have 10 trucks at it, I am in god's creation, watching the spring woods wake up, feeling the cold morning air, hearing whipoor wills, and the little birds, a turkey gobbles, on the mountain, I climb 1,300 feet straight up, I respond, he gobbles again, closer, I respond, he goes silent. My heart is in my throat, my palms are sweating, I have no clue how everything can't hear my heart beating, 5 minutes later a red head pops up and he has a 4 or 5" beard, long legs, a Jake. I've played the game, I've won, and I'm pulling the trigger. It makes no difference to me if he has button spurs and a 4" beard or 1 1/2" spurs and a 11" beard. Once I get home, the kids ohh and aww over it a little, we take a picture and then the spurs and beard go in a box with the rest of them. The real trophy was the experience and that fine eating you can't get elsewhere.


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This is actually fals.  The Mississippi study conducted on jake mortality was only 6%.  Effectively 94% of jakes made it to their second year of life.

To add to that, most recently Chamberlain recently released a study where 85% of gobblers in UNHUNTED populations survived annually.

Point being, male turkey mortality is most significantly influence by HUNTING.

How you view success and what you're looking for out of a hunt is certainly your personal prerogative but justifying killing a jake due to low survivability just isn't a thing.

It is also illegal to kill a Jake in Mississippi unless you're a youth. That study means nothing to any state that doesn't follow the same laws.


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[eggshell]

To add to that, most recently Chamberlain recently released a study where 85% of gobblers in UNHUNTED populations survived annually.

Many years ago Ohio done a study on gobbler mortality to hunting and found 70 +/- % of all gobbler mortality was from hunting. We are way better at killing them than we give ourselves credit for.