Are you a Jake taker?

[T-town]

NO I do not.But do not think I'm any better than someone who will. If its legal and suits you then its your tag,go for it.I do encourage first time hunters or people who have taken very few birds to shoot first legal bird tho.

I just hope TV doesn't turn turkey hunting what deer hunting has become.You know the "I only shoot 4 yr old gobblers or nothing so they can reach their potential"types.If its 2 its through in my book!!!

From the posts on this forum, I'm afraid TV already has!!

I don't know a whole lot, but a 93% survival rate for anything in the wild sounds a little high.  Many of us aren't even right 93% of the time.  Don't believe me, ask your wife, she'll tell you how often you're right!!  You have to watch believing everything you read too, as my pappy would say, paper lays still and you can right anything on it..  I've read a few studies too, and one report discussed how jakes leave their home territory and the jakes you have this spring may not even be around for you to hunt next spring.  Is it true, who knows?  So far TV hasn't shown how you could tell the difference between individual birds, but when they do they'll have names for them too.. 

My opinion, if it has a beard and tail feathers, have at it!!  A trophy is in the eye of the beholder.  I'm not one to impose my beliefs on others.  This is what is ruining the deer hunters and their hunting.   For some reason hunters that don't hold the popular belief, as in this case the killing of a jake, some of you act like they're second class citizens.  Why?  Because they enjoy killing a legal bird that they called up, that they love to eat?  Would it be fine if the thread starter would have worded this by saying "If you only had one day to hunt all season, would you kill a jake?"  Would that have made any difference?  Many of you will still say "NO."   Good for you.  If you enjoy doing that I am fine with it.  It's your choice.  Just don't expect any invites over to eat any "Jake" from those you've so graciously criticized for being hunters who still enjoy the smell of gunpowder on a cool April morning, or the sound of breast frying in the skillet on a sunday afternoon. 

Perhaps in time turkey hunting will get to the point when everyone is trying to "Field Judge" their spurs prior to pulling the trigger, or trying to tally up the score to make sure it meets club standards.  Or maybe they'll have to wait until old hairy head or club foot comes in, as they've watched him grow for three years, etc.   I hope I'm no longer around when and if it does, but if I am, count me out, I'm not afraid to stretch a jake's neck in the spring, nor a hen's in the fall.  I've even been known to kill a spike in bow season too.  Guess I'm just not grown up yet, or perhaps I'm slow learner too.  Probably both.  At least I'm not alone!!

Well said.

[CntrlPA]

Absolutely not.

Don't understand why anyone other than a novice or newbie would.

Do you shoot longbeards that come running into your decoys? Some of the easiest hunts i've ever had were fired up longbeards that really took no skill to kill. To this day my most memorable hunt was a hard earned bird that ended up being a stubby beard.

[BigEz]

I've shot two in my life, my first bird which took me 4 seasons to get so any male bird was going down and my third bird.  Luckily since then all toms but then again I've never really seen to many jakes while hunting so can't choot em if you don't see em.  I've seen my dad and good friends kill jakes or super jakes where I could have pulled the trigger to double up with them but I just left my gun on my lap and enjoyed the show.  For me ill never say never again but would rather watch someone else kill em if they want to for their first bird or if they are a novice.  I will say this though, jakes can put on a hell of a show gobblin, strutting fighting and what not.  Two years ago I watched 20 jakes for 45 min in South Dakota and I wish I had a video camera to record it all, it was an enjoyable and informative 45 min.  If its legal shoot em if you want to and don't worry about what someone else might think or say. 

[firstflight111]

I have shot one in 37 years ,when i started my 3 boy's there first turkey were Jake's, then after that they could pick out there turkey's and pass on what ever they wanted, eating a tag is not that big of a deal  to me .i can wait on that long beard ,with age comes the different out look on hunting and knowing you don't have to kill ever turkey that walk close to you sometimes it nice to watch them .i sat over the last 4 years and got tons of video of turkeys while hunting.

[Hooksfan]

NO I do not.But do not think I'm any better than someone who will. If its legal and suits you then its your tag,go for it.I do encourage first time hunters or people who have taken very few birds to shoot first legal bird tho.

I just hope TV doesn't turn turkey hunting what deer hunting has become.You know the "I only shoot 4 yr old gobblers or nothing so they can reach their potential"types.If its 2 its through in my book!!!

From the posts on this forum, I'm afraid TV already has!!

I don't know a whole lot, but a 93% survival rate for anything in the wild sounds a little high.  Many of us aren't even right 93% of the time.  Don't believe me, ask your wife, she'll tell you how often you're right!!  You have to watch believing everything you read too, as my pappy would say, paper lays still and you can right anything on it..  I've read a few studies too, and one report discussed how jakes leave their home territory and the jakes you have this spring may not even be around for you to hunt next spring.  Is it true, who knows?  So far TV hasn't shown how you could tell the difference between individual birds, but when they do they'll have names for them too.. 

My opinion, if it has a beard and tail feathers, have at it!!  A trophy is in the eye of the beholder.  I'm not one to impose my beliefs on others.  This is what is ruining the deer hunters and their hunting.   For some reason hunters that don't hold the popular belief, as in this case the killing of a jake, some of you act like they're second class citizens.  Why?  Because they enjoy killing a legal bird that they called up, that they love to eat?  Would it be fine if the thread starter would have worded this by saying "If you only had one day to hunt all season, would you kill a jake?"  Would that have made any difference?  Many of you will still say "NO."   Good for you.  If you enjoy doing that I am fine with it.  It's your choice.  Just don't expect any invites over to eat any "Jake" from those you've so graciously criticized for being hunters who still enjoy the smell of gunpowder on a cool April morning, or the sound of breast frying in the skillet on a sunday afternoon. 

Perhaps in time turkey hunting will get to the point when everyone is trying to "Field Judge" their spurs prior to pulling the trigger, or trying to tally up the score to make sure it meets club standards.  Or maybe they'll have to wait until old hairy head or club foot comes in, as they've watched him grow for three years, etc.   I hope I'm no longer around when and if it does, but if I am, count me out, I'm not afraid to stretch a jake's neck in the spring, nor a hen's in the fall.  I've even been known to kill a spike in bow season too.  Guess I'm just not grown up yet, or perhaps I'm slow learner too.  Probably both.  At least I'm not alone!!

[lumberjack]

wvcurlytop  we need to get together!!! Well said!!!!!

[birdyhunter]

When I started out I lived by the phrase "if he cries he dies". Killed 3-4 jakes in my first few years but not since. I love big hooks to much to kill jakes now.

Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

[dirt road ninja]

I don't, but its illegal in MS and that's where I do most of my hunting. I'm happy for anyone who's happy with whatever they legally harvest. There is nothing wrong with shooting any legal turkey or deer. I get bothered when folks apologize for killing a buck that's not a 150. If a 1.5 year old buck makes you happy I'll celebrate with you and if you critique something I kill I'll never hunt with you again. I follow the rules at whatever club I hunt and try to only harvest nice buck, but sometimes I hunt public land near the house and will kill the first legal thing I see. Many of the little deer I've killed in the marsh came harder then some of the nice deer killed on private ground. As I type this I'm thinking I might want a jake fan and might roll one in LA in a couple weeks, or not, but if I do I'll tote it out with a grin from ear to ear.

[HunterMan]

No, and I do not allow anyone who hunts my property to shoot one. Only exception is a child who has never killed a turkey. My thoughts are all the jakes I see running around are more long beard's I can play with the next year or so.

[QuickDraw]

I only shoot 4 year old birds! Lol
I like hunting longbeards, but I'm mostly a weekend hunter and if it gets late season and a jake comes in, he usually in trouble. I have a decent lease but its a 2 bird county and we have a 3 bird limit in Oklahoma. I take what I can get. Usually have 8 days in the spring season to hunt. Depending on the weather it maybe closer to 4 days.

[firstflight111]

I only shoot 4 year old birds! Lol
I like hunting longbeards, but I'm mostly a weekend hunter and if it gets late season and a jake comes in, he usually in trouble. I have a decent lease but its a 2 bird county and we have a 3 bird limit in Oklahoma. I take what I can get. Usually have 8 days in the spring season to hunt. Depending on the weather it maybe closer to 4 days.

some of my biggest turkey's came on really bad weather days,3 years ago my 1 sons shot one then 20 minutes later my oldest shot one and it rained so hard you could only see out 15 yards .2 years ago first day of youth season my youngest shot his long beard in a storm so bad i had to move the blind because of the river coming  down the hill and in the blind was filling up not really but we had a river almost as wide as the blind .

heres a very wet bird

[bangflop]

Jakes should walk unless you just haven't killed very many turkeys, but I certainly wouldn't criticize anyone for pulling the trigger.  This is the same age old argument about killing small bucks.  If that is what a hunter wants to do, then who are we to say they shouldn't.  We can't all kill 12 inch long bearded gobblers and 150 inch plus bucks.  To each his own!

[TurkeyTom]

I like almost every reply I've got so far. Thanks for sharing your opinion.   

I am not judging anyone that takes a Jake. It's your tag and I feel it's between you and the bird.

But as far as I go, I am in this hunt for what it provides. I love being close to nature and watching the woods wake up. I love the sound of the gobbler and especially when it starts getting closer. The smell of the woods in early morning make me want to do it more and if I shot the first two redheads I seen, I'd miss a lot of enjoyment. I'm in love with the hunt..... but not the kill. I'm the same way with deer.

Last spring I killed a nice respectable Tom on my second morning out with my 835.  He came running to my calls about an hour after fly down. I had watched him hit the ground but he was just hanging in the area under his roost tree, about 150 yards away and I called very sparingly. All of a sudden he decided he had heard enough and came on a rope.

After that hunt I decided I would hunt with my bow for the rest of the season and even though I didn't harvest another Tom, I had a ball doing it. This spring I'm only hunting them with my bow.

My partners at camp think I'm crazy because I refuse to kill another Jake. But even though I enjoy eating some turkey off my grill, I'm not a meat hunter so I won't kill them.

So please...... keep on replying...... I love the fact that everyone on this site seems to be able to share their thoughts without a lot of arguing.

[Solid Snake]

I think we all like going after the mature gobbler but I have no problem taking a jake if that's what I can get. I'm limited to a very small area that I can turkey hunt so it's challenging and if it's not happening with the big boys and my options are jake or nothing...jake down.

I enjoy the meat and hunting experience from what I kill more than the pictures and mounts hanging on the wall. It's really annoying that so many ppl get caught up in getting the biggest trophy they can that they look down on and belittle the person who takes the jakes/spikes/does. Did you ever think that someone might just enjoy being in the spring woods and not care if they take a jake or tom? Maybe they just enjoy the sweet taste of fried turkey?

To say someone has a learning disability or is an inferior hunter b/c they take jakes?! I would never hunt with someone that has this mentality.

BTW I'm fairly new to the sport (4th season) and I've only taken one turkey and it was a big 'ole tom 

[Gobblehead30]

My first spring turkey was a big strutting jake but I have passed on many since.   I like loudmouth birds and thats one more I could have a chance on next season.   I think the deer "headhunter"  mentality can be a little annoying but its not all bad.   It just means people are getting smarter about management including habitat management which benefits all wildlife.  I think its a good practice to let the youngun's grow up.   Its led to bigger deer, bass and turkeys.   Also you have to admit that most of us get a little chuckle when you see pics of grown men with their killer faces holding up their jake or spike on the tailgate.. my 2cents