Calling vs Bush whacking

[CASH]

Well we ain't in P'vania!

[alloutdoors]

There one in the same.  Well unless you are actually calling a bird to your truck

But even when I set-up for "calling" I put myself in an area they want to be.  So am I bush-whack'n or calling?  How do I know if the bird came because I called or came because he was coming anyway?  if I call one to my truck and shot him at 50+ yrds am I a caller or a bush whacker?

Sometimes we overthink

100% agree with this. Every good caller is in part a good "bush whacker" also, setting up where turkeys want to be in the first place is one of the fundamental rules of calling.

[budtripp]

I repeat it is ILLEGAL to stalk a gobbler during the spring hunt in Pennsylvania. I will quote the regulation from Pa.'s 2012-13 Hunting and Trapping digest. On page 35 under turkey seasons, bag limits and regulations it says "Statewide. Only turkeys with visible beards are legal. Hunting by CALLING ONLY-NO STALKING- one-half hour before sunrise until noon from April 27 through May 11, and then from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset from May 13 through May 31. Hunters are asked to be out of the woods by 1pm when closing hours are noon". So you can see if you choose to stalk or try to sneak up on a turkey in Pa. without calling you are breaking the law and subject to arrest. With the high hunting pressure that we have here it is a safety issue plain and simple. In Pa. like I said before the sport is in the calling.

Thats also PA, the land full of retarded game laws  . How in the hell would they even be able to prove something like that anyway?? "Well you see officer, I was moving in front of the bird in order to call him in" I myself choose to be a well rounded turkey hunter, knowing how to use terrain and cover to your advantage when birds ain't working is just another trick up my sleeve. 

[alloutdoors]

I repeat it is ILLEGAL to stalk a gobbler during the spring hunt in Pennsylvania. I will quote the regulation from Pa.'s 2012-13 Hunting and Trapping digest. On page 35 under turkey seasons, bag limits and regulations it says "Statewide. Only turkeys with visible beards are legal. Hunting by CALLING ONLY-NO STALKING- one-half hour before sunrise until noon from April 27 through May 11, and then from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset from May 13 through May 31. Hunters are asked to be out of the woods by 1pm when closing hours are noon". So you can see if you choose to stalk or try to sneak up on a turkey in Pa. without calling you are breaking the law and subject to arrest. With the high hunting pressure that we have here it is a safety issue plain and simple. In Pa. like I said before the sport is in the calling.

I would love to hear from a PA game warden how this actually gets enforced. Do you have to sit down and immediately start calling from where ever you happen to be standing as soon as you see or hear a bird?

What if a bird comes in but offers no shot and then walks away, do you have to walk off in the opposite direction? You certainly wouldn't want to risk repositioning on that bird and getting arrested for being a stalker...

What if you see a bird 1/4 mile away across open fields? Unless you call from where you are, you're stalking...

Let's say you're at least allowed to get a little closer to that field bird, if he's moving along the field edge and you get 300 yards ahead of him and shoot when he walks up, was that stalking? What if it was 200 yards? 150? 100? What if you yelp at him once when he's 60 yards out, are you a respectable caller now or a dirty bush whacker?

How about the classic bird that hangs up at 50 yards, drifts away, but will come back to 50 when you call to him again, good for nothing stalker if you call and then quickly move 20 yards closer?

All I can say is I'm glad I'm not hunting PA, I'd be too confused to ever know when I could shoot!

[Big Gun]

I feel that if you can sneak up on a turkey and kill him consistently you must be a pretty good hunter.  It is hard to do and actually you are at a greater risk of getting busted than if you just called him another day.  What ever works for you that you enjoy.  I will kill one with either method that presents itself.  The last two hunters I took both killed birds that we repositioned on and they put the sneak on and shot.  They we happy and one said that was the most fun he had ever had on a turkey hunt.  I will be guiding him the morning of our opener in two weeks.  First question he asked, "can we stalk one?"

[redleg06]

There one in the same.  Well unless you are actually calling a bird to your truck

But even when I set-up for "calling" I put myself in an area they want to be.  So am I bush-whack'n or calling?  How do I know if the bird came because I called or came because he was coming anyway?  if I call one to my truck and shot him at 50+ yrds am I a caller or a bush whacker?

Sometimes we overthink

Very well said. 

Go get setup in an area he doesnt want to go to and THEN call him to you if you want some REAL sport 

Putting yourself in a spot that they already want to go to just makes sense...calls aside.

[TauntoHawk]

I repeat it is ILLEGAL to stalk a gobbler during the spring hunt in Pennsylvania. I will quote the regulation from Pa.'s 2012-13 Hunting and Trapping digest. On page 35 under turkey seasons, bag limits and regulations it says "Statewide. Only turkeys with visible beards are legal. Hunting by CALLING ONLY-NO STALKING- one-half hour before sunrise until noon from April 27 through May 11, and then from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset from May 13 through May 31. Hunters are asked to be out of the woods by 1pm when closing hours are noon". So you can see if you choose to stalk or try to sneak up on a turkey in Pa. without calling you are breaking the law and subject to arrest. With the high hunting pressure that we have here it is a safety issue plain and simple. In Pa. like I said before the sport is in the calling.

First bird I ever killed was in PA, I worked a bird out in this big field he'd gobble but never break strut and leave his hens. Finally I just started soft calling with cluck and purrs and his hens started pulling my way when they got in close I realized a little dip in the field and high weeds made them not visible even though they were within range. It was after 11am and with the noon PA cut off I knew I didn't have the time to let them drift off and re set up. I laid down and crawled a few yards forward through the brush til I heard a putt-putt and looked up and saw him staring at me, I raised up and popped him before he could boogie out of there.. Did I call that bird in that he gobbled and came about 200yds my direction or did I Stalk him because I belly crawled 8yds in his???


I will tell you I'm proud that I killed him; I'm proud I called and the birds responded and I'm sure proud I crawled in and finished the hunt getting my first turkey.

[turkey harvester]

Heck ya I'll bush whack one. If he doesn't want to play right, then I'll put the sneaky sneak on him and give him a dirt nap. It aint illegal here in Mo.

[catman529]

I have fished in PA but not hunted. I also think their fishing and hunting laws are a bit weird.

[BrowningGuy88]

I don't turkey hunt to not kill turkeys. If it means letting one turn to head to the other end of a ridge strutting and me running like hell itself is after me to where he just left so I can be there when he makes his pass back by - that is what I will do.

I do prefer to have one come in strutting and gobbling, but that only happens cause I am where he was going to be anyway!

[WNM]

Some of y'all sure are elitists. I'll bushwhack a turkey and water-swat a duck. Get rid of your corn piles, trailcams, and scouting rubs and scrapes-you should only be able to call deer, not ambush them.

If I've snuck up close enough to a bird that I can see him on the limb and it's legal shooting hours, it would give me great pleasure to roll him out of the tree.

[ccleroy]

Some of y'all sure are elitists. I'll bushwhack a turkey and water-swat a duck. Get rid of your corn piles, trailcams, and scouting rubs and scrapes-you should only be able to call deer, not ambush them.

If I've snuck up close enough to a bird that I can see him on the limb and it's legal shooting hours, it would give me great pleasure to roll him out of the tree.

Bwahahahahaha!!! My Man!!

[alclark2]

Some of y'all sure are elitists. I'll bushwhack a turkey and water-swat a duck. Get rid of your corn piles, trailcams, and scouting rubs and scrapes-you should only be able to call deer, not ambush them.

If I've snuck up close enough to a bird that I can see him on the limb and it's legal shooting hours, it would give me great pleasure to roll him out of the tree.

Bwahahahahaha!!! My Man!!

.

LOL 

[ccleroy]

I think this while thread is hilarious, I love how people get all poetic when it comes to killing turkeys.

[BrowningGuy88]

I think this while thread is hilarious, I love how people get all poetic when it comes to killing turkeys.

I know!!!

Some of y'all sure are elitists. I'll bushwhack a turkey and water-swat a duck. Get rid of your corn piles, trailcams, and scouting rubs and scrapes-you should only be able to call deer, not ambush them.

If I've snuck up close enough to a bird that I can see him on the limb and it's legal shooting hours, it would give me great pleasure to roll him out of the tree.

I will use any legal means to kill a gobbler - period - end of story!