If a Jake gobbles and struts would you kill him?

[moonman]

Yep.

[RutnNStrutn]

No. But that's my personal choice. I wouldn't begrudge anyone who would. The way I see it, if its legal, and it makes you happy, go ahead and shoot it!

[ohiostrutter]

It depends on the year some years I may only have a few days to hunt the whole season to hunt I'm lucky to have close to 1000 acres here to myself in ohio to hunt so killing a Jake will not affect my hunting for next year

[tomstopper]

Usually only if the season is coming to a close & I have not gotten anything else (example: usually on public land that has been hunted hard & everything has left the area or so it seems). Last year I shot one on the last day of our season only so I could take it to the Dad & Daughter camp out in June (did not want to give up the meat from my gobbler that I got at the beginning of the season). The girls tore the fried strips up & many dads had never tasted wild turkey before & all have asked me to bring more this year. I hope I get the chance to make that happen....

[Old Gobbler]

My trigger finger does all my talking - I am not saying shooting a immature gobbler is a bad thing , but having more mature (breeding stock) for next year definitely is a good thing for turkey hunting in general - If you have loads of turkeys on your property then good for you , do as you please -

 

[Improvinghunter101]

I guess it depends on the situation.  Probably a yes in most cases.  Now if I knew the big boy was on his way then no.  But in many cases, it's the gobble that gets me fired up.  If he's gobbling his head off and not coming in silent, then he's getting shot.

[FullChoke]

No.

[CallDr]

It depends on the hatch and population. If it's low... then no. That is not a personal reason but a management one.

Even so...... if it's legal then it's a hunt. A friend of mine chased a gobbler through the swamp for hours. It was a Jake. He said....... "if you gobble like a man...you die like a man".

We are lucky as turkey hunters to not have a "quality management" program where people are ridiculed for killing turkeys of their choice. God forbid if you post a pic of a 2 year old deer....lol.

In SC you get 5 tags. So if the stars line up and "hunt" is deserving and fun.... yes. I have killed some and would in the future depending on the circumstances.

My personal choice is just that. What would I do. I don't impose that on others.

[Garrett Trentham]

No reason, from a management perspective, to pass on jakes. If you shoot a jake or shoot an adult, you are still out one adult bird next year.

[CallDr]

No reason, from a management perspective, to pass on jakes. If you shoot a jake or shoot an adult, you are still out one adult bird next year.

The "management theory" is a 2 year old will have more time and likely breed more hens then he would as a young gobbler (jake). I have seen populations go down from bad hatches to changes in habitat on certain pieces of property or areas.

The Spring seasons are set to allow to some degree the breeding to take place. Just like not shooting does while they are still lactating and feeding her young.

While I guess this is debatable........ it would make me feel better if I knew what the population was in the area I hunted..... be it jakes or long beards.

[lonnie sneed jr.]

I have not shot one in many years. But I might shoot the very next one that comes in on me. I prob. will not shot one, but I will never say never, and  I have nonthing againest anyone who does shoot one. To me as long as it legal than a hunter is doing nonthing wrong. To me it's up to the hunter.

[decoykrvr]

Not if I could ID the bird as a jake.  I killed jakes when I first started hunting turkeys, and everyone of them was a real trophy in my book.  In the last 15 years, the only jake I've killed was a mistake bird who came in with a long beard and the two got crossed up in the broom sedge.  Last year I was trashing a seasoned turkey hunter, who routinely shoots jakes even now, and when he said that I had admitted shooting jakes years ago, I told him, " Yes and I used to mess in my britches, but I matured and grew out of that too!"  Enough said!!

[Wrangler95]

I would at one time but not anymore!

[Ruger M77]

I hunt public land and have limited time to hunt mostly saturdays. So yea I'd shoot a jake. That being said i've never killed a jake it's not that i haven't tried i've missed a few as long as i use up my misses on jakes and keep hittin the longbeards i be happy.PS i've missed some longbeards to

[mountman62]

Yep, i knew my response would rile some of you up, but i did notice that after I posted that more people responded that yes, depending on the situation they might shoot a jake, i would rather shoot all longbeards myself, and yes, i think that any first timer or youth should surely take a jake if the opportunity arises, but the same thing goes on on deer forums also, some people won't shoot spikes or young bucks, some will, it is totally a personal decision