Rifle hunters and spring gobblers

[heathwesley]

I'm not afraid to hurt someones feelings.  Hunting turkeys with a rifle aint turkey hunting. 

[heathwesley]

I'm in disbelief that it's actually legal to hunt spring turkey with a rifle. I'm with vaturkstomper on this - how can you be proud of your turkey that you killed from 150 yds while he's munchin on some grasshoppers? I'm from Indiana so we can't even hunt deer with rifle here but I understand there's thicker/more woods and hills but it seems extremely unsafe and unsportsmanlike to me. I personally wouldn't want to be sitting 30 yds behind a decoy in complete camo!!

Vaturkstomper is right - just bc it's legal don't make it right. It's legal for me to walk under a roosted turkey and blast him outa the tree too but I'm not going to do it.

[30_06]

did you not read my post?  rifle fatalities in va and wv are 5.7 times higher then shotgun.  i posted a link and everything.

Your post said

Of 156 shotgun-related accidents since 1967, 13 were fatal. Of 17 rifle shootings, eight were fatal

Your post just told me that rifle hunters are safer because only 17 were involved in any kind of shooting with only eight being fatal, while there were 13 fatalities and 156 shotgun related shooting instances. No matter how you cut it more people were shot, and killed by shotguns.
Why are so many people shooting each other with shotguns? Are you saying shotguns are safer because more people are shot with them?
Or is it because more people are shot by them, but a lower percentage that are shot with them die?

[wvcurlytop]

To me it seems to be very prevalent in your post that it's your opinion is the right and only way, and there are no other ways.  I myself believe that some things are written in stone but most things aren't.  I think outside the box, because a box is a trap and a trap is a dangerous place.btw we're still friends.

That's sort of how I read into your post!!!  I'm far from right about much of anything, but I have my beliefs, values, and morals just like the next guy.

Okay, you don't hunt with a rifle, and believe in calling in your birds-Great.  Here is what happened to me in 1998.  My buddy and I was calling in a bird and he was still a little over a 80 or so yards away, but was coming.  It was to the point we were all geared up for the shot, just keep coming was what we were thinking, when all of a sudden KABOOM!! Here a guy, who also had permission to hunt the same place shot the bird in front of us.  We, of course were furious, and went down there and the guy was on the next ridge when he shot!  About 100 or so yards..  It was a nice shot, no doubt, but what the crap..  Is that turkey hunting??  No, he didn't do anything but sneak around until he got to where he could watch that ridge where the bird was gobbling and shot it when he saw it.  He said he thought we were hens calling!!  He apologized for it, and to this day I tell him he still owes me a turkey!
2009, hunting state ground and had a gobbler coming.  He was just a little too far for our shotguns, NO FUDGE FACTOR either, when KABOOM!!  Down goes the gobbler and here comes the guy, with his rifle to claim his prize.  Again, nice shot, but that isn't turkey hunting.  That is turkey shooting!!  Now with the decoys they have today, and man they look real, what if we would have had one of them out and had it setting too close to us and some rifle hunter is just sneaking looking for the bird??  Safety is a big issue, but to this day rifle hunters has really left a sour taste in my mouth when it comes to shooting turkeys.  I am always waiting for the boom, and let me tell you it is depressing to have it happen to you!  I've dealt with it twice, and that is enough in my lifetime..  Perhaps you will get the chance to experience it someday.  You'll see then..  You hunt for the thrill and for the hunt, and I love the smell of gunpowder from my shotgun too.  Where we hunt you may only get one or two chances a year to kill a bird, and to have one shot out from in front of you really gets to me.  If that is attacking other's beliefs or whatever, so be it..

We could have a lot of fun together!!  Imagine those conversations!! 
Just don't come toting a rifle as that isn't turkey hunting.

I've enjoyed reading ALL of the posts!  Even the defensive responses.. 

[Tail Feathers]

I've never hunted turkeys with a rifle.  I have a cousin-in-law that will be doing that this spring tho.
He hunts Rios in S. Texas and due to a January shoulder surgery, it's a legal way for him to hunt them this year.

He did say he would keep his shots to the 40 yard range, just like his shotgun, to keep it sporting.

[Gooserbat]

To me it seems to be very prevalent in your post that it's your opinion is the right and only way, and there are no other ways.  I myself believe that some things are written in stone but most things aren't.  I think outside the box, because a box is a trap and a trap is a dangerous place.btw we're still friends.

That's sort of how I read into your post!!!  I'm far from right about much of anything, but I have my beliefs, values, and morals just like the next guy.

Okay, you don't hunt with a rifle, and believe in calling in your birds-Great.  Here is what happened to me in 1998.  My buddy and I was calling in a bird and he was still a little over a 80 or so yards away, but was coming.  It was to the point we were all geared up for the shot, just keep coming was what we were thinking, when all of a sudden KABOOM!! Here a guy, who also had permission to hunt the same place shot the bird in front of us.  We, of course were furious, and went down there and the guy was on the next ridge when he shot!  About 100 or so yards..  It was a nice shot, no doubt, but what the crap..  Is that turkey hunting??  No, he didn't do anything but sneak around until he got to where he could watch that ridge where the bird was gobbling and shot it when he saw it.  He said he thought we were hens calling!!  He apologized for it, and to this day I tell him he still owes me a turkey!
2009, hunting state ground and had a gobbler coming.  He was just a little too far for our shotguns, NO FUDGE FACTOR either, when KABOOM!!  Down goes the gobbler and here comes the guy, with his rifle to claim his prize.  Again, nice shot, but that isn't turkey hunting.  That is turkey shooting!!  Now with the decoys they have today, and man they look real, what if we would have had one of them out and had it setting too close to us and some rifle hunter is just sneaking looking for the bird??  Safety is a big issue, but to this day rifle hunters has really left a sour taste in my mouth when it comes to shooting turkeys.  I am always waiting for the boom, and let me tell you it is depressing to have it happen to you!  I've dealt with it twice, and that is enough in my lifetime..  Perhaps you will get the chance to experience it someday.  You'll see then..  You hunt for the thrill and for the hunt, and I love the smell of gunpowder from my shotgun too.  Where we hunt you may only get one or two chances a year to kill a bird, and to have one shot out from in front of you really gets to me.  If that is attacking other's beliefs or whatever, so be it..

We could have a lot of fun together!!  Imagine those conversations!! 
Just don't come toting a rifle as that isn't turkey hunting.

I've enjoyed reading ALL of the posts!  Even the defensive responses..

Hey man I said it before it's not for me.  The thing that got me was people saying it's not right because it's not what they do.  The safety factor is real.  Trust me I hunt a lot of public land here in OK and I wouldn't want these guys running around with rifles while I'm out there.  I'll also concede that the aspect of head shooting a turkey with a rifle is just that.  It's hitting a highly mobile golf ball sized object with a small bore centerfire rifle.  It's not the purest form of turkey hunting but a marriage of hunting and shooting.  That said, I don't begrudge anyone who hunts with a rifle. 

Who know one day we may share a turkey camp and you could show this Sooner how to duck behind a tree when those West Virgina Mountaineers come along.  :lol:

[Garrett Trentham]

I understand the argument against spring turkey hunting with a rifle for the safety concerns.

What I don't understand is why so many consider anyone ever shooting a turkey with a rifle unethical.

I'm sure many of the same guys that are opposed to shooting turkeys at 100+ yards with a rifle, shoot deer from further than that every fall. What gives?

I have shot deer with rifles at long distances. Now, when I deer hunt, I either use a bow or slug gun, nothing beyond 150 and rarely anything beyond 75-80yds. I will on occasion shoot a doe with a rifle from greater distances if I need meat, same as I would shoot a hen at long distances with a rifle in the fall season if I needed meat. What is it that makes shooting a deer with a rifle at long distances okay, but not turkeys?

I agree, there are much more exciting and sporting ways to harvest longbeards in the spring, and I don't ever see myself shooting a gobbler in the spring with a rifle. But if someone wants to shoot a turkey in the fall with a rifle, I see no problem with that.

Maybe someone can clue me in on what I'm missing.

[ziggy]

did you not read my post?  rifle fatalities in va and wv are 5.7 times higher then shotgun.  i posted a link and everything.

Your post said

Of 156 shotgun-related accidents since 1967, 13 were fatal. Of 17 rifle shootings, eight were fatal

Your post just told me that rifle hunters are safer because only 17 were involved in any kind of shooting with only eight being fatal, while there were 13 fatalities and 156 shotgun related shooting instances. No matter how you cut it more people were shot, and killed by shotguns.
Why are so many people shooting each other with shotguns? Are you saying shotguns are safer because more people are shot with them?
Or is it because more people are shot by them, but a lower percentage that are shot with them die?

it's because there are many, many more people using shotguns then rifles. 

[CASH]

 

[wvcurlytop]

I understand the argument against spring turkey hunting with a rifle for the safety concerns.

What I don't understand is why so many consider anyone ever shooting a turkey with a rifle unethical.

I'm sure many of the same guys that are opposed to shooting turkeys at 100+ yards with a rifle, shoot deer from further than that every fall. What gives?

I have shot deer with rifles at long distances. Now, when I deer hunt, I either use a bow or slug gun, nothing beyond 150 and rarely anything beyond 75-80yds. I will on occasion shoot a doe with a rifle from greater distances if I need meat, same as I would shoot a hen at long distances with a rifle in the fall season if I needed meat. What is it that makes shooting a deer with a rifle at long distances okay, but not turkeys?

I agree, there are much more exciting and sporting ways to harvest longbeards in the spring, and I don't ever see myself shooting a gobbler in the spring with a rifle. But if someone wants to shoot a turkey in the fall with a rifle, I see no problem with that.

Maybe someone can clue me in on what I'm missing.

I can't for the life of me think of an argument for you..  Haha, first time I'm sort of speechless.  I am a bowhunter at heart when it comes to deer hunting.  I love the peace and solitude bowhunting offers me, and you just see deer act normal.  I do rifle hunt, but I tend to enjoy the fellowship and the family get togethers and all the lies being told more so than the hunt itself.  I rifle hunted first in my life, thus it is sort of tradition to rifle hunt for deer.  I either kill a nice buck with a rifle, or none at all.  I do shoot some of those pesky does, and have never thought about the difference between deer and turkeys when it comes to shooting them with a rifle.  Perhaps you've opened up my mind just a little.. 
I don't consider it "Unethical" shooting them with a rifle, not like I would consider those that bait turkeys, but I do somewhat see if as an unfair advantage, and not near as challenging as it is with a shotgun.  You've asked a very good question, and one I have no answer for..  Maybe someone can offer some insight on it, or perhaps I will think of one later.  Maybe I just think a gobbler deserves to die a closer death, if that makes sense..  And I know Budtripp, dead is dead..
I saw one post from some lumberjack who opposed bows for turkeys..  All I can say is that those that bowhunt them are really after a challenge, at least here in WV..  On TV it looks easy, but bring those popup blinds to these allegheny mountains and lug it around some, and you'll find a reason to leave it home the next day, at least I would.  Of course I prefer to run and gun, and blinds don't fit my style, so that probably has some bearing on my decision with blinds.  I've killed one turkey with my bow, and I can honestly say I got shook up and was lucky to hit it.  If you bowhunt turkeys and kill them consistently,  !!! 


And Cash, go whip your dead horse else where if we bother you, Just saying...

[wvcurlytop]

Who know one day we may share a turkey camp and you could show this Sooner how to duck behind a tree when those West Virgina Mountaineers come along.  :lol:

Sounds like fun, if you ever get up this way drop me a line..  We'll hopefully avoid the tree ducking and spend more time doing the head stomp!!

[CASH]

[quote

And Cash, go whip your dead horse else where if we bother you, Just saying...
[/quote]

I'd be happy to whip the if you'd like.

[Fireengine70]

Ive  been an advocate for any legal hunting means that follows the rules and regs set forth by each state. A fight against hunting, no matter what the means, is exactly that, a fight against hunting. With that being said, I choose to hunt birds with shotgun or bow only, just my particular choice.

[lumberjack]

Uh oh..the BAN button.......thats like breaking out the .22-250 for one 300 yds away that doesn't like your calling!!!!  JUST KIDDING!!!!!!! To each their own!!!!  I have enjoyed this thread....everyone is entitled to their opinions!!! I know some are tired of hearing the arguements BUT some were unaware this is even an issue in some states, so it has been an educational thread for those who took it with an open mind!  I appreciate the moderators letting it go this long!!!

[30_06]

did you not read my post?  rifle fatalities in va and wv are 5.7 times higher then shotgun.  i posted a link and everything.

Your post said

Of 156 shotgun-related accidents since 1967, 13 were fatal. Of 17 rifle shootings, eight were fatal

Your post just told me that rifle hunters are safer because only 17 were involved in any kind of shooting with only eight being fatal, while there were 13 fatalities and 156 shotgun related shooting instances. No matter how you cut it more people were shot, and killed by shotguns.
Why are so many people shooting each other with shotguns? Are you saying shotguns are safer because more people are shot with them?
Or is it because more people are shot by them, but a lower percentage that are shot with them die?

it's because there are many, many more people using shotguns then rifles.

It is an assumption that more people use a shotgun, maybe even a valid one, but either way more people died from shotguns than from rifles.