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Started by laturkeyhunter, June 10, 2014, 11:13:40 PM
Quote from: Marc on June 11, 2014, 02:58:31 PMQuote from: West Augusta on June 11, 2014, 08:17:13 AM I love to hear a long beard gobble. I love the challenge of an older bird even though they often win. Long beards and sharp spurs.I have heard this alluded to previously... I am hunting Rio's in California, and cannot for the life of me tell the difference between a jake and a tom gobbling. Seems to me that a weak gobble is a nervous or hesitant bird, and that a strong gobble is a horny or confident one...Can you guys actually tell the difference between a jake and a tom from the gobble?
Quote from: West Augusta on June 11, 2014, 08:17:13 AM I love to hear a long beard gobble. I love the challenge of an older bird even though they often win. Long beards and sharp spurs.
Quote from: West Augusta on June 11, 2014, 07:26:01 PMUsually, I think I can. But if a turkey comes in gobbling, I will continue to call him in. When he gets close, it's easy to see the beard and tail. I let them pass. That's my choice. It may not be yours. I'm not putting you down in anyway. I just like long beards and sharp spurs. I'll let him grow a few years.
Quote from: Marc on June 11, 2014, 09:27:39 PMQuote from: West Augusta on June 11, 2014, 07:26:01 PMUsually, I think I can. But if a turkey comes in gobbling, I will continue to call him in. When he gets close, it's easy to see the beard and tail. I let them pass. That's my choice. It may not be yours. I'm not putting you down in anyway. I just like long beards and sharp spurs. I'll let him grow a few years.I passed on some jakes... Frustrating to work a bird for an hour and it turns out to be a jake.Had a jake come in this year with a thunderous gobble (after working him for almost 2 hours); he got a pass... Had a tom come in with that warbly uncertain gobble... Although he did light it up towards the end.Had a tom come in this year after working him for a while with no beard... Full tail fan and good spurs, but a big hole where his beard should be (he came within about 10 feet of me). Maybe he lost it in a fight or a gambling debt... Who knows...Maybe cause our breeding season takes place earlier, or maybe it is the subspecies, or maybe I just have crappy hearing and am tone deaf (which is true)... Sure wish I could tell them apart from the gobble, cause it would save me a lot of frustration.I'd still have no issues taking a jake towards the end of the season though... My first bird was a jake, and it remains to be the most exciting bird I have killed to date.
Quote from: savduck on June 11, 2014, 06:21:43 PMI've been hunting them 23 years, with plenty of long beard kills under my belt. I have, will, and still do kill jakes on occasion if the mood or a specific situation strikes me to do it. I let plenty walk, and my goal is a long beard but if the blood lust sets in for one reason or another they will die. I will never apologize or never make an excuse that killing one was an "accident". As a hunter I was taught to properly identify my target before ever putting my finger on the trigger. I'm sorry, if you as a hunter have followed this golden rule of hunting, then you know you squeezed on a jake, and in no way was it an accident. Own it, the sky wont fall in because you shot a legal gobbler that didn't have 3/4 spurs and a 8 inch beard. Bet your family couldn't tell the difference at the dinner table.I don't have an issue with it, and never will. Don't have an issue with guys not wanting to do it either. To each his own. What I have an issue with is guys pulling the trigger on something they didn't clearly identify.