Jakes on accident...

[hookedspur]

I know what you mean on the gobbling.  Alot of them can't gobble worth a hoot, but I've come across several that could gobble like a big boy.  I've even seen them do the dance and breed hens.

[Woodsman4God]

Been there done that, my first and only gobbler was a Jake who I mistakes for the long beard I had seen 10 minutes before

[StruttinGobbler3]

Made this mistake one time. Running and gunning through some thinned pines, got one to answer a hard cut. Yelped once and got my gun up. He came through a thick patch of broomstraw into some two feet tall briars in full strut. He probably gobbled ten times. Full gobble, full fan. That was all I needed. He was at 35 yards but didn't live to see 34. After walking up to him I discovered he was a "super jake". He had a full fan, two 4 inch beards and nubs for spurs. On the plus side, it was my first legitimate double bearded bird.

[Jay]

None, but one very close when 4 birds came by me all gobbling to my son's calling. I thought all 4 were longbeards by the sound of their gobbles. As I was sqeezing on the trigger thru a whole in the brush on the lead bird, realized it was a Jake, and took #2, a Tom.

[AndyH]

It's happened to me twice now. The first one the bird strutted all the way to the decoy full fan, full gobble. The second was last spring the bird gobbled all the way in and I whiffed on him. My buddy that was hunting with me saw that he was a jake, but I would have sworn by the way he gobbled he was a long beard.

[Rio Fan]

I've done it twice.  The first one was years ago opening morning.  I had 3 jakes and a longbeard out in front of me.  I should've hammered the tom right there, but then a couple hens came in from my left and were only about 7 or 8 yards away from me.  I slowly moved my eyes over towards them and then when I looked back towards the gobblers they were walking up and over a little rise.  I put the bead on the one I thought was the tom and killed it only to find out I had shot one of the jakes.  I was ticked off at myself big time!

The other time it happened, it was late in the season and it was late afternoon.  A bird gobbled across the canyon from me and I watched two birds fly across to my side.  One was a hen and I was figuring the other was most likely a mature bird.  They worked their way up a hill to get to me and when I saw the gobbler standing in some buckbrush, I couldn't see his beard, but I had a good shot at his neck so I hammered him.  I was disappointed when I got to him and saw it was a jake.  It was still a cool hunt though.

[savduck]

1 on accident 4 or 5 on purpose.

[harvester]

killed one, shot the strutter and rolled him, he jumped up and took off runnin down the field, rolled him again and he got up a second time and took off. i chased him to the woods and started looking for him when my buddy showed up with a jake that was with the longbeard. Never saw the first pellet but I guess one got him. 

[LilFridWV]

The first turkey I ever killed was a jake. WV allows you to take two bearded birds so I always say that I will shoot the first bearded turkey I see. If its meant to be then its meant to be. If the first bird is a jake then I go for a gobbler. Good fellow longbeard chasers!

[FttFttVroom!]

I "mistakenly" shot only one jake....he came in with a tom I wanted to shoot and I got the heads mixed up as they bobbed and weaved through the woods coming towards me.  The other jakes I've killed were totally on purpose and they were good eating!

[Crutch]

My first season I already had 3 and was sitting in a hidey hole with one of those Cherokee Sports blow up tom out in front of me. The grass had gotten tall so I used a 3 foot rod to get him up in the air and visible. I was sitting there calling every once in a while building a home made tube call out of a pill bottle. I didn't like how it was coming together and started over over. I hear a nervous purr sound and looked up and caught a glimpse of 3 birds running into my decoy. The first thing I did was freak out, then I grabbed my shotgun and backed away from my burlap blind and pointed it in the general direction. When they got to the decoy, they got nervous cause they had to look up at him on his 3 foot rod.  I shot the first one that got there.  The other two flew about 25 feet away and stopped. Gobbled at something and stared at their brother doing the Curly shuffle then walked off.  I found out it was a super jake with a 4 inch beard that weighted 18 lbs.

[Shotgun]

Yep I have done it.

[stinkpickle]

Not on accident...yet.  Every jake I've killed was on purpose.   

[PANYHunter]

I've had the opposite happen.  It was the second year I was hunting turkeys and the first time I was by myself.   I was set up on a longbeard in a field that wouldn't budge and all the sudden a turkey runs from behind me to my decoy.  I saw that he had a short beard so I shot when he was about 5 yards-miss, racked another shell miss.  Finally got him at about 25 yards with the 3rd shot.  Turned out he was a mature bird with 7/8" spurs and a full fan but the beard was rotted off because of a melanin deficiency.  Needless it was a pleasant surprise for the first bird I called in by myself.   

[knotheadedfool]

2

one, the guy that I was hunting with told me it was a longbeard and I shot without verifying.

the other was with two mature birds that came in silent, the lead bird strutting.  He would turn back on the other two any time they got too close to him.  My gun was laid across my lap and my legs were straight out in front of me.  When they got behind a clump of three oaks I just brought my gun up without my legs.  It took them longer to clear those oaks and I was getting tired of holding the gun up. I just knew that the first bird to clear those trees would be the strutter.....when I saw a male head stick out from behind the tree I took the shot.  It was the jake.