Bearded hen

[beakbuster10]

How hungry are you?

I won't judge anyone for killing a legal bird, so it's all on YOU as to what defines your success / and or trophy in your mind.

Me personally... I'd wait for the gobbler or go home with nothing. But that's just me.

X2     That's why i never fall hunt..but i don't judge people for hunting how they need to take game legal.

Then you might as well not deer hunt in the fall either.  Bearded hens are few and far between and the number of fall turkey hunters is too small to make a huge impact.

Really?? This is laughable. I deer hunt every fall, and I haven't killed a doe in 5 years. BUT I filled all three of my VA buck tags last falls. Killed a 152, a 147, and another 120ish buck. So why can't fall hunters just shoot gobblers and jakes. Baby's don't fall out of males' hind ends. If I could deer hunt in the spring I would, but I wouldn't kill does then either. Plenty of other trigger happy good ol boys (fall turkey hunters) in my neck of the woods to kill does for me.

If there was science to back up that killing hens in the fall was making such a huge impact on the turkey population then the regulations would change accordingly to biologist recommendations.  If we had the amount of fall turkey hunters as spring turkey hunters then that might be the case.  We have a healthy turkey population in VA and as I stated before the fall hunters, I'm one of them, are few so our impact is minimal.  My point was if you hunt other species such as deer taking a few females is what keeps our game populations healthy and stable, I believe any wildlife biologist would agree. Not to mention that's there not much to discuss if the state has deemed it a legal target.  This past fall I killed one doe but passed up many immature bucks for a chance at a mountable deer.  Glad you measure your success rate in the deer woods in inches, I measure mine by experience.

I never said taking a few does didn't help the population. I said they're is plenty of other people and predators that kill plenty of does, so there's I don't see the need in killing them. Just as there are plenty of other predators to kill hens, so again I see zero reason to ever shoot a hen. I don't see how chasing and killing nice deer isn't an experience. . . Letting and watching them grow, running cameras year round, hanging stands late spring and summer, planting food plots and then planning hunt and killing mature deer. . . That's a heck of an experience to me.

[beakbuster10]

How hungry are you?

I won't judge anyone for killing a legal bird, so it's all on YOU as to what defines your success / and or trophy in your mind.

Me personally... I'd wait for the gobbler or go home with nothing. But that's just me.

X2     That's why i never fall hunt..but i don't judge people for hunting how they need to take game legal.

Then you might as well not deer hunt in the fall either.  Bearded hens are few and far between and the number of fall turkey hunters is too small to make a huge impact.

Really?? This is laughable. I deer hunt every fall, and I haven't killed a doe in 5 years. BUT I filled all three of my VA buck tags last falls. Killed a 152, a 147, and another 120ish buck. So why can't fall hunters just shoot gobblers and jakes. Baby's don't fall out of males' hind ends. If I could deer hunt in the spring I would, but I wouldn't kill does then either. Plenty of other trigger happy good ol boys (fall turkey hunters) in my neck of the woods to kill does for me.

How is this laughable?  Harvesting does is good deer management. By only harvesting bucks, you are not managing your deer herd properly. As far as hens go, I have no comment since I don't know his population. But too many does can also reduce reproduction. Not shooting does can be just as bad as shooting too many.

See my above post

[g8rvet]

Sounds like you have decided.

Managing proper doe/buck ratio for a given habitat is so different from managing a turkey population as to almost worthless in comparison.  I can tell you a proper bull/cow ratio for a given pasture as well.  Means nothing for turkeys though.  I get the analogy, but they are so different. 

If I hunted a location with a well known (by me) population of hens, especially bearded hens, and felt comfortable that the population would not be harmed by killing one hen, I might do it.  I did not on the farm I hunt because I felt there was a not a sufficient population of birds to justify it. 

[fallhnt]

Shoot the hen.

[Greg Massey]

Shoot the hen.

Good luck...

[mikejd]

I'll ship you 2 perdue's. Let the 20 plus eggs have a chance.

[mudhen]

Because deer biology and turkey biology are the exact same thing!!

Here in CA, they cut the fall limit from 1 bird per day for 30 days to 1 per day, 2 birds total.  This happened a few years ago, but seems that the state biologists deemed it necessary....

Very few things are certain in turkey hunting...the only one I know for sure is that a dead hen cannot lay any eggs...after that, who knows??


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[trkehunr93]

The bottom line as I see it is if it's legal in your state then shoot a bearded hen.  But don't use this as a bully pulpit to condemn hunters who hunt turkeys in the fall as being detrimental to the population of turkeys as a whole or because you don't think you should shoot a bearded hen.  I always go back to what state game biologists recommend, if it was effecting the population then they will adjust bag limits, seasons, etc.  Seeing as how the NWTF has successfully introduced/reintroduced turkeys across the lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and northern Mexico and is now shifted the focus on habitat it would appear the wild turkey is pretty safe in North America.  It's all about personal choice so to shift back to the original intent of this post, happy to see you made the personal choice to let her walk.  It was your choice in a state where it was legal.


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[Greg Massey]

I think what most people are saying, they are not comfortable in taking a hen were the population is less in  areas they hunt. All areas have up and down years with turkey hatch and populations. I agree if we didn't have seasons and bag limited, we would probably not have a population of huntable turkey's left, just like before we had these game law's. So i think it's up to the area or state your hunting, in deciding if you want to take a hen. Again it's all up to the person hunting. Weather it's spring or fall. In some areas of Tenn we have had a major decline in our huntable population of turkeys. So if a person wants to take a hen in a large populated area or state i see nothing wrong in your decision of harvesting a hen. I don't see people's opinions on this forum as bullying or condemn anyone. I feel people are trying to protect these bird's from becoming instinct in a given environment they have to hunt.   How do you know it want affect anything if we take a hen beard or not. I still think with turkeys we still have a lot of unanswered questions. I've seen areas that had a lot of turkeys after they were stock several years ago. For years these turkeys raise little ones and roosted in the same area of this farm for over 12 years and one fall after this area had the timber cut it's like most of what's left of the old stock of turkeys have left the farm. This was just a 100 ac. of cut timber with still over 600 more ac. that has never been cut. It's like now with what turkeys are left, they just roost all over the 600 ac. with no prime roosting spot like the old flock used.

[DumpTruckTurkey]

1 hen wont affect anything... thats obvious.

I personally would like to shoot a bearded hen to mount with a gobbler.  I would also eat her.

It also legal in my state, which is about all the information anyone needs as far as what my options are.

To each his own, we all want more turkeys... but passing up a bearded hen doesnt necessarily mean she will have poults... she might get ate by a yote 10 minutes after she walks buy... her nest might get flooded out... there are some many variables its ridiculous to compare.

No one man is better than the other for passing a bearded hen.  But some THINK they are.   

[ol bob]

I live in the country with milers of private land around me most wan't let you hunt. In the last 10 years I have seen hundreds of wild turkeys and a total of 1 bearded hen, so if I had killed her I don't think it would have made a difference, but a couple of years ago I had a hen come through my yard every day for almost a month she started out with 14 chicks the last time I saw her she had 2 so if you are going to worry about something it better be coyotes, bobcats, house cats, wild dogs, coons, and all the other thing after them are we are not going to have any left.

[Greg Massey]

I live in the country with milers of private land around me most wan't let you hunt. In the last 10 years I have seen hundreds of wild turkeys and a total of 1 bearded hen, so if I had killed her I don't think it would have made a difference, but a couple of years ago I had a hen come through my yard every day for almost a month she started out with 14 chicks the last time I saw her she had 2 so if you are going to worry about something it better be coyotes, bobcats, house cats, wild dogs, coons, and all the other thing after them are we are not going to have any left.

X2     

[Farmboy27]

I live in the country with milers of private land around me most wan't let you hunt. In the last 10 years I have seen hundreds of wild turkeys and a total of 1 bearded hen, so if I had killed her I don't think it would have made a difference, but a couple of years ago I had a hen come through my yard every day for almost a month she started out with 14 chicks the last time I saw her she had 2 so if you are going to worry about something it better be coyotes, bobcats, house cats, wild dogs, coons, and all the other thing after them are we are not going to have any left.

Then you also better worry about wet springs, late cold spells, logging during nesting season, farming, and everything else that can affect the hatch and poult survival. That's a heck of a lot to worry about when you can't really control any of it. Simple fact is that dead hens don't raise broods. Does that make it wrong?  If it's legal then no, have at it. But like I said earlier, if you have to ask others opinions about killing an animal then you probably are already questioning whether you feel it's right or not. If it's legal, then make the choice that you can sleep with and be happy!  It's really the individuals choice any nothing that anyone on here, myself included, should alter that choice if it feels right.

[Bowguy]

Strait up Id never shoot it, or allow my kids to do so.
Taking a turkey isn't  so important that Id jeopardize the poults. Maybe only two or three lived. Ok so by next year they breed n only 2 or 3 live. Out of those 2-3 by each hen it adds up to a bunch In a few years through multiplication

[Spurs]

I may be way off base, but here in Arkansas we are allowed to kill bearded hens.  I seriously don't think that it is allowed because the heard 'can' or 'can not' handle it.  I think it is due to the fact that people mistake their identities. 

My dad has been turkey hunting since the mid 80s and has killed his fair share of mature gobblers.  One day he had a gobbler on a string, saw a turkey with a beard slip in on him through a small hole and shot.  He said he never knew it was a hen until he put his heal on it.  He said he had never been so disappointed in himself, but it does happen.


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