Bearded hen

[njdevilsb]

They would get a pass from me.  My dad and I let one go on opening day a couple of years ago.  We have one on our cameras this year as well.  She is definitely safe but I hope I get to see her in person before the season is over.

I can't speak for you though.  If it's legal and it's something that would make you happy, that needs to be you decision.

[Ishi]

For me personally no way would I shoot a bearded hen but that's my . Good luck on your decision

[trkehunr93]

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.

[Greg Massey]

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.

I don't agree with you. Just like during deer season you can kill either a hen or a gobbler and a lot of people could careless how they try and kill a turkey with a bow. I know of several people who have shot and lost hens during bow season because of bad shots. Again if you kill hens in the fall your killing next year young. That's my opinion. Now i know we have several bow hunter that hunt turkeys with great success but these guys hunt with the right equipment to take turkeys humanly . For every hen you kill you loose at least 4 to 10 chicks in your area a year. That's not including what we loose to predators. So do the Math..

[Greg Massey]

If a hen has a beard it's still a hen trkehnr93... i hunt turkeys to hear gobblers gobble. So again if you want to kill hens in the fall that's up to you. Good luck on keeping turkeys in your area. Remember opinions are just opinions..

[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.

[Greg Massey]

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, an  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.

Nice job and i know you worked hard to kill those nice deer. Great job.

[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, an  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.

Nice job and i know you worked hard to kill those nice deer. Great job.

Sure did. I'm not against anyone killing what is legal, but predators and the orange army (especially now in VA) do a great job of getting old and unproductive individuals out of the populations. No reason for me to kill females that pop out the babies I chase.

One doe only needs to breed one buck.
One buck can breed many does.
One hen only needs one gobbler.
One gobbler can breed many hens.
That's not rocket science there the girls are the limiting factor to the next generation.

[gutterdoc]

Thanks for all the advice.  She will go and have little one's and hopefully return the favor of a nice bird for me in a couple of years.  Still time to find the big boys.  I just enjoy the woods and watching her has been fun.  I'll see if I can get a camera up and post a picture.

[Greg Massey]

Thanks for all the advice.  She will go and have little one's and hopefully return the favor of a nice bird for me in a couple of years.  Still time to find the big boys.  I just enjoy the woods and watching her has been fun.  I'll see if I can get a camera up and post a picture.

You hunt and do just like you want in taking any turkey you want. We all have opinions and that's what's great about this forum. No one is judging you. We are all turkey hunter first and we love these birds.

[trkehunr93]

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. 

[Greg Massey]

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.

Good luck on all of your hunting. I agree it's up to the person in taking turkeys in the fall. A lot of places or states don't have a large gobbler or hen turkey population. On my farm we just don't kill hens and we only take a few doe"s during deer season. We feel the predators keep the rest in balance.

[HogBiologist]

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.

[tomstopper]

Just remember you kill that hen your aren't just killing that one bird. Shooting her ain't gonna make your tough hunting any better either. Might lead to some more tough springs.. Could be a couple gobblers in that hatch.

I agree with this but if it makes you happy and its legal, then I have no problem with you taking it. I would say that here in NY I have seen plenty of bearded hens so I don't think the chances of you running into one again would be impossible. Whatever you decide I wont be judging you. Good luck

[Bill Cooksey]

I've always said I wanted to shoot a bearded hen for a mount. But, every time I've had a bearded hen come in, it just slips my mind. Had dozens of opportunities, but I've never thought about pulling the trigger when they occurred. Where legal, I say it's up to the individual, but I doubt I'll ever do it.