Personal rules for turkey hunting?

[Dan Mallia]

My personal rules is to hunt the way I hunt and hold no one else accountable for my personal rules.

Yes sir..........

[mudhen]

I tend to rely on the applicable regulations over the opinions of others...

But I do think snap-shooting is ill advised in the long run...

[Pressured Gobbler]

I believe that we're people hunt has a lot to do with how they hunt... private land guys with green fields might say decoys and blinds are a must... guys that hunt public land big woods with hunter interference... might say running and gunning is the way to go... I say as long as it's legal and SAFE...  I'm ok with it I really don't care what others do or if they approve...

[Harty]

I like reading these types of threads..... my take. ABIDE BY THE LAWS then establish your own set of ethics and go hunt,have fun!

[SD_smith]

My only personal rule would probably be to not shoot jakes. Other than that I will do just about whatever it takes to get a gobbler. I prefer to be a mobile hunter that moves around and try to strike up birds, but I'm not too good to bushwhack one by getting in front of him or use a decoy if I've roosted one especially near open terrain. To me it's about the gobble and the kill. I'm not in it for anything else. It gets my blood pumping and heart beating when I hear that first gobble in the morning, then when it comes time to take the shot I'm shaking so bad I feel like he could see me. My whole goal every time I go out is to kill a gobbler, no more and no less. I do enjoy the spring woods and just being able to be out in them every chance I get, but I'm a hunter and the goal is to do just that.

[chatterbox]

I see that several people still apply their rules when hunting with someone else. That is fine, but I will compromise my personal style if I'm hunting with someone. If I'm hunting with a newby then they have not developed personal rules and a filled tag is more of a validation to them, I will bend to anything legal. Even if it's a friend and they want to use dekes, blinds or other tactics I will bend a little. If I don't want to bend I just decline to go, but if I agree to go I make it pleasant for them. I don't need to kill another gobbler to prove anything, I just want to have fun and enjoy someone's company. If I'm hunting with someone my personal rule is to make every set up with them having the advantage and getting the shot if possible.

I agree with this,...to a point.  A few years back, New Mexico allowed shooting over bait or feeders on private land (thank God we got that changed).  There was/is a youth hunting club in my community and back then they would set up tent blinds on private property and let the kids shoot turkeys coming into feeders.  The adults running the show were fine with doing it and kids thought that was perfectly acceptable. 

For me, it was not,...and never will be.  Moral of the story: no matter if they are kids or not, there are some hunting methods that are just not acceptable.  At some point the concept of "fair chase" has to overrule the desire to let a kid (or anybody else) kill a turkey.

I completely agree with this. Fair chase has to come into play.
I have hunted with decoys, without decoys, blinds, and no blinds.
My most favorite hunts are no blind and no decoy, but every situation is a bit different.
My only self imposed rule is no jake, but if I'm hunting with someone else who chooses to pull the trigger on a jake, good on them. If it brings a thrill and a smile, I'm all in!

[CALLM2U]

I have hunted with a lot of people over the years that don't hunt the same way I do. It doesn't bother one bit, I just love spending time in the woods with family and friends. That being said, I'll throw in my take for fun. I actually hunt pretty much identical to Dave Owens. Probably why I love watching the Pinhhoti Project so much.

Besides the obvious like obeying all game laws...

- I won't park beside someone unless I can talk to them and we both agree that we won't be hunting on top of each other.
- I won't use blinds
- I haven't used decoys in years.
- I won't shoot multiple birds at one time

- I will use a rifle in the Fall because I enjoy the change of pace and a .223 in a Model 7 is a lot easier on my shoulder than a 3 inch magnum.

[zelmo1]

Follow all the laws, legal is legal. Only rule if you hunt with me is NO REAPING. Safety reason only. But its not worth the chance to me. 

[High plains drifter]

I like to call them in.I don't use a blind, I do use a decoy, just 1. I have shot a few Jake's. If I see one,  when walking, I might try to sneak
It depends on the terrain. I have shot a few flying, and a few running.Last fall, I missed a 25 pounder, because I forgot to put my choke tube in.My dog flushed a herd of 25 birds.

[Turkeytider]

When you guys talk about not sitting for birds to walk by-what are we talking about?

Scenario 1:  Had a bird gobble away from the road my SIL was on-to the north of him was the best he could tell us.  We went to an area that he likes to travel and although we did not hear him, we sat about an hour a called every once in a while to see if he had headed towards us. he did not

Scenario 2:  had a bird about an hour after flydown gobbling his head off to me, but would not come take a peak for the hen.  So he left after gobbling for a while.  I snuck in to where he had been gobbling and only had to wait about an hour of soft calling for him to show back up looking for the earlier hen. he died

Scenario 3:  Sitting in a spot that birds have been known to travel on a small piece of property and blind calling ocassionally to see if one shows up.  Have done it a few times with no other intel and killed a bird, have done it a few  other times and heard nothing-but knowing there is a bird regularly using the area.  (We call this deer hunting a bird).  But not sitting and shooting as he walks by with no interaction (which we call bushwhacking)

No right or wrong, just curious what y'all do.

If you afternoon hunt, you probably are in scenario 3. I'm patient and enjoy being in the woods. IMO, if you afternoon hunt, you really have to know the property and bird patterns. Getting a bird to gobble , even once, at 5:00PM is not very common. Does happen though. Got one to do it this year after some soft calling and then watched him full strut almost 50 yards across a field to my hen decoy Delilah. Quite a show.

[RED NECK]

-Follow the rules and regulations
-hunt safe
-enjoy the hunt and have fun
-strictly private land(don't want to deal with the public landers)
-try and help a kid out,or someone new and In what i do,I get to every year.
-spend as much time with my father at camp as I can
-enjoy my friends and family and excellent food
-not worry about what others use,or how they hunt as long as it is legal.
-mind my own business
-buy all the toys I want to use,I work hard and this is how I enjoy life

[larry9988]

I feel like Harty about 7 or 8 posts up. I do not know how to highlight someone else's post or I would have copied his. I am a computer dummy. It took me several minute just to type this little bit. I am no computer person, but I do love to hunt turkeys though.