What % of turkey hunters fall into the category of Traditional Turkey Hunters ?

[randy6471]

 It is legal to use a blind in Pa. It is illegal to use any of the hide behind type fans, umbrella, etc that are used for reaping.

I live in the NE corner of Pa and I've been turkey hunting this area for 40+ years. The properties in the area are mostly private and there is very little state/public land available for hunting, that holds turkeys. Also in this area there are a large amount of long distance landowners that own property in the area, but actually live elsewhere.

  I think Happy's assessment of hunters in my area was pretty accurate in the late 80's and through the 90's, but there has been such a huge decline in turkey hunters, that it's not true anymore. We now have just a handful of "local" weekend warriors hitting the woods for opening day and maybe the second Saturday. Also there are a few of the guys that have cabins/camps who show up for opening weekend and again for Memorial Day weekend, which is usually the end of the season and that's really about it.

  I'm certainly not complaining when I can hunt practically every day with a very limited amount of hunters around!


  So back to the original question around traditional turkey hunters.....Very low percentage in my area, because the ones that are out there will spend a limited amount of time hunting and they will use any legal tactic to get the kill.

 
 


 

[Haypatch]

Don't use decoy's and don't hunt in blinds so if that makes you traditional count me in I guess!

[fallhnt]

I like Fall turkey hunting best so I'm 100% traditional

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[Crghss]

It is legal to use a blind in Pa. 

randy6471, I stand corrected. It been a few years since I read the rules.

I've never used a blind. But I did have a half umbrella type thing that was camouflaged (ok maybe I used a blind). As a bowhunter I used this to draw the bow behind. It was illegal to use in PA could only use it in FL. The way I read the rules at the time was no blinds where legal. They have defiantly changed the rules since I last read them. Now you need label/identify your blinds on state games land, I like this rule.

I guess the main concern PA has is with fanning, safey. I agree.

[strum]

 I probably fall in between the 2nd and 3rd versions that Happy posted. Im no master but I just love to hunt and as soon as the season is over im looking forward to next year. Ill hunt every day I possibly can. Ive used deks and blinds . Not opposed to either but mostly hunt with out.

[NCL]

Read this entire thread and could not help thinking it depends on the definition of "traditional" which is probably defined by where in the great country you hunt. Tradition is defined as an act/practice that has occurred for generations. An early poster talked about how he grew up hunting with his family in a certain way that he considered the traditional way which made sense. Here turkeys were introduced in my life time, so no established traditions regarding turkey hunting.  For me it depends on the circumstances of the area as to which methods used when hunting, one area is private and small so hunt stationary with decoys and a stake blind are used. On public land mostly a run and gun approach so do not want to carry the extra weight so no blind or decoys.  Very interesting the different thought that have been presented sure made me think

[bbcoach]

None of us are Traditional turkey hunters.  What I mean is, none of us go to the woods to survive.  We don't use handmade bows and arrows or flintlocks or hunt in deer skin and moccasins.  We have ALL evolved over time to the gear we utilize.  It maybe the latest and greatest or something less.  We ALL turkey hunt for the pleasure of hunting.  WE ENJOY IT!  Each of us, enjoy the way we hunt and some try new things but one thing is for certain, WE ALL ENJOY A THUNDERING GOBBLE at 20 yards whether it's from a blind or with decoys.  I've tried both and both have there place.  My 2 cents!

[ol bob]

What % of turkey hunters care how other hunters hunt.

[ShootingABN!]

Go kill that Gobbler!

[WildTigerTrout]

I have never used a blind or decoys.  I prefer to hunt without them.  I hunt BIG woods.  I do use red dots and scopes.  I can't see open sights and beads like it use too. I never really got away from using lead shot either and I still hunt turkeys in the fall.  I just enjoy the more traditional route. Nothing like a good scratch box!

[LaLongbeard]

None of us are Traditional turkey hunters.  What I mean is, none of us go to the woods to survive.  We don't use handmade bows and arrows or flintlocks or hunt in deer skin and moccasins.  We have ALL evolved over time to the gear we utilize.  It maybe the latest and greatest or something less.  We ALL turkey hunt for the pleasure of hunting.  WE ENJOY IT!  Each of us, enjoy the way we hunt and some try new things but one thing is for certain, WE ALL ENJOY A THUNDERING GOBBLE at 20 yards whether it's from a blind or with decoys.  I've tried both and both have there place.  My 2 cents!

Again I think some of you are confused about what the word tradition means. We are talking about sport hunting not hunter gathers or some dirt farmer in 1901 trying to feed 12 kids and a wife with a shotgun and a garden.
    Sport hunting of SPRING Gobblers is not new it was first written about in 1912. That would be the start as far as we can put a defining date on it. There were no doubt others hunting them the same way before 1912 but that is the date we can confirm. Fall hunting with dogs also has a long tradition going back even further, another sport altogether. A Gobbler a gun a man and a turkey call that is how it began that is how it is still done. Everything else has been added to make it easier. In 1912 you could bait you could shoot 25 a day you could roost shoot, you could tie a live Gobbler or hen to a stake and let them do the calling. But that's not sporting and that's not how Charles S Jordan hunted them.
    Just because your state just got turkeys and everyone you know hunts behind a Gobbler fan with a flat brimmed hat and a .410 doesn't change anything.
      You can choose to hunt from blinds or bait or reap or whatever you can get away with but every single corner you cut with these "tools in your shed"  is to make it easier. No one ever counters that point.
      This whole thing is Turkey hunting specific. There is a rift between recurve/longbow hunters and compound hunters and now crossbow hunters. But you never here the compound or crossbow users say that there way isn't easier ....because they know how stupid it would sound to say that. Turkey hunting is the only sport I know of that people will do anything they can to cut corners and make their success rate higher then pretend what they are doing is the same as the ones that don't.
     It be about like a Major League Baseball player asking that all his pitches be underhand with a softball and then want everyone to pretend he's a real big league hitter lol.

[Spitten and drummen]

None of us are Traditional turkey hunters.  What I mean is, none of us go to the woods to survive.  We don't use handmade bows and arrows or flintlocks or hunt in deer skin and moccasins.  We have ALL evolved over time to the gear we utilize.  It maybe the latest and greatest or something less.  We ALL turkey hunt for the pleasure of hunting.  WE ENJOY IT!  Each of us, enjoy the way we hunt and some try new things but one thing is for certain, WE ALL ENJOY A THUNDERING GOBBLE at 20 yards whether it's from a blind or with decoys.  I've tried both and both have there place.  My 2 cents!

Again I think some of you are confused about what the word tradition means. We are talking about sport hunting not hunter gathers or some dirt farmer in 1901 trying to feed 12 kids and a wife with a shotgun and a garden.
    Sport hunting of SPRING Gobblers is not new it was first written about in 1912. That would be the start as far as we can put a defining date on it. There were no doubt others hunting them the same way before 1912 but that is the date we can confirm. Fall hunting with dogs also has a long tradition going back even further, another sport altogether. A Gobbler a gun a man and a turkey call that is how it began that is how it is still done. Everything else has been added to make it easier. In 1912 you could bait you could shoot 25 a day you could roost shoot, you could tie a live Gobbler or hen to a stake and let them do the calling. But that's not sporting and that's not how Charles S Jordan hunted them.
    Just because your state just got turkeys and everyone you know hunts behind a Gobbler fan with a flat brimmed hat and a .410 doesn't change anything.
      You can choose to hunt from blinds or bait or reap or whatever you can get away with but every single corner you cut with these "tools in your shed"  is to make it easier. No one ever counters that point.
      This whole thing is Turkey hunting specific. There is a rift between recurve/longbow hunters and compound hunters and now crossbow hunters. But you never here the compound or crossbow users say that there way isn't easier ....because they know how stupid it would sound to say that. Turkey hunting is the only sport I know of that people will do anything they can to cut corners and make their success rate higher then pretend what they are doing is the same as the ones that don't.
     It be about like a Major League Baseball player asking that all his pitches be underhand with a softball and then want everyone to pretend he's a real big league hitter lol.

Your point is very valid and I agree. I have modern technology but my hunting methods over 40 years remain the same. I can say that I have never killed a turkey. I did not call in. I have never hunted from a blind nor with bait. I have shot a couple with decoys but For the most part I have never carried them. I will not roost shoot , walk up on one or reap one. I enjoy the one on one chess match with them. I hunt the way I came up hunting. I will again encourage every turkey hunter read the book " America , The Wild Turkey and Mongrels" by the late Kenny Morgan. I met him when I was a kid and knew him over the years. That being said , the question was about traditional turkey hunters. It was not about the right way to hunt. It is up to you and your moral compass in the way you hunt. I will never knock a kid or handicap person for hunting in a blind. I will use any means necessary to hunt these majestic birds. If the time comes that I have to use a blind , I very well will. That would be as far as I take it though. Baiting , reaping , decoys , wing shooting , roost shooting , ambushing and rifle shooting , I will never do. As I said earlier , I have killed a couple with dekes but I got that out of my system pretty quickly.

[WildTigerTrout]

In the general public I think the % is much higher for traditional turkey hunting. Hunters on this site have a much lower % of traditional turkey hunting.

First, where can you use bait? Second some states don't let you use blinds i.e. Pennsylvania.

So in PA if you use a decoy you're non-traditional turkey hunter. If you're not using a decoy you're a traditional turkey.

Blinds are legal in Pennsylvania.

[crow]

None of us are Traditional turkey hunters.  What I mean is, none of us go to the woods to survive.  We don't use handmade bows and arrows or flintlocks or hunt in deer skin and moccasins.  We have ALL evolved over time to the gear we utilize.  It maybe the latest and greatest or something less.  We ALL turkey hunt for the pleasure of hunting.  WE ENJOY IT!  Each of us, enjoy the way we hunt and some try new things but one thing is for certain, WE ALL ENJOY A THUNDERING GOBBLE at 20 yards whether it's from a blind or with decoys.  I've tried both and both have there place.  My 2 cents!

Again I think some of you are confused about what the word tradition means. We are talking about sport hunting not hunter gathers or some dirt farmer in 1901 trying to feed 12 kids and a wife with a shotgun and a garden.
    Sport hunting of SPRING Gobblers is not new it was first written about in 1912. That would be the start as far as we can put a defining date on it. There were no doubt others hunting them the same way before 1912 but that is the date we can confirm. Fall hunting with dogs also has a long tradition going back even further, another sport altogether. A Gobbler a gun a man and a turkey call that is how it began that is how it is still done. Everything else has been added to make it easier. In 1912 you could bait you could shoot 25 a day you could roost shoot, you could tie a live Gobbler or hen to a stake and let them do the calling. But that's not sporting and that's not how Charles S Jordan hunted them.
    Just because your state just got turkeys and everyone you know hunts behind a Gobbler fan with a flat brimmed hat and a .410 doesn't change anything.
      You can choose to hunt from blinds or bait or reap or whatever you can get away with but every single corner you cut with these "tools in your shed"  is to make it easier. No one ever counters that point.
      This whole thing is Turkey hunting specific. There is a rift between recurve/longbow hunters and compound hunters and now crossbow hunters. But you never here the compound or crossbow users say that there way isn't easier ....because they know how stupid it would sound to say that. Turkey hunting is the only sport I know of that people will do anything they can to cut corners and make their success rate higher then pretend what they are doing is the same as the ones that don't.
     It be about like a Major League Baseball player asking that all his pitches be underhand with a softball and then want everyone to pretend he's a real big league hitter lol.

Good post, and as already pointed out there is a difference between traditional and historic hunting.

There is a mention of a spring turkey sport hunt in a book written in the mid 1840's "44 years in the life of a hunter"

the book is about a market/subsistence hunter Meshack Browning who hunted deer and bear for a living in Western Md.

He mentions on a spring bear meat hunt with a buddy they heard a turkey gobble, the buddy wanted to hunt it so they set up and Meshack "imitated the call of a cackling hen " and called the gobbler across a creek and they shot it.

I always thought it was cool he took the time to mention this gobbler hunt in his book.

[LaLongbeard]

None of us are Traditional turkey hunters.  What I mean is, none of us go to the woods to survive.  We don't use handmade bows and arrows or flintlocks or hunt in deer skin and moccasins.  We have ALL evolved over time to the gear we utilize.  It maybe the latest and greatest or something less.  We ALL turkey hunt for the pleasure of hunting.  WE ENJOY IT!  Each of us, enjoy the way we hunt and some try new things but one thing is for certain, WE ALL ENJOY A THUNDERING GOBBLE at 20 yards whether it's from a blind or with decoys.  I've tried both and both have there place.  My 2 cents!

Again I think some of you are confused about what the word tradition means. We are talking about sport hunting not hunter gathe rs or some dirt farmer in 1901 trying to feed 12 kids and a wife with a shotgun and a garden.
    Sport hunting of SPRING Gobblers is not new it was first written about in 1912. That would be the start as far as we can put a defining date on it. There were no doubt others hunting them the same way before 1912 but that is the date we can confirm. Fall hunting with dogs also has a long tradition going back even further, another sport altogether. A Gobbler a gun a man and a turkey call that is how it began that is how it is still done. Everything else has been added to make it easier. In 1912 you could bait you could shoot 25 a day you could roost shoot, you could tie a live Gobbler or hen to a stake and let them do the calling. But that's not sporting and that's not how Charles S Jordan hunted them.
    Just because your state just got turkeys and everyone you know hunts behind a Gobbler fan with a flat brimmed hat and a .410 doesn't change anything.
      You can choose to hunt from blinds or bait or reap or whatever you can get away with but every single corner you cut with these "tools in your shed"  is to make it easier. No one ever counters that point.
      This whole thing is Turkey hunting specific. There is a rift between recurve/longbow hunters and compound hunters and now crossbow hunters. But you never here the compound or crossbow users say that there way isn't easier ....because they know how stupid it would sound to say that. Turkey hunting is the only sport I know of that people will do anything they can to cut corners and make their success rate higher then pretend what they are doing is the same as the ones that don't.
     It be about like a Major League Baseball player asking that all his pitches be underhand with a softball and then want everyone to pretend he's a real big league hitter lol.

Your point is very valid and I agree. I have modern technology but my hunting methods over 40 years remain the same. I can say that I have never killed a turkey. I did not call in. I have never hunted from a blind nor with bait. I have shot a couple with decoys but For the most part I have never carried them. I will not roost shoot , walk up on one or reap one. I enjoy the one on one chess match with them. I hunt the way I came up hunting. I will again encourage every turkey hunter read the book " America , The Wild Turkey and Mongrels" by the late Kenny Morgan. I met him when I was a kid and knew him over the years. That being said , the question was about traditional turkey hunters. It was not about the right way to hunt. It is up to you and your moral compass in the way you hunt. I will never knock a kid or handicap person for hunting in a blind. I will use any means necessary to hunt these majestic birds. If the time comes that I have to use a blind , I very well will. That would be as far as I take it though. Baiting , reaping , decoys , wing shooting , roost shooting , ambushing and rifle shooting , I will never do. As I said earlier , I have killed a couple with dekes but I got that out of my system pretty quickly.

I'm not saying the way I do it is the right way what I am saying is anybody that uses the crutches is delusional to think it's the same thing.
   This thing ,Turkey hunting, has gone way off the rails and nothing anybody can say or do will stop the reapers and baiters and decoy watchers hen shooters etc. They have convinced themselves that what they are doing is Turkey hunting and there is no cure.