my thoughts on reaping

[bigriverbum]

.these guys on YouTube that only can kill em with a fan yet think they are Gods gift to turkey hunting really rub me wrong...prolly wear a flat bill as well with a salt life sticker on their lifted truck lol

Funny but it's true. I've never seen so many clones in my life. Hundreds of them dressing the same, same truck it's really like a cult but not in a good way. A guy on another forum said the same thing but also pointed out for some reason there all about 5'- 6" lol not sure if it's inbreeding or what.

same guys that only care about "limiting out" when duck hunting. shoot 2 boxes of shells to kill 6/ wound 20.

have this distorted view of hunting where everything is a competition. have no perspective about enjoying being out in nature and our role in it.  will wail on their calls or shoot into the air just to spook birds working another guys spread. thankfully many of them spend thousands of dollars, kill some animals, feel their pathetic ego grow and hopefully give up the sport after a few years

[Pluffmud]

I think taking one with a reaper would be a neat experience. It's not how I want to regularly go about hunting though. One thing I have had against it, is the ability to legally reap on public land. I don't even bring hen decoys for fears of being shot in the face by some crack head, let alone sitting behind a gobbler decoy. SC finally made it illegal to reap on public land this year. Thankfully it didn't take someone never returning home from the turkey woods to pass it.

[Bowguy]

I'm sure the Indians were doing some style of reaping. If they didn't kill something they didn't eat. It feels like more of an outdoor channel tv show kind of thing now. Like I said before if it's legal then have fun. It's not for me. I also don't like the safety aspects.  Whatever gets you excited about turkey hunting is a good thing up until it's effectiveness starts to influence the amount of tags that are allowed. If something new directly leads to me be allowed to kill fewer turkeys then I would be disappointed about that. Not saying that will happen with reaping though.


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Can't use sustenance hunting and compare that to sport hunting

[hotspur]

I'm against it. It is making something that is a challenge to be easy, turkey hunting is not to be that way. If you want to bag some meat go deer hunting. Period. It is also commercialization of something that was noble. Not to mention the safety factor. I think anyone that wants to do it really needs to rethink. ( he , the gobbler I mean , will come to your calls you have to give him time. HOW MMANY TIMES HAVE YOU HEARD THAT,        I'm OUT

[Ihuntoldschool]

The dumbing down of the sport. It started when they started allowing decoys. Any type of visual aid is cheating. This reaping just takes it to another level.

To hell with the challenge, it's all about the kill to this new breed of "hunter".  Got a bunch of turkey killers but few turkey hunters out there now.

[bghunter777]

I personally think its an incredibly dumb and unsafe way to hunt.

[fallhnt]

What about the guy stalking your calling in the woods?

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[Pluffmud]

What about the guy stalking your calling in the woods?

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There is always going to be some level of risk turkey hunting, whether it's being bit by a cottonmouth, breaking an ankle in the woods, or being stalked by another hunter. I'm somewhat cynical and I don't trust the intelligence of the average public land hunter (or human being for that matter). This is why I don't use ANY decoys on public land. If you get a moron that sees your hen decoy, there's no guarantee he won't shoot through your hen decoy into your face. It's just not worth the risk to me. The same goes for gobble calls. I hardly ever use a gobble call just for the reason of having another hunter creep up on me. From my experience, the average weekend warrior will not attempt to sneak up on a hen as much as they will a gobbler. That being said, im all for limited govt intrusion, and I believe that if you want to risk using a stationary decoy on public land and risk another hunter walking up on you, that's your business. Standing BEHIND a gobbler decoy and moving around behind it is begging for a fatal accident, however. It's a fine line between protecting all of our safety and infringing upon our constitutional rights. If people weren't stupid, the idea of banning reaping wouldn't even be a discussion.

[bobk]

Almost 40 years ago I learned how dangerous turkey hunting can be.  Hunting on a large tract of family owned property I had a bird gobble about 120 yards in front of me.  I located a large tree and as I preparing to sit ,  there was a gunshot behind me and I felt stinging on the back of my arm. Luckily my heavy barn coat and the tree trunk stopped the  pellets, I was left with 6 welts from the pellets.

The shooter later stated  he thought that I was a turkey.  Being 6'6" and 255# it is hard to believe that I resembled a bird.

Do as you may within the law,  but crawling behind a gobbler decoy seems like you are putting youself at high risk  for a accident.

[Marc]

I am not condoning reaping as a hunting method, but as far as the safety issue goes, here's a question for everybody.  Has anybody anywhere seen a confirmed report of a hunter being shot while reaping? 

Just curious...   Every discussion that takes place here has as the general theme that "it is dangerous". Yet, I have not heard of a single case of someone being shot by another hunter while doing it.  ...And on the other hand, I have heard of many confirmed cases of people being shot while CALLING turkeys. 

Again, I am not condoning the practice, nor do I participate in doing it.  But, quite honestly, I have seen absolutely no proof that it is dangerous,...and I have seen plenty of cases where hunters have been shot while calling.

Why do I bring this up?  For me, personally, I suppose I have more faith in my fellow turkey hunters to positively identify their target as a real, live gobbler when hunting.  Until I see hard evidence to the contrary, I will continue to have that faith.

I fear you might be inserting your own intellect into other hunters.  Most of us would see the person behind the decoy pushing it, and hopefully pass on "the shot."

However, all too often hunters minds turn things into what they want them to be, or in other cases ignore obvious safety concerns.  I myself heard a noise to my left on my last hunt, and my brain turned a burnt tree stump into a bird.  I sat frozen for several minutes trying to decide on how to set up my shot without scaring it, and how call the stump into range without spooking it.  Unfortunately I was not able to call it in, but then again, I did not scare it off either.

Intuitively, hiding behind a turkey decoy and crawling through the woods towards turkey sounds, with turkey hunters in said woods, would be more dangerous than simply sitting by a tree making "hen" turkey sounds.  I think there is still a low percentage of hunters that hunt this way, and it has not been popular all that long.

If my spouse suggested such hunting to me, I would immediately check the status of our life insurance policy.

[GobbleNut]

I am not condoning reaping as a hunting method, but as far as the safety issue goes, here's a question for everybody.  Has anybody anywhere seen a confirmed report of a hunter being shot while reaping? 

Just curious...   Every discussion that takes place here has as the general theme that "it is dangerous". Yet, I have not heard of a single case of someone being shot by another hunter while doing it.  ...And on the other hand, I have heard of many confirmed cases of people being shot while CALLING turkeys. 

Again, I am not condoning the practice, nor do I participate in doing it.  But, quite honestly, I have seen absolutely no proof that it is dangerous,...and I have seen plenty of cases where hunters have been shot while calling.

Why do I bring this up?  For me, personally, I suppose I have more faith in my fellow turkey hunters to positively identify their target as a real, live gobbler when hunting.  Until I see hard evidence to the contrary, I will continue to have that faith.

I fear you might be inserting your own intellect into other hunters.  Most of us would see the person behind the decoy pushing it, and hopefully pass on "the shot."

However, all too often hunters minds turn things into what they want them to be, or in other cases ignore obvious safety concerns.  I myself heard a noise to my left on my last hunt, and my brain turned a burnt tree stump into a bird.  I sat frozen for several minutes trying to decide on how to set up my shot without scaring it, and how call the stump into range without spooking it.  Unfortunately I was not able to call it in, but then again, I did not scare it off either.

Intuitively, hiding behind a turkey decoy and crawling through the woods towards turkey sounds, with turkey hunters in said woods, would be more dangerous than simply sitting by a tree making "hen" turkey sounds.  I think there is still a low percentage of hunters that hunt this way, and it has not been popular all that long.

If my spouse suggested such hunting to me, I would immediately check the status of our life insurance policy.

    ...A few more comments on this just to pass the current home-bound time....
I forget the technical name for that phenomenon where people's brains interpret what their eyes see differently than the reality.  Fortunately, I think it is a relatively rare occurrence, but it is also something that can occur under any set of circumstances.  It is just as likely to occur with someone sitting and calling as it is with someone reaping.  Yes, intuitively one would think that phenomenon would be more likely to occur in a reaping situation.  Again, however, I don't believe that statistically, that can be demonstrated by the current available data on hunting accidents. 

I would suggest a reason for that.  Could it be that people that reap are generally doing so in more open areas where visibility is generally much greater?  The practice seems to be much more common in large, open areas than in denser cover. 

Yes, reaping, as a common practice, has not been around very long.  And no, I am not trying to defend it or encourage hunters to take it up.  I am, however, a "show me the money" sort of guy.  I don't like hyperbole without facts to back it up,....and lord knows, we got way too much of that going on in the world.

Maybe, in the near future, the statistical data will start piling up that shows reaping is really dangerous and should be outlawed.  Until that time, I am not willing to jump on that particular bandwagon. 

[Marc]

I am not condoning reaping as a hunting method, but as far as the safety issue goes, here's a question for everybody.  Has anybody anywhere seen a confirmed report of a hunter being shot while reaping? 

Just curious...   Every discussion that takes place here has as the general theme that "it is dangerous". Yet, I have not heard of a single case of someone being shot by another hunter while doing it.  ...And on the other hand, I have heard of many confirmed cases of people being shot while CALLING turkeys. 

Again, I am not condoning the practice, nor do I participate in doing it.  But, quite honestly, I have seen absolutely no proof that it is dangerous,...and I have seen plenty of cases where hunters have been shot while calling.

Why do I bring this up?  For me, personally, I suppose I have more faith in my fellow turkey hunters to positively identify their target as a real, live gobbler when hunting.  Until I see hard evidence to the contrary, I will continue to have that faith.

I fear you might be inserting your own intellect into other hunters.  Most of us would see the person behind the decoy pushing it, and hopefully pass on "the shot."

However, all too often hunters minds turn things into what they want them to be, or in other cases ignore obvious safety concerns.  I myself heard a noise to my left on my last hunt, and my brain turned a burnt tree stump into a bird.  I sat frozen for several minutes trying to decide on how to set up my shot without scaring it, and how call the stump into range without spooking it.  Unfortunately I was not able to call it in, but then again, I did not scare it off either.

Intuitively, hiding behind a turkey decoy and crawling through the woods towards turkey sounds, with turkey hunters in said woods, would be more dangerous than simply sitting by a tree making "hen" turkey sounds.  I think there is still a low percentage of hunters that hunt this way, and it has not been popular all that long.

If my spouse suggested such hunting to me, I would immediately check the status of our life insurance policy.

    ...A few more comments on this just to pass the current home-bound time....
I forget the technical name for that phenomenon where people's brains interpret what their eyes see differently than the reality.  Fortunately, I think it is a relatively rare occurrence, but it is also something that can occur under any set of circumstances.  It is just as likely to occur with someone sitting and calling as it is with someone reaping.  Yes, intuitively one would think that phenomenon would be more likely to occur in a reaping situation.  Again, however, I don't believe that statistically, that can be demonstrated by the current available data on hunting accidents. 

I would suggest a reason for that.  Could it be that people that reap are generally doing so in more open areas where visibility is generally much greater?  The practice seems to be much more common in large, open areas than in denser cover. 

Yes, reaping, as a common practice, has not been around very long.  And no, I am not trying to defend it or encourage hunters to take it up.  I am, however, a "show me the money" sort of guy.  I don't like hyperbole without facts to back it up,....and lord knows, we got way too much of that going on in the world.

Maybe, in the near future, the statistical data will start piling up that shows reaping is really dangerous and should be outlawed.  Until that time, I am not willing to jump on that particular bandwagon.

I know of people reaping in the woods...  I hunt a decent sized piece of property with one other hunter, and that is how he killed a bird last year (actually a nice guy, more interested in putting meat on the table than "hunting").  Stated he was able to walk right up to the bird and kill it.  (He also stated that if he knew I was hunting he would not attempt this method).


And seeing what we want is called motivated perception...  I believe the scientific term is Pareidolia.  It is actually extremely common, and I even see it with my dogs while hunting.  They will whip their heads around to see a knat or flying but that looks like an incoming dove (which happens to me all the time as well).  We very often see what we are expecting, and hoping to see, and obviously this "phenomenon" happens to varying degrees with different people...  Probably less so with experienced hunters, than with new "overly zealous" hunters.

Even ranging a bird...  First time I saw turkeys at 80 yards, they sure seemed close enough to shoot (especially compared to the smaller game I was accustomed to hunting).  Luckily, I was experienced in bird hunting and using other indicators for range.  And...  After having birds come into good range, it is far more easy to discern what is too far, and what is not.  Interestingly, the more I have hunted (and pulled birds in really close), the more I tend to over-estimate range.

But, you are correct, not many injuries or fatalities have been reported.  Not sure whether I consider it fair chase or not (any more than shooting a bird off a limb while roosting), and I do think that there is the potential for tragedy.    Not sure I want it regulated though???  I have never felt that our government can regulate out stupidity, and not sure I want the government controlling the minutia of my life.  But, I do not like the idea of reaping as far as the ethics or the safety profile.

[silvestris]

The dumbing down of the sport. It started when they started allowing decoys. Any type of visual aid is cheating. This reaping just takes it to another level.

To hell with the challenge, it's all about the kill to this new breed of "hunter".  Got a bunch of turkey killers but few turkey hunters out there now.

If I could choose a hunting confidant, most of mine are dead, I would choose you.

[NCL]

I view the tactic strictly as  a safety issue. Years ago when I was in a "Shoot Don"t Shoot" Training the instructor said when a person gets in a stress situation they get tunnel vision, although it could be argued this is not to the same level there is a certain stress level involved in hunting. What Marc mentioned (Pareidolia) is the human ability to see shapes or faces in other objects such as a cloud, rock formation or a stump with white mold that looked like a turkey. The other factor that has not been mentioned is there are two parties involved in an accidental shooting, the victim and the perpetrator, the latter having to live the rest of his or her life knowing due to a careless moment they killed or maimed another person. The comparison has been suggested that the number of accidental is significantly less in reaping that in called but the number involved in the two activities is also significantly different, everyone turkey hunting uses a call to a certain degree whereas not many use the reaping method.   

[fallhnt]

What about the guy stalking your calling in the woods?

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This is more dangerous

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