YouTube and public land

[catman529]

Some super super super salty people commenting on this post. Almost laughable.

Definitely a lot of salt, but the one good point to be made is to not show landmarks in videos. I talked to Aaron about this for a while when we were hunting in TN last week.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[g8rvet]

Good points Loyal.  I hunt SK every year and we are very careful to be considerate and respectful in every thing we do while guests in another country.  Not being forced to hire a guide is very important to us, we want to free lance and do it ourselves (just what makes it fun for us).  It will not be us that votes to make that happen, but the many people we run into and the folks that we gift cleaned birds to every year, whether we hunt their land or not.  The locals know us as the guys that have a gator and grits cook every year. 

I give pointers to young folks or new folks all the time.  I have even shared locations and helped friends and family kill birds.  But when someone wants to TAKE my spot and they were too dang lazy to get out of bed early enough, then I have a problem.

[GobbleNut]

I had a conversation with a hunting buddy about his opener here in VA on public land.  He was overrun by hunters.  Had a guy near by running the same seven note yelp every two minutes from daylight until he left at 9:45.  We say "thats ridiculous" and "how obnoxious".  Yes that can really "ruin" a hunt. 

But that guy is probably one of those guys on the FB group who posts: "This is my first season turkey hunting any tips appreciated".  Yikes!  How does one even respond to that?  So he gets a ton of small tidbits that don't mean anything without context and goes after it; calling every two minutes cause thats what the guys on the Outdoor Channel do.

How is he supposed to learn?  Honestly, the first thing I am going to tell that guy is to go watch THP, Calling all Turkeys and Pinhoti Project.  Because their videos teach the ethics, techniques and nuances of the game as well as most mentors would.  And good mentors are few and far between, unless all of us are taking several newbies out a season.

I agree that showing specific towns and especially gate numbers crosses a line.  But I'd rather have these guys showing the ropes to people who's interest is piqued by hunting than the newbies bumbling around the woods without these "rules" in mind.  Cause, again, these guys/gals probably have nobody else to teach them these points.

The world is changing constantly.  This trend isn't going to get "better".  This is what public land is for.  It sucks for the guys (like myself) who see the old honey holes get overrun.  But we need these newbies to sustain our sport.  We need their license purchases to fund the conservation to see the ecosystems we cherish into the distant future.  I'd rather see more hunters than not have these lands to hunt.  We just have to adapt to it all.

Have you guys sent THP an email or message voicing your concerns?  I'd wager they listen.  Yes everyone is a little different on camera, but their base values seem pretty sound (but I've been wrong before).  I do have a weakness for seeing the best in folks as much as I can.

Happy hunting, folks!
Royce

Fantastic post, Royce! Well said!  Hope to see more from you.  You are obviously fairly new here, so....Welcome to OG!

[longbeards]

I hunt and fish WV and never post a pic of where I am hunting or trout fishing..crazy world we live in!

[CALLM2U]

Some super super super salty people commenting on this post. Almost laughable.

Definitely a lot of salt, but the one good point to be made is to not show landmarks in videos. I talked to Aaron about this for a while when we were hunting in TN last week.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

While I appreciate the effort and sentiment, you've done the same.  Sure, you can chalk it up to a lesson learned, but don't try and come on here and act like you're the role model trying to help others out. 

[Greg Massey]

I'm sure this happens with everyone , but in my area of the state we have very little public ground to hunt, but in other areas we have lot more public ground.  I will agree with most that public ground is what it is , for everyone to hunt regardless of your style of hunting.  I will say Youtube video's are very misleading on turkey hunting for the most part. Lot's of these guys hunt ranches , private game farms etc . It's like the guy saying hey I've got plenty of turkeys so come on over and make a video and while your at it advertise bottle of Sqwincher . OMG...

[Click]

Some super super super salty people commenting on this post. Almost laughable.

Definitely a lot of salt, but the one good point to be made is to not show landmarks in videos. I talked to Aaron about this for a while when we were hunting in TN last week.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

While I appreciate the effort and sentiment, you've done the same.  Sure, you can chalk it up to a lesson learned, but don't try and come on here and act like you're the role model trying to help others out.

Help me understand the need for confrontation? 

[ddturkeyhunter]

[/quote]
The anti hunters will get us if we don't recruit new hunters is a pile of crap I been listening to my whole life.
[/quote]
This has been a great topic, a lot has been said and a lot more has to be said from every one. And sorry to have to post this just after someone post about picking on someone else post. So this sentence wasn't intended to pick on someone's view point just to show my view point of view. Back in the ninety I joined a new group of sportsmans of every kind of group to fight agains the anti's. I was the head of the Trappers group and at the front line of the fight in them days. At that time there was a hunters group there that made the comment " It would be a cold day in Hell before anyone try taking my guns away". Times have changed since then and there will come a day when the anti"s will come after any group that isn't well funded. So this fourm is doing a terrific job. It keeps us all together informed as to what is troubling us. I my self haven't had a lot of time to watch a lot of the Utube video's mentioned, but know about the consequences of posting or showing something on the internet. It is there FOREVER and i have used it for that. My first out of state hunt I ever did was to florida in 2009. And for two years before I went, I read anything I could read or find on this one management. So I know what internet stocking is, and if I was going to the State where they show the numbers on the gate, that would have been my starting point also. So dose anyone hear think that the groups filming and mentioned in this post won't be more careful in the future. I willing to bet they will, but will there be someone new making the same mistake, sure there will. And thats where its our duty to call them out on this website so someone talks to them so they don't make the same mistake twice. And life goes on, and hope we ALL get to hunt another year.

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

The worst thing that happened to public land turkey hunting was Youtubers who wanted to brand themselves through the exploitation of it.

Now those same Youtubers sometimes b$tch on their posts about the pressure.  Nothing is sacred anymore and everyone wants to be famous.  There's no reason to publicize what state you're in or what part of that state you're in. 

I enjoy good turkey hunting and these dipsh!ts are undeniably making it harder to find.

They will be their own undoing at the expense of the welfare of the wild turkey and its populations.

[WorkingBirds]

Couldn't agree more. Taking my son hunting earlier this season, found 6 trucks (from 3 different states) hunting next to and crossing boundaries on our lease. Hoot owls all around sounding like a bunch of chickens. Youtube has made all this possible!

[aclawrence]

"They will be their own undoing", this is what I'm curious to see how they begin to manage.  In one way, good for them, they have found a way to make a living doing what they love.  Now that they have I think they are kind of trapped.  I see some snarky comments on here about Pinhoti.  I honestly feel like some of ya'll are jealous when it comes down to it.  I have watched all of Daves videos so you can call me a fanboy if you'd like.  It's obvious he loves turkey hunting just as much or more than any of us on here.  I've never seen him give out any clues about where he hunts.  I would say he probably goes out of his way to make sure he's not doing that.  He also has showed how he handles run ins with other hunters which hopefully new hunters will learn from.  I can't say the same for the other Youtubers mentioned.  I know THP posted a vid a couple years ago of a building with the name on it and it was obvious the WMA they were hunting was about an hour from me.  I'm kind of glad they didn't have a lot of success on that trip because it was so easy to figure out.  I've heard a lot of complaints about some of the others in the past also.  Dave seems to really be passionate about his style of turkey hunting and sharing it with others.  I'm sure this year he is probably feeling the effect of more people in the woods as a direct result of his videos.  I've learned a lot from watching him and hope he continues to share his hunts with us.  I agree though naming places, showing signs, that kind of stuff is not helping anybody.  I know Western hunters are getting it even worse than us.  You could use to go backpack hunting and not see anyone.  Now you see more people 5-10 miles in than you do closer to the road sometimes.  I'm not sure what the balance is or what the future will hold.  I feel like more hunters in the hunting group as a whole is a good thing.  Maybe more deer hunters and less turkey guys lol. 

[kytrkyhntr]

Someone get a mop the tears are getting out of hand 

[fallhnt]

All you guys saying some are butt hurt etc. Go ahead and post up your public ground hot spots. I'm planing my next year's and this fall turkey hunts now since I have nothing better to do.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[fallhnt]

and crickets.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[brittman]

Public land is just that public land.  It can be productive.   It can be a hassle.   

I would say over half of my birds that I have killed in the past 20 years across multiple states and all the birds I killed before 2012 were on public land.   Lately, I have secured some really nice private land spots (not forever, they also tend to come and go too) and private land accounts for 60% of my gobblers now.  Never felt the need to publish detailed reports (a story or two yes) or you tube videos and never felt the need to commercialize the sport.

I also hunt pheasants, ruffed grouse and occasionally ducks on public land.   I those cases my dogs and my scouting allow me to be consistently highly successful ...  pressure or not ... turkeys are a little different in that people wondering can scatter working birds or worse I suppose threaten your safety if they decide to sneak you.     

It is interesting that there will be a few years were competition is pretty high on a public land spot, than all of a sudden you have the place to yourself for years ...    Often it is the season after a tough MN winter that sends those guys packing and they leave for some time.

I have hunted public where I walked out because some gomer hit his gobbler shaker call every 5 minutes for two hours.

Where I grew up (ND) if someone was at a public spot you moved on ... you would not crowd.   Seems like if this advise was followed more often ... far less problems would occur.