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Closing the deal

bowhunterfanatic said:
I hope everyone on this thread gets to read this comment...I listened to Cuz Strickland's podcast today with a turkey biologist out of MS. The whole podcast was dedicated to results of their turkey hunter survey. Everyone on this thread should give it a listen...although I'm sure some won't agree with the results. Most of it was as I would expect with the exception of 1-2 things. If nothing else though, I hope everyone listens to the success rates of guys who use a decoy vs guys who do not.
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He's got quite a few podcasts. Which one specifically?
 
Socialist turkey hunting=Everyone uses a decoy and can only kill one turkey. The lazy guy can use it and kill one. The guy that loves turkeys and works his land to make them thrive can only kill one turkey. Everyone is equal and happy.....Until the hard worker says to hell with it because it ain't worth working so hard for one bird when his lazy neighbor sits a strutter out.

Capitalist turkey hunting= Everyone works hard to provide more and better habitat for wild turkeys. Creating better habitat and management goals makes more turkeys thrive, hence more liberal limits and longer seasons. The guys that don't have the manner and means will benefit from more turkeys because over all there will be more turkeys. Across the landscape. And the ones that don't want to learn to hunt them the traditional way can find something else to do, like crappie or shellcracker fishing.
Capitalism works every time.
 
TheLBLman said:
Reality Turkey Hunting =
The neighbor with 3 acres kills more turkeys over his corn pile behind his patio, than the guy next door intensely managing his 300 acres for turkeys.
While we argue about decoys.
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I just can't buy the baiting argument, I'm sure it happens but I don't see how effective it can be on gobblers when all they have is love on the brain.
 
Southern Sportsman said:
There are a lot of variations to this scenario. I have rarely, if ever found a gobbler that I could "pattern" in the spring like this. I've known some to roost in the same area time after time. I wouldn't just set up and shoot him on his way to roost.

If one flew down and wouldn't work, but I could course him well enough to maneuver in front of him (unlikely unless he was gobbling), I have no problem shooting him. I remember doing this only once.

But if a gobbler won't work to a call, and you can legitimately pattern him and get him within 40 yards based on your knowledge of that turkey and the terrain, well done. Not a particularly exciting hunt strategy, but a well earned turkey, IMO. I know some who wouldn't shoot one like this, but I'm confident it's not based on an ethics objection. Just personal preference on how they want to use their tags.
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I've killed a couple of private land birds that would answer my calls repeatedly, thundering & continuous. But both in particular would fly down and immediately go to a nearby logging road to strut & mate. They continued this habit for days. In both cases, I tried to get in their path to the road but they would avoid coming directly to me & head to the road, expecting that calling hen to come to him there. In both cases, near season's end instead of continuing to call to the toms once they answered on the roost, I moved immediately to the road & didn't call. Waiting instead for him to reach the road & begin his strutting, gobbling routine. With one, I never called again, I was in his strutting zone & he worked his way towards me & I killed him at about 20 yds. On the other bird, I had a slight rise in the road between where he was strutting & where I had set up. I simply layed flat on the road, clucked once & he came strutting my way. I saw his head at about 10 yrs & killed him. Personally, I remember these two old gobblers as two of my best achievements & they were much tougher to achieve than any birds that just came directly to my calls.
 
TheLBLman said:
Reality Turkey Hunting =
The neighbor with 3 acres kills more turkeys over his corn pile behind his patio, than the guy next door intensely managing his 300 acres for turkeys.
While we argue about decoys.
Click to expand...
timberjack86 said:
I just can't buy the baiting argument, I'm sure it happens but I don't see how effective it can be on gobblers when all they have is love on the brain.
Click to expand...
Here's a bit more regarding "how it happens":

To what extent the Gobblers have "love" on their minds, they simply follow the hens, and the hens go to feed on the corn (or wheat, or whatever the poacher pours).

The 1st week (as well as the weeks prior) of our current TN statewide turkey season is the week of the very lowest food resources for turkey. They are easily conditioned to visit "bait" feeding locations multiple times of the day, and will not stop until other food sources become more abundant. The best news is more food sources do typically become super-abundant around mid-April, as Spring "Green-Up" explodes, and insects become everywhere. Thereafter, "bait" locations don't work so well.

IMO, the baiting issue is much larger on private lands than on public, so those who mainly hunt public may wonder why all the fuss. Much of the private land baiting is happening in people's back yards, and most often, the people have less than 5 acres. But no problem, they can easily kill some turkeys shooting out the back door.

These "back yard" situations are very hard to catch, much less prosecute. Very unlike "baiting" on public lands, it is legal year-round to "feed" or "bait" in one's own back yard. This provides the "legal cover". Pure accident if an officer actually catches someone shooting a turkey out their back door, as that would generally be the requirement to prosecute.

As an aside, these birds may typically be "legally" tele-checked in, and are not necessarily poached before the season opens. For whatever reasons, it seems to be widely accepted that shooting turkeys over bait is an accepted practice, so long as the season is open.

I strongly believe we lose more turkeys from illegal baiting (during the 1st week) than are killed by those using strutter decoys. In fact, I would go as far as stating we likely lose more turkeys illegally shot over bait than are otherwise legally killed in our season's current 1st week (on private lands).

Meanwhile, I see very few hunters on public land using strutter decoys, nor do I care, other than for their safety.
 
TheLBLman said:
Here's a bit more regarding "how it happens":

To what extent the Gobblers have "love" on their minds, they simply follow the hens, and the hens go to feed on the corn (or wheat, or whatever the poacher pours).

The 1st week (as well as the weeks prior) of our current TN statewide turkey season is the week of the very lowest food resources for turkey. They are easily conditioned to visit "bait" feeding locations multiple times of the day, and will not stop until other food sources become more abundant. The best news is more food sources do typically become super-abundant around mid-April, as Spring "Green-Up" explodes, and insects become everywhere. Thereafter, "bait" locations don't work so well.

IMO, the baiting issue is much larger on private lands than on public, so those who mainly hunt public may wonder why all the fuss. Much of the private land baiting is happening in people's back yards, and most often, the people have less than 5 acres. But no problem, they can easily kill some turkeys shooting out the back door.

These "back yard" situations are very hard to catch, much less prosecute. Very unlike "baiting" on public lands, it is legal year-round to "feed" or "bait" in one's own back yard. This provides the "legal cover". Pure accident if an officer actually catches someone shooting a turkey out their back door, as that would generally be the requirement to prosecute.

As an aside, these birds may typically be "legally" tele-checked in, and are not necessarily poached before the season opens. For whatever reasons, it seems to be widely accepted that shooting turkeys over bait is an accepted practice, so long as the season is open.

I strongly believe we lose more turkeys from illegal baiting (during the 1st week) than are killed by those using strutter decoys. In fact, I would go as far as stating we likely lose more turkeys illegally shot over bait than are otherwise legally killed in our season's current 1st week (on private lands).

Meanwhile, I see very few hunters on public land using strutter decoys, nor do I care, other than for their safety.
Click to expand...
I would add that more turkeys are probably killed by diseased corn than by decoy hunters or shooting them over the corn.
 
TheLBLman said:
Here's a bit more regarding "how it happens":

To what extent the Gobblers have "love" on their minds, they simply follow the hens, and the hens go to feed on the corn (or wheat, or whatever the poacher pours).

The 1st week (as well as the weeks prior) of our current TN statewide turkey season is the week of the very lowest food resources for turkey. They are easily conditioned to visit "bait" feeding locations multiple times of the day, and will not stop until other food sources become more abundant. The best news is more food sources do typically become super-abundant around mid-April, as Spring "Green-Up" explodes, and insects become everywhere. Thereafter, "bait" locations don't work so well.

IMO, the baiting issue is much larger on private lands than on public, so those who mainly hunt public may wonder why all the fuss. Much of the private land baiting is happening in people's back yards, and most often, the people have less than 5 acres. But no problem, they can easily kill some turkeys shooting out the back door.

These "back yard" situations are very hard to catch, much less prosecute. Very unlike "baiting" on public lands, it is legal year-round to "feed" or "bait" in one's own back yard. This provides the "legal cover". Pure accident if an officer actually catches someone shooting a turkey out their back door, as that would generally be the requirement to prosecute.

As an aside, these birds may typically be "legally" tele-checked in, and are not necessarily poached before the season opens. For whatever reasons, it seems to be widely accepted that shooting turkeys over bait is an accepted practice, so long as the season is open.

I strongly believe we lose more turkeys from illegal baiting (during the 1st week) than are killed by those using strutter decoys. In fact, I would go as far as stating we likely lose more turkeys illegally shot over bait than are otherwise legally killed in our season's current 1st week (on private lands).

Meanwhile, I see very few hunters on public land using strutter decoys, nor do I care, other than for their safety.
Click to expand...
I have heard feeders in operation many times during turkey season. I don't understand why TWRA officers cannot hear them.
 
Hawk said:
I have heard feeders in operation many times during turkey season. I don't understand why TWRA officers cannot hear them.
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They might not can hear them but increasingly, they are able to see them. Drones. In CWD counties, there's hopefully gonna be alot more citations for baiting/feeding.
 
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Granddaddy said:
I've killed a couple of private land birds that would answer my calls repeatedly, thundering & continuous. But both in particular would fly down and immediately go to a nearby logging road to strut & mate. They continued this habit for days. In both cases, I tried to get in their path to the road but they would avoid coming directly to me & head to the road, expecting that calling hen to come to him there. In both cases, near season's end instead of continuing to call to the toms once they answered on the roost, I moved immediately to the road & didn't call. Waiting instead for him to reach the road & begin his strutting, gobbling routine. With one, I never called again, I was in his strutting zone & he worked his way towards me & I killed him at about 20 yds. On the other bird, I had a slight rise in the road between where he was strutting & where I had set up. I simply layed flat on the road, clucked once & he came strutting my way. I saw his head at about 10 yrs & killed him. Personally, I remember these two old gobblers as two of my best achievements & they were much tougher to achieve than any birds that just came directly to my calls.
Click to expand...
Excellent post. This is how I have killed some of my best gobblers. Pattern them and move in for the kill. I killed one once wearing a white button down shirt and dress slacks. Because he was in a field when I got home from work and I knew how he would leave the field and what time. I didn't have time to change my clothes.
 
bowhunterfanatic said:
It's the newest one out. It dropped Tuesday. Facts and Feathers part 1
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Fist Full of Dirt (FFOD056) : Facts and Feathers Part I with Adam Butler (MDWFP Turkey Project Coordinator). Start at the 21 minute mark, the decoy discussion comes up at 48 minute mark.

BLUF: Adam discussed 2020 MS Spring Gobbler Hunter Survey of 1300 volunteers of MS hunters that fill out a survey every day of season, or every day they hunt or afield.
 
poorhunter said:
I would add that more turkeys are probably killed by diseased corn than by decoy hunters or shooting them over the corn.
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I highly doubt that, obviously have no way to prove one way or another but % of turkeys killed over decoys vs ones that die of contaminated corn is prob not very close as far as total numbers.
 
Setterman said:
I've hunted all over the Southeast, and I mean all over It. 500 acre Alabama ag fields, Miss River bottoms, rolling hills of west Tn, palmetto swamps of South Georgia, Sand Hills of central georgia, rugged eastern TN mountains and many more.

for decades now I've adhered by my rules of engagement and for decades I've killed 12-14 birds a year. Each and every one gobbled to my call, and came to my set up.

I haven't killed a private Land turkey in TN, Ky, VA, or NC in almost 20 years.

I would suggest reflecting on your tactics, early season methods etc.

Sorry to come across as arrogant, but there's nothing you can throw at me that I haven't dealt with from high pressured, to low bird numbers, to henned up lock jaw, whatever you got I've dealt with. In every instance a bird will gobble if hunted the right way at the right time. You just have to shelve the must kill now mentality.

There's a place near my house called Loyston Point, it has a few birds and every day they get hammered by countless hunters. Within a week of the season opening they go silent from the pressure. 90% of the hunters vacate after the second week. I can go in there the first week of May every single year and call a gobbling bird to my gun. These birds have seen and heard it all, they've been shot at, bumped, spooked, wounded etc. But by hunting them smartly and at the right time they still play the game.

Catoosa is very similar, I've seen a lot of birds die in a very hard hit weird place to hunt

Its you and your hunting mentality is my point. You want instant gratification. you don't want to learn, hunt smart, and adhere to anything other than filling that tag as fast as possible. In your mind it's dang he won't gobble, so I'll sneak up and ambush him. In my mind, he's not gobbling today I'll come back in a week or so, and see if he's ready To play my game.

please don't think every time I walk in the woods they just come running gobbling all the way. There's lots of days, where I get my butt handed to me, nothing gobbled, I setup poorly, made a dumb mistake, or A bird gobbled twice and vanished. Those days are far more common then the dead bird days, but that's what makes this fun. My tags are precious and too valuable as well as the chess match to cheapen the experience by employing some bs tactic
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There's not a lot of days your butt gets handed to you if you kill 14 birds a year.
 
Setterman said:
More than half of my days in the woods I'm walking out empty handed. And that's perfectly fine, and part of the fun.
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My thoughts exactly! IMO, if one hunts 100% traditional and is darn good at it, one should expect to bat .500 before tagging out. If he/she really shows out one year, he/she can expect to bat .600-.800, or MAYBE in a select few years, bat near 1.000 (4 hunts, call 4 to the gun and kill them). The latter scenario is more likely for States with a lower season limit and perfect weather (i.e. 2 birds total, thus good/lucky hunter kills 2 in 2 consecutive hunts). Of course, availability of turkeys and weather play a key role into this rough order magnitude estimation.
 
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