Is it time?

[Gravey]

I don't shoot jakes
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I thought you shot anything legal? Changing it up this year?

Anyway I'm not gonna shoot a Jake but if one walks in front of my son I'll let him if he wants too. If they're legal and you want to have at it. As for bag limits I'm not that smart. I'm probably not going to kill 4 in a year unless they're off different places. Some areas it probably wouldn't hurt and others it would but again I'm not that smart.

I have intentionally not shot a jake during the spring for the past 2 seasons. Fall season I'm more likely to shoot anything. I have nothing against anyone shooting jakes at all, and I'm sure I will do it again, I just prefer the longbeards in the spring.


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Just curious but why will you shoot a jake in the fall but not the spring?

 

[catman529]

I don't shoot jakes
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I thought you shot anything legal? Changing it up this year?

Anyway I'm not gonna shoot a Jake but if one walks in front of my son I'll let him if he wants too. If they're legal and you want to have at it. As for bag limits I'm not that smart. I'm probably not going to kill 4 in a year unless they're off different places. Some areas it probably wouldn't hurt and others it would but again I'm not that smart.

I have intentionally not shot a jake during the spring for the past 2 seasons. Fall season I'm more likely to shoot anything. I have nothing against anyone shooting jakes at all, and I'm sure I will do it again, I just prefer the longbeards in the spring.


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Just curious but why will you shoot a jake in the fall but not the spring?

fall is a flock busting meat hunt. The last springs jakes are pretty much longbeards, and the jake poults are very tough to distinguish from the hens unless you get really close. During the spring, I'm only allowed 4 bearded birds so is rather them be full grown. Just preference


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[Roost 1]

Catman... Let me help you a bit.. In the fall the biggest birds in those brood flocks will most always be jakes... At 6 months old they may or may not have visible nubs but jakes will be bigger than the momma hens at that time... Just a general rule you can follow, it's not exact due to late hatches and other factors....

 

[Hunt 365]

Keep the limit at 4. Trust the biologists. I let my 9 year old shoot a jake if he wants, but he holds out for gobblers now. I haven't seen the data but I would bet jake harvest is negligible on total impact. If someone wants to waste a tag on a 10-lb bird they can't brag about, have at it. Or they can mount the partial fan next to their trophy 3 pt rack

 

[280longshot]

I'm still learning this turkey hunting... I don't shoot jakes anymore and you sure don't have to worry about me killing the limit.
Once the weather gets warmer I'd rather be crappie fishing.

 

[catman529]

Catman... Let me help you a bit.. In the fall the biggest birds in those brood flocks will most always be jakes... At 6 months old they may or may not have visible nubs but jakes will be bigger than the momma hens at that time... Just a general rule you can follow, it's not exact due to late hatches and other factors....

I killed a "jake beard" fall 2013 had a 7 or 8 inch beard and spurs pushing 3/4" was in a flock of several toms just like it. Just a week or two ago, I snuck up and watched a similar flock of longbeards that weren't quite full length. Last years jakes I assume.

The jakes in the big hen/poult flocks are a lot tougher to distinguish because their beards usually aren't visible and they don't have spurs yet, and they weigh about the same as the hens.


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[catman529]

Keep the limit at 4. Trust the biologists. I let my 9 year old shoot a jake if he wants, but he holds out for gobblers now. I haven't seen the data but I would bet jake harvest is negligible on total impact. If someone wants to waste a tag on a 10-lb bird they can't brag about, have at it. Or they can mount the partial fan next to their trophy 3 pt rack

you are missing the point of a trophy. It's not all about size, it's about what it means to the hunter.


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[Roost 1]

My point was, in the brood flocks, don't shoot the biggest birds and most likely you won't shoot a 4-5 month old jake. They will be the biggest birds in the flock roughly the same size as the momma hens. The smallest birds will be the young of the year hens..... I kno you are trying to get the most meat for your freezer, but I have seen your house your family is not starving..... Just saying.....

 

[easy45]

I like the meat, I only trophy hunt deer, I'll pass on jakes most of the season but when it gets down to it I'll kill a Jake to have a little meat


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[AT Hiker]

Keep the limit at 4. Trust the biologists.

Wish we could but its not that simple.

On our family farm is small, under 100acres. Yet we harbor a lot of birds, it would be easy for us to kill 8-10 a year. It would also be easy to quickly knock back the population. Now the surrounding land owners are allowing turkey hunters to come in, we have no control over what they shoot (nor should we). In the last 3 years the turkey population around us has been cut back tremendously. I hate having to be the one with sense and not shooting any birds there. Our farm is the refuge now, so we get to play turkey biologist by default. Reducing the limit would help tremendously.


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[Roost 1]

Same thing happens with the bucks... Therefore the very reason hunters want the buck limit reduced.

 

[REN]

Keep the limit at 4. Trust the biologists.

Wish we could but its not that simple.

On our family farm is small, under 100acres. Yet we harbor a lot of birds, it would be easy for us to kill 8-10 a year. It would also be easy to quickly knock back the population. Now the surrounding land owners are allowing turkey hunters to come in, we have no control over what they shoot (nor should we). In the last 3 years the turkey population around us has been cut back tremendously. I hate having to be the one with sense and not shooting any birds there. Our farm is the refuge now, so we get to play turkey biologist by default. Reducing the limit would help tremendously.


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Here is my issue with that. You are just assuming max limits are killed all around you and that is the cause (unless you know for a fact ) but there are more to cAuses of turkey declines. Seems people like just just blame the limit and coyotes for not seeing turkeys same thing guys say when they are not seeing big deer (it's the neighbor shooting them all)


Proverbs 3:5
"Trust in the lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding"

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[catman529]

My point was, in the brood flocks, don't shoot the biggest birds and most likely you won't shoot a 4-5 month old jake. They will be the biggest birds in the flock roughly the same size as the momma hens. The smallest birds will be the young of the year hens..... I kno you are trying to get the most meat for your freezer, but I have seen your house your family is not starving..... Just saying.....

it's not about starving, it's about hunting for a healthier source of meat instead of buying it. I don't get much adrenaline rush or gratification from buying a frozen turkey.

As for the jake size, what I've noticed based on birds I've killed and weighed is this - the 4- 6 month old jakes have 5-8 inch beards and their spurs are starting to get a sharp point. The jake poults are roughly the same size as the adult hens, weighing 8-10 pounds. Their beards don't protrude from the feathers most of the time. Their heads have a little more red than the hens, but you have to look closely to see. The hen poults are the smallest, as you said. They usually weigh less than 8 pounds and just look scrawny and young. Last year I fortunately killed 3 adult hens that weighed 9+ pounds each and had the full wing bar that adult hens have, and full sized feet (just a little smaller than a gobblers feet)


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[AT Hiker]

Keep the limit at 4. Trust the biologists.

Wish we could but its not that simple.

On our family farm is small, under 100acres. Yet we harbor a lot of birds, it would be easy for us to kill 8-10 a year. It would also be easy to quickly knock back the population. Now the surrounding land owners are allowing turkey hunters to come in, we have no control over what they shoot (nor should we). In the last 3 years the turkey population around us has been cut back tremendously. I hate having to be the one with sense and not shooting any birds there. Our farm is the refuge now, so we get to play turkey biologist by default. Reducing the limit would help tremendously.


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Here is my issue with that. You are just assuming max limits are killed all around you and that is the cause (unless you know for a fact ) but there are more to cAuses of turkey declines. Seems people like just just blame the limit and coyotes for not seeing turkeys same thing guys say when they are not seeing big deer (it's the neighbor shooting them all)


Proverbs 3:5
"Trust in the lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding"

Sent from my phone because I'm that cool

I think if you would re read my post you would answer your own question. We see birds but not the numbers we used to see. They over winter on our farm and spend a great deal of time on our farm in the spring. We only limit ourself to one tom off our farm since people started hunting around us. Im not blaming anyone I just using common sense. I doubt many people around me limit out on 4, if they did the we definitely wouldnt have any birds. What Im saying is my area cannot handle a 4 bird limit, no way no how.


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[Roost 1]

Catman..... A 4-6 month old jake will not have a 5-8" beard... No way

 

[REN]

I think if you would re read my post you would answer your own question. We see birds but not the numbers we used to see. They over winter on our farm and spend a great deal of time on our farm in the spring. We only limit ourself to one tom off our farm since people started hunting around us. Im not blaming anyone I just using common sense. I doubt many people around me limit out on 4, if they did the we definitely wouldnt have any birds. What Im saying is my area cannot handle a 4 bird limit, no way no how.


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i didn't mean it in a bad way to you or at you personally, just having a biology background it gets old when people start blaming the people around them when they actually don't know what they kill if any....just an easy way out to me. Not saying that is what you are saying but you are implying the people around you is the reason the population has gone down. If you don't know for a fact what they shoot if any then thats a hard stance to say what the cause actually is.

again nothing personal, I obviously don't know you or you situation just happen to be using your as my general statement is all

 

[catman529]

Catman..... A 4-6 month old jake will not have a 5-8" beard... No way

why do you say that? I'm just saying what I've seen and have killed one myself. How long do you think an average jakes beard is during the fall?


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[Roost 1]

Have you ever seen a jake in the spring? How long are their beards? Maybe 5-6" long and they maybe 10 months old.. No way they are going to be 5-8" long at 4-6 months....if you killed one in the fall with a 5-8" beard he was not a young of the year jake..... At 10 months old they will not have spurs of any length, only bumps....

 

[catman529]

Have you ever seen a jake in the spring? How long are their beards? Maybe 5-6" long and they maybe 10 months old.. No way they are going to be 5-8" long at 4-6 months....if you killed one in the fall with a 5-8" beard he was not a young of the year jake..... At 10 months old they will not have spurs of any length, only bumps....

ok I goofed up. I meant 4 to 6 months after the spring.... More like a year and a half.


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[AT Hiker]

I think if you would re read my post you would answer your own question. We see birds but not the numbers we used to see. They over winter on our farm and spend a great deal of time on our farm in the spring. We only limit ourself to one tom off our farm since people started hunting around us. Im not blaming anyone I just using common sense. I doubt many people around me limit out on 4, if they did the we definitely wouldnt have any birds. What Im saying is my area cannot handle a 4 bird limit, no way no how.


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i didn't mean it in a bad way to you or at you personally, just having a biology background it gets old when people start blaming the people around them when they actually don't know what they kill if any....just an easy way out to me. Not saying that is what you are saying but you are implying the people around you is the reason the population has gone down. If you don't know for a fact what they shoot if any then thats a hard stance to say what the cause actually is.

again nothing personal, I obviously don't know you or you situation just happen to be using your as my general statement is all

I didnt take it personal nor was I implying my neighbors are the cause, we just had the for thought to back off on killing them when people started hunting around us. After you watch 2 or 3 get shot across the fence and have one of the neighbors sons tell you how easy it is to kill the turkeys you can usually put 2 and 2 together, top that off with very little hatching the past couple years and that makes my area very sensitive to the bird limit we have set in place by TWRA.


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