Limbhoppers?

[KPH]

It just isn't fair or sporting...

Same as shooting doves on a wire instead of flight or letting ducks land on the water and shoot them.

Far too easy to walk right to the tree in the dark if you know the exact tree and snipe him off the limb.

Just why isn't fair or sporting if the duck lands in front of me it is mine. Like I said if he is dumb enough to let me sneak up on him he is mine or if I am good enough to sneak up on him. There is no way I can see it is not fair or sporting. Heck I would even brag about sneaking up on one. As long as it is legal go for it.

 

[th88]

I've had it had a few times. Killed one of them. All three instances I can remember, the gobbler flew in from his roost tree.

The first time, I didn't shoot cause "ethics". I was gonna kill him when he flew down. He flew down and hit the dang ground running! No shot.

Consulted with my old school turkey mentors and they told me a called in bird, not on his original roost, is fair game!

Happened again but the 2nd time he was just a tad too far. He ended up flying over my head and landing about 80 yards away in some palmettos. A few clucks turned him around and he snuck back in.

Third time.. real foggy morning. Bird gobbled a few times on roost and shut up. I eased off and went after another that was gobbling better. He shuts up. Silence for 1.5hrs. Fog starts to lift, original bird starts back gobbling. I ease closer...closer... I cluck a few times and he hammers. Sounds kind of off though? Next thing i know the gobbler comes flapping out of a big pine about 100 yards out and lights in a giant oak about 20 yards from me, 40 foot up. I smiled as I had been waiting on this day since I first passed that one up a decade prior. They make a funny sound falling 40 feet and hitting the ground. Bruised meat up some too. Pretty certain that bird never flew down that morning due to the heavy fog.

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Just why isn't fair or sporting if the duck lands in front of me it is mine. Like I said if he is dumb enough to let me sneak up on him he is mine or if I am good enough to sneak up on him. There is no way I can see it is not fair or sporting. Heck I would even brag about sneaking up on one. As long as it is legal go for it.

IMO, roost shooting a gobbler is WAY worse than shooting a duck on the water. Ducks are hunted over decoys spreads. Shooting one with his feet 3 feet off the water versus shooting one after he lands is a somewhat arbitrary distinction. It definitely eliminates the wing shooting aspect, which is part of the sport, but I'm not getting worked up over it if someone does it once in a while.

Roost shooting a gobbler is no better than spotlighting a deer. They are, by instinct, much more vocal on the limb because they are safe from every natural predator except horned owls. To figure out the exact roost location of a gobbling turkey in the near darkness requires only the ability to hear. You can't sneak up to every roosted gobbler. If you wanted to try it in some of the open cypress woods I hunt in early spring, good luck. But in many situations and in many landscapes, all you have to do is walk slow and keep a tree between you and him. Even if he sees you, his instinct is to go quiet and hunker down until the threat passes. When they flush from the roost, it is almost always when you get 30-40 yards from them in the tree. So a roost shooter just takes advantage of those natural instincts to get a cheap, quick picture of a dead gobbler. And that's not even accounting for the fact that you can roost one the night before, walk in in the dark, sit down 15 yards from his tree, point your gun up, and wait til the clock strikes shooting time.

Roost shooting summarily dispenses with every shred of sport and skill and respect for the animal in exchange for a dead turkey with a lot of roughed up feathers.

I took a kid on the juvenile two years ago. We set up in the dark and at daybreak a turkey gobbled above his left shoulder, 2 trees over. He's 9, loves hunting, and BADLY wanted to kill a turkey to show up his older brothers. I wouldn't have let him shoot it, but he didn't try. Later that day — after calling a group of 2 year olds gobbling through a cypress stand — I asked him about the roost turkey. He just said "I didn't want to kill one like that."

For the record, I could not possibly care less whether there is a rule provision specifically prohibiting roost shooting. There are some things you shouldn't have to be told not to do.

 

[KPH]

IMO, roost shooting a gobbler is WAY worse than shooting a duck on the water. Ducks are hunted over decoys spreads. Shooting one with his feet 3 feet off the water versus shooting one after he lands is a somewhat arbitrary distinction. It definitely eliminates the wing shooting aspect, which is part of the sport, but I'm not getting worked up over it if someone does it once in a while.

Roost shooting a gobbler is no better than spotlighting a deer. They are, by instinct, much more vocal on the limb because they are safe from every natural predator except horned owls. To figure out the exact roost location of a gobbling turkey in the near darkness requires only the ability to hear. You can't sneak up to every roosted gobbler. If you wanted to try it in some of the open cypress woods I hunt in early spring, good luck. But in many situations and in many landscapes, all you have to do is walk slow and keep a tree between you and him. Even if he sees you, his instinct is to go quiet and hunker down until the threat passes. When they flush from the roost, it is almost always when you get 30-40 yards from them in the tree. So a roost shooter just takes advantage of those natural instincts to get a cheap, quick picture of a dead gobbler. And that's not even accounting for the fact that you can roost one the night before, walk in in the dark, sit down 15 yards from his tree, point your gun up, and wait til the clock strikes shooting time.

Roost shooting summarily dispenses with every shred of sport and skill and respect for the animal in exchange for a dead turkey with a lot of roughed up feathers.

I took a kid on the juvenile two years ago. We set up in the dark and at daybreak a turkey gobbled above his left shoulder, 2 trees over. He's 9, loves hunting, and BADLY wanted to kill a turkey to show up his older brothers. I wouldn't have let him shoot it, but he didn't try. Later that day — after calling a group of 2 year olds gobbling through a cypress stand — I asked him about the roost turkey. He just said "I didn't want to kill one like that."

For the record, I could not possibly care less whether there is a rule provision specifically prohibiting roost shooting. There are some things you shouldn't have to be told not to do.

I am so glad you are good enough to sneak up on a turkey on the roost in the morning light. You have your opinion and I have mine. Tell you what I won"t tell you how to hunt and I will hunt my way as long as it is legal .

 

[Southern Sportsman]

I am so glad you are good enough to sneak up on a turkey on the roost in the morning light. You have your opinion and I have mine. Tell you what I won"t tell you how to hunt and I will hunt my way as long as it is legal .

You asked a question. I gave you an answer.

If they change the deer regs to allow spotlighting, I can't stop you from rigging up a KC lightbar and killing a booner. But don't convince yourself that it's sporting just because it's legal. And don't confuse it with deer hunting.

 

[Gravey]

If he comes in to my calling I don't care how if he walks in or flies I'm killing him. Shooting one off the roost that you sat under in the dark is a whole different thing and would not shoot it.

 

[KPH]

You asked a question. I gave you an answer.

If they change the deer regs to allow spotlighting, I can't stop you from rigging up a KC lightbar and killing a booner. But don't convince yourself that it's sporting just because it's legal. And don't confuse it with deer hunting.

I know I am nor perfect like some think they are. I am not to sure how spotlighting deer got into this I don't think I brought it up, some times a guilty dog barks first. I won't look down my noise at the way some one else hunts if it is legal, but if it makes you think you are better than someone else and makes you happy go ahead.

 

[fairchaser]

Closely related to this topic is the idea of shooting a flying turkey. I've had a couple of chances but never have and haven't decided the ethical aspect. I've had them fly straight toward me off the roost after calling and also accidentally flushed them from a tree. I wasn't sure I could hit one but listening to Alvin York describe shooting a flying flock got me thinking about how cool it could be.

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Closely related to this topic is the idea of shooting a flying turkey. I've had a couple of chances but never have and haven't decided the ethical aspect. I've had them fly straight toward me off the roost after calling and also accidentally flushed them from a tree. I wasn't sure I could hit one but listening to Alvin York describe shooting a flying flock got me thinking about how cool it could be.

I would do it in the right situation. Don't know exactly what that situation may be, but I'm not really opposed to shooting one just because he's flying for some reason. I wouldn't shoot one flying up to roost. But I've seen them pitch from ridge to ridge at LBL. If I was working a bird and he pitched my way and was sailing over me, I'd shoot him on the wing.

Tom Kelly seems to have killed a lot of them flying in one situation or another. A lot of that was the style of fall hunting he did, but there are a few stories involving flying turkeys in the spring too.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Closely related to this topic is the idea of shooting a flying turkey.

If I recall correctly, Archibald Rutledge thought it an abomination to call in and kill a lovesick and vulnerable spring gobbler...akin to shooting fish in a barrel he wrote. Some other old timer (I disremember his name) felt it perfectly unsporting to kill a gobbler unless he was flushed and "took wing."

 

[gunrunner]

several years ago I called a tom up a ridge where I was set up in some tall weeds. He got to the edge of the ridge and started calling and strutting. He could not see me and I had no decoy. He finally flew up into a tree to find the "hen".I shot him at around 25 yards. It took an hour to get it all done so I felt I had earned the shot. He got some revenge on me though. He fell out of the tree and flopped all the way to the bottom of the ridge. It took another hour to get him back to the truck and it was all uphill.

 

[Granddaddy]

Have experienced several limb hoppers but never got a shot at one. Have had a couple fly up after being called in, in open woods, where they should have been able to see the hen. Probably birds that have been bumped by hunters in the past & wanted the protection that the fly-up provided.

 

[Southern Sportsman]

If I recall correctly, Archibald Rutledge thought it an abomination to call in and kill a lovesick and vulnerable spring gobbler...akin to shooting fish in a barrel he wrote.

He also wrote about shooting a clump of mistletoe out of a tree after mistaking it for a turkey silhouette and he routinely had Prince, his black servant, locate turkeys, build a blind, and carry sacks of corn in to bait the area, admonishing Prince not to go shoot the turkeys himself, but to let them find the bait so he could go kill them.

I love some of his old stories, but it was a different time with different principles. And if I could go back in time and hunt with one of them, I'd rather hunt with Prince than Rutledge.

 

[megalomaniac]

I've shot at 2 while flying when I was younger, neither ended well. One I flat out missed as he flew over a woven wire fence to get to me. The other I missed/ peppered standing at 30 yards and he took flight. My second shot broke his wing and he dropped. My third shot peppered him and he continued to run away. Out of shells I chased the injured bird up a hill as fast as I could run. I got lucky and he tried to duck into the woods through a woven wire fence and got hung up just enough for me to catch up to him and dispatch him. I then puked from exhaustion.

Since then, I've had 2 fly to me. I let their feet touch the ground in front of me, then killed them cleanly when they stuck their head up to look.

 

[Andy S.]

If I recall correctly, Archibald Rutledge thought it an abomination to call in and kill a lovesick and vulnerable spring gobbler...akin to shooting fish in a barrel he wrote.

One of the old heads I routinely talk to who has hunted turkeys his whole life, both in spring, and in the fall with a dog, has said numerous times to me "he!!, anyone should be able to call up a lovesick gobbler in the spring. Come hunt in the fall, call one up and tell me what you think."

 

[Boll Weevil]

One of the old heads I routiniely talk to who has hunted turkeys his whole life, both in spring, and in the fall with a dog, has said numerous times to me "he!!, anyone should be able to call up a lovesick gobbler in the spring. Come hunt in the fall, call one up and tell me what you think."

100% true.

 

[Bell3wv]

The thread about silent toms and some choosing not to shoot them got me thinking; who'll shoot a limbhopper? I absolutely don't mean shooting a bird off the roost. Rather, a bird you call in but he flies up at the last minute, within gun range, to try and get a look at the "hen." He might even fly from tree to tree in an attempt to get a look. It doesn't happen to me terribly often but it does happen...I absolutely despise limbhopper.

I've had this happen a few times. Mostly when I tom is roosted on higher ground than me and glides downhill to another tree to get a better vantage. I see no ethical issues if he's left his roost tree.