OFFICIAL 2014 JAKE THREAD

I have heard both sides of the jake argument.

a lot of people say that if you have a group of jakes (7-8) of them that you need to kill one or two because they will gang up and pester the gobbler. In other words make him leave.

I use to hunt a farm that in one season had over 25 jakes. I killed a few toms out of there and every one of them had spur holes all in em. Maybe the jakes were ganging up on them.

I don't kill jakes as a rule because I like to let them mature into toms. More jakes = more toms and better turkey population for the future years. Just my opinion.
 
SX3Mike said:
I use to hunt a farm that in one season had over 25 jakes. I killed a few toms out of there and every one of them had spur holes all in em. Maybe the jakes were ganging up on them.
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Jakes do not have spurs long and sharp enough to leave a hole in a bird.
 
Ill shoot whatever is legal and believe me if a jake comes close enough its going home with me I usually just turkey hunt a few times so im not wiping out a whole flock but whatever you set your goals and happiness by all means go out and have fun thats what my goal is to get out and enjoy the hunt
 
I don't plan to kill any jakes this year, but if the hunting is tough or something, I'll shoot one in the face
 
Shot a few when I was younger but no more. Why.... because its not much of a challenge and I want gobbling turkeys next year. It is detrimental to be shooting jakes in areas like I hunt where you don't have many turkeys to begin with. I will never allow on it my land unless its a kid. When my son gets here and is old enough to hunt, then I would be all for a jake getting shot if he wants to.
 
SX3Mike said:
I have heard both sides of the jake argument.

a lot of people say that if you have a group of jakes (7-8) of them that you need to kill one or two because they will gang up and pester the gobbler. In other words make him leave.

I use to hunt a farm that in one season had over 25 jakes. I killed a few toms out of there and every one of them had spur holes all in em. Maybe the jakes were ganging up on them.

I don't kill jakes as a rule because I like to let them mature into toms. More jakes = more toms and better turkey population for the future years. Just my opinion.
Click to expand...

Spur holes didn't come a jake, physically impossible for a jake button to puncture anything.

I absolutely refuse to shoot jakes, there's no excitement for me in looking at a rat beard and no spurs. I also get no challenge from them, they either talk and come ambling in or slip in like a scared child. After all they've only been alive for about 9 months, so they haven't learned a lot about survival

It's up to the individual on this one though, and I'd love for everyone to pass on them, I understand that's not going to happen and if it makes a person happy then fire away
 
TLRanger said:
What about a "Super Jake"? One that gobbles, struts, and acts like a gobbler but still has the jake fan, spurs and a 3 or 4 inch beard.
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Still a jake in my book. Last weekend in Georgia I had 2 of these that came in 3 different times, I would call them in and spook them, each time they kept coming back for more. Dumbest turkeys in the woods IMO, they've got enough testosterone to be a big man but don't have the brains to stay out of trouble. I actually felt sorry for them after a while. When I left the woods they were still hammering away.
 
:D

Not usually, but learned a long time ago not to say never again ;) !

I took an old fella last year on a hunt. We had a flock of 3 jakes, 2 longbeards, and a few hens across a big field from us.

They slowly made their way toward us, with the jakes leading the way.

I told him that I thought the longbeards would eventually come over for a peak if he wanted to wait. "Why?", he asked, "a jake will eat better any way!" :D Hard to argue with his logic.

He ended up missing one of the jakes with his gun, but then after a while I was able to coax the longbeards into range. I had slipped him my gun, and he killed one of them.
 
Me, personally, no desire to shoot a jake.
Jake's are about to turkeys what a button buck is to deer.
Both are less than a year old, and neither approaches the hunting challenge they will should they survive at least another year.

Another thing to think about:
The more male birds you have relative the females, the more gobbling you usually get from the males. In other words, having more 2-yr and older Toms (by not shooting jakes), increases your chances of taking a longbeard, not just because you end up with more longbeards, but also because the longbeards will gobble more frequently.

You'll kill more longbeards if you kill fewer jakes, often same day, you'll pass up a jake only a little later to have an opportunity at a longbeard. (Kinda like when you pass up a young buck, then an older ones comes along a little later that morning.)

That said, jakes are legal birds in TN (if beard is visible). Early season, many jakes will not have a visible beard.

As to those "super jakes", I figure they just have a head start on being a bigger older Tom, kinda like when you have a 1 1/2-yr-old buck that starts out as an 8-pointer: Best ones NOT to shoot if you're in to managing your herd/flock.
 

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