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Reaping thoughts

RUGER

RUGER

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The other thread made me toy with the idea of an article regarding reaping, or fanning while turkey hunting.

I got a few ideas from the other thread but wanted some more "specific" comments maybe?
Anyone care to share their thoughts?

What do you enjoy about fanning if you do it?
What didn't you like about it if you tried it?

What do you not like about it overall?
Why are you 100% against it?

I would like to hear a few thoughts from people that do it and like it.
Feel free to pm me if you would rather.

No names will be used in any article without prior permission, if I do it at all.

Thanks!
 
Having a turkey charge you is an exciting as can be. No, it doesn't take the skill as calling in a bird with woodsmanship and when he can't see you. But it's a last resort tactic on a field turkey and it is an adrenaline rush. I haven't done it in a while but I'm not against it. It's a good way to get shot on public land though, admitted.
 
I think fanning is like one of those things that gets tried once or twice and even if successful won't take over the sport. It might be cool at first but the challenge wears off and it's like shooting a turkey over a corn pile or even decoys in some cases. If the challenge is gone, what's the point? Butterball turkeys are cheap in the grocery store. I'm paying good money to lease property to hunt turkeys. I don't want to kill 3 turkeys and go home. I want to chase them until the last day and have an adventure doing it.
 
As I said in the other thread I did it once and it's a sure nuff adrenalin rush but in no way has they typical turkey hunting experience that we all love and enjoy. The game of cat and mouse is what makes it fun and enjoyable for me. The place I did it on was a neighbors 5 acres and he had a turkey pecking his glass door on his sunroom and called me to come kill this bird. I tried and tried to call him but he wouldn't budge from attacking the other bird in the glass (himself). I finally got his attention cutting hard over and over and then flashed a fan at him and he couldn't take it. He was about 60 yards away and started my way. At 10 yards on a pretty good run I almost missed him because the pattern is so tight at that distance as you well know. The heart rate was definitely up but not my cup of tea to kill one like that. I chalked it up to helping my neighbor with a nuisance bird.
 
My thoughts and feel free to use my name, I could care less.

1. It's unsafe. All young turkey hunters were taught to never do this type of stuff, yet now it's being promoted by outdoor retailers. That's insanity

2. Turkey hunting is meant to be done by using natural cover, a call, and a shotgun to lure a bird into range. Reaping meets none of those requirements

3. Killing off the super dominant breeder birds is effecting the overall population in a negative way.

4. It allows any hunter able to crawl the ability to kill an otherwise unkillable bird.

5. It's bringing out the worst in hunters. Watch some videos and you'll see the sickening behavior that reapers show. There's no respect for the sport, the chase, the game, or the bird with these people. It's only about killing, that's pretty disgusting

6. Repears would drop the tail fan in a second if rifles were legalized. My point is that the people who do this have a twisted view and it's not a sporting view. It's a kill at all cost mentality
 
Setterman":3bkzb4v3 said:
My thoughts and feel free to use my name, I could care less.

1. It's unsafe. All young turkey hunters were taught to never do this type of stuff, yet now it's being promoted by outdoor retailers. That's insanity

2. Turkey hunting is meant to be done by using natural cover, a call, and a shotgun to lure a bird into range. Reaping meets none of those requirements

3. Killing off the super dominant breeder birds is effecting the overall population in a negative way.

4. It allows any hunter able to crawl the ability to kill an otherwise unkillable bird.

5. It's bringing out the worst in hunters. Watch some videos and you'll see the sickening behavior that reapers show. There's no respect for the sport, the chase, the game, or the bird with these people. It's only about killing, that's pretty disgusting

6. Repears would drop the tail fan in a second if rifles were legalized. My point is that the people who do this have a twisted view and it's not a sporting view. It's a kill at all cost mentality
Click to expand...

Spot on. And it's just not dangerous on public ground. How many of us have caught or got pics of trespassers on private land? I know guys that have encountered poachers with scoped 22 magnums on their land during turkey season. I personally know some rednecks that say "I don't know why you work so hard to kill turkeys. We just shoot them with a rifle!" Whether they actually do it, or just want to sound "cool", I don't know. My personal opinion is anybody that wants to crawl around in an open field behind a turkey fan has a death wish. Let natural selection take it's course. I can't think of anything more dangerous you could do in the name of "hunting".
 
Setterman":2epjzjw3 said:
1. It's unsafe.
. . . . . .

5. It's bringing out the worst in hunters.

6. It's a kill at all cost mentality
Click to expand...
Agree with Setterman on all points, but these 3 in particular.

Adding to the "unsafe",
can you imagine crawling up to a big coiled rattlesnake?
Heck, I wouldn't even want the more common copperhead to strike me in the face.

I'm not really "afraid" of snakes, but I don't want to have my face inches from a coiled viper.
That risk may not be high, but no other hunting activity is as high as "reaping"?

Spurhunter":2epjzjw3 said:
And it's just not dangerous on public ground.
How many of us have caught or got pics of trespassers on private land?
Click to expand...
Exactly.
Trespassing poaching turkey hunters are much more common than trespassing deer hunters
in most areas.
 
As always perfectly said Setterman, I agree on all accounts and for the life of me can't figure out why it's not been banned for every reason you listed. Besides the fact of how dangerous it is, #3 and #4 needs addressed ASAP for the affects it has on population that simple
 
Don't understand the "another tool" or "last resort" or "perfect for field birds."

Most of the times it's just meant for the turkey to win and you to lose. If I find one that's unkillable, great, because I enjoy spending the season with one. I'll occasionally go hunt elsewhere, but like an old girlfriend sometimes I just bang my head against the wall and keep trying getting beat every time. If I always killed the season wreckers it wound never be fun.
And I have killed a few turkeys, and don't know if I can remember ever killing a season wrecker that I spent from opening week to last day pursuing him.


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Agree with all points posted, but I'm sorry about the super dominate breeder birds, all male turkeys breed giving the chance have seen Jake's breed hens to many times
 
knightrider":1sezts7j said:
Agree with all points posted, but I'm sorry about the super dominate breeder birds, all male turkeys breed giving the chance have seen Jake's breed hens to many times
Click to expand...

Sorry but that's just not exactly true. Possible sure, but not the case.
 
Setterman":3mjklqqq said:
knightrider":3mjklqqq said:
Agree with all points posted, but I'm sorry about the super dominate breeder birds, all male turkeys breed giving the chance have seen Jake's breed hens to many times
Click to expand...

Sorry but that's just not exactly true. Possible sure, but not the case.
Click to expand...

Any mature turkey and about 10% of jakes CAN breed. But the hen selects the mate. When hens get in a harem with a dominant gobbler, they've selected him. If he gets killed right out of the gate (something that used to happen only rarely) the harem disperses. The hens may eventually find another gobbler, but may spend a lot of time waiting for the originally selected partner to show back up. In the meantime, other gobblers often get killed. Killing the dominant breeder a month before most hens nest absolutely has an impact on breeding and nest success. If it happens once in while, the impact is likely negligible. If it happens every year on or near opening day as a matter of course, it's a problem. "Reaping" isn't necessarily the main cause. Just the hyper-prevalent use of strutter decoys to trick dominant field birds.
 
Just because they breed doesn't mean they fertilize. They have to be a certain body weight and age to be sexually mature. What's the magic body weight? No idea. Because pure mountain longbeard gobblers usually weigh around 16-19 pounds, while dairy farm birds weigh 22-24 pounds easy. (Sometimes 26-27 is common)

I think that it might have to do with the individual bird it's self.

In poultry birds, when age is matched up to certain body weight and length of day, they become sexually mature.

If any of you ever hunt fall longbeards and kill one, look at their testes. They are the size of your pinky finger nail, the breast meat is almost gone, and no fat on the breast sponge. Usually a cow pasture fed good bird will weigh 16-17 pounds in October-December. That same bird on about March 20th may weigh 20-22 pounds with breast meat fully filled out, fat on the breast sponge, and testes nearly as long as your thumb. The increase in day length creates testosterone. Therefore their nuts and muscles grow, making them more mature.
The only jakes that reach this I think are the ones that may have been hatched in early May and have been fed a good diet. In middle Tennessee islets much more common to see these big super jakes I think because they have a better diet and grow faster. Go to the Talledega National Forest in east Alabama and the jakes there are seldom seen and never heard. They dont have the same nutrition because they eat bugs and acorns and not grain and clover.

Is all of this absolutely true? I doubt it, but I believe most of it makes pretty good sense.


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I myself believe that most of all two year old plus gobblers are plenty old enough and heavy enough and mature enough to breed. I've killed a couple in spring that looked like fall birds on inside, no meat, not fat, and small testicals.

As far as female selection of a mate, I don't know how much to put on that one. I'm sure they do somewhat, hence why gobblers strut and gobble and grow beards and fight. I think if a gobbler is removed, the hen quickly finds the next one.

They want to procreate, whether they know it or not.


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