Thoughts on this staement

[Bone Collector]

***Disclaimer**** I didn't say this, but agree. The man that did has many years of turkey hunting experience.

"With a call, or without a call, killing a turkey is 100% ambush. If you can't get hid and stay still, it ain't happening...unless you are fanning."

I know this sort of thing comes up all the time and some on here claim they WILL NOT ambush a turkey, but I think he has a point, so I thought I'd see what ya'll think.

The birds are being less than cooperative this year and thus there are less pictures to look at. :lol:

 

[Andy S.]

It's a matter of opinion. As for myself, ambushing a turkey without a call (getting in front of one and waiting, crawling up on one, etc) is not the same as learning how to pick a spot, stay still, call him to your gun (opposite of how it works in the real world where he gobbles up hens), remain staying still with your gun up, while anticipating where he will show himself, and finally killing him before the cat is out of the bag and he knows something is up.

My opinion about the differences especially holds true if you can learn to do all of that IN THE WOODS and consistently kill turkeys (camo, calls and gun). If you will notice, 99% of all tactics that are controversial (decoys, motorized decoys, fanning, reaping, ambushing, etc) deal with people hunting open areas like fields and pastures. Most of those tactics are null and void in a hardwoods setting, especially if you have pretty dense foliage where you eliminate a turkeys sight for a considerable distance.

 

[TheLBLman]

I'm in agreement with Andy's statement above.

However, will avoid demonizing the various tactics one could use to kill a turkey.
It's just my opinion that some are more about the art of more traditional turkey hunting,
and some are simply more about shooting than hunting, or maybe just all about killing,
with the shooter never having much interest in hunting, just shooting & killing.

At the end of the day, shooting a sitting duck from a duck blind
still ends up with that duck as dead as shooting him before he landed.

My biggest "issues" with the tactic of "reaping" & "fanning" stem mostly from these shooters seeming to mostly not value eating what they kill, plus the relative danger of that tactic, and it becoming the prime tactic of trespassing poachers in some locations. Additionally, if that trend continues, it will adversely effect our turkey regs, thus reducing the more traditional methods of turkey hunting available to those of us who value the hunting more than the shooting.

My hope is this tactic is mostly a fad among younger and less experienced hunters.
But if it continues to grow, likely will reduce other turkey hunting opportunities, mainly by the seasons getting shortened, and bag limits reduced as off-sets.

That said, even "reaping" and "fanning" would be considered at least somewhat a tactic of stalk hunting, something that is considered just fine for deer and lots of other game. Every type of "game" hunting has it's own quirks. Some believe you should only shoot quail that rise in front of a bird dog on point, or only shoot squirrels treed by a squirrel dog.

Some believe it's less praise-worthy to catch a fish out of a barrel, or shoot a monster buck in a small pen, then call either fishing or hunting.
Obviously, there are many different methods for catching fish and killing animals. Some methods do not require any fishing or hunting skills, others require some, some require a lot.

I remember my Grandfather talking about duck shooting on Reelfoot Lake when he was a lad --- they used 8 gauge shotguns and killed them by the dozens, even preferred shooting into big sitting flocks. It was all about how many they could kill. Eventually, those methods almost destroyed the waterfowl population. Similar thoughts & tactics did destroy bison populations, turkey populations, deer populations, etc. over a period of just a few decades.

Opinions vary.

 

[sharpshooter]

I have no problem ambushing them if that's what it takes. I would rather call one in, but meat is meat, whether it is called or ambushed. If it was all about just calling one in then no one would need a weapon.

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[Setterman]

Any form of turkey hunting that involved any thing other then a call, a shotgun, and the cover naturally growing in the woods isn't really turkey hunting. It's something that deer hunters drug into this sport rather then learn how set up, how to call, how to position on a bird, etc. I include decoys, blinds, fans, all of that stuff into the same pile.

Sniping turkeys is one tiny step above fanning imo

 

[catman529]

Calling them in is more fun. But sometimes a good long stalk and ambush is more rewarding. I much prefer to call them in, it gets the blood pumping. But when they just won't cooperate with the calling, I'll walk, run, crawl, scoot, crouch, do whatever I can to get ahead of a tom. I spent over an hour yesterday in my own backyard trying to close the gap on a tom with 3 hens. Calling had no effect and I had limited cover to move. I never caught up with them before they went to roost. I could have popped a fan up like I did last year, but I wanted to earn the bird. He won that round...


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[Setterman]

Calling them in is more fun. But sometimes a good long stalk and ambush is more rewarding. I much prefer to call them in, it gets the blood pumping. But when they just won't cooperate with the calling, I'll walk, run, crawl, scoot, crouch, do whatever I can to get ahead of a tom. I spent over an hour yesterday in my own backyard trying to close the gap on a tom with 3 hens. Calling had no effect and I had limited cover to move. I never caught up with them before they went to roost. I could have popped a fan up like I did last year, but I wanted to earn the bird. He won that round...


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Earning the bird is convincing him and his hens to come to you. All sniping one is earning you is a dead turkey, it may feel good but it won't leave the same memory that truly fooling one does. Kind of like fat chicks, at the time it feels good, but after a year or so, you just want to forget.

 

[catman529]

Any form of turkey hunting that involved any thing other then a call, a shotgun, and the cover naturally growing in the woods isn't really turkey hunting. It's something that deer hunters drug into this sport rather then learn how set up, how to call, how to position on a bird, etc. I include decoys, blinds, fans, all of that stuff into the same pile.

Sniping turkeys is one tiny step above fanning imo

hunting in its purest form is stalking and killing. It can be very easy or very hard depending on the situation. Calling in a turkeys is obviously the preferred traditional method because it's the most exciting and one of the more challenging ways to hunt...but I would have to disagree with you and say that stalking to within 40 yards of a turkey (eyes far better than a deer) is not anything close to as easy as fanning. Fanning straight up fools their eyes in plain sight. Stalking and ambushing requires using whatever cover available to get setup ahead (you hope) of where the birds are going. It involves a lot of movement around birds with keen eyesight. And they are more spooky in the spring being broken up. Fall hunting is usually easier because they seem to feel safe and even act plain stupid in big fall groups. Now with all that said I still think calling one in is the most fun way to hunt them by far. But when they've wore me out with their silence and non cooperation, I get down to business, and can't be outdone by a bird just because they won't talk. Like you've said before, sometimes a tom just needs to die.


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[poorhunter]

I would agre that stalking is purer form of hunting turkeys. I hate disagreeing with Setterman, but I do. Stalking in many instances is more difficult than calling them in, especially if you're using one of those fancy $100 pot calls that sound like the real thing. Decoys though ought to be outlawed in my opinion., especially strutters and fans.

 

[Setterman]

No doubt, sneaking up on a single tom is tough stuff, and a group is even more difficult. I have much less issues with stalking one then with the other forms I mentioned

 

[Mike Belt]

In my opinion there's a big difference in just setting up somewhere to ambush a bird if one comes by and stalking and ambushing a bird. Anytime you can move on a moving bird without being detected and get within killing range you have accomplished something. I see no difference in ambushing a bird in this scenario than setting up on a gobbling bird only to have him move and then trying to reposition yourself to intercept him, sometimes over and over again. Granted it's much more fun to work a gobbling bird into your calling but as often happens, very limited to no calling is the only thing that works on an individual bird at any given time. Shooting a bird from a stationary "turkey stand" takes little effort and no involvement with turkey hunting as designed.

 

[TheLBLman]

Some believe using either electronic or mechanical turkey calls (pot calls, box calls, whatever is not a sound made by your mouth)
is "cheating" and not really turkey hunting :tu:
Yep, some think a turkey call is just as bad as a turkey decoy.

Have a friend who thinks if you use a gun instead of a bow, you're "cheating" and not really doing it "right".

Other than the fanning/reaping tactic, I don't have as much issue with the other items, since some have evolved in large part due to larger land tracts getting reduced in size, and it's simply not possible (or at least may not make sense) to hunt a 15-acre tract with the same "run & gun" methods we might prefer on a 1500-acre tract.

When all you have is a small acreage to hunt,
might be wiser to pick a spot and stay right there, all day, as opposed to "running & gunning".

Things do change over time, it's not all good, neither are all the reactive changes all bad.
It's just that our successes in killing turkeys this year will impact our hunting opportunities for the next and subsequent years.
If we kill above a certain number this year, we harm the future hunting.
Whatever our actions or tactics, there are consequences.

Never mind, factors beyond our control often make a larger impact than our hunting (such as the river flooding).
And that recent river flooding did cause, immediately,
a big loss in hunting opportunity, i.e. TWRA closed turkey season early for many hunters this year,
and this may contribute to reduced hunting opportunity for years to come via shorter seasons & reduced bag limits.

 

[TheLBLman]

Meanwhile, I have a bald eagle that likes to come watch the field in front of my house. I'm certain this eagle has killed more turkeys in this one location in February & March than I've killed over the past 3 years in that same general area.

Then as soon as the baby turkeys start hatching, I start seeing the Cooper's hawks & owls mowing them down, along with the coyotes.

Ultimately, all the other factors are collectively larger than the effects of our hunting tactics.
It's just that our hunting is one of the few aspects we can control.

 

[catman529]

I would agre that stalking is purer form of hunting turkeys. I hate disagreeing with Setterman, but I do. Stalking in many instances is more difficult than calling them in, especially if you're using one of those fancy $100 pot calls that sound like the real thing. Decoys though ought to be outlawed in my opinion., especially strutters and fans.

It's not even how good the call sounds... a lonely horny gobbler that answers your call is a lot easier to kill than a henned up strutter in an open field with not enough cover in the woods to move around in. In the end, the field bird going down is more rewarding, but the hot gobbler is the best part of turkey hunting and the reason it's so addictive.

 

[Mista Bone]

Calling them in is more fun. But sometimes a good long stalk and ambush is more rewarding. I much prefer to call them in, it gets the blood pumping. But when they just won't cooperate with the calling, I'll walk, run, crawl, scoot, crouch, do whatever I can to get ahead of a tom. I spent over an hour yesterday in my own backyard trying to close the gap on a tom with 3 hens. Calling had no effect and I had limited cover to move. I never caught up with them before they went to roost. I could have popped a fan up like I did last year, but I wanted to earn the bird. He won that round...


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Earning the bird is convincing him and his hens to come to you. All sniping one is earning you is a dead turkey, it may feel good but it won't leave the same memory that truly fooling one does. Kind of like fat chicks, at the time it feels good, but after a year or so, you just want to forget.

Fat chick thing, now that is funny!!!
ROFLMAO!!!

 

[Andy S.]

Kind of like fat chicks, at the time it feels good, but after a year or so, you just want to forget.

:tmi: :rotf:

 

[cowhunter71]

Turkey hunting to me is sitting down against a tree and calling to a Gobbler, trying to make him come within 40yrds of my gun, looking for me, the hen, and then killing him clean. This I attempt whether he gobbles or not. No crawling, sneaking, fanning, decoys, tents, bows, sniping, ect.. Anything less is not turkey hunting to me and personally I have no respect, as turkey hunters, for those who do not hunt this way. Nothing more rewarding to me than accomplishing this consistently, especially on those hard pressured Gobblers that don't seem to want to "cooperate" Ambushing is putting yourself in position for a Gobbler to "unknowingly" walk to or buy you. When he comes to me, he is knowingly and actively "searching" for me, a hen turkey. We like to refer to this as hide and seek.

 

[catman529]

Turkey hunting to me is sitting down against a tree and calling to a Gobbler, trying to make him come within 40yrds of my gun, looking for me, the hen, and then killing him clean. This I attempt whether he gobbles or not. No crawling, sneaking, fanning, decoys, tents, bows, sniping, ect.. Anything less is not turkey hunting to me and personally I have no respect, as turkey hunters, for those who do not hunt this way. Nothing more rewarding to me than accomplishing this consistently, especially on those hard pressured Gobblers that don't seem to want to "cooperate" Ambushing is putting yourself in position for a Gobbler to "unknowingly" walk to or buy you. When he comes to me, he is knowingly and actively "searching" for me, a hen turkey. We like to refer to this as hide and seek.

are there not many field birds in your nat'l forest? And as for "cooperating" it's got nothing to do with pressure this year as they have not been cooperating both private and public land. I just want to hear one gobble to my call again or even come in silent. I finally did have one come in silent and of course that's the one I missed at 10 yards. I was about ready to ambush one at that point. And now I got lots of extra turkey meat for next weeks cookout.


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[turkeyhunter]

If you sneak up on a turkey and kill it you have did something . If you set up, make turkey sounds, and he comes looking for you and you kill him you have really done something . Sometimes one is as easy or hard as the other. I have messed with some turkeys , that i wished missile launcher was legal. I could really care less how another man hunts. I have used a fan on a hung up bird twice. I just show fan and they came to me. I have never crawled to one but im not above it. And fanning is no slam dunk. I have not ate tag soup in over 15 years something Im very proud of and thankfull for. I put a lot of time and energy into scouting. My wish for turkey hunting in TN . would be to start protecting turkeys. Our limit is to high and season is too long. Here in southern wayne co, hunting is nothing like it use to be.

 

[Bone Collector]

My take on it was this. He was saying fanning doesn't count in the category. He was saying you were ambushing a turkey whether you called or not.

I have ambushed many by literally sitting where I knew they were going to come to feed or roost and just waiting. No blind, no decoys, and sometimes no call. I have stalked the majority of the ones I have killed, sometimes in groups up to 10 birds.

However now I like to call them, but if one won't budge eventually I'll go get him. I'm in the camp with the folks that believe that stalking one is not cheating the bird, because it is tough to do, but again, it is fun to fool one with a call and beat him at his own game.

I think fanning should be outlawed, and I'm ok with decoys, but don't use them, because I am too lazy to tote them :lol: Blinds give you an unfair advantage but if it is raining, I'm probably in a blind.