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What’s wrong with our sport

Others should take notice and AT LEAST try to kill a turkey in the spring without a decoy. Yes, it can be very frustrating, challenging, time consuming and the ultimate chess game, but it is so rewarding with a huge adrenaline rush if you get them to play the game and come find you in the timber, inside 40 yards, with just a hen call. My .02
 
I look forward to this thread every year so here's my $0.02 worth...if it's legal and you're ok with it hunt how you want to. I've used decoys in the past and still have a hen in my bag but rarely ever use it. I've hunted from a blind. I even fanned one and its an adrenalin rush for sure to have one run into your lap but still prefer the chess match of beating ole Tom at his own game and call him into range. Don't get me wrong, I wanna break ones neck like everyone else but if I don't I don't. For me it's about the chase than just killing. Good luck to all this season!
 
I personally hate using decoys and blinds. With that said it makes it possible for my daughter to enjoy the sport and have success so I can't gripe about them. To me the easiest way to kill one is calling. When they are ready they will run over u. If I sat down and never moved again and kept calling to the same turkey I honestly think I'd never kill one.
 
TheLBLman":1f6c3qnt said:
Gobbler88":1f6c3qnt said:
As long as it is done safely. The way I look at it is, you buy your license, hunt the way you want. I want to be able to do the same without someone giving me heck.
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At the same time,
the resource (the turkeys) are managed based largely on how many CAN be killed annually while still sustaining a huntable population for next year and the next.

About the time TWRA increased the spring turkey limit to 4 (big mistake imo), we had longer-range guns/loads coming onto the scene MUCH MORE, "fanning" starting to take off, more realistic decoys (some remote controlled), etc.

Add to this the comfort & convenience of the new "pop-up" blinds, contributing to more people staying afield longer, getting away with movement, allowing them to more easily kill more turkeys.

So what else has happened?

For starters, turkey hunting may have become more about just shooting, using turkeys as moving targets
Ok, everyone buys a license, it's legal, I get that.

But is the current kill rate sustainable, to maintaining "good hunting" turkey populations?

And how does this focus more to just killing rather than hunting bode to the future of turkey hunting?

To some degree, it's like the rules for golf just changed to you can simply go drop the ball in the hole by hand,
then say, "Hey, I just got a hole in one!"
It's not the same as traditional golf, and neither is shooting the same as hunting.
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I agree LBL. Birds that normally never get killed are killed the first week of the season. I wasn't gonna say it, but that's what fanning is. Killing, not hunting.
 
TNReb":1bwykwkc said:
Guy with a FastFire . . . . . .
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I think you said this jokingly :D
but, imo, the use of a FastFire may actually be an increase in hunter/shooter ethics?
Less likely to wound a bird (compared to just using a shotgun bead, or compared to front & rear "rifle" sights)?

In the moment of excitement, or being in some contorted position,
very easy to not have proper shooting form,
regardless of preferred turkey-pursuing "method".
A FastFire (red-dot) sight reduces shooting form error,
and also eliminates any need for "Kentucky" windage.

Also, aging eyes like Setterman's come to a point of NEEDING optical sights :tu:
 
TNReb":15y2b7bu said:
REN":15y2b7bu said:
hayden01":15y2b7bu said:
Setterman just out of curiosity, what is your weapon of choice?
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He shoots a sbe2 with a pistol grip and ff on it
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Guy with a FastFire is whining about others using decoys. Sounds right. :)
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I know, I know I'm terribly unethical. As Wes said I'm not getting any younger and those little beads aren't easy to see
 
Plateau Hunter":vtkifv2z said:
SBE and FF...granddaddy never had anything like that....
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And I'd be willing to bet money your granddaddy never hunted turkeys or started about the same time as me, since we didn't have huntable populations until I was old enough to get after them. Stupid a$$ assertion by you and weak attempt.

If you sincerely believe that a fast fire and a sbe is what draws a bird inside 30 yards is the same as staking a deke out in a field while hiding in your double bull than I think this conversation might be above your head. I'd kill just as many birds if you put a single shot gun in my hand with no sights as I do with my current set up. The gun set up is the finishing tool, and the way I hunt literally provides no real advantage.

The same can't be said if you were forced to leave the decoys and blind back at home and carry a call and shotgun. Go chase that field bird without the crutches and see how well you do. I'll be here waiting to hear about your humbling experience
 
Once you start telling others how they should hunt and what is ethical and what isn't you are asking to be cross examined. There is always going to be someone else that thinks your methods are unsportsmanlike. That's why we have laws. Sometimes it takes some time before laws catch up with ethics just like the spinning wing duck decoys. Sometimes the prey also make adjustments. I think turkey decoys are 50/50. Those aren't very good odds IMO so I don't use them. I think it's healthy to challenge each other with ethics until the law catches up. We have to protect our sport and try to keep good traditions. It should never become a joke. But be ready for the fallout. He who throws stones shouldn't live in glass houses.
 
Someone please post that famous pic of Babe Ruth with a turkey in one hand and a Auto 5 in the other. Proving once and for all there was a huntable population in our grandpappys time somewhere.
 
SEC":22hd1q6v said:
Someone please post that famous pic of Babe Ruth with a turkey in one hand and a Auto 5 in the other. Proving once and for all there was a huntable population in our grandpappys time somewhere.
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My point stands that n matter the weapon or the sight I use, it in no way provides some massive advantage. As I said my kills would be the same if I was forced to use a single shot with no beads at all. The only thing that would affect my production would be putting a bow in my hands, that would definitely make a difference.

Now can the decoy blind crowd honestly say that it has no impact in improving success?

I'll also put out an open invite once KY opens to any of you field jedi's to take a ride over and show me how to conquer some field turkeys wth hens, without using decoys. I'm pretty good at it, but could always learn from you all that say decoys and blinds provide no advantage.
 

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