woodsman04":25o0dwa1 said:
To me it isn't how any one hunts. I dont care if you do it legally or illegally. Makes no difference as long as you being illegal did not directly effect what I was doing.
I trout fish occasionally. I do not fly fish. I only trot fish in the Elk River where it is stocked trout. I give zero cares if someone tells me I'm not real trout fishing. But to me it's different because the trout are routinely stocked and they are In there everywhere. If I were fishing for wild trout in mountain creeks I may try fly fishing. Big difference. I deer hunt some. Bow and rifle. Mainly bow hunt because I enjoy it more. With deer I don't care what anyone else shoots with whatever weapon they use because where I'm from we have plenty of deer. I don't even consider myself a great deer hunter, I've never killed many true mature bucks.
What bothers me is the absolute inconsideration that there is a problem with our wild turkey populations in certain areas of the state. And the complete denial some guys have of routinely using ultra realistic strutter decoys and deeming it "fair chase " or ok because it's "legal." Also bothered by the way the younger generation is being brought in. Setting up blinds and decoys to make it easier. We should teach them to learn the sport of turkey hunting and turkey calling and not making it easy for them. It also bothers me with the kill and tag out at all cost quickly mentality that some of the hunters so desperately try to achieve.
Is turkey hunters are a strong breed. We stand firmly in what created this sport so great. And now it is being compromised by TV, money, decoys, and trendy cool stuff.
It's just the direction hunting as a whole is taking. And I'm not going to back down from my point of view.
If anyone would truly just try to hunt wild turkeys the real way they would really understand where people like myself and so many others are coming from. Just because you don't kill your four gobblers doesn't mean that you are less of a hunter or failed. I've killed only one a season several years. But that doesn't make me want to cheapen the hunt just to kill one.
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This is a bada$$ post.
I am a fly fisherman and pretty much that's all I use anytime I'm on the water. I could give two dangs what someone on the River is using or if they kill their limit of trout.
I am an avid deer hunter could care less whether someone uses a xbow, compound, recurve, ML, or rifle as well as if they shoot spikes or 160" beasts. Deer hunting is all sniping the range is all that differs, luck is a huge component of success.
In turkey hunting the traditional way luck certainly plays a part but the traditional hunter controls their own luck to a huge degree. The blind decoy crowd doesn't understand what it's like to have to make the decision of which tree to sit next to, or how close can I get, or dang these woods are wide open, or being slipped by a bird that uses a lip of terrain to slide by out of sight, or looking left and he shows up to the right, or freaking hens took him away again for the 20th hunt. The miss all the really frustrating but incredibly awesome aspects of true turkey hunting. They miss the lows of blowing an opportunity, the lows of making a set up error, the lows of getting picked off, and most certainly the lows of having a henned up bird gobble at every call as he follows his hens far far away.
The blind covers movement mistakes, the decoys create rage causing that bird to charge, and the connection felt when making a call and having a bird eat it up just out of sight is lost, or that intensity of having a bird you know is coming but you can't quite see him yet but can hear the leaves or the drumming or the spitting getting closer and closer.
Those things above are freaking magical, and the new era could give two rips about experiencing that and only care about the dead turkey. I'd go birdless for years before giving up those things just to punch a tag.
TV, YouTube, Facebook and other crap is ripping turkey hunting away from what it's supposed to be, and I truly fee sorry for folks that think sitting in a blind with a spread is what this sport is about, they are hurting themselves and missing out on amazing experiences at the cost of punching tags. The first thing they'll say is they got to see a gobbler fight their decoy, big deal I say, how about the times I've had two gobblers working that met in front of me and fought each other at 30 yards or less? That's a rush and that's seeing turkeys in action!
As you said, I don't get wrapped up in much other forms of fishing or hunting opinions, but in this world I have strong opinions and make no apologies as I try to make sure the tradition lives on. To the folks that have met me or know me, I'd say most would agree I'm a pretty decent dude, as well as easy going, but when it comes to this sport I feel strongly in the destruction the decoy rage is causing both to the traditions and the future
oke: :rotf:
