dirty little secret

[Iglow]

I don't know if it's related to the down turn or not but I think the rampant baiting/feeding could be linked. Everbody knows baiting is happening. It's not something I blame the TWRA for,how could they catch even 5% of it? I have 3 books on turkey hunting that were written close to 100 years ago and all 3 mention baiting and the damage it does. Everybody also knows how vulnerable turkeys are to baiting. Add that to the check in system we have now and the kill at all costs mentality out there, who knows how many turkeys take a ride that are never accounted for. It may be not just the direct kill of gobblers that otherwise might have made it through the season but also the concentrating of birds in one place that makes it easier for predators to key on them. Then you have the disease thing too. It's on here all the time "my birds are gone,somebodies feeding them" and not just hunters, grandma is feeding them, uncle Joe and aunt Sue are, Hell! everybody in creation is feeding them it seems. What y'all think?

 

[LanceS4803]

Add in aflatoxin tainted corn, and you have a recipe for disaster.

 

[poorhunter]

The non-hunters that at work have repeatedly said that everyone they know hints over corn for turkeys, that it's impossible to kill one without it. Personally I wouldn't think that corn piles in the spring give much of an advantage but I may be wrong. But like Lance said, aflatoxin is a huge problem. When you get whole flocks of turkeys dying they have no chance to thrive against nest predation. Nest predators have always killed more turkeys than any other factor. When you add in disease it's trouble. When you add in overharvisting too early in the season you got trouble.

 

[megalomaniac]

Its not a dirty little secret... its flat out in the open down here in south MS...

Hunting over bait is one of the lowest of the lows when it comes to turkeys. Worse than shooting ducks sitting on a pond. Way worse than shooting doves on a wire.

I assumed my neighbors to the north are baiting as about half my toms left the week before juvenile season started. But to my surprise, none of the 3 we've taken had any grain in their crop (but one was killed early am and would not have had time to hit any bait if nearby.

I'm a middle class professional. The majority of my colleagues who turkey hunt here in MS do it over bait. These aren't typical backwoods rednecks.

And those I've talked to about the hunting stories from this past week have all asked if I 'corned them up'. It's just ingrained in the majority of 'hunters' down here.

But the good news is many of those folks just don't any better, and are willing to abandon that style of 'hunting' if someone shows them the pure style of turkey hunting. The friend I took Sunday morning had a blast hunting run n gun covering multiple spots by 10a. I think he's hooked on it, as he always thought turkey hunting was like deer hunting. Sit on a spot with a feeder, blow a call once in a while, then shoot the tom when he comes to the feeder. After a morning hunting the way we did, he's already asked if we can go again this weekend together.

 

[PalsPal]

It is rampant, because it works.

But, it has been going on long before the current check in system.

Years ago when you had to drive a distance to check a bird in, many did not go to the trouble.

 

[DoubleRidge]

Add in aflatoxin tainted corn, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Absolutely correct.

 

[Levee Jumper]

If I had to hunt over bait on private ground to kill turkeys I would quit and never look back.

 

[TheLBLman]

I'm a middle class professional. The majority of my colleagues who turkey hunt here in MS do it over bait. These aren't typical backwoods rednecks.

And those I've talked to about the hunting stories from this past week have all asked if I 'corned them up'. It's just ingrained in the majority of 'hunters' down here.

Similar situation in Tennessee.
Worse, many killing turkeys over bait behind their homes act like it's perfectly legal!

 

[FTP]

Similar situation in Tennessee.
Worse, many killing turkeys over bait behind their homes act like it's perfectly legal!

My time is valuable, like my chances to be as high as possible....

 

[TheLBLman]

I also believe the "reported" spring kill is very "under-reported" in large part because so many baiters do it in their backyards (and don't report kills). There is no telling how many people sitting on a two-acre lot kill more turkeys over backyard bait, than is killed by traditional legal turkey hunting on the adjoining 200 acres of "turkey woods".

 

[megalomaniac]

I also believe the "reported" spring kill is very "under-reported" in large part because so many baiters do it in their backyards (and don't report kills). There is no telling how many people sitting on a two-acre lot kill more turkeys over backyard bait, than is killed by traditional legal turkey hunting on the adjoining 200 acres of "turkey woods".

I don't know about TN, since there has been a big game check in of some sort forever, and folks are used to it. MS went to tag before you drag for turkeys 3 years ago. Lots of cries of gobt overreach. Approx 10,000 birds checked in spring 2021 in MS, but biologists estimate actual kill was 22,000. Most I know don't check birds in, even tho they don't go over the 3 bird limit (most don't kill any or just 1 if they are lucky).

I hear rumors of folks (friend of a friend of a friend stuff) killing 10 birds a year, but I don't know if they are just rumors.

MDWFP did bust a 5 man ring a couple years ago who killed 150 birds in a season in a handful of states.

 

[crawford3546]

I find it mildly humorous that people pick out one "method" and the majority chimes in and beats it to death. What about the all new hip way of reaping? That has been the WORST right after hunting over corn. Add in not tagging them, because when someone has to kill them that way you know that they are not. You wipe out your breeders and then cry because you don't have any to hunt.

 

[TheLBLman]

I find it mildly humorous that people pick out one "method" and the majority chimes in and beats it to death. What about the all new hip way of reaping?

I just don't see people out attempting to "reap" like I see them buying corn a week before the season opens.

I don't know about TN, since there has been a big game check in of some sort forever, and folks are used to it.

Many of the people we see buying corn a week before the season opens do not appear to be hunters, but seem to believe they're entitled to do as they please in their own backyards. I cannot imagine most these people possessing a big-game license (nor even a landowner permit for that matter) as their "hunting" seems to be limited to their back porch.

 

[Flintlocksforme]

Stopping hunting at noon would hurt bait hunting.

 

[megalomaniac]

I find it mildly humorous that people pick out one "method" and the majority chimes in and beats it to death. What about the all new hip way of reaping? That has been the WORST right after hunting over corn. Add in not tagging them, because when someone has to kill them that way you know that they are not. You wipe out your breeders and then cry because you don't have any to hunt.

I dunno... maybe reaping is becoming less popular? 3 or 4 years ago it looked like 1 out of 3 kill pics on FB had a 'thunder creeper' or whatever they are called beside the dead bird. Don't see that nearly as much any more. Maybe they have been shamed?

 

[bowhunterfanatic]

I dunno... maybe reaping is becoming less popular? 3 or 4 years ago it looked like 1 out of 3 kill pics on FB had a 'thunder creeper' or whatever they are called beside the dead bird. Don't see that nearly as much any more. Maybe they have been shamed?

JMO, but I think one of the most positive aspects of THP, Pinhoti, Catman, etc etc etc is that they are traditional turkey hunters. I know Dave will crawl or ambush a turkey in a heartbeat, but for the most part these are the people new turkey hunters are watching and looking up to. Compare that to 3-4 years ago when a lot more eyeballs were on Realtree, Primos, and other tv shows trying to sell decoys for their advertising sponsors. As much as I love the Primos crew, I just about won't watch them turkey hunt anymore because I get tired of seeing birds running to a decoy, or even worse, being reaped. I agree that it's definitely becoming less popular, and attribute most of that to the YouTube crew who mostly like to kill them with nothing more than a call.

 

[poorhunter]

JMO, but I think one of the most positive aspects of THP, Pinhoti, Catman, etc etc etc is that they are traditional turkey hunters. I know Dave will crawl or ambush a turkey in a heartbeat, but for the most part these are the people new turkey hunters are watching and looking up to. Compare that to 3-4 years ago when a lot more eyeballs were on Realtree, Primos, and other tv shows trying to sell decoys for their advertising sponsors. As much as I love the Primos crew, I just about won't watch them turkey hunt anymore because I get tired of seeing birds running to a decoy, or even worse, being reaped. I agree that it's definitely becoming less popular, and attribute most of that to the YouTube crew who mostly like to kill them with nothing more than a call.

I cut my teeth watching Primos and Knight & Hale videos. I learned so so much and they gave me enough know-how for o be able to get out in the woods and work my way to success. I haven't watched a new one of them in 15 years now as I didn't like the way they were heading back then.

 

[cowhunter71]

My time is valuable, like my chances to be as high as possible....

Spoken like a true "baiter"

 

[CATCHDAWG]

Spoken like a true "baiter"

Gonna have to agree with you on that one.

 

[Harold Money jr]

Unfortunately turkeys are VERY susceptible to the gotta have it now, no matter how, as long as I can have a pic with it on the internet and brag crowd. Baiting, killing 2 or 3 with one shot on purpose, not checking birds out and roost shooting. They all contribute to the population problems. Unfortunately a baited up dead gobbler in a picture looks just like one someone called up and killed fair and square.