Is it time?

[TLRanger]

For the "do you shoot jakes" and we need to lower the limit thread? Been reading the serious deer hunting threads about antler restrictions and buck limits, so why not here too?

I don't shoot jakes or hens and would not care if the limit stays the same or is lowered. So there! :pop:

 

[SKFOOTER]

I personally don't shoot jakes and would like to see a 3 inch minimum beard length reg for Tennessee except for the youth. And I've felt ever since the limit was increased to 4 birds that it was excessive and our decline in the turkey population in West Tennessee is evidence that it needs to be lowered, at least in certain areas.

 

[PickettSFHunter]

It's past time to lower the limit


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[7mminatree]

If I want a turkey to oven roast, I will shoot a jake. They are much better for roasting than a mature bird. My part of upper east tn. turkey population is growing even with the higher bag limits. It's in high agricultural country where birds get slaughtered.

 

[catman529]

I don't shoot jakes, but anyone should be allowed to. The limit seems fine to me, but I hunt in a good county.


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[SKFOOTER]

The above responses are all the more reason TWRA should seriously look into reducing the limit in certain areas across the state and set up separate units like they did for deer season.

 

[REN]

 

[TreyB]

:rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

 

[Roost 1]

I can't resist..... If you think too many are being killed and the limit should be lowered, then, do you part and practice a little trigger restraint and don't kill 4.... There I did it.... LOL :poke: :stir:

 

[easy45]

I will if it's getting late in the season and I haven't killed one, otherwise I don't


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[TreyB]

I can't resist..... If you think too many are being killed and the limit should be lowered, then, do you part and practice a little trigger restraint and don't kill 4.... There I did it.... LOL :poke: :stir:

Winner!!!

 

[SKFOOTER]

:bash:

 

[SKFOOTER]

I can't resist..... If you think too many are being killed and the limit should be lowered, then, do you part and practice a little trigger restraint and don't kill 4.... There I did it.... LOL :poke: :stir:

I'm disappointed in you Roost. My restraint will not solve the problem. And being a Kentucky boy, you see what a 2 bird limit has done for your state's turkey population. And you need to wake up, Trey. :shock:

 

[WRbowhunter]

First of all I'm for a liberal game limit and not a big Turkey hunter. that being said the 4 bird spring limit seems to be great to me and shooting jakes is just fine for anyone that wants to shoot one. My first turkey kill was a jake but since then have passed on any jakes but that's just me. My big question though is the fall turkey hunt and being able to shoot hens. Fall turkey to me is just having something else to shoot at when your in the woods in the fall rather than "turkey Hunting" but again that's just me.

 

[REN]

you shoot jakes??

 

[REN]

so this is what i feel like each time the jake and limit conversation comes up

yet with still a month away from season i still sorta feel like this

 

[ZachMarkus]

I don't shoot jakes. I like loud deep gobbles, long beards, full fans and big spurs.

 

[Gravey]

I don't shoot jakes
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I thought you shot anything legal? Changing it up this year?

Anyway I'm not gonna shoot a Jake but if one walks in front of my son I'll let him if he wants too. If they're legal and you want to have at it. As for bag limits I'm not that smart. I'm probably not going to kill 4 in a year unless they're off different places. Some areas it probably wouldn't hurt and others it would but again I'm not that smart.

 

[catman529]

I don't shoot jakes
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I thought you shot anything legal? Changing it up this year?

Anyway I'm not gonna shoot a Jake but if one walks in front of my son I'll let him if he wants too. If they're legal and you want to have at it. As for bag limits I'm not that smart. I'm probably not going to kill 4 in a year unless they're off different places. Some areas it probably wouldn't hurt and others it would but again I'm not that smart.

I have intentionally not shot a jake during the spring for the past 2 seasons. Fall season I'm more likely to shoot anything. I have nothing against anyone shooting jakes at all, and I'm sure I will do it again, I just prefer the longbeards in the spring.


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[darn2ten]

I haven't shot a jake in many moons, but when I first started out I did shoot a few. I see no problem with brand new or youth hunters taking a jake to get their fire lit. Like everything else in hunting I feel it's a progression. I am very much against shooting hens, and have a much bigger problem with the fall season. I have no use for ambushing or killing birds that I have not played or called to the gun barrel. That being said, I personally don't know anybody that fall turkey hunts so I really don't know how big a impact it has. I do know that in my county that the turkey population has fallen in the last decade. I would have no problem with the limit being lowered to 3.

 

[Gravey]

I don't shoot jakes
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I thought you shot anything legal? Changing it up this year?

Anyway I'm not gonna shoot a Jake but if one walks in front of my son I'll let him if he wants too. If they're legal and you want to have at it. As for bag limits I'm not that smart. I'm probably not going to kill 4 in a year unless they're off different places. Some areas it probably wouldn't hurt and others it would but again I'm not that smart.

I have intentionally not shot a jake during the spring for the past 2 seasons. Fall season I'm more likely to shoot anything. I have nothing against anyone shooting jakes at all, and I'm sure I will do it again, I just prefer the longbeards in the spring.


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Just curious but why will you shoot a jake in the fall but not the spring?

 

[catman529]

I don't shoot jakes
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I thought you shot anything legal? Changing it up this year?

Anyway I'm not gonna shoot a Jake but if one walks in front of my son I'll let him if he wants too. If they're legal and you want to have at it. As for bag limits I'm not that smart. I'm probably not going to kill 4 in a year unless they're off different places. Some areas it probably wouldn't hurt and others it would but again I'm not that smart.

I have intentionally not shot a jake during the spring for the past 2 seasons. Fall season I'm more likely to shoot anything. I have nothing against anyone shooting jakes at all, and I'm sure I will do it again, I just prefer the longbeards in the spring.


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Just curious but why will you shoot a jake in the fall but not the spring?

fall is a flock busting meat hunt. The last springs jakes are pretty much longbeards, and the jake poults are very tough to distinguish from the hens unless you get really close. During the spring, I'm only allowed 4 bearded birds so is rather them be full grown. Just preference


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[Roost 1]

Catman... Let me help you a bit.. In the fall the biggest birds in those brood flocks will most always be jakes... At 6 months old they may or may not have visible nubs but jakes will be bigger than the momma hens at that time... Just a general rule you can follow, it's not exact due to late hatches and other factors....

 

[Hunt 365]

Keep the limit at 4. Trust the biologists. I let my 9 year old shoot a jake if he wants, but he holds out for gobblers now. I haven't seen the data but I would bet jake harvest is negligible on total impact. If someone wants to waste a tag on a 10-lb bird they can't brag about, have at it. Or they can mount the partial fan next to their trophy 3 pt rack

 

[280longshot]

I'm still learning this turkey hunting... I don't shoot jakes anymore and you sure don't have to worry about me killing the limit.
Once the weather gets warmer I'd rather be crappie fishing.

 

[catman529]

Catman... Let me help you a bit.. In the fall the biggest birds in those brood flocks will most always be jakes... At 6 months old they may or may not have visible nubs but jakes will be bigger than the momma hens at that time... Just a general rule you can follow, it's not exact due to late hatches and other factors....

I killed a "jake beard" fall 2013 had a 7 or 8 inch beard and spurs pushing 3/4" was in a flock of several toms just like it. Just a week or two ago, I snuck up and watched a similar flock of longbeards that weren't quite full length. Last years jakes I assume.

The jakes in the big hen/poult flocks are a lot tougher to distinguish because their beards usually aren't visible and they don't have spurs yet, and they weigh about the same as the hens.


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[catman529]

Keep the limit at 4. Trust the biologists. I let my 9 year old shoot a jake if he wants, but he holds out for gobblers now. I haven't seen the data but I would bet jake harvest is negligible on total impact. If someone wants to waste a tag on a 10-lb bird they can't brag about, have at it. Or they can mount the partial fan next to their trophy 3 pt rack

you are missing the point of a trophy. It's not all about size, it's about what it means to the hunter.


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[Roost 1]

My point was, in the brood flocks, don't shoot the biggest birds and most likely you won't shoot a 4-5 month old jake. They will be the biggest birds in the flock roughly the same size as the momma hens. The smallest birds will be the young of the year hens..... I kno you are trying to get the most meat for your freezer, but I have seen your house your family is not starving..... Just saying.....

 

[easy45]

I like the meat, I only trophy hunt deer, I'll pass on jakes most of the season but when it gets down to it I'll kill a Jake to have a little meat


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[AT Hiker]

Keep the limit at 4. Trust the biologists.

Wish we could but its not that simple.

On our family farm is small, under 100acres. Yet we harbor a lot of birds, it would be easy for us to kill 8-10 a year. It would also be easy to quickly knock back the population. Now the surrounding land owners are allowing turkey hunters to come in, we have no control over what they shoot (nor should we). In the last 3 years the turkey population around us has been cut back tremendously. I hate having to be the one with sense and not shooting any birds there. Our farm is the refuge now, so we get to play turkey biologist by default. Reducing the limit would help tremendously.


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