One and likely done.

[hunter0925]

I wasnt even going to Turkey hunt this year because my niece wasnt going to be able to go. Then my wife said she wanted to go and then surprised me even more by saying she wanted to kill a bird! Her only stipulation was that she wanted a big longbeard. I set some cameras out and found I had a few coming on my land and a nice bearded hen. She didn't care about anything but a longbeard so I set my sights on the hen.
We hunted 3 days now and havent even seen a bird until we caught the bearded hen coming to roost tonight. She spotted us and I had to rush a 40 yard shot but she dropped straight away. I ran over and stepped on her head and when I picked her up her head fell off. Lol
I didn't weigh her but she was light, her beard was 7 3/4 though! I am likely done other than taking my wife but if I get the chance I will try to,double with her.

 

[TDW05]

op:

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Killing 13 or 14 turkeys ain't bad for one season. Congrats.

 

[hunter0925]

Killing 13 or 14 turkeys ain't bad for one season. Congrats.

So how much do you trap raccoons, possums and skunks? Do you trap and actively hunt coyote year round? Just seems that all the people that are so worried about killing a LEGAL bird would do more to protect them year round and especially during nesting season if that one hen is so important to the populations survival. It amazes me the elitist mentality of so called hunters and how we complain about hunter recruitment but then bash people for what they kill that is perfectly legal and likely in a place that isn't going to effect anybody that you know or ever will know.

 

[MUP]

Congrats buddy! :tu:

 

[74MOPAR]

Congrats

 

[Griswold]

Killing 13 or 14 turkeys ain't bad for one season. Congrats.

:livid: :moon:

 

[Gravey]

Congrats

 

[Gobbler88]

Congrats man! That's the longest beard I've seen on a hen.

 

[Setterman]

No comment....

 

[GOODWIN]

Congrats!

 

[cbhunter]

Congrats!

 

[Griswold]

No comment....

:roll: congratulations to the op sorry some people have to be childish instead of just moving on.

 

[hunter0925]

No comment....

:roll: congratulations to the op sorry some people have to be childish instead of just moving on.

Lol. No problem by me man. I actually find it comical that I did something totally legal and killed my 4th bird of my entire life, on my own private land at that, and people have a problem with it. Hunters as a whole are our own worst enemy in the way we treat other hunters because they don't hunt alike and then we complain about recruitment numbers.

 

[MUP]

That was also one of those sneaky East TN birds wasn't it buddy?

 

[hunter0925]

That was also one of those sneaky East TN birds wasn't it buddy?

Sure was buddy but from what I'm reading I'm afraid that I just wiped out the entire population and nobody will ever be able to kill a bird in East TN again! We knew twra biologists didnt know how to manage stuff and now we have proof thanks to the tndeer turkey gods!

 

[PalsPal]

Congrats!

If you don't have plans, some of these wingbone call makers would love to have her wing bones.

 

[rem270]

No comment....

:roll: congratulations to the op sorry some people have to be childish instead of just moving on.

Knightrider if them 2 bearded hens would've acted right last year I'd had 2 off your place

 

[Setterman]

No comment....

:roll: congratulations to the op sorry some people have to be childish instead of just moving on.

Lol. No problem by me man. I actually find it comical that I did something totally legal and killed my 4th bird of my entire life, on my own private land at that, and people have a problem with it. Hunters as a whole are our own worst enemy in the way we treat other hunters because they don't hunt alike and then we complain about recruitment numbers.

I didn't make any disparaging comment. I made no comment but y'all want to drag me into this. To your later post Twra is proving again and again they've got no clue with how to manage our flock as evidenced by a population that's plummeting. I'm from the south and we grew up not killing hens for any reason. I guess it's a southern thing and I'll never be okay with it. Especially with our population in the shape it's in now.

You are right though it is 100% your hunt and it was perfectly legal. However abortions are legal and you won't ever catch me patting someone on the back for having one.

Doesn't mean I hate you or think less of you as a hunter or person. It's just not something I find cool. Hoenstly, I shouldn't have written any response. That's on me for not keeping to myself on this

 

[hunter0925]

congratulations to the op sorry some people have to be childish instead of just moving on.[/quote]

Lol. No problem by me man. I actually find it comical that I did something totally legal and killed my 4th bird of my entire life, on my own private land at that, and people have a problem with it. Hunters as a whole are our own worst enemy in the way we treat other hunters because they don't hunt alike and then we complain about recruitment numbers.[/quote]

I didn't make any disparaging comment. I made no comment but y'all want to drag me into this. To your later post Twra is proving again and again they've got no clue with how to manage our flock as evidenced by a population that's plummeting. I'm from the south and we grew up not killing hens for any reason. I guess it's a southern thing and I'll never be okay with it. Especially with our population in the shape it's in now.

You are right though it is 100% your hunt and it was perfectly legal. However abortions are legal and you won't ever catch me patting someone on the back for having one.

Doesn't mean I hate you or think less of you as a hunter or person. It's just not something I find cool. Hoenstly, I shouldn't have written any response. That's on me for not keeping to myself on this[/quote]

I didnt bring you into anything, all I did was reply to a post. I will however bring you into it now.
I also grew up in the south, born and raised as a matter of fact. Kinda crazy that your turkey population is plummeting while mine has continued to grow. I can remember when there weren't any turkey at all in my area but that isnt the case now. There are plenty of people on this forum who grew up not shooting doe because our population was so low and they still don't shoot them (some possibly in this very thread) but you don't see or hear them saying anything to people who do shoot doe.

Now this is where my problem really starts with your asinine response... I also don't agree with abortion and for you to even possibly insinuate that I might is beyond absurd. Also to try to use an unborn child that is murdered as an example for something as trivial as a bird that you obviously put at the same value shows you have bigger problems in your life than what I do abiding within the laws.

However, I also don't hate you or think less of you as a person but I will remember you as I pray. There are a lot if things I see in hunting that I don't think are cool but I know that me saying things that are unneeded could possibly turn another hunter off or against our great sport so I just move on unless it is unsafe or illegal. I wish you the best this season ans hope you are able to fill your tags, just keep in mind that your population is plummeting before you pull the trigger on that bird.

 

[Setterman]

Let's clarify one thing. I didn't insinuate you were for abortion, I simply used it as an example of something legal that I also don't agree with. There's zero correlation between turkeys and human life. So let's not get carried away.

I'm glad your population seems great. However, I'll give you some advice, don't listen to me. Listen to the scores of others all over the state noticing a decline and a serious decline. For now you may be fine, and I hope it stays great. But like the rest of the state you may be wondering what happened in the years to come. Imo fwiw killing hens isn't adding birds to the flock it is taking away maybe 10-12 birds including gobblers for the next few seasons. That's where I come from.

Deer and turkeys aren't comparable so no need to get into that, and I can assure you I've killed as many as 30 Does in one day so I'm dang sure not afraid of killing the ladies

 

[Griswold]

Knightrider if them 2 bearded hens would've acted right last year I'd had 2 off your place [/quote]
I found you three more today

 

[hunter0925]

Let's clarify one thing. I didn't insinuate you were for abortion, I simply used it as an example of something legal that I also don't agree with. There's zero correlation between turkeys and human life. So let's not get carried away.

I'm glad your population seems great. However, I'll give you some advice, don't listen to me. Listen to the scores of others all over the state noticing a decline and a serious decline. For now you may be fine, and I hope it stays great. But like the rest of the state you may be wondering what happened in the years to come. Imo fwiw killing hens isn't adding birds to the flock it is taking away maybe 10-12 birds including gobblers for the next few seasons. That's where I come from.

Deer and turkeys aren't comparable so no need to get into that, and I can assure you I've killed as many as 30 Does in one day so I'm dang sure not afraid of killing the ladies

I can totally agree that killing a hen is removing birds from the flock, same as killing doe. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out at all. Considering this was only the 4th bird I have killed in my life I very seriously doubt my hunting has or will contribute to a decline in population. Also the current deer hunting situation is entirely comparable to Turkey. People have complained across the state for at least 2 years of decreased sightings and now we couple that with cwd. Also, just like turkey, deer we're reintroduced because they had been hunted to near extinction and there are still huge parts of this state where deer numbers are extremely low, in fact I would venture to say the turkey populations are exponentially higher than deer populations in those areas. I still don't care if people kill doe in those areas so long as they do it legally and don't then complain about low deer sightings.
Once again, I did not intend to bring you into any conversations nor was I singling you out until your previous post. I sincerely hope you have a great season and still stick by what I said about hunters being our own worst enemy. With the current climate towards hunting, dropping numbers and low recruitment, it is vital that we encourage the people that are still legally participating in order to ensure there are funds available for wildlife restoration and research so that our sport doesn't die.

 

[catman529]

I used to open fire on flocks and kill 3 or 4 hens each fall season, on public land. I'm out here in the same woods now, and it's littered with fresh scratch and feathers as I listen to birds fly up to roost. The population is still thriving.

So a guy who doesn't turkey hunt much kills 1 bearded hen on his PRIVATE land. And rather than congratulate him or keep scrolling, someone's gotta make a smart*** comment like he's part of some big decline. Many parts of TN still have healthy flocks and good hatches.

And yes I'm glad they changed fall season rules and limits. They were way too liberal before.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Tn_Va_Hunter]

Congrats buddy. Nice bird.

 

[prstide]

I didn't make any disparaging comment. I made no comment but y'all want to drag me into this. To your later post Twra is proving again and again they've got no clue with how to manage our flock as evidenced by a population that's plummeting. I'm from the south and we grew up not killing hens for any reason. I guess it's a southern thing and I'll never be okay with it. Especially with our population in the shape it's in now.

You are right though it is 100% your hunt and it was perfectly legal. However abortions are legal and you won't ever catch me patting someone on the back for having one.

Doesn't mean I hate you or think less of you as a hunter or person. It's just not something I find cool. Hoenstly, I shouldn't have written any response. That's on me for not keeping to myself on this

:lol: Mic drop

 

[Setterman]

I used to open fire on flocks and kill 3 or 4 hens each fall season, on public land. I'm out here in the same woods now, and it's littered with fresh scratch and feathers as I listen to birds fly up to roost. The population is still thriving.

So a guy who doesn't turkey hunt much kills 1 bearded hen on his PRIVATE land. And rather than congratulate him or keep scrolling, someone's gotta make a smart*** comment like he's part of some big decline. Many parts of TN still have healthy flocks and good hatches.

And yes I'm glad they changed fall season rules and limits. They were way too liberal before.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

It's awesome the population is thriving in your area, however, one look at the kills so far which is 50% less than last year which was a really down year and it really makes you wonder what's going on? Maybe not in our little neck of the woods but on a larger scale?

Maybe if folks hadn't hammered hens in years past we wouldn't be facing something we've never seen in recent times? Maybe the handful of bearded hens killed this year would have been the ones sustaining a population in obvious decline based on so many reports, stats, sighting, and assessments?

You're right, and individual doesn't deserve to be singled out. And for that I am truly sorry. But we've got a dam serious issue with the population. Denying that is just being stubborn at this point. Catman I've got immense respect for you, but come on dude it's time for all of us that live this sport to recognize we've got trouble and to work to find ways to help the population state wide, no matter what we encounter on our own grounds.

 

[Coker]

4 days into the season and we already have ourselves an arguement. All I can do is shake my head in disgust and move on to a better thread.

 

[SKFOOTER]

Anyone else having trouble signing in to the Hunters Toolbox section of TWRA's website to get the Harvest Report Data??? I've tried all day with no luck.

 

[catman529]

I used to open fire on flocks and kill 3 or 4 hens each fall season, on public land. I'm out here in the same woods now, and it's littered with fresh scratch and feathers as I listen to birds fly up to roost. The population is still thriving.

So a guy who doesn't turkey hunt much kills 1 bearded hen on his PRIVATE land. And rather than congratulate him or keep scrolling, someone's gotta make a smart*** comment like he's part of some big decline. Many parts of TN still have healthy flocks and good hatches.

And yes I'm glad they changed fall season rules and limits. They were way too liberal before.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

It's awesome the population is thriving in your area, however, one look at the kills so far which is 50% less than last year which was a really down year and it really makes you wonder what's going on? Maybe not in our little neck of the woods but on a larger scale?

Maybe if folks hadn't hammered hens in years past we wouldn't be facing something we've never seen in recent times? Maybe the handful of bearded hens killed this year would have been the ones sustaining a population in obvious decline based on so many reports, stats, sighting, and assessments?

You're right, and individual doesn't deserve to be singled out. And for that I am truly sorry. But we've got a dam serious issue with the population. Denying that is just being stubborn at this point. Catman I've got immense respect for you, but come on dude it's time for all of us that live this sport to recognize we've got trouble and to work to find ways to help the population state wide, no matter what we encounter on our own grounds.

I don't believe the harvest reports this year are accurate. That's a huge drop statewide and I'm still seeing the usual posts on the Facebook groups. I'd think I would see a lot more discussion on social media if the numbers really dropped that much. Will have to let the season progress and see how it really turns out. Hopefully it's not really dropping that fast.


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