Amen, beat me to it, you could call in and kill gobblers in june if you tried
Thoughts on the 4/15 opener?
- Thread starter Southern Sportsman
- Start date
fairchaser
Well-Known Member
Gobblers get henned up pretty quickly once they hit the ground so breeding is still going on. It's hard for me to stay after it all day because I will only kill a gobbling working bird. The gobbling is finished by 6:30. The jury is still out on if this will help the flock but so far seems to be a good number this year no thanks to the rule changes.
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From what I've seen, most of the griping is coming from people with those farms that hold big flocks early season and they kill the crap out of them opening weekend (mostly over bait), and now they are all split up and moved on.
It's made for some good hunting, worked a few birds Saturday, should have killed early but I screwed that up. Ended up killing one at 2:30, a pair came in hot and did it right. Haven't carried my gun since Saturday, don't want to end it this early. Numbers seem to be improving in my area. Hunted Giles, Maury and Lawrence so far and haven't had any problems getting on birds except today in 20+ mph winds. Saw a lot of jakes which was encouraging. Only bad part is it sounded like a dove shoot around my lease in lynnville Saturday morning. Heard 22 shots before 9:00 am
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I can't really say. I feel that WAY more birds were killed around me than normal based on shots heard, but then again I saw WAY more people hunting than normal as I said in my long post yesterday.
As to the decoys comment, I stand firm on saying they are probably more of a detriment to success than an aid in a lot of cases. I've hunted exactly two days. Both days set up with decoys, both days abandoned my decoys once they got no attention, both days killed birds
As to the decoys comment, I stand firm on saying they are probably more of a detriment to success than an aid in a lot of cases. I've hunted exactly two days. Both days set up with decoys, both days abandoned my decoys once they got no attention, both days killed birds
bowhunterfanatic
Well-Known Member
I've gotta admit, I was dead against this when I found out about it, but man the quality of my hunts the last 3 days was so much better than I expected. Overall I feel like I had fewer birds to hunt because when the big flocks bust we lose a lot of turkeys, but the quality of the hunts I had was infinitely better than most opening days where I'm dealing with 20+ hens most of the time.
Setterman
Well-Known Member
You are flat wrong on your decoy views. Male decoys are deadlier than bait. Honestly this isn't even remotely debatable
I was 100% behind the changes for years before they ever happened. Doing something is better than doing nothing when we, as turkey hunters, were seeing first hand there was definite problems.
Most with grievances about the change are short sighted. Regardless of whether there is "scientific data" backing the change, if you are truly a "turkey hunter", then protecting the resource in order to continue to have a huntable population for years to come should be at the forefront. If it isn't then you're part of the problem.
By the time de facto "scientific data" came about there likely wouldn't have been a d@mn turkey left to hunt. There may still not be any left in the coming years but at least it won't be from lack of trying to make needed changes.
That said this was the best opening morning I can recall over 7 or more years for myself.
Most with grievances about the change are short sighted. Regardless of whether there is "scientific data" backing the change, if you are truly a "turkey hunter", then protecting the resource in order to continue to have a huntable population for years to come should be at the forefront. If it isn't then you're part of the problem.
By the time de facto "scientific data" came about there likely wouldn't have been a d@mn turkey left to hunt. There may still not be any left in the coming years but at least it won't be from lack of trying to make needed changes.
That said this was the best opening morning I can recall over 7 or more years for myself.
holstonangler
Well-Known Member
No shortage of gobblers but the seasonal allergies have kept me out of the woods
I guess to someone that thinks decoys are as guaranteed as a bait pile then yes, there's no point in debating
jaybird62
Well-Known Member
Seems the turkey season setting is more political Voodoo than anything else practically everywhere. Seems the biological crowd has always been allergic to conducting or using data from studies that focus on nest predators and nesting and survival success. Can't do anything about rain at the wrong time in regards to hatch dates, but trapping nest predators is possible to manage. I've seen first hand the difference trapping makes in more than one state on the places I've hunted. Here's a novel idea: Base the issuance of turkey tags upon physical verification of removing a nest predator from the ecosystem.
TurkeyShooter3
Member
probably one of the quietest weekends for opening day that i have ever hunted.
This was our experience as well for opening day. It is also easier to move closer to birds with more plant growth. It is much harder to hunt earlier in April.
Southern Sportsman
Well-Known Member
If you honestly think decoys are ineffective, why do you think so many people spend hundreds of dollars on them and use them year after year?
Probably one of our best opening weekends we've seen in a long time on our lease. Toms were pretty much separated and on the prowl. No big groups of 20-30 hens in a wad, as in the recent years opening. Heard a lot more gobbling than in years past. We were fortunate enough to take 3 good ones, and one guy missed his shot. Didnt like the warm weather but then, I guess you have to take the bad with the good.
If you read my long rant/post on the one I killed on opening day, you would know I couldn't agree with you more. I had one coming that the jack wagon cherry picked off me and another that had hens, but I saw her leave him, and then he disappeared. I was able to get him fired back up and at least thinking he was was alone (he was) kept me engaged enough to stick it out and he came on in.
when I left public I went back through the private I have permission to hunt that abuts it and as I walked out I bumped a bird (couldn't tell what it was) and I could hear the guy (I think it was him) calling on the next property over and he had 2 gobbling. So essentially 2 got shot in the spot I was in on public and another guy had 2 working. I also heard shots in the area and other birds gobbling.
Sunday sucked a little but I did more driving and field looking and saw 5 toms... 3 were all by themselves on private very close to public. They're definitely not as hened up. Now I am scared I will tag out and it will be over.
I'm editing to add that I didn't like the waiting but if it will help them get population up, I am ok with it.
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I mean, that's a pretty silly question. First of all, I didn't say they were ineffective, and second of all, no one spends more money on gimmicks than hunters or fisherman.
I use them on my initial set for the first week or so of season. In my experience they can be very effective in the fly down. Once I make my first move they either get abandoned in place or they get tossed back in the truck. Out of the last 7 birds I've killed, exactly one has been with a decoy. Once they've seen piles of decoys after the first week or two, they tend to literally run from them in my experience
My experience as well. Either the hens turn and work away from the setup or the gobbler will just leave for no other apparent reason.
Southern Sportsman
Well-Known Member
You said:
I think "more of a detriment than an aid" is roughly synonymous with "ineffective," but I digress.
Yes, hunters and fishermen will try anything, so hunting gimmicks exist. But the gimmicks die out quickly and the effective products stick around. Since roughly 2005 the modern decoy era has completely changed the sport (for the worse, IMO). There are tens or hundreds of thousands of videos proving how well they work.
Will every turkey charge in? No. But take two novice turkey hunters with little or no understanding of turkey behavior, calling, set ups, or woodsmanship. Send them both afield and give one a hen and jake decoy and a tent. Give the other his choice of calls. Which do you think will kill a gobbler first?
I don't believe I've ever killed one with a decoy. I had some out one time and the turkeys just fed through. They paid no attention to them and I shot a tom that was in tow, so to speak... I never carry them on public, too much to carry. I never understand these guys walking on me and I know they are coming from the "thump, thump, thump" of their decoy bag on their back. It has to weigh 20+ extra pounds.
