How many hens killed durning spring season?

[Marc]

Having recently taken my nephew out for his first ever turkey hunt (in his early 20's), he could not discern the hens from the toms or jakes.  He shot the closest bird with a visible beard...

Having seen some of the foolery on YouTube, and hearing stories of hen decoys, fans, etc., being shot...

Back during COVID, I was watching some birds from public that were on private ground...  Group of hens...  Some other hunters ended up pulling into the lot and were watching the birds with me, and stated "they are all toms..."  I corrected them, and being new turkey hunters, they (politely) asked me how I could tell...  I also pointed out that a legal spring turkey in California must have a visible beard.

I have to wonder how many hens are killed due to ineptitude or lack of concern by "idiot" or new hunters? 

[bbcoach]

I'm sure some have but education, time and GOOD Mentors will eliminate most of this.  Personally, I have had numerous opportunities to kill bearded hens during the spring season and have passed every time.  As an added tidbit, when I first started hunting turkeys, my mentors said, "You can kill jakes until you kill your first gobbler, then you can never go back."  My first bird was a gobbler, so I've honored that, and I have never pulled the trigger on a jake.  I would add, I wish ALL states would remove the hens from their fall season but that's me.

[Ihuntoldschool]

Part of the reason many states like to delay opener until MOST hens are on the nest.

[Greg Massey]

Some probably do get killed. But I have no control over others, only myself...

Anything is possible in this day and time, but I would think most seasonal turkey hunters know the difference between hens , Jake's and gobblers ...

IMO

[GobbleNut]

I would like to think that this is a rare occurrence...but I know for a fact that it happens, both accidentally and, I suspect, intentionally on occasion.  I have known a few very experienced and conscientious turkey hunters that have accidentally shot hens in various situations.

I have little doubt that the desire to be successful has led many a less experienced hunter to pull the trigger on a bird that had not been positively identified (I know of several such incidents). In addition, the incidence of multiple, and unintended, turkeys being shot in situations where a number of unseen birds might be coming to a calling hunter in heavy cover is always a possibility no matter how careful one thinks he is being before pulling the trigger. (Full disclosure, this happened to me many decades ago).

As for the "intentional" shootings by the poacher types, I would hope that there are enough "good guys" in the woods nowadays that such activities could be dissuaded.  In my opinion, anybody that knows of such individuals and does nothing about it is no better than the outlaw doing the shooting. (Some of us have collected some significant dollars turning in a few of those types over the years    )

[Marc]

In addition, the incidence of multiple, and unintended, turkeys being shot in situations where a number of unseen birds might be coming to a calling hunter in heavy cover is always a possibility no matter how careful one thinks he is being before pulling the trigger. (Full disclosure, this happened to me many decades ago).

Yes...  The furthest I ever killed a bird was a hen.  Killed a tom right in front of me, on one of the rare occasions in which I was able to pull a tom from a group of birds...  He came into good range, while the rest of the rafter or flock was much further back (where I considered out of range).

I killed the tom, rest of the birds scattered, and I went to my downed prize...  And I could hear another bird flopping much further away...  Golden BB to a hen that I estimated at the time to be about 80 yards from my hide.

Sometimes honest mistakes are made...  I remember thinking "I'm glad it was not another hunter."

As for the "intentional" shootings by the poacher types, I would hope that there are enough "good guys" in the woods nowadays that such activities could be dissuaded.  In my opinion, anybody that knows of such individuals and does nothing about it is no better than the outlaw doing the shooting. (Some of us have collected some significant dollars turning in a few of those types over the years    )

From my observations, there are probably a certain percentage of hunters that shoot at whatever, and hope for the best..  Not sure if it is male or female, but hope it is male.

Other hunters having hunted without success, likely shoot the first bird that comes in range without regard to the sex of the bird.

And still others yet that go out to kill whatever they can, whenever they can...

I once hunted a ranch that was several hundred acres, and the owner had informed me that the turkeys had left...  He witnessed a couple "hunters" knock down multiple birds out of two roost trees just before daylight...  He claims he saw nine birds go down...

He yelled at them, and they collected several birds and left with haste, leaving several dead birds on the ground...

Whether or not he embellished, there were no more birds roosting on that property that season.

[NCL]

There have been a couple of thread of late that demonstrated odd behavior from hens such as strutting and gobbling. If this behavior is displayed during the season I can see a hunter taking the shot without confirming the beard based on the behavior. Certainly not condoning this behavior, as the target should always be confirmed, but i can see it occurring

[zelmo1]

Bearded hens are legal up here. Have seen more than a few, never put the safe on one. Fall season is legal up here too. You can shoot 5 hens in a neighboring state, I think this is assinine. Jr and first time hunters should be able to shoot ONE jake, nobody needs to shoot 2 or more jakes in a year evr. Z

[joey46]

Brief answer to the original question. Not enough to make any real difference in population numbers.

[Marc]

Jr and first time hunters should be able to shoot ONE jake, nobody needs to shoot 2 or more jakes in a year evr. Z

It is my understanding that conservationally speaking, it would be more beneficial to harvest a jake, rather than a breeding mature bird.

Jakes have far less viable sperm (if viable at all), and leaving the mature birds in the equation to breed hens would improve breeding success.  Not to mention reduction of competition of toms having to fend off non-viable jakes.

I am currently hunting a property that has multiple jakes with only one known tom.  The hens are hanging out with the band of jakes.  Have called in the group a couple times, and that tom will not approach with those jakes present.  Maybe that hen gets bred by a viable male, maybe not.

Furthermore, I believe a second year bird has better overall survival success from other predators than does a jake.

Obviously there is a conservational advantage to passing jakes, if a tom is not taken in its place.

But in the overall scheme of things, I do not think that harvesting jakes is an overall conservational disadvantage.

My family does not understand my unwillingness to shoot a jake when they just want to eat turkey...  For me, shooting a tom is about the challenge and excitement of taking a mature bird...  It is not a conservation decision.