OldGobbler

OG Gear Store
Sum Toy
Dave Smith
Wood Haven
North Mountain Gear
North Mountain Gear
turkeys for tomorrow

News:

only use regular PayPal to provide purchase protection

Main Menu

Trophy Hunting

Started by retrieverman, April 05, 2023, 09:52:32 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

retrieverman

I've gotten lucky and killed 3 turkeys in my life but am not a "turkey hunter", but I am a trophy deer hunter.  I have a question for real turkey hunters.  Do y'all pass on younger short beard toms and wait on a long beard or do you take the tom that comes to your calling?

Dtrkyman

Almost never see "short bearded toms", if he is a tom he gets shot!

Scottf270

I have never shot a Jake. Not being snobby, just prefer to kill a mature gobbler.  I am willing to go home empty handed. And with the sad state of most turkey populations, it just seems right to leave the young ones. My opinion only.

deathfoot

I'll pass on a Jake every time. But when I was younger I wouldn't (I've killed a couple) but the last 20 years or so I have. I have no desire to kill a jake, let them live and be back for them next year.

Howieg

It's a sin for a grown man to kill a jake in my circle . It's also not legal .
Imo , it ok for a young hunter to start out with one or 2 , but after that it's grown gobblers only .

Gooserbat

I've out grown shooting Jake's... 99% of the time. Nothing wrong with joining club Jake but now days anything with a full fan or a full beard gets shot in the noggin.
NWTF Booth 1623
One of my personal current interests is nest predators and how a majority of hunters, where legal bait to the extent of chumming coons.  However once they get the predators concentrated they don't control them.

retrieverman

Would this one be a shooter?

nativeks

Years ago when we had turkeys everywhere we trophy hunted spurs. Let alot of birds walk looking for nice sets.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk


GobbleNut

That's a mature gobbler (full fan being the obvious indicator), so yes, I would consider him to be a shooter.  In addition, that looks like it might be a Merriam's, which generally have less-developed beards than the other subspecies, so going by the beard alone, he would be a representative specimen.  Spurs are considered by some to be a better indicator of trophy quality,...but we obviously can't see those to make that determination. 

As for your question about passing up birds while looking for a "trophy", I used to do that quite a bit,...but times have changed.  Used to be we could pass up a few gobblers around these parts knowing that there would most likely be another one to take later in the season.  Not so much anymore.  Passing up a mature gobbler nowadays means you might not get another chance later on. 

squidd


runngun

I just passed up 2 Gobblers yesterday morning. I had 2 cone into my calls and they had 8 inch or so beard, at less than 10 steps. I just didn't want to shoot either one of those so I passed.  I am hunting a Bronze/Copper colored Longbeard that is in the same bottom. I have killed plenty in the 9-12+ inch beards. Hope these will survive this season.

Have a good one and May God bless, Bo

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

Blessed are the peacemakers for they are the children of God.

Callmn closer

I enjoy hunting for a mature long beard so give the Jakes a pass, same with deer hunting and letting the younger bucks walk. 

Brillo

I am a recent convert to turkey hunting and had no issues shooting a jake my first couple of years and have no regrets.   Now I see them more like a deer hunting equivalent of a fork horned buck.  I no longer shoot small deer so passing on a jake is logical. 

Tom007

One of the most memorable hunts I had was a Tom that had a 3 inch beard, weighed 23 pounds, 1 1/4 inch spurs. It took me 3 hours to get him, about 10 set-ups covering about a quarter mile. He gobbled about 10 times total. When I walked up to him, I noticed his beard was blonde and curled at the tips. Beard rot I was told. Moral of the story here, short beard, but in my top 5 trophies that I can remember. This guy was extremely smart. I pass on Jake's, but when it comes to Tom's, I judge a trophy by the quality of the hunt, not the length of his beard.....

guesswho

No jakes for me, period.   As far as mature gobblers go, it has as much to do with the hunt than it does beard size.   I'd rather kill a two year old with a 9" beard who gave me fits than to kill a four year old with a 12" beard who just happened by. 
If I'm not back in five minutes, wait longer!
BodonkaDeke Prostaff
MoHo's Prostaff
Do unto others before others do unto you
Official Member Of The Unofficial Firedup Turkey
Calls Prostaff