Rifle hunters and spring gobblers

[jblackburn]

As has been said, legal is legal.

BUT, I know I have had some GREAT hunts that ended with me coming out of the woods without a gobbler. Some hang up, others come in at a bad angle, hens lead them away, you know, the usual stuff.  Would I have killed more birds if I hunted with a rifle, my guess would be yes!

But, the hunt is so much more than killing. For some reason I just cannot think about about getting a rush out of a 100 yard shot on a gobbler. I can barely motivate myself do use my rifle for deer hunting anymore.  Again, I'm not judging, rifle hunting a turkey just is not for me.

To each his own, I guess.

[30_06]

Just because it's legal, doesn't make it right.

I'm shocked at the number of guys here that shrug it off as tolerable and acceptable.

Have some backbone, people.

Exactly what part should I be outraged about?
Why should turkeys not be shot with a rifle, but deer, bear, elk, antelope, etc. can and should be?

[Gooserbat]

Just because it's legal, doesn't make it right.

I'm shocked at the number of guys here that shrug it off as tolerable and acceptable.

Have some backbone, people.

Just hold on there.  No one has the say as to whether or not it's right.  Now it's nontraditional as far as most of us are concerned and that's where a lot of guys are drawing the line.   That's the same as making a villain out of an  AR 15 just because it looks like a "Army gun." 

I wouldn't do it but I don't bait deer either, but dose that make it wrong to condition deer to a feed station or a food plot only to be waiting on them one day and Bamm! you shot one?   

All I'm trying to say is don't make people or their practices, when and where leagal, out to be bad.  If it efects you as a hunter and your in the majority then patetion the state to get it changed.

[tomstopper]

It's unsafe.

And a turkey should never suffer the disgrace of being killed by a rifle, IMHO.

This. If you have a jake decoy out, I wouldn't want a guy over 100 yards away with a rifle not knowing I am sitting there. The hunter may or may not realize it's a deke. I wouldn't want to take that chance.
The second part of the statement is just as accurate. When you hunt these majestic birds with a rifle, you are completely missing the point of turkey hunting. It's about getting them close, hearing them drum, and feeling like your heart is gonna explode.
Try getting that feeling from shooting them 100 yards away with a rifle.

100%........

[Spring_Woods]

Legal is legal

[wvcurlytop]

First I agree 100%! But now I'm going to play devil's advocate and ask a single question.  Then if it's "wrong" to stretch the distance with a rifle, why do we (and I use the term "we" as a general referance to the majority of turkey hunters) strive so hard to extend our range with special chokes, HTL loads that cost out the wazoo, rifle sights, and/or scopes, shooting sticks...

Just something to think about.

40 yards today is the same as 40 yards 50 years ago.  All we've done with today's chokes, ammo, sights, etc is ensure we put "More" pellets in the head and neck at that distance and closer.  Honestly we never even patterned shotguns 30 years ago, and still killed turkeys.  Don't know how, as I've patterned a few of those older guns and man, they were bad!  But some were sufficient, not as great as today, but any turkey inside 40 yards was dead as long as the hunter did his part.  I'm just saying, answering the devil's question sort of speak.  It has been the turkey hunter's quest to ensure a "Dead" turkey, not a  wounded one once they hit that 40 yard marker.  That isn't cheating, that is sound hunting practices.  We want to make sure he is Dead!  If you really want to play the Devil's advocate, perhaps all of us should use longbows with wooden arrows and flint broadheads.  They were here first!!  No, the shotguns of today has advanced and they pattern much better, are lighter, better sights than just a bead, etc, but 40 yards is 40 yards.  And on this forum you can't talk about any shots over that, so that is the end of that..   We've just taken an old technology and made it perform better, but still within the accepted limits of the past.

Just because it's legal, doesn't make it right.

I'm shocked at the number of guys here that shrug it off as tolerable and acceptable.

Have some backbone, people.

Just hold on there.  No one has the say as to whether or not it's right.  Now it's nontraditional as far as most of us are concerned and that's where a lot of guys are drawing the line.   That's the same as making a villain out of an  AR 15 just because it looks like a "Army gun." 

I wouldn't do it but I don't bait deer either, but dose that make it wrong to condition deer to a feed station or a food plot only to be waiting on them one day and Bamm! you shot one?   

All I'm trying to say is don't make people or their practices, when and where leagal, out to be bad.  If it efects you as a hunter and your in the majority then patetion the state to get it changed.

And the answer I got from our regional biologist, who is also a member of the NWTF, is that the NRA would fight it as they consider the banning of rifles for the spring season as a form of "Gun Control" since it has been legal in our state for so many years.  I don't want to be viewed as some idiot against gun ownership, because that is untrue.  I'm all about the right to bear arms, so I am sort of lost as to what to do. 


Now imagine that rifle hunter shooting a turkey at a 100 yards, one that he didn't call in, but ambushed, and it was a Jake!!!  Does that make any difference??  It happened last year, and the guy talked like he really laid the smack down on one.  Just saying..

[Garrett Trentham]

Just because it's legal, doesn't make it right.

I'm shocked at the number of guys here that shrug it off as tolerable and acceptable.

Have some backbone, people.

So if they don't agree with you, they have no backbone? Hmm.


Here's me having the back bone to say your comments were ignorant and short-sighted.

I have no problem with people shooting turkeys with a rifle. I shoot deer with a rifle, when I could call them in to bow range and shoot them with a bow. Never heard any back-lash from that. Maybe everyone thinks shooting deer with a rifle is wrong and they just don't have the "backbone" to tell me.

I do think, like I said, that shooting turkeys with a rifle in the spring with no one wearing blaze orange is unsafe.

[ziggy]

i can't believe it's legal, anywhere, to shoot turkeys with centerfire rifles.  it's very, very unsafe as turkey hunters where no orange, actively call and usually have decoys out in front of them, and hunt on the ground where a bullet can travel for miles.  not even getting into the fact that it is not sporting at all to pop one 200 yards across a field without calling to and working a bird.  i'll go ahead and judge them, i think they're inexperienced, dangerous hunters for even using and defending turkey hunting with a rifle.  west virginia needs to get their game laws with the 21st century and realize just how dangerous it could be.

[ziggy]

Just because it's legal, doesn't make it right.

I'm shocked at the number of guys here that shrug it off as tolerable and acceptable.

Have some backbone, people.

So if they don't agree with you, they have no backbone? Hmm.


Here's me having the back bone to say your comments were ignorant and short-sighted.

I have no problem with people shooting turkeys with a rifle. I shoot deer with a rifle, when I could call them in to bow range and shoot them with a bow. Never heard any back-lash from that. Maybe everyone thinks shooting deer with a rifle is wrong and they just don't have the "backbone" to tell me.

I do think, like I said, that shooting turkeys with a rifle in the spring with no one wearing blaze orange is unsafe.

and what's the difference between deer and turkey hunting with a rifle?  turkey hunters are on the ground where bullets can travel a loooong ways, have decoys (both hen and jakes/gobblers) set up in front of them, and wear no orange.  it's unsafe as hell.

[Garrett Trentham]

So, what is the difference between these two scenerios:

You are in Texas hunting from a stand.

A deer walks out at 200 yards. You shoot him with your 270.

A long beard walks out at the same spot ten minutes later. You shoot him.

Everyone drools over the big buck you shot, you get it mounted.

Everyone gives you crap for shooting the turkey. You are ashamed you shot it.


WHY?

[turkey_slayer]

If it is legal I'm not going to argue over it. It's not my cup of tea, but whatever.

Personally, I do not buy the unsafe argument though. Since deer hunters have been required to wear hunters orange there has been no decrease of hunting related shootings, it is obviously not working but hey it makes people feel safer.

Not many people carry a 130" buck decoy in the fall unlike prob a big % of the turkey hunters in the spring that have a fluffed up gobbler and there sitting within close range of it on the ground and not a treestand. Big difference

My point is the fact that orange has done nothing for hunter safety since its become a requirement. Bad hunters still do not identify their target and what is beyond regardless of the weapon used or colors worn by hunters.
The unsafe argument in essence only applies to unsafe hunters and you can't regulate that with caliber and color restrictions. A hunter who is safe is going to identify his target, what is beyond, and its surroundings. That does not change regarding the species hunted.

True. I agree there's some unresponsible trigger happy people that shouldn't be allowed with a gun period.

[jblackburn]

I know!  Let's talk about shooting a gobbler with a rifle over a pile of corn! 

We need more turkey seasons to open! 

[jakebird]

Rifles are legal in the fall in but I've never killed with one, though im not overly opposed to their use in the fall. Spring hunting is another thing. Number one being that in the fall big longbeards don't typically parade around and strut in open fields . For a guy with a .22-250 and a bipod it wouldnt be any different than blasting groundhogs . Just dont see a shred of sport in it . Of course some of the hillbillies in PA do just that even though it's highly illegal . 

[willy8457]

Never shot one with a rifle and never will, for me it's all about calling one in and watching him do his dance. I could go up to where I grew up and kill one every year with a rifle in the fields behind my dads house, But he always told me turkeys hunters use shotguns turkey killers use rifle's. Not much to it when they are 150 yards away and don't know your their. if I had to kill one with a rifle to get one , I'd just go to walmart. But to each his own.

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

Turkey hunting is going sh!+ when the majority of hunters condone shooting them with rifles.

A few years ago, you wouldve logged on here and asked this question and the response would've been overwhelmingly disapproving of the practice.

Why don't we embrace roost shooting (legal in MANY places), shooting them over corn piles, and any other means that increases odds of success. "If it's legal, do it" is one of the most complacent, and ignorant justifications for tolerating it.

Shooting a turkey with a rifle is a disgrace and it's saddening to me that the most regal of game birds could ever be shot by someone in such an undignified manner.