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Started by dodger, March 21, 2011, 04:11:13 AM
Quote from: neal on March 21, 2011, 03:20:39 PMYou buy the tag you do what you want with it as long as it's legal, it is none of my business as long as your having a good time!
Quote from: OntarioGobbler on March 21, 2011, 12:48:03 PMyou know the thing I love about turkey hunters versus deer hunters is the appreciation for the game far more than the trophy at the end of the hunt. No split G2's, droptines, heavy mass, kicker points to amaze at. Let's be honest, for the most part turkeys look the same. We are talking a few shorter feathers and 1/8's of inches on spurs all round.Now I love big sharp hooks as much as the next guy but what is it that makes us want to dust that old gobbler (and I don't mean our admin)? It's the satisfaction of playing the game against the toughest oppenent we can and winning the game. period. That's why guys like to highlight private versus public land birds all the time. Someone already referenced this point. I mean if you go toe -toe with an old wily gobbler all season long and after finally killing him find he's spurless do you wish you could of tagged another bird? A true turkey hunter doesn't worry about that IMO.So my point is jakes can sometimes play as fun a game as the next bird. 25 kills I have 3 jakes and every one of them I don't regret. The first was my first "foreign" bird. Travelled a long way and after what I went thru to get him in front of me I didn't hesitate. The second I actually sat there watching it for a good 5 seconds after my buddy killed his bird. He had travelled a long way and it was our first hunt together. The opportunity for a double with him was far more important than the length of a spur. Population issues are different thing. Population management might be a reason to let your area get more mature gobblers in the flock. They are more likely to survive winters, predators etc.
Quote from: mmusso on March 21, 2011, 01:30:12 PMIf he plays the game, I would have no problem shooting a jake. Last year I had one of the best hunts I've ever been on, with one of my best friends (another OG member who will remain nameless), jake-mobile, and a jake. We sat down together with jake-mobile about 15 yards in front of us, and I started calling. Not even 20min. later, the jake popped up over a rise in the field. He looked our way and sprinted across the wide open pasture straight to jake-mobile, blew up, and immediately started strutting circles around the decoy. Then he started kicking jake-mobile in the face repeatedly with each pass. After this went on for a minute or two right in fornt of us, the conversation against the trees then went like this:Nameless: Is it a jake?Me: Yes-The kicking in the face continues...-Me: I'm shooting him, I can't stand thisNameless: No, don't shootMe: Dude, he's tearing up my decoyNameless: Your decoy's fine. Don't shootMe: If he gobbles, I'm shooting him (Nameless still claims to not have heard this)- I cutt as loud and fast as possible, the jake gobbles, I click my safety off, and Nameless rolls him mid-gobble...-Me: Really? What happened to don't shoot?Nameless: What? He gobbled...Then Nameless went into the whole "I can't believe I shot a jake, you can't tell anybody" thing, and to this day I have not told anyone. I didn't say this to call Nameless out, or to judge anyone else's decision to shoot or pass, but the "it's just a jake" or "why would you shoot a young buck" attitude is ruining hunting. If it gets your heart racing, you want to shoot it and it's legal, then blast away. At the same time, you can't shoot everything that walks and then complain about not having enough mature animals to hunt next year. I would pay a lot of money to have a hunt like that again and to shoot that bird. I have never shot a jake to this day and have had multiple opportunities were I just didn't want to, but if I have another hunt like that one where he acts like a big boy, he's getting shot like a big boy...Sorry to rant, but this bothers me.
Quote from: RutnNStrutn on March 22, 2011, 02:58:44 PMI too don't fault anyone for shooting jakes if its legal. If its legal and makes you happy, shoot that jake!!!I've only shot 2 jakes ever. My 1st turkey was a jake, and I'm still glad I took him. 2 years ago I also took a jake in SC. It was the only bird I got in SC that year, and I'm glad I took him as well.This year, like every year, I don't plan on shooting a jake. But I'm switching to a different property up in SC for next year, and I've got 4 tags left, a bunch of money invested, and I won't be hunting that property next year. So if the longbeards don't cooperate, I wouldn't be opposed to taking a jake to put some more yummy turkey meat in the freezer.I also wouldn't fault anyone for taking a jake on the last day of their hunt, nor for holding out because they wanted a longbeard.Sometimes as hunters, we are our own worst enemies. We argue & criticize each other for not hunting the way we would hunt. Instead, we should be supporting each other in our individual pursuits of legal and ethical methods of hunting, and individual harvests. We need to come together as a hunting community, and not be at each other's throats. Instead of being in fractured groups, we need to stand united and support one another, lest the anti's tear our sport and our heritage and our rights apart at the seams.
Quote from: okgobbler on March 23, 2011, 04:09:51 PMShoot whatever you want! Your out there to have a good time arent you? People are way to hung up on trophies anymore. Just go have fun.
