Spending money for one bird a year.

[deerbasshunter3]

I was going to use the fan from my bird this year to put on a decoy. I then found out that I can only shoot one bird per year on the property that I hunt. Is it worth investing money in a lifelike set of decoys, to include a strutter with a real fan for one bird per year?

[Gooserbat]

Dude no disrespect, but you've made mention of only being able to kill a single bird on your hunting spot, time and time again.  Get out of in front of the keyboard and go find a place to hunt.  You might surprise yourself if you try.  We'll help out but you need to help yourself first.

[101st501]

 :z-winnersmiley:Lots of opportunities on public land, sometimes we have to put in some leg work

[wvlimbhanger]

My wife would kill me if she knew what I spend from January-April every spring and we have a 2 bird limit in WV
It's more than the bird to me, it's just hard to explain until you do it long enough you won't get it.

By all means hit public land, knock doors and find new places, or go with other hunting buddies and just call for them.
Don't get discouraged if a landowner tells you know. The best farm I hunt I asked the guy 6 years in a row before he let me hunt. By any means necessary stay after them!

[BowBendr]

May I humbly suggest....after all the questions you've asked and threads you have started, if you are content with shooting your 1st bird and then riding it out til next year...the bug ain't bit you.
You may be content with sitting here talking about it, but the true essence of turkey hunting has not set-in yet....i'd have to hear just one more gobble, give it just one more try.
I'd be on every tract of public ground with-in a 2 hour drive.
Don't see how you can hear those gobbles, pull the trigger, and kill that tom...and let time lapse until "next year". Go get em !!
I honestly say this to motivate and encourage you.


Sent by this stupid phone

[taylorjones20]

Looks like your state has a limit of 5 PER SEASON!!! Holy Moly!  If you try hard enough you will have more than enough fans to do whatever the heck you want to do with them before your season runs out May 1st... Knock a bunch of doors or find a wma...

But to answer your question - I don't buy into the expensive decoys... Cheap decoy with real fan - Heck a real fan without a decoy is plenty!

[perrytrails]

It's not the kill to me, no limits as far as cost either, it's a passion.

You have it or you don't. It's a itch no scratch will stop.

Only you can answer your question

[trash2]

Decoys are way overrated but from interpreting your threads I would find it fitting for you to sit in a gobbler lounger with a whole flock of decoys...

[Clif Owen]

The only person who can say if it is worth it is you. We have a 2 bird limit here and I'm going out to sit and watch my buddy try to shoot one even though I can't. I guess that means I'm totally ate up with the fever or something. I would spend the money without blinking an eye. but, that is me. I can't speak for you. If it were me and I was limited to 1 bird on my lease, I would look into public land, another private area or an out of state trip.

[Cut N Run]

For over a decade, I had a killer lease that was loaded with turkeys.  It was a fantastic place that was very lightly pressured where I got to develop my turkey hunting skill set.  On that property it was mostly a matter of not calling too much, being patient, setting up in the right places, and you would get chances on grown gobblers.  After a while, I knew which way the turkeys were likely to go before they did and I consistently tagged above average gobblers there.

Well, I lost that lease a number of years ago just a few days before the season started to a group who offered more than I could afford.  I was so used to hunting that land that I didn't have a good back-up plan and I got skunked for the first time in a very, very long time. Tag soup sucks, no matter how you fix it. Not having a great place to hunt forced me to go back to square one, work on my turkey hunting basics, trust my hunting instincts, and find new places to hunt.  I ended up hunting some pretty tough, highly pressured places, but it also opened up new avenues to hunt that I could switch to my choice of a half dozen places.  I've tagged out every year since on mature birds and let younger gobblers walk for the future.

I learned that mid week in the middle of the season, you can have some public land pretty much to yourself.  The same goes if you're willing to walk the extra distance that most hunters aren't willing to do.  You need to double down on your patience, because turkeys do react to more traffic in the woods and become more wary than the first few days of the season.  It is all about desire, you've got to want to succeed.  You can do it if you're willing to work for it. Luck counts, but for the most part, success is earned.  Keep after 'em.  If it is worth having, it is worth working for.  Good luck.

Jim

[darn2ten]

Decoys are way overrated but from interpreting your threads I would find it fitting for you to sit in a gobbler lounger with a whole flock of decoys...

While I agree decoys are overrated, I see no reason for the sarcastic comment. This guy might be new to turkey hunting and just not know. Everybody was new at it at one time or the other and had questions. Now to the OP, if it was me I would save my money. Practice calling, get out in the woods and just listen to real turkeys, listen to the woods wake up and take it all in. If you can only kill 1 bird on that place, you ain't got to be in no big hurry. I've learned to be a turkey hunter by trial and error. Nothing beats experience and it take time to aquire it. Now I will agree, knock on door, hit public land, whatever it takes to find new hunting oppritunities. A 1 and done season would kill me, lol. Good luck!

[kjnengr]

The number of birds I would kill per season would not effect how much I spend on the sport. Now if I was only limited to a couple of days of hunting per year that might change how much I spent. Like others said though, if you really like turkey hunting, I would find a way to get past a one and done season.

[deerbasshunter3]

Being that my daughter stays home with me on my days off, finding a day to go hunt public land is not that easy to do. I am limited to the weekends off to go hunt my father-in-law's. With a one bird limit, it was over on the second day.

[dejake]

If you don't want to look for other places to hunt, take a video camera; it's ALMOST as fun.  You'll learn a lot about their behavior just being out more often.

[alloutdoors]

Being that my daughter stays home with me on my days off, finding a day to go hunt public land is not that easy to do. I am limited to the weekends off to go hunt my father-in-law's. With a one bird limit, it was over on the second day.

And? If you hadn't shot the bird after two days would you have hunted other weekends? If the answer is yes, then get out there and find some where else to spend those days. If you aren't motivated enough to do that no problem, that's your call to make; but stop belly aching about how you "can only shoot one a year".