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2024 Turkey Thread

boyne bowhunter

boyne bowhunter

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I passed a lone tom that I called into 25 yds this year simply because I couldn't positively identify his beard. He came in through some thicker stuff, appeared to have a full fan while strutting and at one point I was pretty sure I saw a beard hanging just before his body was obscured by a fallen log. I just was waiting for a second view for positive confirmation when he turned and quartered away from me. I could easily have killed him but just held off because I wasn't entirely sure. As was pointed out here in Michigan the definition of a legal spring turkey is a 3" or longer beard.
 
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Fgirtyman

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boyne bowhunter said:
I passed a lone tom that I called into 25 yds this year simply because I couldn't positively identify his beard. He came in through some thicker stuff, appeared to have a full fan while strutting and at one point I was pretty sure I saw a beard hanging just before his body was obscured by a fallen log. I just was waiting for a second view for positive confirmation when he turned and quartered away from me. I could easily have killed hum but just held off because I wasn't entirely sure. As was pointed out here in Michigan the definition of a legal spring turkey is a 3" or longer beard.
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I know the feeling. Right choice IMO. Good Karma will come for good choices. It kinda sucks tho!
 
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woodsdog2

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BTaylor said:
Yep, I have had several opportunities to shoot bearded hens but didnt back when it was legal for us to do so. Dont like that beard rule as a hard fast rule. If you have properly identified the bird, you should be ok to take it. The antler restrictions on a WMA I hunt provides a good analogy. The antler restrictions are a legal buck must have either a 15" inside spread or an 18" main beam. I passed a couple of different bucks this season because I was not confident either met the beam length requirement and one for sure did not meet the spread requirement. Both were in my estimation 3y/o 8 points and the intent of the rule is allow bucks to reach maturity. If a buck had to have 15" inside AND 18" it would suck to have to pass an obviously mature buck with 22" main beams because he had a narrow rack.
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I don’t like that kind of antler restriction requirement it’s way too difficult to estimate on the fly. Better is something like PA’s “3 up” rule or whatever it’s called.
 
gcr0003

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GCTerpfan said:
No, my dad was hunting with me. We were hunting out of a blind since I was planning on using my bow. He brought his shotgun on the hopes we could double up.

This bird appeared out of nowhere and was walking fast right to left across the log landing in front of the blind. It was out of bow range so I told dad to grab his gun and shoot. By the time he picked up his gun the bird was already past his field of view. I was on the right side of the blind so I had a few extra seconds of seeing the bird. He handed the gun to me and told me to shoot.

He bought a new Steven’s 20 gauge last week. I feel a little guilty shooting the first bird with it.
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Belated Congrats. Thoughts on that set up?
 
GCTerpfan

GCTerpfan

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gcr0003 said:
Belated Congrats. Thoughts on that set up?
Click to expand...

The Steven’s? He likes it. The bird was farther than I thought when I shot. I stepped it off at 44 yds which is a poke with a 20 gauge with Longbeared XR’s. He now has TSS for it and says he’s comfortable to 60 yds with it. He’s pretty happy with it.
 
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BTaylor

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woodsdog2 said:
I don’t like that kind of antler restriction requirement it’s way too difficult to estimate on the fly. Better is something like PA’s “3 up” rule or whatever it’s called.
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We have a state wide 3 point rule and have had for a bunch of years now. That particular WMA was that way for a while. Then AGFC decided to take a different approach to a handful of WMA's to attempt to further improve age structure and went to the spread/beam length rule which I like better from a management perspective. It encourages killing mature deer more so than a 3 or even 4 point rule. It also encourages properly identifying the animals that should be targeted. What I mean there is that if the agencies goal is to focus harvest on mature critters, deer or turkeys, the ID parameters should match that objective. If the goal is to kill mature gobblers, beard length alone is not nearly as effective as full fan, its like a 3 point rule. A requirement to have a 6" or longer beard OR a full fan more appropriately matches the management objective and puts the responsibility of properly ID'ing the critter on the hunter but in a reasonable manner.
 
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NMSbowhunter

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Well, that's a wrap for my season. I went out this morning and drove all around calling and did not hear a single bird. That's nothing unusual. I went out 12 days this season and only was really on a gobbler one time and did not take the shot since I only saw him for 3 seconds at about 50 yards. This year the Mississippi birds were at an all-time low for non gobbling.

I have three other die-hard turkey hunter friends. Only one managed to get a bird (3 for his daughter) and he has primo private land to hunt. My other two friends hunted hard but only came close to sealing the deal one time each also, like me. They passed iffy shots at long range on uncertain targets.

I figured it up and I walked 42.3 miles turkey hunting this season. I got some good exercise but with the state of the birds I may take up golf.
 
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shmelton

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NMSbowhunter said:
Well, that's a wrap for my season. I went out this morning and drove all around calling and did not hear a single bird. That's nothing unusual. I went out 12 days this season and only was really on a gobbler one time and did not take the shot since I only saw him for 3 seconds at about 50 yards. This year the Mississippi birds were at an all-time low for non gobbling.

I have three other die-hard turkey hunter friends. Only one managed to get a bird (3 for his daughter) and he has primo private land to hunt. My other two friends hunted hard but only came close to sealing the deal one time each also, like me. They passed iffy shots at long range on uncertain targets.

I figured it up and I walked 42.3 miles turkey hunting this season. I got some good exercise but with the state of the birds I may take up golf.
Click to expand...

GA has been tough too. It’s not as bad as 2022 or 2023. I thinks we have a few more hard yrs ahead of us, but I believe we are in the upswing.


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Andrew920

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gcr0003 said:
Congrats! Gotta get your thoughts on this gun set up. Thanks!
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I loved it. I put a sightmark red dot on it and used tss rounds. I shot my turkey at around 25 yds, but I would be very comfortable using out to 40.

The gun didn’t cost much, is super light and maneuverable. I use it for rabbits, squirrels and now turkey so for me it was well worth it. I own a 12 and a 20 gauge too, but this is just more fun to me.
 
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bonehed67

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Wonder if something is in the air? The birds here in Illinois were not responsive at all to calling this year. They were noisy on the limb, but 4 of the 5 days I hunted they were lock jawed by 7:30. I called 1 in on the 2nd morning, but he came in behind me and I was pretty open, so I just sat there. The 3 I called in on my last morning were silent, but it was obvious they were looking for the hen. I love Turkey hunting, but it's alot more fun when they are double and triple Gobbling when you talk to them!

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NMSbowhunter

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shmelton said:
GA has been tough too. It’s not as bad as 2022 or 2023. I thinks we have a few more hard yrs ahead of us, but I believe we are in the upswing.


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Click to expand...
I'm thinking we are still on the downward slope and an upswing could be a long way off. The last three years have been bad and each one worse than the last.
 
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shmelton

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NMSbowhunter said:
I'm thinking we are still on the downward slope and an upswing could be a long way off. The last three years have been bad and each one worse than the last.
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Fortunately, many are starting to understand why we are having the problems. The GA DNR has been burning more over the past few yrs. We can only kill 1 gobbler on a single WMA. If we want to kill a 2nd we have to find another WMA. They shortened seasons, eliminated coon, and possum season/limits. They have allowed you to hunt predators on public with centerfires and electronic calls during small game. It just takes time.


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NMSbowhunter

NMSbowhunter

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shmelton said:
Fortunately, many are starting to understand why we are having the problems. The GA DNR has been burning more over the past few yrs. We can only kill 1 gobbler on a single WMA. If we want to kill a 2nd we have to find another WMA. They shortened seasons, eliminated coon, and possum season/limits. They have allowed you to hunt predators on public with centerfires and electronic calls during small game. It just takes time.


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Sounds like Georgia is being proactive. I like that idea about limiting one gobbler to a WMA idea. Heck, I'd support one gobbler per person per year. We have people who would kill a gobbler every single day of the week and twice on Sundays if they could. For some folks it is like an addiction.

MS did recently introduce draws for out of state hunters on some of the WMA's (all WMAs?). I just can't imagine how bad turkey hunting is where these folks are coming from that this seems like a destination...unreal. I was talking to a Warden and we were talking about that very thing and he agreed. If I was going to travel to hunt I would at least go somewhere good.
 
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