PA bill would ban pre season calling of turkeys
- Thread starter CRC
- Start date
Jlewis74
Old Mossy Horns
We do not allow it before season at our club.
oldest school
Old Mossy Horns
i sure dont understand Tim Binkley's concern. are the turkeys in Pa smarter than ours?
They can reason that hunters are making turkey sounds in an attempt to get them to gobble?
i guess next they wont respond to the real thing and we wont have any little turkeys.
they wont gobble to get the hens in because they have learned not to.
death spiral for the species.
we better get that law in the books everywhere quickly.
They can reason that hunters are making turkey sounds in an attempt to get them to gobble?
i guess next they wont respond to the real thing and we wont have any little turkeys.
they wont gobble to get the hens in because they have learned not to.
death spiral for the species.
we better get that law in the books everywhere quickly.
Buxndiverdux
Old Mossy Horns
Yep, Just listen, use a locator only if you can't hear one. Sneak in and out undetected. Preseason scouting is best done as low impact as possible.
I was in a club that had some of the best turkey dirt in eastern NC. I could go up there any pretty day before the season and hear 16-20 birds on a good day. Go opening morning and hear maybe 8. Over half the birds were bumped before daylight by trucks, 4 wheelers, and hunters. Go back in there the next Monday and hear 5-6. By the next weekend you would be lucky to hear 3-4. Some were dead, but most of them were educated by pressure.
Some of these birds were "educated" by calling, but most of them were educated by hunters that are too lazy to walk, or don't know where birds like to roost and bump them.
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Lonehunter
Six Pointer
I under stand both sides, but is this something the state should pass a law about? Just more regulation!
oldest school
Old Mossy Horns
wonder when pre season starts?
skydog
Guest
Using a call pre-season seems foolish to me but having an actual law against it seems unnecessary.
Buxndiverdux
Old Mossy Horns
It seems common sense would prevail. I don't think a regulation is needed, but the article did say guys were going to public land (which they didn't intend to hunt) and calling birds for practice. They literally didn't care if they bumped the birds or not. Just practiced on them. Kinda stinks for a guy that only hunts public.
CRC
Old Mossy Horns
And that is why the law is necessary.
Hunters can sometimes be our own worst enemies.
Jlewis74
Old Mossy Horns
Yup, we have spots in the front of most farms where you can just part and sit and listen and hear every bird on that farm, we also have the usual spots where scouting is not even really needed as they are in the same spots every year. I don't think a state law is needed unless its for game lands only.
turkeyfoot
Old Mossy Horns
Tenn been this way long as I remember. I like it for public land private ground makes no difference to me as you can control the situation to some extent. Reason I like t for public is not the turkey sounds that people are making but the ones they call in over and over and over sometimes same people sometimes different. Where I hunt you can easily start calling in birds as early as March 18th give or take little so if your hunting pressured area that gets lot scouting lot birds get bumped several times and not so much by the sounds but by the knucleheads that stand out in open and spooking them without even knowing they did. Or a ature bird figures out after he has came in 5 times and found no hen he will sit n a ridge gobbling when season starts and not budge. Everytime this comes up I remember a young boy telling us one year how proud he was of himself he had called in 9 longbeards on public ground before season ever started said he had a blast
oldest school
Old Mossy Horns
catch and release turkey hunting sounds like fun to me. (young boy calling in 9 before season) I bet he did indeed have a blast. 
i would definitely pursue that if i had birds handy.
i would definitely pursue that if i had birds handy.
turkeyfoot
Old Mossy Horns
Yeah but I didn't mention he camped down below us and never took the safety off opening week he spooked everone one them birds last I head ate his tags from what I gathered he was in ther 3-4 times week calling away and of course before the hens are ready you can call in bout everyone in woods with no effort required they will actually fly off the limb in your lap learned that in my youthful inexperienced days. Turkey hunting is fast growing and lot self taught hunters that use public ground as practicing ground before season then wonder why when season starts they can't kill one. I did try to explain this to young fellow as someone did to me who knows if it took
oldest school
Old Mossy Horns
well if he called up nine he did fine that year without killing one.
there are a lot of reasons they arent killable once the season starts, may as well have fun when you can.
to tell the absolute truth if i could call up nine before the season, i would be fine not killing one during the season. OMMWV.
turkeyfoot
Old Mossy Horns
You could easily do this every year before the hens are ready they will come running to anything about mid late March there is really no challenge to it. Have to think though how many birds he buggered for others on public ground to me its respect thing kinda Golden Rule type deal I wouldn't want it done where I hunt so I wouldn't do it to others I like to see others have success on their hunts. But hey when its public all is well gotta make your own luck mst time. Its true there are other reasons they don't come like breeding is full swing but I just don't see the reasoning in making it harder on yourself heck its tough enough as is. He really didn't do fine that year he was hoping to shoot his first longbeard that year maybe he learned something to carry into next year who knows I hope so
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oldest school
Old Mossy Horns
if he had never killed one but called in nine then he had a great year in many ways. those easy ones may be duplicated later so at least he knows the possibilities.
i suspect it took most of us here longer than one pre season to call in 9 gobblers.
think of the confidence he has gained. at least he knows he sounds enough like a turkey to call one in.
it usually takes more than one pre season to figure that out.
i respect your thoughts turkeyfoot and i am sure that if i had to hunt behind this guy i would feel different.
but right now he is my new turkey calling hero.
Weekender
Twelve Pointer
I agree. I'm willing to bet some of the worst public land behaviors are by folks with private land to hunt. They don't mind ****ing where they don't normally eat. It's such a low rent attitude.
QBD2
Old Mossy Horns
There's that, but at the end of the day it's public land. They've got a right to be there, same as you and me. Killing public turkeys is the most rewarding thing I do in the woods, because public birds are a whole 'nother ballgame
turkeyfoot
Old Mossy Horns
No doubt its public and people may do as they please learned that pretty quick and the reason I start walking in at 0400 to get where I'm going
shadycove
Twelve Pointer
OS, head on down to the public land in SC, the birds will come running right now.
A man with a few days to waste can call up 30+ birds in a week if he is any kind of caller at all.
I cut my turkey hunting teeth on those birds that have been pressured every spring since SC had a season. I have killed many a bird that had been called to and shot at too.
It is the way it is down there and so be it. But if I run into you camoed up sitting against a tree calling on game lands in Jan-Feb, I will discuss your ancestry with you, of this you can be sure.
A man with a few days to waste can call up 30+ birds in a week if he is any kind of caller at all.
I cut my turkey hunting teeth on those birds that have been pressured every spring since SC had a season. I have killed many a bird that had been called to and shot at too.
It is the way it is down there and so be it. But if I run into you camoed up sitting against a tree calling on game lands in Jan-Feb, I will discuss your ancestry with you, of this you can be sure.
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Weekender
Twelve Pointer
oldest school
Old Mossy Horns
i wouldnt mind knowing which gamelands you could call up thirty in a week.
that would be worth a discussion of my ancestry. LOL.
hawglips
Old Mossy Horns
I know a guy that calls to them on public land before he hunts them to get a feel for how workable a bird is before he brings a kid to hunt it. His ratio of birds per day hunting is really high. But he's out west where there's lots of room on public land.
turkeyfoot
Old Mossy Horns
I don't know how many but I gurantee you there are several gamelands in NC that you can very easily call up double digit gobblers here in few weeks if you had few days to waste. shadycove is right on bout them pressured SC birds I used to hunt the Sumter regularily as well s been down to Francis Marion and they are some the toughest birds to get to commit. After hunting public ground down ther I kinda hate to cmplain about NC pressure
turkeyfoot
Old Mossy Horns
This is not bad tactic secret is don't call em in day after day and get busted day after day. I to like to know if a bird is willing before I have gun in hand you just gotta go about it right way.
Greg
Old Mossy Horns
I view this as a subtle twist to the Tragedy of the Commons. Folks tend to take better care of their own stuff and tend to abuse public resources.
turkeyfoot
Old Mossy Horns
true and been going on long time I know many that hunt gameland for squirrel and such because they don't ant to mess up their deer land, to me just gotta go with the flow I'm lucky eough to hunt really large tracts public ground so I just go about my business and let them go about theirs heck there are things I'd complain about more than turkey callers like people dumping their dang trash on national forest land that is what really get me going
oldest school
Old Mossy Horns
i dont think that fits. so far no one is talking of depleting the resource. but i may not understand TOC.
Greg
Old Mossy Horns
That's why I said "subtle twist" and explained it.
Like others said, some folks don't mind buggering up a public resource, especially if they have somewhere else to go after it's tainted. Others don't even realize the harm they may be doing.
Like others said, some folks don't mind buggering up a public resource, especially if they have somewhere else to go after it's tainted. Others don't even realize the harm they may be doing.
oldest school
Old Mossy Horns
how do you find out if he is willing before you put a gun in your hand?