Dawn2Dusk said:Yeah, I know but the mark of a common Jake is a blurp gobble at best; you know what I mean as well as every turkey hunter on the forum.
There is a time and a place for everything, including shooting a jake. I'll let it walk, or shoot it, depending on the situation.
I've heard a rio jake with a gobble absolutley indistinguishable from that of a mature tom. And I've heard another hunter who killed a rio jake after an exciting all morning hunt with several different set-ups, in which he never saw the bird till it stuck its head up. He shot him because he "knew" it was a tom, but was dejected to see the shortbeard laying there when he went to pick him up. But he says it was one of the best hunts ever, where he had to dig deep in his substantial bag of tricks, plus one trick he'd never tried before, tom or not.
I shot a jake rio once on the last day of a hard-to-draw permit hunt in Utah, after seeing 30+ different jakes, and NO toms .
I also shot one on the last day of a permit draw public land hunt in NC last year.
I almost always let them walk, though sometimes, a jake is good! With me, its more about the hunt than it is about the trophy.
Hal
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