If I find bait for turkeys I will report it, period. Will you?

[Fieldglass]

I know a few guys who have found bait this year, blatant turkey bait being actively hunted over, and won't report it or even address it to their landowner/prez/etc. They dont want green jeans on their dirt.

I used to be of the same mindset, but I've found more bait this year than all previous years combined, 3 being feeders within sight from the property line, one with gobbling followed by a shotgun blast on opening week. Saw 2 guys on an atv per my cams on a 4k acre lease Im in toting white feed bags up and down the powerline. No clue if they were even members as the lease has an unorganized, wild west type of a roster.

Had a "hunter" in the lease who doesnt hunt turkeys compare it to deer bait (oh whats the big deal) and deemed reporting of bait as snitching.....

......"SNITCHING"......Is it something to be ashamed of though? Georgia hunters lost a tag and a week(s) of hunting due to overharvesting/pressure.

How many birds plastered all over the internet are being killed under or around "deer feeders" (the typical response when/if confronted)?

 

[buckpasser]

I don’t really hunt with others, but would be very disappointed with finding a baited hunting spot on a hunting club I was in. Let them have it.

 

[elfiii]

I'll call Green Jeans in a heartbeat if you're baiting turkeys. I don't care who you are.

 

[Big7]

I have reported in the past.
Depends on who and where more than anything.

Be fine by me to have a short season for about 2 years or not a season at all for that same period.

I recon DNR Wildlife Biologists would be the ones to petition for that. IDK.

And... It's no secret, I'm not wild about "feeding" pet deer and shooting them (not hunting) in a corn pile.

Food plots and agricultural incidentals where the "bait" is grown there is a different story.

Any idiot that can aim a rifle can do that.
Recon that's another thread. ?

My 2 cents.

 

[Dupree]

We found bait on a club walking out with my son’s gobbler on youth season. I didn’t report it, but made a big issue about it in a group text. One of the 16 members made a call, because the guy got busted on opening weekend.
The one morning I hunted in Georgia for myself , I killed a bird full of corn. I called the county warden and let him know. He said he busted a guy on the property next door 3-4 years ago and it was probably him. Haven’t heard anything back, but I’ll be hunting that property tomorrow morning and keep my eyes open.
The 4 birds I killed in Alabama had no feed in them, and I haven’t found anything. Seems more like a Georgia issue.

 

[Big7]

We found bait on a club walking out with my son’s gobbler on youth season. I didn’t report it, but made a big issue about it in a group text. One of the 16 members made a call, because the guy got busted on opening weekend.
The one morning I hunted in Georgia for myself , I killed a bird full of corn. I called the county warden and let him know. He said he busted a guy on the property next door 3-4 years ago and it was probably him. Haven’t heard anything back, but I’ll be hunting that property tomorrow morning and keep my eyes open.
The 4 birds I killed in Alabama had no feed in them, and I haven’t found anything. Seems more like a Georgia issue.

Nahhh...

It's not a "Georgia issue", it's an ETHICAL issue and it happens anywhere any kind of animal is a quarry.

Shooting invasive feral swine on bait or especially when they are destroying crops and habitat, along with "shooting" coyote" in a gut pile is a different story.

 

[Dupree]

Nahhh...

It's not a "Georgia issue", it's an ETHICAL issue and it happens anywhere any kind of animal is a quarry.

Shooting invasive feral swine on bait or especially when they are destroying crops and habitat, along with "shooting" coyote" in a gut pile is a different story.

Well Alabama says if there is bait on the property you are getting charged while Georgia says as long as you ain’t within 200 yards of bait all is well. This could be a contributing factor

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

Sc says a “ baited area”. According to the GW, you don’t even have to know it’s there. The law or the Attorney General does not define how big an “ area” is. I about got snagged for it about 5 years ago and I don’t bait for anything, don’t need to.. You better know the law before you call, it’s a good way to loose your entire hunting land for a turkey season.

 

[Semi-Pro]

I heard a whole tube of crickets were the best bait money can buy. How y'all GONna report that.

 

[cowhornedspike]

I heard a whole tube of legless crickets were the best bait money can buy. How y'all GONna report that.

FIFY

 

[blood on the ground]

I heard a whole tube of crickets were the best bait money can buy. How y'all GONna report that.

???

 

[cowhornedspike]

Georgia hunters lost a tag and a week(s) of hunting due to overharvesting/pressure.

Not in my opinion. Due to lower population, yes. Caused by overharvest or pressure,,,not so sure.

 

[HogKillaDNR]

Not in my opinion. Due to lower population, yes. Caused by overharvest or pressure,,,not so sure.

We lost several weeks here in Alabama to and went down from five birds to four this year. Season use to open March 15th and now it Opened March 25th to April 8th.

 

[mailman6]

Report you in a heart beat, in my club or someone else's. Shooting turkeys over corn no better than poacher spotlighting deer.

 

[sportsman94]

I sent a warden buddy a pin and the path the turkey that I killed took before coming to me the other day. When I cleaned him he had peanuts and sunflowers so I’m pretty positive that path would lead him to the bait. Don’t know if they headed over that way or not.

 

[Fieldglass]

Not in my opinion. Due to lower population, yes. Caused by overharvest or pressure,,,not so sure.

I agree with you, I spoke with too much bias given I was fixated on the bait issue (rant goggles). Ive made several of posts here about nest predators and trapping, the loss of habitat, etc. Its death by a thousand cuts etc etc

Honestly I am beginning to get more and more in line with what good ol Mr Frank Cox told me the other day, "aint no way that ol chamberlain knows when they dyin of disease or a predator, a flock may lose one bird a week and even if they find that dead birds remains a day or two later it dont tell them enough, no ones talking about disease"

I then circle back to feeders per disease spreading, id assume it spreads like cwd per feeding sites?

 

[turkeykirk]

It’s amazing how much corn is the woods these days. Must have fallen off a Walmart delivery truck.

 

[kmckinnie]

It’s amazing how much corn is the woods these days. Must have fallen off a Walmart delivery truck.

Hog hunters.

 

[High road]

Personally I will not turkey hunt a piece of property that has any type of bait on it or had any in the past.
Does the regs officially state the 200 yrd rule is for turkey? I haven't looked this year but I can remember the upon or near portion when hunting game birds was in their.
I have found bait on several WMA's, UFS, and private properties over the years. I could easily been busted those days shotgun in hand without having any knowledge of any bait in the area. If several people are hunting the same piece of baited property you could get the ticket just as easy as they could.
The answer to your question would be yes if I new for a fact the property was being hunted.

 

[Elkdog]

Kentucky has a good law. You have to stop putting feed out before turkey season. Two weeks or 30 days before, I’m not sure which but I think that’s what all states should do. That eliminates any alibis or excuses.