Banning MALE decoys would save more toms than any one of the survey options - Fact or Fiction?

[3chunter]

I think your thinking to much into it. if she don’t get bred it’s because no gobbler is there at all. SWGA they start breeding late February. Early March. Season is mid March toward the end. but what do I know.

I have 26 seasons of experience. And I don’t think I am wrong. The majority of hens are bred last week of March and first few weeks of April in the lowcountry of sc. poults tell the story and the season starts 3/22 now. I was not in favor of moving the date back from 3/15 a few years back. But I know a few hunters that have never killed a bird without a strutter decoy. A group of guys I ran into last year told me they would quit without decoys. I asked one of them what’s the biggest spurs he has killed and he said he had killed 3 gobblers 3 years in a row opening week with decoys. The three he killed all had big spurs. He showed me a pic of one and it had 1 3/8 hooks. He said that was the smallest one. He happened to be messing around on his mouth call and he sounded like a sick half dead turkey. These boys couldn’t have called a turkey if it was born on a farm and locked in a barn. Most don’t have woodsman skills to sneak up on 20 birds early season in the southeast to be able to kill an opening week long spurred turkey.

 

[Dbender]

A bunch of birds get killed early by some sorry calling every year because the hens just aren't ready yet. Some years, I'm in that ×group.
Ever call in a jake?
Ever have a sneaky bird come in silent?
Their intentions are exactly the same as a dominant bird.
Just because you don't hear them gobbling doesn't mean they aren't breeding hens. If
l'm bragging about killing long spurred turkeys with my rc.controlled strutter decoy, I'd show you my best bird, not one of my smaller spurred birds. I'd be willing to bet a lot of the strutter/decoy success is due to the placement of said decoys. Proximity to corn, scratch, or wheat tends to increase their effectiveness.

 

[JMB]

While there is no magic bullet, the scientists (not armchair speculators or self-imagined experts in the field) suggest dominant male harvest early in the season has a large impact on poult recruitment. Dominant male harvest is typically achieved through strutter decoys early. Decoy use, over harvest, predation (avian, folks), possible localized disease, and loss of habitat diversification/overall habitat are all contributing factors.

For those saying you don’t want any regulation changes because it will impact YOUR HUNTING SEASON, you are not turkey hunters/conservationists, you are opportunists seeking entertainment. I’ve hunted turkeys for over 3 decades across the US. My home is in Georgia. The amount of nonsensical arguments and pontification by neophytes who spend maybe 10 days in the spring woods walking from a truck to a ground blind or food plot is astonishing. Rebuking science in lieu of emotional argument is ridiculous and irresponsible to the resource. Bottom line is the turkey population is down significantly across the south (I don’t care if your hunting club is over run with turkeys or if you killed your limit faster last year than ever before or you’re hearing more gobbles than you ever have...its not consistent across the region) and something must be done to stabilize then grow the resource. If you’re not on board with critical thinking and science, stop using the resource as you are contributing ZERO to its success in perpetuity.

-James

 

[Gut_Pile]

This x1000 ^^^^

 

[Turkeytider]

While there is no magic bullet, the scientists (not armchair speculators or self-imagined experts in the field) suggest dominant male harvest early in the season has a large impact on poult recruitment. Dominant male harvest is typically achieved through strutter decoys early. Decoy use, over harvest, predation (avian, folks), possible localized disease, and loss of habitat diversification/overall habitat are all contributing factors.

For those saying you don’t want any regulation changes because it will impact YOUR HUNTING SEASON, you are not turkey hunters/conservationists, you are opportunists seeking entertainment. I’ve hunted turkeys for over 3 decades across the US. My home is in Georgia. The amount of nonsensical arguments and pontification by neophytes who spend maybe 10 days in the spring woods walking from a truck to a ground blind or food plot is astonishing. Rebuking science in lieu of emotional argument is ridiculous and irresponsible to the resource. Bottom line is the turkey population is down significantly across the south (I don’t care if your hunting club is over run with turkeys or if you killed your limit faster last year than ever before or you’re hearing more gobbles than you ever have...its not consistent across the region) and something must be done to stabilize then grow the resource. If you’re not on board with critical thinking and science, stop using the resource as you are contributing ZERO to its success in perpetuity.

-James

James, I`m sure you`re about to get toasted by the " Status Quoers ". That group is certainly not confined to " neophytes " , but includes folks who have hunted turkeys for decades, are convicted in the belief that the " science " is wrong headed and proffered by people who can`t possibly know anything close to what they do about wild turkey population biology. Their minds are closed to anything that doesn`t fit their personal view of reality, and probably always will be. I do find myself wondering to what extent their views are impacted by ANYTHING that may serve to inconvenience them in the slightest when it comes to their own personal obsessions ( in this case, turkey hunting ).

 

[DRBugman85]

While there is no magic bullet, the scientists (not armchair speculators or self-imagined experts in the field) suggest dominant male harvest early in the season has a large impact on poult recruitment. Dominant male harvest is typically achieved through strutter decoys early. Decoy use, over harvest, predation (avian, folks), possible localized disease, and loss of habitat diversification/overall habitat are all contributing factors.

For those saying you don’t want any regulation changes because it will impact YOUR HUNTING SEASON, you are not turkey hunters/conservationists, you are opportunists seeking entertainment. I’ve hunted turkeys for over 3 decades across the US. My home is in Georgia. The amount of nonsensical arguments and pontification by neophytes who spend maybe 10 days in the spring woods walking from a truck to a ground blind or food plot is astonishing. Rebuking science in lieu of emotional argument is ridiculous and irresponsible to the resource. Bottom line is the turkey population is down significantly across the south (I don’t care if your hunting club is over run with turkeys or if you killed your limit faster last year than ever before or you’re hearing more gobbles than you ever have...its not consistent across the region) and something must be done to stabilize then grow the resource. If you’re not on board with critical thinking and science, stop using the resource as you are contributing ZERO to its success in perpetuity.

-James

James, I`m sure you`re about to get toasted by the " Status Quoers ". That group is certainly not confined to " neophytes " , but includes folks who have hunted turkeys for decades, are convicted in the belief that the " science " is wrong headed and proffered by people who can`t possibly know anything close to what they do about wild turkey population biology. Their minds are closed to anything that doesn`t fit their personal view of reality, and probably always will be. I do find myself wondering to what extent their views are impacted by ANYTHING that may serve to inconvenience them in the slightest when it comes to their own personal obsessions ( in this case, turkey hunting ).

So STOP HUNTING TURKEY and do YOUR part to help the population of turkeys in GEORGIA, we don't see the decline of Turkeys here in GODS country, We take care of our land and game so we have game to hunt,Why penalize us who have worked and paid our money out for what we worked to have the turkeys on our land.Leave the Limits and season dates alone IMO it want make a difference in the long run,I've seen the population come and go in the past 50+ year's and once its taken away its hard to get it back.

 

[Turkeytider]

So STOP HUNTING TURKEY and do YOUR part to help the population of turkeys in GEORGIA, we don't see the decline of Turkeys here in GODS country, We take care of our land and game so we have game to hunt,Why penalize us who have worked and paid our money out for what we worked to have the turkeys on our land.Leave the Limits and season dates alone IMO it want make a difference in the long run,I've seen the population come and go in the past 50+ year's and once its taken away its hard to get it back.

There`s really no sense in debating this.

 

[kmckinnie]

There`s really no sense in debating this.

Why did u just quote this post.

 

[antharper]

Great info in here , thanks !

 

[kmckinnie]

.

Great info in here , thanks !

not really it’s a bashing thread for a legal method of hunting. I let the debate go on for awhile. Never really had much use for one. Never really knocked anyone for using it.
this is from the rules of GON.

Bashing of legal kills and catches

The bashing of legal kills, whether it be deer, any other big or small game, will not be tolerated. A trophy is in the eyes of the beholder. Posts that harass or belittle anyone and the animal, fish, or bird, and also the legal method of any game taken will be removed and the member will be dealt with accordingly. If you can`t say something nice, it`s best to be silent and move on. This rule will be strictly enforced.

It’s a little info
Kmac

 

[kmckinnie]

The thread didn’t start out this way. It was more for the breeding. Charlie his self addressed this issues. His input is posted. said the dominant gobbler may get killed sooner but the hens will get breed. Plain and simple. Lots of other post went south.
Anyway. as always good luck this year. Be safe !