Turkey hunting & cheating

[Saratoga Leo]

This is my first post and its about turkey hunting.  Last year in 2006 i had a friend teach me how to use his slate call "thunderdome"  and it took about 20 minutes to figure it out.  Day before opening day i scouted an area out that the turkeys fed heavily during the prior deer season... opening day i setup in the field with a couple decoys and shot my first turkey with no calling.  Just happen to get in the way of there path.  2 days later i went out alone with my slate call and was able to get a bird to answer me in a different section of the same field i shot a bird 2 days prior.  I had 2 hens with 1 jake out and at about 7am i had a big bird hit the field and come runnign to me.  It got 10 yards away and was dead before i got out of my ground blind.  It was a 20lb tom with a 10 1/2" beard with a 2nd beard 4" long.  I know people that have hunted for many years and never killed a multibeard bird and said i will never kill another one again... They also say that me setting up in fields the way i do is cheating cause i use the fields to my advantage since the birds feed there everyday.  It really ticks me off that people tell me that i will never kill another double beared bird again and since i choose to hunt farmer fields very close to where the birds roost and feed makes it to easy and that when im ready to learn how to hunt turkeys that i need to do so in the woods.  Is it jealousy from these people that someone like me can kill a bird hunting a field with a call i had 20 minutes to learn how to use while they have killed 100's of birds in the woods and never a double beard.  Are "real" turkey hunters woods hunters and will i really not kill a double bearded turkey again?  Where i hunt i think the males out number the females.  Atleast from what i have seen

[WhiteTail Madness]

Thats a bunch of crap! If you watch Micheal Waddell, Bill Jordan, ROnnie Strickland, or any of the big name turkey hunters these guys hunt fields also, but like you also said, for what i know double bearded birds are very rare, and a lucky turkey hunter will bag one.  I know i hunt fields, i love hunting over a nice alfalfa field on a cold morning when the dew is on the leaves, its a perty way to hunt! But also i hunt in the woods. Dont listen to what other people say, they pry say you're cheating by setting up in a field where the birds feed, when they're setting up 50 yrds away from the roost tree.  Pile em up, and dont worry what others say!

[the wizard]

  I think what your doing is just fine... Thats a great way to turkey hunt , I do it myself.   congrads on the double beard bird, I have only got one myself [in 94 or 95],    my girl friends boy Brian, got his first bird by himself and it had 4or 5 beards [ we had to get that one mounted]...
         In my eyes if you pattern them and set up in their path to get them , your good. If you call them in and shoot them ,your also good.
   IF YOU CAN'T PATTERN THEM OR CALL THEM ,SO YOU SHOOT THEM OFF THE LIMB,YOU MY FRIEND ARE A LOOSER ,   that is  cheating to me,  I can't stand hearing shots 20min before daylight either.

[irishjigger]

How can it be called cheating if you put the birds to roost so you know where they are and where they should fly down from in the morning , to me thats really doing your homework . And even if you dont roost them and happen to know where they generally roost , it doesnt mean that they are going right to the fields .
  Ive had plenty of birds come off the roost and head right after hens that may stay in the woods all day .

  Con grats on the double beard , that is a sure bet winner , kinda like a drop tine buck .

[Saratoga Leo]

Thanks for the supporting words on my ethics of turkey hunting.  We have a great place to hunt with an over abundance of turkeys with no one hunting them so someone like me who knows only a couple calls can go out without other hunter interference and call in layed back birds like a pro.  I do hope before its all over i am able to get another multibeard bird again and really rub it in some peoples faces.  I dont know if anyone out here deepfry's there turkeys or not but if you dont do yoursellf a favor and eat one that way.  emmm good!

[bwhunter2417]

i had a very weird and controversial experience last season as a fairly inexperienced spring turkey hunter... i called my second spring bird in to about 20 yards.  he came in from 200+ yards away on the first morning of the season.  the weird thing was, instead of him coming in on the ground, he was hopping roost from tree to tree all the way in.  it was an hour after daylight (when he first started gobbling) so it wasnt like it was dark or he was silhouetted.  He flew directly over me and landed 15 yards behind me, looking on the ground for the hen calling to him.  I shot at him when he was in the tree (the controversial part), but only rolled him out of the tree (my sights had been bumped since i shot it in a week before).  after talking to many seasoned turkey hunters, they had never heard of that happening but most werent too upset about the fact I tried to shoot him out of tree...

fact of the matter is, anytime YOU call that bird in, its a legitimate kill as far as im concerned

[adkRoy]

I have shot everyone of my turkeys in a field because that is where the turkeys are. The only way I would claim cheating in turkey hunting is 1: hunting out of season, and 2: Using a rifle to shoot a turkey that's 200 yards across a field.

[flockshot]

I have shot everyone of my turkeys in a field because that is where the turkeys are. The only way I would claim cheating in turkey hunting is 1: hunting out of season, and 2: Using a rifle to shoot a turkey that's 200 yards across a field.

or baiting them!!!! that pisses me off.

[adkRoy]

or baiting them!!!! that pisses me off.

wow! I've never heard of anyone baiting turkey's before. I guess with all the cut over cornfields and stuff you really don't have to do that around me.

[Saratoga Leo]

wow! I've never heard of anyone baiting turkey's before. I guess with all the cut over cornfields and stuff you really don't have to do that around me.

Thats the same where i am.  The fields are freshly planted with some corn only a few inches tall but the farmer doesn't mind that we walk the rows and hunt the fields.  In the fall after they are cut the fields are loaded with 50-100 turkey at any given time during the day with another field a half mile away with the same number of turkeys... never seen turkey populations anywhere like where i hunt.

[the wizard]

i had a very weird and controversial experience last season as a fairly inexperienced spring turkey hunter... i called my second spring bird in to about 20 yards.  he came in from 200+ yards away on the first morning of the season.  the weird thing was, instead of him coming in on the ground, he was hopping roost from tree to tree all the way in.  it was an hour after daylight (when he first started gobbling) so it wasn't like it was dark or he was silhouetted.  He flew directly over me and landed 15 yards behind me, looking on the ground for the hen calling to him.  I shot at him when he was in the tree (the controversial part), but only rolled him out of the tree (my sights had been bumped since i shot it in a week before).  after talking to many seasoned turkey hunters, they had never heard of that happening but most weren't too upset about the fact I tried to shoot him out of tree...

fact of the matter is, anytime YOU call that bird in, its a legitimate kill as far as I'm concerned

  I agree , That is an unusual situation, I wouldn,t call that Cheating .

  I just had a bad experience once with a big tom I scouted him for 2weeks before season , watched him 3-4 nights a week after work patterned his daily habits , roosted him the night before season and got in the woods 150yards or  so between him and where he went every day prior, I was settled in an hour before sunrise , just to have someone else walk in from the other rd and shoot him off the limb 40min before sunrise;  The worst part was  he just wounded the bird so it couldn't fly and he couldn't catch it or see it well enough to shoot it once it hit the ground.
    This guy was one of our local deputy sheriffs.        Thats why my feathers get ruffled about limbing birds, no offence to the true hunters out there.                                                                                                                                                          Wiz

[flockshot]

wow! I've never heard of anyone baiting turkey's before. I guess with all the cut over cornfields and stuff you really don't have to do that around me.

while working at bass pro, i would talk to numerous "hunters" who would run a few hundred pounds of shelled corn into feilds that they where gonna hunt. i think thats bull crap...and in michigan..its very illegal.

[Saratoga Leo]

while working at bass pro, i would talk to numerous "hunters" who would run a few hundred pounds of shelled corn into feilds that they where gonna hunt. i think thats bull crap...and in michigan..its very illegal.

I read a while ago that stock piled corn can produce mold being in a pile while being exposed to the elements and can wipe out turkeys cause the mold on the corn kill's them.  For that matter mold on just about any bait pile that a turkey eats will kill them.

[bwhunter2417]

   I agree , That is an unusual situation, I wouldn,t call that Cheating .

  I just had a bad experience once with a big tom I scouted him for 2weeks before season , watched him 3-4 nights a week after work patterned his daily habits , roosted him the night before season and got in the woods 150yards or  so between him and where he went every day prior, I was settled in an hour before sunrise , just to have someone else walk in from the other rd and shoot him off the limb 40min before sunrise;  The worst part was  he just wounded the bird so it couldn't fly and he couldn't catch it or see it well enough to shoot it once it hit the ground.
    This guy was one of our local deputy sheriffs.        Thats why my feathers get ruffled about limbing birds, no offence to the true hunters out there.                                                                                                                                                          Wiz

i had this bird and 2 others absolutely pegged for about 2 weeks before the season... he was the hottest bird, so i moved in and set up on him and started calling before anything was off of roost... had him all hot n bothered when he came flying in from roost tree to roost tree... thats what i thought was really weird... i couldnt even cluck without him sounding off

[archbishop]

I can't stand hearing shots 20min before daylight either.

yeah, but scott the rules say 1/2 hour before sunrise

i do agree though, full camo and no light can be a dangerous situation when some idiots just shoot at noises