Strutting Toms.....man I cant wait!

[smokin'stoegie]

I agree with Hoyt. The best learning is done with a mentor. But how many people actually start off with a mentor? How many countless threads have there been that start off with people asking for help because they are new to hunting and dont have anyone to mentor them.

Turkey hunting is fairly new to everyone in Ontario. At one point, there were no mentors because turkey hunting was so new. The course i took was led by two American turkey guides because there wasnt enough experience with all the facets of turkey hunting here in Ontario. For those who are unfortunate to not have a mentor, the turkey course in the manner that it was delivered when I took it was extremely valuable.

Mentoring is extremely important when taking on any new sport, recreation or hobby. There is really no replacement for that. I'm glad to hear that people found the Turkey course to be enlightening but the intent of that course had nothing to do with making people successful turkey hunters nor safer hunters. I had the turkey course in the mid 90's, what I learned could have been accomplishment in 30 seconds; shoot only bearded turkeys.
The course contained a lot of unnecessary filler coupled with various Reps from retailers flogging their wares.
As far as safety,,, anybody that was in attendance at those courses had already "passed" the hunter safety course or should have.

In one post I called the turkey course I money grab, perhaps that was a an unfair conclusion however the turkey re-introduction plan began in 1984 then continued with re-location trapping for quite some time and the course was part of the program. The fact is the turkey course was designed as part of the original MNR business plan to recoup monies that would be spent in order for this program to be successful.

The course DID not serve any purpose related to allowing the population to become sustainable, that's just not true.
Re-locations have stopped for several years now so the program costs ZERO.

And for the record I enjoy reading anybody's "novel" when it comes to their experiences.
Further,, someone said noobs will be noobs, no matter what. Yes, absolutely

 

[MiG25]

I sure wish this area held a population of wild turkeys and pheasants ,
I guess they cant survive the long cold frozen wasteland winters of this part of Saskatchewan
and they don't do well on canola stubble
oh well one day I'll go find some and give that turkey hunting a try
life is just way to short not to put that on my bucket list

I don't think it is the cold so much as the snow, I heard once that the rule of thumb is 14" of snow for 14 days and they are in trouble. They love eating greenfeed with cattle though. IMO a coyote is far "sportier" game.

I saw a bunch yesterday when I was out horn hunting.

 

[hoytcanon]

And for the record I enjoy reading anybody's "novel" when it comes to their experiences.

I didn't say that I don't "enjoy it," I said that I didn't have "time for it."


Good luck to all turkey hunters this season! I hope you bag big toms and come back and post pictures.

 

[lazyfarmer]

I took the turkey course many years ago early on and the only thing they really stressed over and over was hunting safety. They gave some basic hunting tips on turkeys and maybe illustrated a call or two but it was basically a safety course. Yes we did have to pass a test but it was one of those tests that if you don't pass (and I don't ever recall anyone failing) you should probably check to see if your shoes are on the right feet.

Being a farmer I vividly recall one part where our instructor told us turkeys don't eat field crops but are merely walking thru the fields picking off insects. What ever credibility he had was lost right there, 4 or 5 hours of my life I'll never get back.

 

[1963beretta]

Hahaha.....they dont eat field crops....maybe not pumpkins and watermelons....