And yet you felt it necessary to bringing our "debate" into this thread? lol.
Try not to let it bother you so much.
Why do you feel thats its a debate? Is it because you dont value an opinion other than your own? The fact that this thread was started tells me that there are many others that dont share your opinion.
Here is why I think there was a benefit to the course and why I found value in it.
As Hoyt mentioned in another thread, the course served its purpose and that was to aid the turkey population to reestablish itself after the reintroduction of the birds in Ontario in 1984. At the time hunting was reintroduced, the bird population was still vulnerable and as such, the hunting seasons had various restrictions. Such restrictions included that birds couldn’t be harvested after 12:00 noon and hunters were required to bring harvested birds to a check station by 5:00 to have the bird registered. This type of harvest management was simply to the birds benefit. In essence, hunters who took the time to do the course and learn all the various regulations were people who truly wanted to be in the woods and it eliminated a lot of would be hunters who thought turkey hunting meant taking an occasional walk through the woods in the spring with a shotgun. As bird populations increased, restrictions were relaxed slowly until the eventual elimination of the course altogether. I took the course many years ago, and as I understand it, eventually the course became available online or the like which made it very accessible and convenient, but really eliminated a lot of the benefits of an actual course like how I experienced it.
At one time turkey hunting wasn’t covered in the hunter safety course....a course many also feel is a money grab and useless waste of time
In any event, part of the course content will live on, but obviously only a small part. With the relaxing of many of the original strict hunting regulations and bird populations doing exceedingly better, a decision was made to eliminate the course. This doesn’t mean the course was useless or a waste of time. This means the course was successful at doing what it was intended to do. Instead of saying the course was useless, one should really consider its purpose and be thankful that we have a viable turkey population that all can now benefit from.
When I took the course....it was an actual course with a final exam no different then a hunter safety course. It was 6 hours long and cost $30 (maybe $40, I cant remember exactly). Included in the fee was the following;
1. entrance to the Toronto Sportsman show ($15 value)
2. Free parking ($7.50 value)
3. Pizza lunch ($7 value)
4. 2 boxes of Kent Turkey loads in either 2.75”, 3” or 3.5” ($30 value)
5. A camo face mask ($3 value)
6. A diaphragm call ($3 value)
7. 15% off discount on turkey gear at a vendor
8. A pad of turkey shot patterning paper
9. A pad of property permission slips
Waste if money, I think not.
However, the biggest value I found was being in a social setting with like minded individuals learning the essentials of turkey hunting. Instructors covered the following; how to call, how to make pot calls and kee run run calls using a leg bone, how and where to set up your blind, how effectively leverage decoys, how to scout, taxidermy tips on how to prepare tail fan mounts and spurs and how to effectively pattern your shotgun. All questions that seem to come up time and time again on these forums from people who were never taught.
The biggest value to me was mingling with the numerous landowners that were present who aided in the most difficult task to many starting out, and that was gaining access to private land to be able to have a place to hunt.
Say what you will about the course, but I will never share the same opinion as someone who couldn’t be bothered with this “great waste of time and money”. To me it was a very small investment in time and money to be able to enjoy hunting these birds for almost 20 years. Especially considering the time and money I invest in scouting and preparing for a successful hunt. Not to mention the cost of all the gadgets and gizmos we feel we need to be good at turkey hunting.
had a point! When did you decide the cut off was for Turkey hunting? We're you the last one welcome!?
