Turkey Question

Mumptia

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LaCrete, Alberta
Seeing these turkey threads lately (and never gone turkey hunting myself) lends me to ask what are you guys looking for in a turkey to consider it a shooter?:shotgun:
 
A beard :D Ontario regs state only bearded turkey's are legal birds.

All joking aside, as in other species, some people hunt for meat & some for trophies. A dominate Tom with a long beard & long spurs will be several years old & could be tough meat. A younger bird such as a imature Jake will be tender & better tasteing IMHO.

George
 
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Personally i usually only shoot longbeards. But towards the end of the season if I still have a 2nd tag left, I might poke a jake.
 
I shoot whatever comes out, as long as it has a beard. Big toms are a great trophy, but you might let a jake go and get skunked. Same for me with deer, shoot to fill the freezer, not the wall.;)

I chuckled a bit when I called to report my harvest, and it said "press 1 if you harvested a male, press 2 if a female, (which is illegal). As if anyone would press 2, (although I thought about it to see what the message would say.):D
 
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Spurs! A hard winter can make for skinny! Deep snow can make for short beards. Spurs keep growing year round and the longest ones are on birds that have been around and seen a few seasons. Long spurred birds aren't easy to get. Long spurres are kinda like white wiskers on an old hillbilly's chin, they dun come with some time and wisdom;)
Got some decent spurrs this season but my best was two years ago at 1 11/16
22lbs, 10" beard, 1 1/16 spurrs! Nice bird but he's just a teenager;) Hope I can show some pics of his Grand Dad possing with the same old white wiskered hillbilly in the next few days:D . Had him on the string this morning but I had to go to work;)
 
blargon said:
I chuckled a bit when I called to report my harvest, and it said "press 1 if you harvested a male, press 2 if a female, (which is illegal). As if anyone would press 2, (although I thought about it to see what the message would say.):D

You can harvest bearded hens! They went over this in the Turkey Seminar!:confused:

7.62mm
 
blargon said:
I chuckled a bit when I called to report my harvest, and it said "press 1 if you harvested a male, press 2 if a female, (which is illegal). As if anyone would press 2, (although I thought about it to see what the message would say.):D

dude, I never even took the course( im from NWO) and I know that shooting a bearded hen is legal

me thinks they need to raise the standards a little higher, with all the shootings and guys who don't know the regs or rules....yowza

wtf is going on?:slap:
 
If it has a beard and it's in range, period. I won't pass him up because he's younger/smaller etc..... they all taste GREAT!!

Notice the sigline...
 
blargon said:
I meant , saying yes to a female, and entering 0 mm for beard length :rolleyes:

Awww come on Blargon! You should have been the first GN to try it. :popCorn: I'm sure that the guy's that came up with the system took that into account. It sure would be interesting to see what it is.

George
 
Are guys out there actually shooting bearded hens if they get the chance? I've had several chances, but even with my minimal self-control I had no desire to do so. I'm doing really well if I can manage to let a jake pass! Each year I start with the best of intentions, longbeards or nothing, and then a jake comes running up and...well, you know the rest.:shotgun:

John
 
jjohnwm said:
Are guys out there actually shooting bearded hens if they get the chance? I've had several chances, but even with my minimal self-control I had no desire to do so. I'm doing really well if I can manage to let a jake pass! Each year I start with the best of intentions, longbeards or nothing, and then a jake comes running up and...well, you know the rest.:shotgun:

John

You think you had it bad? I had to pass up a great longbeard because I was hunting on my Aunt's farm & She had specifically asked me NOT to shoot the boss tom. It took a lot of will power to take the young Jake instead as my first ever turkey. It was probably a good thing, as I watched the big Tom breed 2 of the hens right in front of me. My Aunt was happy that I listened to Her, & said I could come back and try for the longbeard at the end of the season.:D Her & my Uncle own about 300 acres of prime mixed pasture & hardwoods that I feel very lucky to be able to exclusively hunt on. Personally I don't think I would shoot a hen even if it had a beard. I consider them too valuable at this time.

George
 
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