What do you think ? would you call wild turkey big game?

Urdubob

If you drink enough of it, it will become what ever you want.

Urdubob,

In Missouri, I believe Turkey ARE considered to be one of our two "Big Game" animals. Along with Whitetail Deer, they also must be tagged and checked at a Wildlife check station by the taker on the day taken.

Best regards, Bill

P.S Good one Longbob

[ 04-04-2003, 18:15: Message edited by: Bill M ]

You'd think so with the heavy artillery that's used to hunt them. I believe most people think they are related to Cape Buffalo only with feathers. Most states classify them as big game so you have to get a big game license.

According to the State of Virginia they are.

They are certainly not hunted like other birds, where you flush them and shoot them on the wing. A successful turkey hunt generally nets one turkey, where most successful "bird" hunts have multiple-bird bags.

They are, in fact, hunted much more like big game: On the ground, sniped at from concealment, and the individual (male) quarry determined by body size and adornment (in this case, length of beard).

Many people, myself included, prefer to hunt them like big game, with rifles. (I feel it is undignified to bowl over a regal Gobbler with a blast of shot from a blunderbuss, but that's just my prejudice.)

So, are turkeys big game? At 12 to 20 pounds, they don't qualify in size, but in terms of sport, I think of them as big game.

I think so. You have to have skill and calling ability. So also sight in your weapon. It is you vs. the turkey. It is fun. (My only problem is I don't reload shotgun shells. Yet)

Hcliff

In Montana they are classified as a bird. I've only used muzzleloaders to kill them with, usually a 20 gauge cylinder bore flinter. I really don't understand the need for the 10 gauge magnums.

http://www.geocities.com/ric_carter59932/Rics_hunting_page.html?1035170307240

No they are not.

They are considered big game by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

FWIW, Ben Franklin nominated the wild turkey as our national symbol. He was no fan of the bald eagle.

WELL SAID STONECREEK, I LIKE TO HUNT THEM WITH A .218BEE.THOSE 3.5" MAGS KICK TO MUCH.

No "brush buzzards" are not big game they are vermin.

NOPE! But I have gotten drunk a few times on it!

They are birds and they are not "big" but they are a trophy equal to an average whitetail buck and better than any doe or dik dik in my opinion.

I must have read at least 4 articles by experienced elk hunters figuring out that turkey hunting is like bugling for elk, or vice versa.

It is like bugling elk, only because they come to a call during breeding season! That is it! A 18 pound bird does not compare to a 750 pound bugling elk! Sorry! No comparison! A large 6x6 on the wall versus a 10 inch beard! HA HA HA Obviously either I don't know how to turkey hunt or the turkey hunters don't know how to elk hunt! I have shot turkeys and I liken it to big pheasants!

When I started hunting in New Mexico the general big game license cost $7.50 and you were allowed to kill a deer, a bear and a turkey.

I don't personally consider turkey big-game. The only guy way off base is rws2. They are certainly not vermin either.

Of course, coming from West Virginia, he may have truly been hunting buzzards thinking they were wild turkey.

>_> I consider a Big Tom more of a trophy then a whitetail

A big Gobbler is an impressive trophy and harder to take than a lot of Deer or Elk, especially whwere they are hunted hard. We are alowed to use only shotguns and they hang up out of range and won't come in. I have never called an Elk, but my friend killed his first gobbler here at my ranch and said he got more excited at the turkey. The reason for the 3 1/2 inch 10 ga. and 12 ga. is that the birds are really tough and will run off after the shot if you don't put plenty of shot in their head and neck. Lots of turkeys get away only to die later. If a bird can be Big Game they are!

In the State of West Virginia, the Department of Natural Resources issues hunting licenses, and they call turkeys big game.

I have resolved not to kill one with a rifle. I don't have a problem with anybody who does, but I will continue to attempt to call them to within shotgun or bow and arrow range.

H. C.

HenryC470. I agree with your comments on rifles. I've lost half a breast twice by trying tricky shots at moving turkey while deer hunting.

That is one nice thing about hunting from a blind/feeder in Texas. You can have both a shotgun and a rifle/pistol, then adjust to whatever walks in.

I use the word "hunting" loosely.

Kensco,
Here on our farm its not uncommon to see flocks of 50-100 turkeys.There are too many of them and they go through the woods vacuming up all available food.A turkey will eat about anything they can catch,subdue and swallow.
I didn't coin the phrase "brush buzzard" but find it applicable.
So if you think I'm way off base so be it!!!
And just so you'll know sitting in a baited blind is not hunting its shooting,there is a considerable difference.

[ 04-07-2003, 17:10: Message edited by: rws2 ]

Their designation as "Big Game" by State licensing agencies is solely to generate more money.
Turkeys are a demanding and exciting hunting experience but birds are birds in my view.

[ 04-07-2003, 17:19: Message edited by: Nickudu ]

They are listed as small game in the state of Washington. Fuzz

In georgia they are consitered small game. Also we are only allowed to hunt them with shotguns, muzzleloaders and bows. So rifle hunting is out of the question here. I'd love to hunt them with a muzzleloader, all I need is one shot anyway.

I've already got 2 this year, the state says I can get 3.

"And just so you'll know sitting in a baited blind is not hunting its shooting,there is a considerable difference."

Well said RWS2.

Anyway, turkeys are not big game here in Utah. We have them on our ranch and they are fun to watch, but they are easliy forgotten when a bull bugles or mulie buck sticks his head out. Turkeys are something to hunt while waiting for elk/deer season.

I once took a tom (12" beard) at a friend's farm in northern Missouri with a bow... while very fun and rewarding I wouldn't consider them big game or put them in the category of bugling-in bull elk! Regardless, they have keen senses and aren't easy to kill... mine was shot clean through and ran 100 yards before it got hung-up on a barbed wire fence... remarkably tenacious!

BA

rws2.......We also see large flocks. I think the most I ever counted was 65, with a couple of big gobblers and several jakes in the bunch. I have heard that one of the reasons for the decline of Bobwhite Quail (the finest game bird God ever created) is that the turkeys eat the eggs as well as the little birds after they hatch. Do you think this is the case?

DirtFarmer, I agree with your statement about quail. I also heard that deer will eat their eggs as well, and saw it happen on one of the so called hunting shows. Any body else heard this?

Turkeys are considered big game in Kansas. You buy a tag, just like deer, elk, or antelope.

Shotgun or bow/arrow only, no rifle permitted. I personally would not hunt them if rifle were allowed. Just something about sitting still as can be in full camo, with my turkey decoys 25 yards away from me, not knowing is someone 200 yards off is sighting in with a rifle scope on my decoy, not seeing me in the background. Gives me the willies.

FYI, I harvested my very first wild turkey last Thursday, 10 April. No trophy, but what a wonderful and exciting hunt! Now I understand what all my friends have been raving about for the last few years. Much more fun than whitetail.

Dirtfarmer & crowrifle, that debate has been heard for a long time here in Kansas. A lot of people have seen the rise in turkey population with a seemingly concurrent decline in bobwhite population, and have made a perceived connection. The prevailing wisdom here (not my wisdom, but others more learned in such things) is there are a lot of factors contributing to the decline of bobwhite quail, and a lot of factors contributing to the rise in population of wild turkey. Although connected in some ways, the increase in turkeys and predation of quail by turkeys is not a contributing factor to the decline of bobwhite quail. There are many more plausible and realistic explanations, such as decline in quail habitat and the recent dry summers we've been experiencing.

I'm not saying the occasional turkey doesn't eat the occasional quail egg...anything's possible. I'm just saying, according to wildlife biologists who know much more about such things than me, it's NOT a real factor in the decline of bobwhites.

Tim

[ 04-15-2003, 21:36: Message edited by: TimB99 ]

MAYBE IT'S just me, but I see those shows on how difficult turkeys are to hunt. See all the extremes people go to.

If the dogs aren't outside, I can get 15-30 in the back yard at any time. When you drive down the roads around here they are a bigger road hazard then the deer, at least the deer WILL move.

I have had to stop my truck and get out to move 3 huge toms, doing their courting and strutting right in the middle of the roadway. The looked quite offended that I dared to do it, and begrudginly move to the road shoulder to continue their dancing.

I don't hunt them but lots of folks around here do, so it's not like they don't know about people.

During deer season I usually see many more turkeys then deer and have them in easy shooting range.

WHERE does that turkey "mystique" come from?

LAWCOP, I'm with you. We can expect to hear from a lot of people telling us how thrilling it is to call in a big tom, etc., etc. I was never really crazy about deer hunting, either, although I put in a lot of time doing it for about 10 years. I still hunt them some, but now I am almost strictly a meat hunter.

TimB99......there are indeed many factors involved in the decline of old Bob. The most important is the change in ag. practices. Most of the land you see in pine trees in my area was in cultivation up until about 35 years ago. Lots of hedgerows, grown up terraces, small patches of corn, peas, etc. However, I think the enormous amounts of money spent by the game and fish folks on whitetail and turkey habitat, and the emphasis on hunting these species has also contributed. I know I will get some flack about this, but I believe all the small game species have suffered because of the fascination with "big game." Deer hunting, and to a lesser extent Turkey hunting, is a tremendous economic factor in my rural area. I guess a lot of people get to enjoy it, and our area can sure use the income, but it is a tough pill to swallow for an old country boy who used to have the run of all the surrounding farms.

urdubob,
I live about 30 miles S.E. of Smyrna,Tn.In Cannon Co.,we are overrun with wild turkeys.It is not uncommon to have them in the barnyard or my lawn.All over the county it is the same.
I do not consider them to be vermin,but I don't believe they are smart enough to be considered game animals.
One day I watched a tom walk back and forth along a fence trying to find a hole to crawl through.For 3 hours I watched him,don't know how
long he had been doing it before I noticed him.
Once I observed 3 deer chase a turkey all around my pasture,he didn't have sense enough to
fly into a tree and get away from them.
One hot day last summer there were 5 turkeys
resting under a shade tree in my yard with my dog lying 6 feet from them.
Just a bit ago I was on the back porch taking a smoke and watched 2 toms trying to seduce each other.
Maybe you all have higher class turkeys than we do.I have watched turkeys daily for 11 years and I'm not impressed by them.
WC

In California turkeys are hunted under the "Upland Bird Stamp". No check stations.

The sound of 2 toms about blowing your hat off with their gobbling at 20 paces is only rivaled by bugling elk.

Our season is on here in Missouri and I'm having a fantastic time hunting. We had 73 birds winter around the ranch house here and you can shoot them pretty easy. The challenge is to call one to you out in thge woods when they are gobbling and strutting. Sit under a cedar tree with your camo and face mask on and try to keep the Gobbler from seeing you until he comes into range. I've hunted big old birds that gobbled for 3 hours and came close enough that I could hear them Spit&Drum but never catch sight of them. Once someone calls up a bird and spooks him it's hard to get him to come in after that. Add to this warriness a dozen hens and you have problems. You can use a high bank or pond dam for cover and slip right up on a gobbler for an easy kill. The real thrill is in calling one up.

I would have a hard time calling them big game. Our hunting camp in Texas hill country is covered up with them. You have to watch the roads when on 4-wheelers or anything else as you can turn a corner and be on top of an entire flock, we keep the feeders filled all year in order to keep the deer fed and keep the hogs on the property. I think the turkeys end up eating most of the corn before anything else can get it. Too easy to shoot around here.

No, they're not big game. If they were, I would really wonder what category they would file deer under! Super Big Game?

I got drunk off of it a few times myself ( hiccup ). One gent in here said it is in P.A. and he is right, I live in N.E. P.A. . And there are two tags for turkey on our licenses, one for spring season which is here now, and one for fall season. Our spring season started started on 4 / 26 / 03. We are limited to no larger than No4 lead shot and no larger than No2 steel shot, in the fall we can use rifles, handguns, shotguns, muzzleloaders, for either sex, used to be legal to use buckshot but not anymore. Spring is only gobbler season, and is limited to shotgun, same shot sizes but the only semi we dare use are shotguns (3 shot capacity, of course ). Laws vary from state to state, deer are also big game as well. Just this past year we now once again allowed to hunt elk again, after over 100 year lapse also Big game, but it's by lottery type draw of permit.

[ 04-29-2003, 15:20: Message edited by: Crazy Cledus ]