Q.T.M. – Quality Turkey Management. There aren’t enough Gobblers left large enough to shoot, as too many folks are shooting most of the Jakes. The logical explanation of the DNR, should be Gobblers only, with a 7 inch beard and 3/4 inch Spurs to be legal. This way we will all shoot Gobblers and increase License Sales. Now we know its real easy to measure a turkey beard and spurs wile it is going thru the grass and brush, “right”?
Did you ever make a simple or silly mistake, or forget something while going hunting, etc? Cleaning your gun, checking your shells, taking your license and wearing the right clothes? These things never happen to us, always to some one else. During the excitement of the hunt things can be overlooked.
When going turkey hunting it happened to me.
Did you ever hunt Ghost Turkeys? After 40 years of hunting I’ve had a few. One day while hunting early I gave a tree call, heard a gobble off aways, later some fly downs, more gobbles, but then the fog set in. That’s it for the gobbles. When you ca n’t see 20 feet in front of you what to do? Just set and wait when you don’t hear any turkeys. After an hour looking through the fog, is that a turkey or what? The bird just fades away to end my hunt for the day.
Did you ever wonder about the DNR & NRCs scientific management of our Wildlife, etc? When the Deer & Turkey Licenses were established, there were earmarked funds to be put into Game Restoration and Habitat to preserve the Game, i.e., Deer Range improvement Program commonly referred to as D.R.I.P Funds and also Restricted Turkey Funds. They have had the money for Habitat improvements, but where are they?
Did you ever wonder about hunting? What does hunting mean? Webster says “The act of pursuing game”. A hunter is also a person who seeks out to kill or capture for sport or food. Do you qualify as a hunter, or are you a person that uses a bait pile and shoots two bucks in 15 minutes when you only need one? Then do you complain that you didn’t have enough hunting time, while your neighbor didn’t see any bucks even after days of hunting. This would make a real hunter feel bad, because he took two bucks, leaving none for breeding or his neighbor.
