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Gil S
PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 3:56 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 04 Mar 2008
Posts: 1943
Location: Lowcountry Ga.

Reno, good to see you back. Hope you have been well. I didn't catch your earlier comment and I agree on spurs. I am going to slightly modify the choices of 5 or 6 by adding that unless the shot cloud is dense enough to strike brain or spinal column reliably, don't shoot beyond the range that it is dense enough. Typically, loads run out of pattern density before running out of penetration. Otherwise a body shot mature gobbler with a few 5's or 6's maybe enough to cripple and mortally wound but not drop the bird in his tracks for successful recovery by the hunter and not a coyote. It's not like wingshooting smaller birds or duck hunting where a wounded bird is easily recovered with a dog's help. Most of the time, that is.
I realize this is not "rocket science" and I'm not singling anyone out, but here's what another man had to say about not knowing what your gun will do with a particular load:
"Yes absolutely different loads can shoot to varying POI. It is incumbent on the hunter to shoot the load he plans to hunt with to verify POI. If you don't have enough of those shells to do that, then ethically you should not hunt with them.
I would no more go into the turkey woods assuming my gun shoots where I'm aiming than I would go deer hunting with a round I had not verified preseason. I know guys that grab a box of rifle bullets off the shelf and go hunt without a sight-in session, but they should really not be surprised if they wound or miss a deer. Same thing applies to turkeys and turkey ammo." Gil
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Charles Hammack
PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 5:51 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 02 Feb 2007
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Location: Central Missouri

Good spur's. Gil

I will post a pic of one tomorrow, season starts in the morning.

Hey one of these days I would love to pic your brain on that hard shot in #9's.

For now my lead #9's will have to work in the morning.

Regards, Nick

Hey Dave you need to come back to the Moo.
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Two Pipe Shoot
PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 8:35 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 25 Jun 2008
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Location: Wisconsin

I miss the Moo but don’t miss Charlottes cooking! I was two hours south of there for three days last week burying an old friend. Hope to do that again one day. Reno

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cowdoc87
PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:29 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 20 Jun 2006
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Location: Kelso, Tennessee

Two Pipe Shoot wrote:
I miss the Moo but don’t miss Charlottes cooking! I was two hours south of there for three days last week burying an old friend. Hope to do that again one day. Reno

Territory where the huntin’s great but the cookin maybe ain’t. Why we used to carry a skillet stove and a little oil and flour, and breast out sharptail on the tailgate for midday sandwiches. That country is in a prolonged drought at present. God blessum

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i reckon so. I guess we all died a little in that damn war.
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cowdoc87
PostPosted: Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:45 pm  Reply with quote
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We are in a serious turkey decline here. It’s been 3 years since I’ve heard a bird gobble on my property. I’ve seen a nice double-beard gobbler on me almost daily since a week before the season started, and a few hens. I’m in a self imposed moratorium here hoping to cultivate for the future.

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i reckon so. I guess we all died a little in that damn war.
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Gil S
PostPosted: Tue Apr 17, 2018 12:06 pm  Reply with quote
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Location: Lowcountry Ga.

CD, I am hearing the same refrain from most places in the south. All sorts of speculation as to causation. I heard second hand that DNR may have to eliminate all turkeys from a particular WMA because of disease in the flock. We had a huge flock of turkeys in Georgia, but it, too, seems on the decline. I often hear the truism that killing gobblers in the Spring doesn't impact the flock because they've done their job early in breeding season. However, killing bunches of gobblers sure doesn't add to the flock numbers. It wouldn't break my heart if Ga. dropped the limit to two birds and chopped off some of the season. SC lowered the season to three birds from 5 this year. Alabama still has a five bird limit during the spring. With the advent of decoys, motorized strutters, "fanning" and pop-up blinds, killing gobblers has gotten easier. All are perfectly legal, but I prefer the old fashioned way: call'em in close. Gil
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Two Pipe Shoot
PostPosted: Tue Apr 17, 2018 2:00 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 25 Jun 2008
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Many more poultry operations and a return to litter broadcast as fertilizer since the Southeast started competing with Arkansas. Lots of undigested grain in that litter. Lots of disease incidence in the industry. Numbers are down in our area that are adjacent to crop land. The deep woods where the population survived the market hunters are in a slower decline. I don’t think the wildlife folks want to talk about it, but it’s obvious that something is out of balance. Maybe it has something to do with the wild hog invasion. In three years time we are inundated.

Reno

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rudyc
PostPosted: Tue Apr 17, 2018 2:35 pm  Reply with quote
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Nice Bird Gil, Congrats

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cowdoc87
PostPosted: Tue Apr 17, 2018 8:00 pm  Reply with quote
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Location: Kelso, Tennessee

We’re blessed here to be out of feral hog territory. Some talk of bird flu. We’ve had commercial chicken flocks near by testing positive and exterminated. I’m bream fishing, and hoping for a rebound. So far this last year, my pheasant ground in North Dakota was decimated by extreme drought, my bobwhite and blue quail in West Texas nearly disappeared in a matter of weeks from eyeworm?, my homeboy pet coveys of bobwhites have all but disappeared, despite my best efforts, and turkey numbers are way, way down, locally. Nothing good to report here

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i reckon so. I guess we all died a little in that damn war.
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pudelpointer
PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2018 10:03 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 14 Jan 2006
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Location: Lancaster county, Pa

The decline isn't limited to the south PA and NY are in decline still have birds but not close to the numbers we did have. I had heard there was a new strain of Chinese bird flu working thru the flocks. Wildlife official in NY and PA seem oblivious a few are blaming predators and wet springs. My property in Northern NY 3 years ago you could hear 8-10 gobblers in the morning now 3-5. The coyotes, bobcats, fishers, hawks, owls and eagles are not any thicker than the last 20 years during the boom. And every spring is wet up there defiantly a disease correction going on. I Travel 350 miles thru PA and NY to my camp about 25 times a year used to see turkeys everywhere along the way not so much anymore. My trail cameras really tell the story flocks of 20-30 a few years ago now4-8 birds in most flocks feeding in the food plots. Still looking forward to hunting this spring but most likely won't shoot one myself call one in for my daughter and let my son chase some.
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Gil S
PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2018 12:07 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 04 Mar 2008
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Location: Lowcountry Ga.

I used to tell friends that didn't hunt turkeys that the "good ole" days of turkey hunting were right now. Not so sure I can say that anymore. Hope springs eternal, however. Gil
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