When does your turkey season start and...

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Sooner,
Turkeys are targets of opportunity in the fall. They don't respond much to calls. Hence why you can take one with any modern firearm.
 
Armored farmer said:
View attachment 231923
I was fortunate to take this Jake last spring with my 12ga percussion sxs.
I came straight home from the hunt, removed the liver, dusted it with flour, salt and pepper, and pan-fried it.
Best liver I ever had!
Maybe I was hungry. Maybe I was still excited about the hunt, but it was delicious. The breast meat was too, of course.
If you like liver, be sure to save your turkey liver. If you don't like liver, ? Too bad.
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Love that shotgun. What brand?
 
BigBore44 said:
Sooner,
Turkeys are targets of opportunity in the fall. They don't respond much to calls. Hence why you can take one with any modern firearm.
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I honestly think I've seen more turkey in the fall in my lifetime than I have in the spring. This picture is from when I was hunting during deer season last fall....and this wasn't the first time I saw them. I came across them multiple times.

IMG_2196.JPG
 
My FIL and BIL's went on a hunt last weekend, and got several birds. They were hunting over feeders, which is not my idea of turkey hunting.
 
SoonerMedic said:
Turkey season has already started in Tx???? I know in Oklahoma shooting birds at a feeder is illegal....
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That's one thing that aggravates me about Kansas. Baiting both turkeys and deer is legal here. Not trying to start a debate, but I don't think it should be allowed. Period.

Still have another two weeks before firearms turkey season starts here. Every day I see gobblers strutting and gobbling. Sure makes me antsy.
 
kscharlie said:
That's one thing that aggravates me about Kansas. Baiting both turkeys and deer is legal here. Not trying to start a debate, but I don't think it should be allowed. Period.

Still have another two weeks before firearms turkey season starts here. Every day I see gobblers strutting and gobbling. Sure makes me antsy.
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baiting birds in Ok is illegal, however, baiting deer in Ok is legal. Not sure where the thought process was there....
 
A note on baiting, if it's legal and you don't like it, THEN DON'T DO IT, but stay the hell out of my box blind since I have a feeder 50 yards away! Now, I've only shot one bird since I've been here and it was an electronic hand held call that got him close enough. Oh, I used a rifle, that's legal in Texas. Don't like it? Use a shotgun, that's legal, too.

My wife was driving out yesterday morning. She called, said a turkey was running in the middle of the road for several hundred yards, wouldn't get off the road. She thought it was funny watching the bird waddle. :D Weird thing, but HERE, I don't see birds even on my game camera until breeding season. They tend to get stupid in the spring, but know how to hide in the thick woods around here in the fall. I've seen 'em on a couple of occasions in the fall, but they're not legal to shoot, anyway. They were never in rifle range when I saw 'em. Well, they were in range, but across the fence a good 250 yards away. We're only allowed one bird per year, anyway, and can only shoot that bird in the spring. I think THAT'S stupid, but it's da law and I follow it. :D Well, I don't really think it's stupid, don't know what the biologists know that set that regulation. Probably a reason for it. There's lots of birds around here, but I'm sure they're not even close to carrying capacity.
 
MCgunner said:
A note on baiting, if it's legal and you don't like it, THEN DON'T DO IT, but stay the hell out of my box blind since I have a feeder 50 yards away! Now, I've only shot one bird since I've been here and it was an electronic hand held call that got him close enough. Oh, I used a rifle, that's legal in Texas. Don't like it? Use a shotgun, that's legal, too.

My wife was driving out yesterday morning. She called, said a turkey was running in the middle of the road for several hundred yards, wouldn't get off the road. She thought it was funny watching the bird waddle. :D Weird thing, but HERE, I don't see birds even on my game camera until breeding season. They tend to get stupid in the spring, but know how to hide in the thick woods around here in the fall. I've seen 'em on a couple of occasions in the fall, but they're not legal to shoot, anyway. They were never in rifle range when I saw 'em. Well, they were in range, but across the fence a good 250 yards away. We're only allowed one bird per year, anyway, and can only shoot that bird in the spring. I think THAT'S stupid, but it's da law and I follow it. :D Well, I don't really think it's stupid, don't know what the biologists know that set that regulation. Probably a reason for it. There's lots of birds around here, but I'm sure they're not even close to carrying capacity.
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Whoa now, lets take it down about 6 notches. Nobody got onto anybody about shooting under a feeder. It's not my personal preference, but I will say that I do bait ALL wildlife throughout the year where I'm allowed to hunt. I do stop baiting during the times I am allowed to hunt as I feel it is more ethical and more of a challenge without the bait. And it's my choice just like baiting is your's.
 
Well, the baiting is necessary on small acreages which is what we have around here considering the land prices are $10,000 an acrre. Heck, there's a choice 34 acres down the road went up for sail, an older brick home on it that's nothing special, sold for $800,000. Yeah, it's nuts, but we got this place, just 3 acres long and skinny, for 50K with house, water well, septic. It was a HUD repo. So, we're the poor rednecks on the road, but we haven't run property values down. ROFL

I have permission to hunt the 7 acres on one side of me, the 17 acres on the other, for all, but deer. Well, that's handy for squirrel which I enjoy hunting, but it really doesn't help much for deer and hog without baiting since the woods are so thick around here. I jumped a hog the other day in thick cover and never got a bead on him due to the cover he was in. I don't much like sitting up all night on a stand and don't have night vision and it's DARK in those woods, so I let my trap (baited with corn) do the hog hunting. I buy a lot of corn. :D

Turkeys are a rare treat and, honestly, I've never seen 'em at the feeder, though I have pix of 'em there on the game camera. The ONLY way to hunt turkey here IMHO is to call 'em during spring. Now, if I just happened on one at the corn and needed a turkey, I'd take him, but I do agree that calling is more exciting. That's how I got the one I got last year. I can't stand those mouth call things, though, make me gag. So, in the past, I've used one of those push button box calls to take a tom. That one was shotgun only rules on the lease.

That call long sense bit the dust, so I was shopping one day in a hardware store in Hallettsville and they had an electronic call. I bought it not knowing if I'd ever get to use it. One day last spring I was out back working on my chicken pen when I heard gobbles. It was WAY out back. Knowing it might be 4 years before I got the chance again, I came inside, put on my leafy wear camo, got the box call and my .22 mag, and started back after that feathered beast. I got part way back to the back fence to my box blind, figured that was good enough, sat in the blind and pushed the "yelp" button. I immediately got a gobble back over the back fence on another property. I called again, got another gobble. I started getting excited, started pushing every button on that danged call, LOL! He finally came and stopped about 70 yards away where I nailed him. It was just like on TV, but with a rifle and a little longer range. :D Yeah, the calling, even though I can't use mouth calls (glad there's no law mandating those danged mouth reeds) was exciting. Shooting 'em over the corn would be less exciting.

Now, if I tried to hunt the abundant deer out here without a feeder, it'd be 10 years or more between kills. I'd just have to get lucky and stumble on a legal deer. With my crossbow, forget it. I prefer using the crossbow now days as in bow season we can shoot doe (they need thinning out here) without a special permit and the deer rut during bow season which is always preferred.

Hogs, well, bait is the only way. Turkey, I agree, calling is WAY more fun. If one stumbled into my feeder in fall when I was deer hunting, as is the way many turkey get shot in Texas, and it was legal to shoot one in the fall (it's not in this county), andI hadn't taken one in the spring, I'd do it. I followed directions off the net for brine soaking that bird last spring in preparation for smoking. MAN, that bird was delicious! :D
 
BTW, I'm not sure about Turkey, but baiting keeps the deer in your area. When I quit baiting, they're still there. Baiting has done its job, whether you hunt over it or not. To be truly free range, quit baiting all together. I don't know that this applies to Turkeys, though. Those things are pretty stupid and they're all about mating this time of year. Food is secondary. But, I mean, of course they're stupid, they're related to chickens. There's no dumber animal than a chicken. LOL!
 
MCgunner said:
Well, the baiting is necessary on small acreages which is what we have around here considering the land prices are $10,000 an acrre. Heck, there's a choice 34 acres down the road went up for sail, an older brick home on it that's nothing special, sold for $800,000. Yeah, it's nuts, but we got this place, just 3 acres long and skinny, for 50K with house, water well, septic. It was a HUD repo. So, we're the poor rednecks on the road, but we haven't run property values down. ROFL

I have permission to hunt the 7 acres on one side of me, the 17 acres on the other, for all, but deer. Well, that's handy for squirrel which I enjoy hunting, but it really doesn't help much for deer and hog without baiting since the woods are so thick around here. I jumped a hog the other day in thick cover and never got a bead on him due to the cover he was in. I don't much like sitting up all night on a stand and don't have night vision and it's DARK in those woods, so I let my trap (baited with corn) do the hog hunting. I buy a lot of corn. :D

Turkeys are a rare treat and, honestly, I've never seen 'em at the feeder, though I have pix of 'em there on the game camera. The ONLY way to hunt turkey here IMHO is to call 'em during spring. Now, if I just happened on one at the corn and needed a turkey, I'd take him, but I do agree that calling is more exciting. That's how I got the one I got last year. I can't stand those mouth call things, though, make me gag. So, in the past, I've used one of those push button box calls to take a tom. That one was shotgun only rules on the lease.

That call long sense bit the dust, so I was shopping one day in a hardware store in Hallettsville and they had an electronic call. I bought it not knowing if I'd ever get to use it. One day last spring I was out back working on my chicken pen when I heard gobbles. It was WAY out back. Knowing it might be 4 years before I got the chance again, I came inside, put on my leafy wear camo, got the box call and my .22 mag, and started back after that feathered beast. I got part way back to the back fence to my box blind, figured that was good enough, sat in the blind and pushed the "yelp" button. I immediately got a gobble back over the back fence on another property. I called again, got another gobble. I started getting excited, started pushing every button on that danged call, LOL! He finally came and stopped about 70 yards away where I nailed him. It was just like on TV, but with a rifle and a little longer range. :D Yeah, the calling, even though I can't use mouth calls (glad there's no law mandating those danged mouth reeds) was exciting. Shooting 'em over the corn would be less exciting.

Now, if I tried to hunt the abundant deer out here without a feeder, it'd be 10 years or more between kills. I'd just have to get lucky and stumble on a legal deer. With my crossbow, forget it. I prefer using the crossbow now days as in bow season we can shoot doe (they need thinning out here) without a special permit and the deer rut during bow season which is always preferred.

Hogs, well, bait is the only way. Turkey, I agree, calling is WAY more fun. If one stumbled into my feeder in fall when I was deer hunting, as is the way many turkey get shot in Texas, and it was legal to shoot one in the fall (it's not in this county), andI hadn't taken one in the spring, I'd do it. I followed directions off the net for brine soaking that bird last spring in preparation for smoking. MAN, that bird was delicious! :D
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I agree with you in many aspects, and I understand where you're coming from as far as the hogs are concerned. I mean they're a pest and need to be treated as such. No issues there in my opinion. I just like the more traditional aspects of calling in your game or even stalking it. I think that adds an extra element of pride and skill when you do harvest. This year will be the first time I've hunted turkey and while I would love to take my first bird with a bow (my first ANYTHING with a bow), I think I will keep the bow in the closet and keep practicing until I feel confident enough in my skill and the tuning of my bow to break it out and take a life with it. Hopefully this coming fall will allow that opportunity for me.

I'm not very proficient with mouth calls, though I can make turkey sounds with them. I'm just unsure as to how my calls would cause a real bird to react. I got a double sided glass/slate call recently that I will probably use to get them to come in close and then I'll throw my mouth call in just to cluck to get the "*** was that" reaction out of them to allow my shot. I better get my blind outside and get it aired out (or rather get the outdoor smell aired in) because the 6th is coming up FAST. I'll be checking my cam tomorrow to see if I've had any luck in baiting in a bird or 30. :)
 
I just checked and our season starts tomorrow, April 1, April fool's day....hmmm..... I'm just going to use my leafy wear and blend with the trees. :D I do have a blind, but I plan on calling from multiple locations. I've got 27 acres to roam for it. :D I'll set up here, set up there, wherever I can get a gobble.
 
MCgunner said:
I just checked and our season starts tomorrow, April 1, April fool's day....hmmm..... I'm just going to use my leafy wear and blend with the trees. :D I do have a blind, but I plan on calling from multiple locations. I've got 27 acres to roam for it. :D I'll set up here, set up there, wherever I can get a gobble.
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From my understanding, roaming about the acreage isn't a bad thing. Roam, call, wait and if you get a return call then post up in some shrubbery. If no call, roam a bit more and repeat. I've heard a lot of people say that they're no more active in the morning than they are in the evening or even mid-day. When they're all horned up like they are in the spring, all day is a good time. Good luck! If you are successful, post it up!
 
MC, do you have Rio Grande or Eastern birds in your county? I am surprised at only one bird limit. I agree with the baiting on a small property, I will set on a feeder all day for deer, so I am not condemning anyone. For turkeys, I really enjoy working them with calls.
 
double bogey said:
MC, do you have Rio Grande or Eastern birds in your county? I am surprised at only one bird limit. I agree with the baiting on a small property, I will set on a feeder all day for deer, so I am not condemning anyone. For turkeys, I really enjoy working them with calls.
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In Oklahoma, most counties are one bird counties. However, a hunter can take 3 birds max if I'm not mistaken. They just have to be in separate counties. One bird in the one bird county/zone and 2 in one of the western zone.
 
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