Is head-to-toe camo mandatory for turkey hunting?

[Floppy_D]

Camo face netting = no mosquitos in your face. You can sit still better when you aren't swattin' at bugs. As far as camo, I wear what I have at the time. Pick your spot in advance, get your back against a big tree, and use branches or undergrowth to your advantage.

 

[chas08]

That reminds me of a rather graphic film they showed us in Hunter Safety class, about turkey hunting dos and don'ts...

Yep, I seen that film too. It made me think of Greatgrandaddy at the time. It could most definitely be a death sentance nowadays on public lands. But 45+ years ago, in Texas, on private property, the risk was probably minimal if not non-existant. The reasoning for using red holds water though, there is a lot of red colored items in nature in the spring. Cardinals, flowers, turkey heads....uh-oh.

As an afterthought, I wonder what is more dangerous; Being camo'd to the point of being invisible with a lifelike decoy 20 yds from you, or wearing the color red.

 

[chas08]

Do those guys really eat all the ducks they kill?

Probably Not,but
Dr Tad, cooked properly, Duck is one of the tastiest meats I've ever eaten. It's all in the preparation. Season it the way you want it to taste and grill it over coals to a medium rare, (my favorite) or a bright pink medium if you don't like blood on your plate, and enjoy. If you cook it till it's grey, you may as well feed it to the dogs. I can promise you as an avid duck hunter, even the Duck Commander don't get his limit every time. And I know you're wise enough to know this. But it wouldn't sell duck calls to televise the dismal days we all have. I hunted 14 or 15 days last season and killed about 50 ducks total. Its april and I have maybe, three, six bird meals left. If you like eating Duck, it ain't hard to go through 'em.

 

[ArmedBear]

Dr Tad, cooked properly, Duck is one of the tastiest meats I've ever eaten. It's all in the preparation.

You ever try chukar from the sagelands?

You don't have to do anything special, and it comes out seasoned without any spices.

It's the bird-hunting equivalent of hunting trophy bighorn sheep, but it's delicious.

 

[Ohio Gun Guy]

^The woodsmen from the previous page.....

Needs Caption: "Boy, your in a heap of trouble"

 

[chas08]

You ever try chukar from the sagelands?

You don't have to do anything special, and it comes out seasoned without any spices

Sounds delicious, but I'm getting to dang old to work that hard for a mess of birds. I sure would like to pheasant hunt some farmland in the Dakotas one time before it's too late. Maybe next year after I retire.

Sorry for the thread drift OP.

 

[ArmedBear]

Cardinals, flowers, turkey heads....

I'm sure that a lot of cardinals and flowers get shot every year...

WRT the danger of beng completely camo'd, with ghillie or a 3D leaf jacket on, yeah, that's pretty dangerous, too. I have wondered if there's some color or pattern that would not spook turkeys, wouldn't look like a turkey, but would be recognizable to other hunters.

 

[MCgunner]

Chas, you shoulda been with me one hunt this year when I decided to hunt the river unit at GDWMA. Friggin' mile and a half through soft mud, salt grass, and cow tracks. I thought I was gonna die. I swore off that unit. It's the primary reason I never hunt it, but, the hunting is good if you can make it out there without calling 911 for medivac.

 

[chas08]

Chas, you shoulda been with me one hunt this year when I decided to hunt the river unit at GDWMA......I thought I was gonna die.

(LMAO) Sounds like Cane Lake at Mad Island, You couldn't take a step without stepping in a cow track. I'll never do that again. I like killin' Ducks but I ain't that mad at 'em. We ought to hook up on a hunt one of these days MC. We'd probably make a fine pair of "Old Codgers"

 

[The Bushmaster]

Dumbest birds I have ever seen. (except maybe the Dodo). I've had to take a broom and chase the damned things out of my yard and gardens. I've watched as they land in trees for the night and seen some of them fall off the limb and hit the ground...Yup...Smart bird...

By The Way...I was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt and whacked one in the tail feathers with that broom...

 

[natman]

A few points:

Suburban turkeys that are used to people behave differently than turkeys that are still truly wild.

Turkeys are more wary during hunting season than they are the rest of the year.

When calling in a gobbler, he's on the alert and looking for the female he's heard. He's not just walking by.

No, complete camo is not mandatory, in the sense that you can't possibly kill one without it. But it does help and in the long run you'll get more birds with it than without it.

 

[chas08]

The second Turkey I killed was by invitation and was located by driving around a large 1000-1100 acre tree covered pasture very slowly, and stopping to beep the horn and listen. The Turkeys would gobble at the sound of the car horn.

The second or third stop and beep produced a gobble so my buddy dropped me there with my Lynch box call and a Glossy Remington 1100 mod choke with High brass #6's. I sat down at the base of an oak tree that had a little undergrowth around it and waited for the sound of the truck engine to fade away and began clucking and purring as shown.

Within 20 - 30 minutes I see movement the other side of the road so I quit calling and sat motionless. I slowly eased my gun into position and when the Gobbler stepped into the road, I popped him at about 25 yds. And thats pretty much the end of the story.

I was wearing milsurp woodland camo and a camo cap and bandanna outlaw style to cover my face. But I can't say it was any prowess on my part. I think it was more Location, Location, Location. The first turkey I killed was as a kid with no camo, and involved a .22Lr, and that's all I'm going to say about that.

 

[MCgunner]

(LMAO) Sounds like Cane Lake at Mad Island, You couldn't take a step without stepping in a cow track. I'll never do that again. I like killin' Ducks but I ain't that mad at 'em. We ought to hook up on a hunt one of these days MC. We'd probably make a fine pair of "Old Codgers"

Mad Island is a mud hole. I had to swim out of a lake there several teal seasons back. That's when I bought a kayak. But, I've not been back there. The kayak has come in handy, though, for crossing buffalo lake at GDWMA mission bay unit. I've seen a couple of other folks out there with that idea, too.

Yeah, I'm always up for a hunt. Give me a holler. Place and time and I'm there so long as it's not on a Tuesday or Friday.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Natman...I live in the middle of nowhere. Face it...They survive because we control the hunts, set out feed lots and restock where needed. Here in Missouri they are wild stock and they are still dumb...My nearest neighbor pots them from his front porch...

 

[natman]

Suburban turkeys that are used to people behave differently than turkeys that are still truly wild.

Natman...I live in the middle of nowhere. Face it...They survive because we control the hunts, set out feed lots and restock where needed. Here in Missouri they are wild stock and they are still dumb...My nearest neighbor pots them from his front porch...

Perhaps "suburban" was a poor choice of words. So I'll rephrase:

Turkeys that are used to people behave differently than turkeys that are still truly wild.

Sometimes turkeys act like complete idiots. I once sat down at opening time on opening day and made one location yelp. A gobbler ran 100 yards down the hill to me, gobbling his head off the whole way. There's a one-a-day limit in CA, so I was home before 9:30.

But it's not usually like that. Sometimes gobblers can be the sneakiest, wariest critters imaginable. The glide in, check you out and if they don't like what they see, glide right back out again. They're not all like your yard pests.

 

[The Bushmaster]

We have a "herd" (around 35 to 40 birds) of turkeys that cross my property at the far end and cross the highway into my neighbors cattle pasture and roost in the oaks on his property. They pass through about every two weeks. I bet his freezer is set for the year...

 

[H&Hhunter]

Leave nothing to chance!

 

[natman]

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Are there really people stupid enough to shoot at 'some red' without knowing it's a live male turkey, properly identified as such?

Personally, I think the fear of wearing red or using a gobble call is *tremendously* overblown. I can hear a dufus coming within close enough range to hurt me with a shotgun. Last weekend I put my JAKE decoy directly in front of me (about 2 feet away), with a bruch pile stacked up so that if a turkey saw movement from me, he'd think it was the 'turkey' he saw move. I wasn't worried at all. Of course, this was private land.

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

what do these guys wearing thousands of dollars worth of cammo do with all those ducks, nasty tasting vermin. my cammo is blue denim, riding on a four wheeler, drinking beer, they make it sound like it is a challenge...dont even use a shotgun... dont need one, oh well to each his own, makes good TV fodder for recliner hunters. sterotype rednecks making it look difficult, I just shake my head along with my buddies that agree with me...

 

[natman]

Are there really people stupid enough to shoot at 'some red' without knowing it's a live male turkey, properly identified as such?

Unfortunately, yes.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/top-stories/ci_14787195

 

[CSA 357]

if your gona go to the trouble of going turkey hunting wear camo, yes you need a face net and gloves, these folks that say wild turkeys are dumb never hunted them much, they can see very good and hear i have hunted them for 30 years and i think if they could smell you would never kill one!

 

[slabuda]

I think its like most hunting, muted colors matching the shades of your surroundings. Not necessarily camo though but if it helps break your outline all the better. Put your back to a tree or some brush and cover your face/hands. They move more than anything else and that shiny skin is like a warning beacon.