Oh absolutely not! I’m having fun. I thought one thing and typed another (which isn’t surprising to me or the few reading all this bs that know me). I still think you’re taunting, and name calling like a kid, and totally blind (or don’t give a rip) to what has help cause a decline in the turkey population. Just go sit in your blind with your decoy spread and read cnn until a “Tom” walks into your “setup”. Then make up the best story you can about how you “worked” him for 6 hours and been trying to kill this same turkey for the last 5 years. Most here will tell you congrats and move on and the world will be fine. Right??

LOL. Did you miss the part where I dont use decoys much if at all. However, I like to have the "right" to if I choose. And I think everyone should.

I still dont even wear a vest much. Just one of those inflatable strap on seats. I like to travel light. Im too old to carry a bunch of junk.

I stick a dam slate in one cargo pocket and four mouth calls and four strikers in another..(2 of them mouth calls made by a backwards "turkey" from here by hand he was kind enough to mail me a few years back ..sadly half of you dont even know what THAT means ) ,..and I kill 4 to 5 gobblers every year in Alabama.

And used to travel to Texas, Nebraska, MS, MI, GA, SC ...heck anywhere they are turkeys.

For over 25 years I hunted them all over the country from Early March in Florida to New England / Maine. NH VT NY and Pa Ohio in late May. Heck Ive hunted turkeys in about 30 plus states for three months a year. If we werent hunting we were drining to hunt. And I outfitted for turkeys in four states including SC and for Osceolas in FL

But I have never seen such a screwed up thing as "no decoys for 10 days and only one Gobbler in the first ten days. "

Its a democratic "feel good , sounds good " Bullchit law..Sorry to tell you.

I dont know where you live but shoot a gobbler on day one and not hunt for nine days? Dont worry, no trespassers are going to hunt your land. You know how well a turkey hunter respects property lines. Bout as much as a deer dog!


Ive hunted all over the country and Ive killed more Gobblers than Blackhead disease and Chicken litter added together. And thats a fact. Hundreds of gobblers.

But I never have seen such BS as this last thing with the later season, no decoys and no hunting except one gobbler for the first ten days. You think thats a great idea? Really?

Because last time I checked this was America,..where Conservatives and Republicans were for Small Govt. Less Governmental overreach, rules, regulations and laws made every year because unless the dam politicians are making "New laws for the better of us all" they dont really have much of a job.

But the dems were for more laws, regulations, Mandates without real logic (kind of like this one) and POWER?

:And that is called by definition: hypocrisy. Yall whine about rules, mandates, regulations and big Govt. And then ASK for the same thing.

Smaller Govt doesnt just mean the federal Govt. It means the state too.

You guys cant see the hypocrisy of your stance. Pushing for more rules and regs while crying and bitching all day about the dems doing the same thing.

And as for Having fun. Heck, Im here4fun. Lol.,,But I wasnt always.

Im having fun and drinking Titos now In a toast to a good buddy! The guy who introduced me to it. Good old Feller too. A bunch of yall know him.

Turkey killing SOB too. Heck, "hes quietly killing turkeys when Yall aint"

What is the reason behind them banning decoys for the first 10 days? We have a limit and the limit does not change wether someone uses a decoy or not still the same limit. So my question is why ? And why are some people against it ? Interested in knowing y’all’s opinion. I’m for anyone doing what’s legal to enjoy themselves in the outdoors.

Look up “dominant gobbler theory “. That’s their justification for all these “sky is falling “ changes.

From what I found, really doesn’t make sense to me. There will always be a dominant bird. To me it goes back to natural selection. When that dominant tom gets killed there is always one that will take its place. And that’s in any species. So if I’m missing something enlighten me please.

I didn’t say it made sense. You asked the reason, that’s all I had.

I will guarantee that the folks at DCNR never considered NO DECOYS FOR YOUTH SEASON until someone brought it up. I don't use decoys except when bow hunting. I personally don't feel they should be legal for gun hunting, just me.

what dumb sob would think outlawing decoys to handicap youth hunters was a good idea??? we need to add youth hunters, not make it harder on them

With that reasoning why not allow someone to use a 243 as long as they stop at the limit.

So I’m assuming your against the decoys ridgesralker? If so why ?

They became legal around 2005 and the perceived decline started about the same time. Folks that couldn’t kill a turkey if their life depended on it ride around looking for a field bird and slip in and fan him to death. Use to a field bird with hens was the hardest to kill now they’re the easiest. I can only speak for Skyline WMA being that’s about the only place I hunt. We don’t have 1/3 of the birds we had 20 years ago. I believe there was more hunting pressure back then when we had a lot of birds. It’s really the only thing that changed law wise and it happened about the same time. My daughter hunted 4 years before getting her first and I could have easily fanned her one when we started. The first year it was legal I fanned 3 in the first week and it just didn’t feel right. I also believe it leads to a lot more trespassing by folks riding on rainy days and fanning them regardless of who’s land it’s on.

From my experience in my area in the late 90,s early 2000 we had a lot more birds on our property we only let three people turkey hunt on one of which in the late 90s was Ben Lee and two other locals from Coffeeville. They were die hard turkey hunters. Once them three gentleman passed on our land wasn’t turkey hunted for years. And we started seeing less and less turkeys. The only thing that changed was the habitat. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry that owned a tree started cutting and the timber company’s cut everything, they used to leave the timber along the drainages and creeks now they cut every damn thing. You can ride around parts of Clarke co and it looks like a bomb was dropped. Also we allowed one man to trap predators year round. In my opinion decoys are not the reason of our turkey decline. I believe more hunters, more predation, and less habitat is the reason for our decline. I can only give my opinion on my area and what I see.

By that logic, we should be able to shoot turkeys over bait, milo trenches, with no limit, with rifles all year round. If you don't agree that we should be able to do these things, you are a liberal, hypocrite democrat. I mean it's about "The ability to make our own choices" and "let people hunt how they want with both deer and turkeys". So are you the hypocrite democrat you accuse the rest of us of being? I would say if you don't think turkeys should be able to be killed over bait then "youre pretty dam selfish and short sighted". If you think baiting turkeys should be regulated than Im not sure if "Youre for Govt regulations and more rules or not". So, which is is - Hypocrite or not?

You can’t come on here using logic. Liberals hate that.

The turkey forum has come back to life 😀

Crawled up on a pile of them in open fields

No. That's baiting and Illegal. Decoys still aren't illegal. Just for 10 days and the Youth season .

Using the bait and rifle analogy is stupid. Sorry gobbler.

Most states allow decoys. Their turkey population did not decline radically over decoys. And people acting like turkeys just run into decoys like kamikazes crack me up. That just isn't the case.

It is legal to use decoys most places . Baiting and rifles generally arent except in a couple states. Not Alabama. That's a silly comparision

And when I said people should be able to hunt as they like with deer I was meaning shooting any buck they want if it makes them happy. Managing if it makes them happy. Nice selective editing and taking my words out of context. You should go work at CNN and with turkeys if they want to use decoys good for them. Like I said I don't generally use them but if it's legal I like to have a choice. I don't care to infringe on others using any legal method they like.
That's what I was saying. Making a plastic freaking decoy not illegal but only for ten days is moronic.

They were illegal, and gonna be again for 10 days. What does it matter what other states do? We gonna just follow everything they do regardless of their outcome? Which right now is declining turkeys and increased turkey hunters. Kinda like the cwd crap?? Well, these other states killed all the dang deer and didn’t help at all. I say we just follow suit.

No. Actually they did not.

I guess you guys missed the point. It's a stupid reg just passed over a stupid theory and is a joke. Stopping the kids from using them is even more moronic. But from fish and game these days I would not expect anything else