US Super Slam for Turkeys?

[Mojave]

There’s slams for everything now. Waterfowl slams, deer slams, whitetail deer slams, upland bird slams, squirrel slams. Alright I made the squirrel slam up but give it enough time. Come to think of it maybe that’s the slam I need to chase, a squirrel in all 50 states.

Look up Kaibab squirrels or something like that. They are like the Ocellated turkeys of the. squirrel world.

Maybe enough to start a slam?

 

[Kellum]

Man, I've been thinking it'll slow down for 5 years now. But each year it gets worse and worse. The future generation is who is going to suffer the most.

As far as stories that will blow your mind.....

Nevada: Very limited roosting areas, everyone highly invested with flight and tag costs, needing that Nevada bird for their slam. I know TWO different folks the past 3 springs that have a bird shot off the roost right in front of them on opening morning. Proud way to take your Nevada bird, huh? The landowner we hunted on told us about the opening morning limb lift that happened a few days before we got there. He was still PISSED over it and kicked the hunters off the property. Last year in Nevada a dude was literally driving back and forth, keeping a gobbler from crossing a road, so other hunters set up by the trees he was going to roost in couldn't kill it. The guy doing this didn't have permission to hunt either side of the road was hoping the bird would be pushed to where he could hunt.

Tennessee: Highly pimped out by YouTubers, especially Catman and The Hunting Public. A few central TN WMAs on opening weekend are an absolute ZOO now days because of it. I'm talking about outright dangerous. Doesn't how many trucks are at a gate, folks are coming on in you if there is a gobbling bird. And its such a shame because they used to be such incredible areas to hunt.

Massachusetts: Last spring I'd saw a gobbler cross a road onto public land. I turned around and pulled into a parking spot to after him. About that time an older dude comes sliding in, hops out and grabs his gun that was loaded and just sitting in his seat. He gives me a poop eating grin and starts to RUN towards where the gobbler went into the woods! We exchanged words and it got heated so I started filming in case anything happened.

Here is a link to the encounter if you want to watch it. *language*

https://imgur.com/21Phhwo

Pennsylvania: Last spring I'd roosted a bird evening before the opener. Got in TIGHT opening morning. Unfortunately the bird was just ~200 yards from a gate. I get to watch a young dude park right on top of me, and proceed to sneak on in and set up on the bird. Of course neither one of us killed it because he spooked it. I gave him an earful.

California: Set up on roosted gobblers on opening morning. We literally have to direct hunter traffic with our flashlights. Getting close to fly down time and I see a dude sneaking in. I wave him off. He just does a half circle around me and sneaks up right beside my buddy who is 50 yards from a roosted gobbler. The hunter is walkign towards the gobbler with his gun off and spooks it before he can get a shot. They exchange words. The hunter then has the gall to set up just 70 yards away from us. As luck would have it, one of the gobblers pitches right down in front of him and he kills it. My buddy ends up killing one too thankfully. We go encounter the other guy and its a Hmong hunter and his wife. I go "Were you the one walking all up on his trying to shoot a roosted gobbler?" and he does "Yes, yes, that's me!" LOL What in the fk?!?! Bag limit is 1/day in California. He was back in there hunting that afternoon.

I could go on and on but thats just a small sample. Ethics and etiquette seem to have left the building now days.

Easier than expected/lucked out: Arkansas and Louisiana. Two states a lot of people really struggle with. But I scouted two entire days in Arkansas before opening day in 2024. The first bird I worked opening morning got by me and another hunter got him. I was standing at his truck waiting to talk/congratulate him when I heard another bird firing off in the distance. Got him, so was done in Arkansas after 2 days of scouting and a couple hours hunting. Louisiana, got beat to where I was going on opening morning and that RARELY happens unless they sleep at a gate. So I went in across the bottom opposite of them. Heard them shoot and it made me sick. I heard no turkey. Walking out I made a loop through some thinned pines and one hammered on the ground. He was dead shortly after. Done in LA on morning 1.

Last year I just got to hunt opening morning in PA and hunted sorta north central along NY border on a state game lands. I killed in PA in 2017 and hunted some game lands in southwest PA. Beautiful state, that is for sure!!!

My favorite is still the famous Pinhoti crawl that you witnessed lol.


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[Derekc6713]

Man, I've been thinking it'll slow down for 5 years now. But each year it gets worse and worse. The future generation is who is going to suffer the most.

As far as stories that will blow your mind.....

Nevada: Very limited roosting areas, everyone highly invested with flight and tag costs, needing that Nevada bird for their slam. I know TWO different folks the past 3 springs that have a bird shot off the roost right in front of them on opening morning. Proud way to take your Nevada bird, huh? The landowner we hunted on told us about the opening morning limb lift that happened a few days before we got there. He was still PISSED over it and kicked the hunters off the property. Last year in Nevada a dude was literally driving back and forth, keeping a gobbler from crossing a road, so other hunters set up by the trees he was going to roost in couldn't kill it. The guy doing this didn't have permission to hunt either side of the road was hoping the bird would be pushed to where he could hunt.

Tennessee: Highly pimped out by YouTubers, especially Catman and The Hunting Public. A few central TN WMAs on opening weekend are an absolute ZOO now days because of it. I'm talking about outright dangerous. Doesn't how many trucks are at a gate, folks are coming on in you if there is a gobbling bird. And its such a shame because they used to be such incredible areas to hunt.

Massachusetts: Last spring I'd saw a gobbler cross a road onto public land. I turned around and pulled into a parking spot to after him. About that time an older dude comes sliding in, hops out and grabs his gun that was loaded and just sitting in his seat. He gives me a poop eating grin and starts to RUN towards where the gobbler went into the woods! We exchanged words and it got heated so I started filming in case anything happened.

Here is a link to the encounter if you want to watch it. *language*

https://imgur.com/21Phhwo

Pennsylvania: Last spring I'd roosted a bird evening before the opener. Got in TIGHT opening morning. Unfortunately the bird was just ~200 yards from a gate. I get to watch a young dude park right on top of me, and proceed to sneak on in and set up on the bird. Of course neither one of us killed it because he spooked it. I gave him an earful.

California: Set up on roosted gobblers on opening morning. We literally have to direct hunter traffic with our flashlights. Getting close to fly down time and I see a dude sneaking in. I wave him off. He just does a half circle around me and sneaks up right beside my buddy who is 50 yards from a roosted gobbler. The hunter is walkign towards the gobbler with his gun off and spooks it before he can get a shot. They exchange words. The hunter then has the gall to set up just 70 yards away from us. As luck would have it, one of the gobblers pitches right down in front of him and he kills it. My buddy ends up killing one too thankfully. We go encounter the other guy and its a Hmong hunter and his wife. I go "Were you the one walking all up on his trying to shoot a roosted gobbler?" and he does "Yes, yes, that's me!" LOL What in the fk?!?! Bag limit is 1/day in California. He was back in there hunting that afternoon.

I could go on and on but thats just a small sample. Ethics and etiquette seem to have left the building now days.

Easier than expected/lucked out: Arkansas and Louisiana. Two states a lot of people really struggle with. But I scouted two entire days in Arkansas before opening day in 2024. The first bird I worked opening morning got by me and another hunter got him. I was standing at his truck waiting to talk/congratulate him when I heard another bird firing off in the distance. Got him, so was done in Arkansas after 2 days of scouting and a couple hours hunting. Louisiana, got beat to where I was going on opening morning and that RARELY happens unless they sleep at a gate. So I went in across the bottom opposite of them. Heard them shoot and it made me sick. I heard no turkey. Walking out I made a loop through some thinned pines and one hammered on the ground. He was dead shortly after. Done in LA on morning 1.

Last year I just got to hunt opening morning in PA and hunted sorta north central along NY border on a state game lands. I killed in PA in 2017 and hunted some game lands in southwest PA. Beautiful state, that is for sure!!!

Those are some great stories. Luckily I have not dealt with people like that yet while turkey hunting. The past two years I’ve roosted a bird the night before opening day and managed to harvest that bird within an hour of first light. My biggest fear is always some lazy or inconsiderate turd coming in right at day break while I’ve been sitting in the dark waiting for an hour or more for first light and spooking the bird.

As far as the guy in Massachusetts they don’t call them Massholes for nothing.

unfortunately with social media the cats out of the bag on a lot of these states and I don’t think it will ever be totally eliminated or things will go back to how they were. but I still think that eventually it will subside a bit. Like I said earlier I do enjoy hunting content, I love turkey hunting and so to fill the gap between now and May when i actually get to chase birds watching turkey hunting videos gets me by. My biggest problem with the hunting public and other high profile hunting content creators isn’t necessarily that it exposes people to the joys of hunting out of state it’s all the clones they have created. All the young hunters nowadays see how they “hunt for a living” and think they could be the next hunting public so they strap a go pro on their gun and upload videos to YouTube and then create more content and more clones to where it has now gotten so out of hand. I could see a ban on filming hunts on public land being in our future which I would support wholeheartedly. I think that might already be a thing in some states I’m not sure.

 

[Derekc6713]

Coupling the current diminishing rate of wild turkey recruitment with states’ insatiable appetite for more hunters, I seriously doubt someone starting out today will have the opportunity to hunt all of the states that turkeys currently reside in. I hope I’m wrong, but the writing is all over the wall.


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Unless there’s some changes made I don’t disagree.

 

[deerhunt1988]

Luckily I have not dealt with people like that yet while turkey hunting.

As far as the guy in Massachusetts they don’t call them Massholes for nothing.

unfortunately with social media the cats out of the bag on a lot of these states and I don’t think it will ever be totally eliminated or things will go back to how they were. but I still think that eventually it will subside a bit. Like I said earlier I do enjoy hunting content, I love turkey hunting and so to fill the gap between now and May when i actually get to chase birds watching turkey hunting videos gets me by. My biggest problem with the hunting public and other high profile hunting content creators isn’t necessarily that it exposes people to the joys of hunting out of state it’s all the clones they have created. All the young hunters nowadays see how they “hunt for a living” and think they could be the next hunting public so they strap a go pro on their gun and upload videos to YouTube and then create more content and more clones to where it has now gotten so out of hand. I could see a ban on filming hunts on public land being in our future which I would support wholeheartedly. I think that might already be a thing in some states I’m not sure.

You will when you start traveling to hunt some of the more "cut throat" states.

lol @ Massholes, i like that

And yup, it's created a ton of clones whom just further accelerate spot burning. I cringe every time I see someone with a video camera or barrel camera in the woods. Used to NEVER see it, now I run into it most seasons.