First time getting turkey

[Koi00]

I’ve been hunting for a couple years and have been very successful with deer but with turkey not so much. I’ve hunted them for several years in Southern California with no success. But this year I found a good portion of public land for turkey and the hard work paid off. Me and my dad were able to get our first turkey this fall.

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[TRICER]

That is awesome that you and your dad were able to get out and harvest some public land birds. Nothing better than a father and son in the field. Now that you know where they are head back out there in the spring it is a magical time of year when those gobblers start thundering.

 

[Koi00]

That is awesome that you and your dad were able to get out and harvest some public land birds. Nothing better than a father and son in the field. Now that you know where they are head back out there in the spring it is a magical time of year when those gobblers start thundering.

Thank you, I will for sure try hunting this spot in the spring.

 

[TheGDog]

Dig it! SuperNova for the Win!

 

[2duckhunter4]

Well done for you and your dad. Cherish these days together

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[Deleted member 27310]

Hell to the yeah!! Congrats to a successful hunt, extra special that it was a father son hunt.. memories made. One of these years i'll make it up the hill and get me some turkey.

 

[nicapopolis]

That is really cool. I would imagine that you are in an area of subspecies hybridization, but that looks like a Merriam and a Rio right next to each other.

 

[Koi00]

That is really cool. I would imagine that you are in an area of subspecies hybridization, but that looks like a Merriam and a Rio right next to each other.

I’m not familiar with the subspecies but I would love to learn more about them if you can explain a little more.

 

[ilovesprig]

That is really cool. I would imagine that you are in an area of subspecies hybridization, but that looks like a Merriam and a Rio right next to each other.

If this is San Diego Co...My guess was a adult hen and a hen poult.

 

[Koi00]

If this is San Diego Co...My guess was a adult hen and a hen poult.

Yes both were hens.

 

[MAG 1]

I’ve been hunting for a couple years and have been very successful with deer but with turkey not so much. I’ve hunted them for several years in Southern California with no success. But this year I found a good portion of public land for turkey and the hard work paid off. Me and my dad were able to get our first turkey this fall.

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First congrats to you and your DAD. It is open season and they are fair game, however in SAN DIEGO COUNTY we do not recommend hunting the fall season. The bird population is low and if that is a hen with her poult , there's know telling how many turkeys could have come from them.
Again congrats to you and your DAD we would recommend you wait until spring and just hunt the GOBBLERS, much more fun anyways.

 

[Koi00]

First congrats to you and your DAD. It is open season and they are fair game, however in SAN DIEGO COUNTY we do not recommend hunting the fall season. The bird population is low and if that is a hen with her poult , there's know telling how many turkeys could have come from them.
Again congrats to you and your DAD we would recommend you wait until spring and just hunt the GOBBLERS, much more fun anyways.

Thank you, I understand where you are coming from but I only hunt public land and I am really limited of the areas I know where I can hunt for turkey.

 

[ilovesprig]

Koi,

Hopefully, no one on here is going to put some guilt trip on you hunting a legal game species, especially hunting with your dad...All we're saying at NWTF San Diego Chapter is we're trying to make hunters here in San Diego Co. realize, if we ever lose our turkeys, we will never have them again...San Bernardino got the same amount of turkeys we did in 1993...They had a fall season...We did not...Their turkeys for the most part were gone within 5 years...Ours flourished.

Then in the infinite wisdom of DFW, they took off the no fall turkey hunting in San Diego Co (they have now made the season longer & you can shoot 2 hens)...At about the same time, we started a prolonged drought...The combo of the two have dropped our numbers to a quarter of what we had...I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.

We must police our own, when it comes to our turkeys...All the best the rest of the hunting season.

ps...Is anybody getting tired of me beating this horse?

 

[Snake Charmer]

Koi,

Hopefully, no one on here is going to put some guilt trip on you hunting a legal game species, especially hunting with your dad...All we're saying at NWTF San Diego Chapter is we're trying to make hunters here in San Diego Co. realize, if we ever lose our turkeys, we will never have them again...San Bernardino got the same amount of turkeys we did in 1993...They had a fall season...We did not...Their turkeys for the most part were gone within 5 years...Ours flourished.

Then in the infinite wisdom of DFW, they took off the no fall turkey hunting in San Diego Co (they have now made the season longer & you can shoot 2 hens)...At about the same time, we started a prolonged drought...The combo of the two have dropped our numbers to a quarter of what we had...I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.

We must police our own, when it comes to our turkeys...All the best the rest of the hunting season.

ps...Is anybody getting tired of me beating this horse?

I'm not tired of it being said, I've watched them struggle outside my kitchen window for years now.

 

[Deleted member 27310]

I personally think that the guys advocating for Spring turkey hunting should just send the legal hunter a private message with the education/stats side of it, instead of telling him on an open forum... or just make a thread and make it a permanent one so everyone can see it everyday? Poor guy is going to think twice about posting something up on here next time he harvest something. Just a thought.

 

[ilovesprig]

Richard,

I have now put a permanent thread in the sticky portion of Upland hunting...Thank you for the suggestion.

I hope folks understand how delicate our population of the only turkeys & turkey hunting in Southern California is...We must not be short sighted on our game animals.

 

[Snake Charmer]

Richard,

I have now put a permanent thread in the sticky portion of Upland hunting...Thank you for the suggestion.

I hope folks understand how delicate our population of the only turkeys & turkey hunting in Southern California is...We must not be short sighted on our game animals.

I live in what back in the day was prime turkey habitat ( private land with no public access , good resources food wise and most land owners did not allow hunting) The population went from the hundreds to maybe a couple of dozen. When it was good I let folks hunt it on a daily basis because there were so many and virtually everyone who came up got one (if they listened to my instructions), it was just a matter of doing the work. I shut it down when the drought began about nine years ago. All my neighbors don't hunt them and yet they continue to struggle. like Steve has said over and over leave them alone or you will lose the chance to ever hunt them again. If on private land they struggle does anyone think they are doing better on public ?