JW

I have been part of this contest quite a long long time. I have seen it slowly loose interest.
Same age old problem of people signing up and then never showing or if they do they don't hunt.
We have gone from 20 teams of 10 to 11 hunters down to 4 with no alternative list.
All teams have no shows.
So do we chase them?
In the past I would send emails and PM all those MIAs. That did help.
Being a Moderator you can't hide your email from me.
But I'm reluctant to do that anymore.

I have been part of other contests whose participants needed to have X amount of posts. I am not for that.

We (The contest organizers) have also been offered prizes. And I'm against giving prizes of any kind. We really have no physical way to really validate your harvest. I didn't want to see this contest be corrupted. It is for fun. For bragging rights. And to meet other people who have similar interests. Nothing more nothing less.
We used to give a HNI dated contest stickers away and I funded that. Not HNI. Was no big deal but even that was not appreciated so I just discontinued it. Nobody complained.
I like many here, did develop some really good friendships. A few I even hunted with. And one person I really miss as he was the reason I kept doing this contest. He is no longer with us.

We the committee hold this contest for fun, for comardery, and to promote the sport.

So I am asking for your ideas for this contest and future contests.
We have a slurry of no shows and I haven't seen any new interest.

So I say let the contest begin.
We chase no body but will close it to checking at the start 9f the 1st legal spring season.
Those not checked in with their team would be dropped.
Team scores can be adjusted using simple math to make it fair for all.

What say you?

JW

Swamp_slayer

Sounds reasonable boss

superstrutter

I hate to say it, but it looks like the turkey hunting contest is headed in the same direction of the deer hunting contest. I believe many members have jumped ship to Old Gobbler or have just lost interest in HN. We may have to have fewer team members in the future to have enough teams to participate. Maybe 6 or 7 members on each team. I hate that it's headed this way, but it looks like it is.

shemp

Bummer...is what it is; it's just for fun and isn't really adding any motivation to me to go hunting (I already have more than enough of that). Appreciate y'all organizing and taking care of the details. Do what you need to

Phil from Maine

I am surprised that so many have not come on this year.. Our team had that issue last year as well. But we are all in this year so I never noticed until I got looking around. This has always been a lot of fun for me once everyone had helped me on turkey hunting. Turkey hunting for me and most of us in this state was quite new. Because we never had them until a large stocking program took place. Then they just started traveling along the state from there. But I sure hope that these teams can go on..

Bocajnala

Same problem on the deer contest. Forum interest is low currently. I think allot of it has to do with facebook groups. I'm on several facebook hunting groups that are active with posts all day long. And I believe this has drawn the younger crowd into those groups instead of forums. Another reason I think is, at least for me on my phone, this site isn't as mobile friendly as it could be... And allot of people are only accessing things like this via a phone or tablet of some type. As for the contest, do whatever you need to to make it work. I don't have any good ideas for improving it. Just seems like across the whole forum that interest has dropped


-Jake

bornagain64

For me it is a way to meet other hunters from other areas and share something we enjoy.
It is just for bragging rights.
If you added prizes, it would turn into a zoo. Some people would lie or stretch the truth and others would take it to serious and it would not be fun.
I think 1 problem is the "Turkey Season is 4 months long". Florida starts in the end of Feb/beginning of March and up North they do not start until late April or May.
Some people up North are not even thinking about turkey season, and some in Florida are almost done.
I appreciate all the web site and moderators do for hunters and for the sport. Thank you.
It is what it is, a place to meet other hunters and talk about something we love. We learn from each other and get to share our experiences.

JoeA

I hear you on the declining interest. It's sad. Are there declining numbers of spring turkey hunters?


Maybe we should have a thread for hunts that where we've introduced new turkey hunters to the "spring fling". I'm not sure if it will directly translate to more participants in the contest, but more folks out there hunting, not matter their age, is better for the animals and all hunters.


I think Arrowmaster mentored several new hunters last season, but it may have been another longtime presence on this board.

zmax hunter

I think you can simply BOLDLY post in the rules that everyone has 2 weeks from the specified date when teams are announced or the will be removed from the teams and have to sign an alternate list if they want in..

This gives teams time to pm those who are missing.

You could also allow hunters to have additional entries for team member who do not return to check in with their team..
We have a relatively new guy from montana..5 total posts..he entered the contest on 2/4..hasnt returned to huntingnet since 2/9..i dont know when nontana season opens..he is in college no doubt...

So what i am saying is...if there can be 10 entries per team...allow a hunter to have 2 entries...but the 2nd entry can only apply to someone who never checks back in..say before April 1st..a reasonable amount of time..
If someone checks in to their team one time,...but never returns...just black ball them...but for sure have it stated in the rules..

JW

Excellent ideas zmax. This will be forwarded to the committee.

I like the 2 weeks to check in. I always went and chased people and just don't want to do that this yr.

Another is people who sign up for the contest but never hunt. That really hurts the team as a whole but we have no control over that.

JW