Has anyone used a tail fan to walk up on turkeys?
04-19-2015, 05:59 PM
#41
Typical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Hubbard Lake, Michigan
Posts: 914
Ok, gotta chime in. Actually it's Mottzs that got me to try this and I almost made it work on the first try so I'm all for it. I see a lot of arguments on here that involve folks all overe the country and they all butt heads over what works, what's right or wrong, safe, or ethical.
From what I can gather after quite a few years on here is that things are tremendousely different from one part of the country to the next. What is suicide to try in one part of the country is totally no big deal in another. You guys sometimes tend to beat each other up over every little idea that someone has when your both correct for the place where you live and hunt.
That being said I think this is a great technique to have in your arsenal, if your area allows it of course, and yeah it's definateley a Hail Mary option, but is really effective and one hell of a rush when it works.
From what I can gather after quite a few years on here is that things are tremendousely different from one part of the country to the next. What is suicide to try in one part of the country is totally no big deal in another. You guys sometimes tend to beat each other up over every little idea that someone has when your both correct for the place where you live and hunt.
That being said I think this is a great technique to have in your arsenal, if your area allows it of course, and yeah it's definateley a Hail Mary option, but is really effective and one hell of a rush when it works.
04-19-2015, 06:45 PM
#42
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Allegan, MI
Posts: 8,019
Ok, gotta chime in. Actually it's Mottzs that got me to try this and I almost made it work on the first try so I'm all for it. I see a lot of arguments on here that involve folks all overe the country and they all butt heads over what works, what's right or wrong, safe, or ethical.
From what I can gather after quite a few years on here is that things are tremendousely different from one part of the country to the next. What is suicide to try in one part of the country is totally no big deal in another. You guys sometimes tend to beat each other up over every little idea that someone has when your both correct for the place where you live and hunt.
That being said I think this is a great technique to have in your arsenal, if your area allows it of course, and yeah it's definateley a Hail Mary option, but is really effective and one hell of a rush when it works.
From what I can gather after quite a few years on here is that things are tremendousely different from one part of the country to the next. What is suicide to try in one part of the country is totally no big deal in another. You guys sometimes tend to beat each other up over every little idea that someone has when your both correct for the place where you live and hunt.
That being said I think this is a great technique to have in your arsenal, if your area allows it of course, and yeah it's definateley a Hail Mary option, but is really effective and one hell of a rush when it works.
04-19-2015, 08:42 PM
#43
Typical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Hatton, Alabama
Posts: 520
Excellent point. Like I said, I wouldn't dare try it in timber and I don't even like using decoys in timber.
I also think that there are different psychological nuances from one place to the next. If you have a shorter season it might make you take more chances or be a little more reckless. I think that in Alabama, with our liberal limits and lengthy season, that we approach it different. Guys up North with shorter seasons might see a greater amount of pressure during the full season. In Alabama we can start hunting March 15. We don't push ourselves to "Get it done" as hard because we have 45/46 days. By mid April only the real hard core turkey hunters are in the woods. Most guys are crappie fishing by then.
I've hunted public land for 23 years. In that time I've had 3 guys walk in on me and 3 times I've walked in on someone. Only twice did I actually see the guy. The other times we were able to communicate by using three distinct yelps or by making some other turkey-ish sound that both alerted the other guy and preserved the hunt. If I hear a guy coming in and his calling is obvious I will either go to a box call (distinct sound), give him three oddly spaced yelps, do a quail whistle, or blow lightly on an owl hooter. Both times I did that I alerted them to my presence while not spooking the bird. The two times I walked in on someone working a bird and I realized it I backed out and when away from them gave them a yelp to let them know I was out of the area.
I also think that there are different psychological nuances from one place to the next. If you have a shorter season it might make you take more chances or be a little more reckless. I think that in Alabama, with our liberal limits and lengthy season, that we approach it different. Guys up North with shorter seasons might see a greater amount of pressure during the full season. In Alabama we can start hunting March 15. We don't push ourselves to "Get it done" as hard because we have 45/46 days. By mid April only the real hard core turkey hunters are in the woods. Most guys are crappie fishing by then.
I've hunted public land for 23 years. In that time I've had 3 guys walk in on me and 3 times I've walked in on someone. Only twice did I actually see the guy. The other times we were able to communicate by using three distinct yelps or by making some other turkey-ish sound that both alerted the other guy and preserved the hunt. If I hear a guy coming in and his calling is obvious I will either go to a box call (distinct sound), give him three oddly spaced yelps, do a quail whistle, or blow lightly on an owl hooter. Both times I did that I alerted them to my presence while not spooking the bird. The two times I walked in on someone working a bird and I realized it I backed out and when away from them gave them a yelp to let them know I was out of the area.
04-20-2015, 05:25 AM
#44
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Onslow County, NC
Posts: 1,856
I agree with J76, family in WV would probably think people would be crazy to use a fan like that but being where they are in the mountains I can understand this. Other areas like out west can be seen as great areas for it. General consensus seems to be nobody thinks its a great idea to do it in timber.
04-20-2015, 06:41 AM
#45
Typical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Hatton, Alabama
Posts: 520
I know it's a controversial topic but it does open up discussion on tactics in different parts of the country. Open fields of Midwest, pine plantations and swamps of the Southeast, open meadows and thick draws of the West, thickly forested hills of the East/Northeast, brush country of Texas.
We have so many large pine and clearcut tracts here in Alabama that we can use some tactics otherwise employed in more open states. We locate birds often times by standing on the edge of some clear cut and calling loudly across the cutover or down into hardwood bottoms. Because of the cutover you can often hear multiple birds within a quarter mile or more from you.
We have so many large pine and clearcut tracts here in Alabama that we can use some tactics otherwise employed in more open states. We locate birds often times by standing on the edge of some clear cut and calling loudly across the cutover or down into hardwood bottoms. Because of the cutover you can often hear multiple birds within a quarter mile or more from you.
04-20-2015, 05:54 PM
#47
Typical Buck
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: colorado
Posts: 700
Besides risking your life doing this it's far to easy to wound a turkey this way. I wont do it, I have more respect for the game I hunt to risk wounding in a rushed shot. I do just fine hunting traditionally and taking my time pulling the trigger.
