U.S. SLAMING???

[dewey]

"A Nonresident May Not Hunt G&F Lands October 13-19
In accordance with state law, nonresidents are not allowed to hunt on Game and Fish Department wildlife management areas or conservation PLOTS (Private Land Open To Sportsmen) areas from October 13-19, 2012."

How long is the fall season, Dewey?

Here is a link to the ND G&F regulations on fall turkey hunting.

http://gf.nd.gov/regulations-hunting-fi ... ting-guide

Apparently in ND you possess up to 15 licenses per person, wow!

Dewey

[charlie elk]

To all those who like to keep score and get formal recognition; have at it we all do it to some extent.
Many years ago as a very young man I engaged in some personal planning about how to live my life so at the end there would be as few regrets as possible. One of those things (now a days referred to as a "bucket list") was to hunt something in every state no matter the species selected or simply what was available to hunt at the time I was there. Bagging the species was nice but if the skunk of the hunt raised his tail, well the experience of the new is satisfaction enough.
Over the 39 years since the setting of this plan in motion. I have hunted 38 states, some more than once, a few regularly, 4 Canadian Provinces and a small piece of Mexico. Oh yeah, promised myself I would never use a guide. Nothing wrong with hiring a guide, I just want to do it myself, plus the money issue. Although, a few times I knew someone local who accompanied me, in my mind that doesn't count as a guide.
Whatever suits the individual hunter is fine, just remember to have fun and don't slam things around.

[turkey junky]

i think the way the ND fall draw works is they issue tags to all the residents who apply for that 1st draw & the non residents & the rest of the ND residents are pooled together & are drawn form them left over tags not issued to ND residents on the 1st draw...??? i wish & hope they change that rule so we out of staters can get a crack at SPRING TIME GOBBLER HUNITNG in ND outside of indian reservations...

also hookspur the state lands and plots lands are closed to non residents on those dates & the 1st wk of pheasant season for non residents but we can still hunt any FEDERAL LANDS OPEN TO HUNTING? like natl grasslands & WPAs so keep that in mind...

also so what states are the spring time gobbler tags so hard to draw that detours most people??? i hate to draw a license for turkey as there are so many birds around now days that i dont think its neccesary in most states that have them... WISCONSIN being #1... i was thinking that most states have at least some part of there state open to or has a general OTC turkey license area to hunt??? i guess maybe some of the smaller OUT EAST states may have a draw??? but i know that MA,DE,RI,CT,NH,VT all have a OTC tag system i beleave & or u just have to APPLY & u will draw a tag they just want to have a idea of the number of hunters to turkey ratio in some urban areas???

[turkey junky]

to go the NO GUIDE & ALL PUBLIC LAND ROUT is the real deal US SLAM!!! i am going after my GRAND SLAM that same way all public lands & un-guided if you do that you can really brag it up the way i see it??? i mean any guy can lay down the $$$ to BUY 4 3-4 day hunts across the country each yr & rack up the grand slams as thats ur guides job to get you on birds day in & day out & to have them patterened for those of us that hunt public lands across the country we know that things change from yr to yr & that public WMA we are huntings job is to be a refuge/home for the game we hunt not anything like a private guides peace of TURKEY HEAVEN you have all to your self for the write $$$ its just not anything alike...

[dewey]

I will congratulate any hunter that completes a grand slam, or any slam for that matter, no matter how he/she achieved the feat. Some people prefer to hunt guided and some prefer to hunt un guided and all I simply say is to each their own.

Dewey

[turkey junky]

untill you have found a area to hunt all on your own & then located the turkeys you plan to hunt all on your own on that peace of hopefully public land you plan to hunt all on your own then actually plan a attack & call in & harvest a gobbler especially in a starnge state & land all on you own no guide or somebody there to hold your hand & show you around aka wear to hunt then to be honest you are missing out on a major major part of this great game we call turkey hunting in my eyes??? i mean to buy a allready finished classic car from somebody is sweet but to rebuild/restore one your self from start to finish is something to admire same goes for turkey hunting for me at least i like to make my turkey hunts my-self not buy them pre packaged & just plop down $$$ & have somebody else do all the work??? aka the fun stuff!!! i can not congragulate a guy that just flys around & buys hunts for just pulling the trigger on a guided private land hunt for his grand slam... to be honest the folks that only use guides are lazy lazy hunters i understand if you have medical issues & or are pressed for time but that is no excuse to only use guides a alot of that comes down to the guy buying the hunt wants a some what gurentee that he will get a turkey or a chance at a turkey thats why they use guides some folks dont have confidence in there turkey killing skills to leave that to chance & make there own hunt... they need to show something for that 800$$$-2000$$$ they just spent... lol

after thinking about it i think it mite be hard to pull/draw a tag out of say NV & or UT how did that go for you hookspur was it any trouble to draw tags in any state & if so whitch states??? & how was the hunt there after you got a tag???

[hootnscoot]

OK, here is my 2 cents, this is a topic near and dear to my heart because I am a true addict (in the dark sense of the word) that has set off to try and do this US Slam thing. Only have 8 seasons under my belt, just got finished typing my entire turkey hunting life story and then accidentally lost nearly 40 minutes of typing so I am just going to throw some stuff out there. First off, congrats to anyone that is a turkey addict however you do it, or however many years you have been doing it, or how many subspecies in states, countries, public land, private land, semi guided, trepass fee, guide calls bird you shoot or guide calls and shoots bird while you are sleeping off the bourbon, whatever, I just want to share a few tidbits of my own travels. Oh, and I agree with whoever said, in the end its just a challenge between me and the bird, amen brother!

Oh, suppose I should get my official brag in (trust me, its nothing compared to what most folks that are serious about this have accomplished - but I'm not done yet!) anyways, first gobbler in 2003, first bird all on my own on private (BUT NOT GUIDED) land in 2004, 22 states hunted (some several times) Harvested at least one legal bird in 16, 2 states I had to shoot a jake (a WHOLE other topic) and yes, four states I travelled to and will having to travel back to (that skunk did raise his tail!). The most rewarding thing about this all? Meeting new, wonderful friends acquaintences, and getting out to see lots of the wonderful countryside in our beloved country!

Now on to stirring the pot - first topic - to me the hottest - public vs. private vs. guided on someones turkey haven (whether you paid or not). To you public only or it doesn't count guys - I can only guess that you have never been on what those of us that know what a 'semi-guided' no frills paid hunt on private /leased land can be like. Do you mean to say that its tougher to go to state land, with the competition, but where you may have been going for years and years to the same haunts and kill a bird rather than being dropped off at daybreak in the middle of 15,000 acres of private ground in a state you just arrived in for the first time the night before with terrain that you have NEVER set foot on and just shoot you a guided, paid for private land bird? C'mon seriously? I bet some of you public only boys out there haven't tried it, because if you have, you would not say that its always easy peezy. Sometimes it is, and sometimes its not. And furthermore, have you ever had the unfortunate experience of 'plopping down' 1500 bucks, visit a lavish hunting facility, walk right in the footsteps of your 'guide' for three days only to come home with nothing and get the ole 'hmmmm, can't understand it, they were hot as hell last week' story? I've been on those, and I would like to see you put your 'public land skills to use on that rnach at that time - helck, Ida given you another 1500 bucks if you could have called me up a bird. Now the fault is on me there for not doing my research and all of that, but its the only way you learn! Hold on I gotta post this and get more space......

[hootnscoot]

OK, back again.....by the way, this is the first time I have ever ranted, so please forgive me. Hoping to make more friends and definately not any enemies. Just sharing my experience.

OK, onto a more positive thing. Let me set the discussion about ND non-resident to rest. You cannot do it in the spring, period, except for two exceptions that I know of. #1 - become a resident there for a period of 1 year. I called thier Wildlife department about this, and even started preparing my wife for this event sometime in the future.......'its only for one year plus a couple months honey.......I don't see what the big deal is!'.........duck............. #2 - for the first time this past year, and I shouldn't tell you all this if you didn't know it because now I am going to have more competition next year (but I'm not that kind of guy), The state of ND donated 1 non-resident tag to the ND NWTF Chapter and they auctioned it online. I didn't know about it until it was over but that first lucky dude got that coveted tag for a mere 450 bucks! Anyone wanna bet me 450 bucks that next years tag goes for a bit more than that? I think this first year the guys with that wonderful 'money isn't an object' affliction that some suffer from just weren't aware.......good luck bidding......I just hope that the states bird population and state agency will allow for maybe a few more if things went successful this year.

Finally (I've gotta get up and go to work this morning!), To anyone, anyone at all that has the passion, excitment of life, determination, focus, etc. to pull together ANY type of out-of-state hunt - God Bless You! Sure, there are those that have more money, time, resources than others, but why grouse about it? Its no different than anything else in this world. If you do what you can, and dream big about it, you are one of the big dogs as well, and nobody not even the pros we love and hate on TV and what not have it any better than you! I know this, to put in the time to plan a hunt or several (I did 8 states one year, but only tagged in 6, that was prior to my kids!) is an achievement. It takes a lot of time, effort, phone calls, map studying, planning, planning, planning for us everyday working stiffs (work gets in the way of ALL of my hunting pursuits!), but I cannot think of another thing better that we can all do as hunters but to share what we have with others, and support our country, regardless of what state its in!

I'm going to do this USA SLAM one way or the other, the 'official official' way with the NWTF is tough, gotta fill out the registration forms and all. Unfortunately, I have not saved tags or gotten these forms filled out for the first 8 states I hunted, so I may have to revisit them to be 100% official. But I agree with whoever said 'I did it, I know I did, and I don't have to proove it to anyone else.' Thats cool, totally cool. But wouldn't it be nice for one of those 'life' achievements as a hunter to have your name in the NWTF record books saying that you are one of a select few truly dedicated turkey addicts that have harvested a bird in every state?.......C'mon, don't lie, it would be kinda neat, wouldn't it? After all, your crazy enough about turkey hunting to sit on these forum boards.....start planning a triop to another state and get started.

I'd love to talk more with anyone that shares my views, and now that I have finally posted a post like I swore that I would never post, I guess I might hear from you few folks whether I like it or not.

God Bless you all, hunt safe

Hoot

[hootnscoot]

Oh,

One last thing......Someone mentioned that its too easy to just plop down your money for a guide and go shoot a turkey or something like that. I have hundreds of outfitters/guides, all bookmarked and cataloged by state. I don't always use an outfitter, I have met many folks in my travels that have invited me here or there (thats another good thing about going on a paid hunt or two IF you can swing it, you will likely meet at least 1 other person that shares your passion and will give you a great tip on another state) that have helped.

So - When you get out to ID, UT, NV, WA, NM or MA, VT, RI, CT, NJ its TOUGH TOUGH TOUGH to even find someone to pay to put you on turkeys, or at least I haven't had the best luck locating any places that looked like a good offer (either too rich for my blood or just plain non-existent), so, I have a humble request;

If any of you with those unofficial US SLAMS out there know of any good leads or contacts you could share about the above states, I would deeply appreciate it.

Let me know if you could help a new guy out......

Hoot

[Gobblerman]

Great read, Hoot! I agree completely with every word of it. Each of us sets our own goals and standards in turkey hunting,...or whatever. I would classify myself as an "addict", as well, but my goals do not include the U.S. slam. That would take a major adjustment in my current "situation" to ever become a reasonable and attainable goal. I suspect that is the case with the vast majority of us. One thing for sure, these internet hunting forums can greatly increase ones opportunities to find others with the same mindset.
(...And your list of states included NM,....anyone needing advice about hunting here is welcome to contact me.....)
Jim