U.S. SLAMING???

[charlie elk]

I would not call your posts a rant hootnscoot, just a passionate hunter who knows what he wants; a hat tip to you and good luck.
Regarding ND; what is wrong with taking a bird in the fall? Does the NWTF US Slam only allow spring birds?

I know some fellow turkey hunters who have taken jobs in ND. It started for them due to job loss then because ND has an oil boom going there are all kinds of companies hiring, paying big moving bonuses followed by high income and paid living arrangements. So if they can stay frugal and their job lasts 5 years they'll be millionaires. ND has no income tax so they became ND residents and now love all the great hunting. Quick access to Canada, MT,SD and much closer to ID and WA. Maybe, your lady would like all those things, except for the last one.

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?

Honestly, for me - No. Not because I oppose any of this record keeping stuff, rather it is a personal thing related to my personality type, in that, I do not like what it does to me. That is why you'll not find any of my "book" turkey or deer in the book. But at the same time I look in the book to see what others are doing. Yeah, I know, silly me.

But, in roughly a half century of hunting I have never discarded a license, tag or registration receipt, they are nestled away in large brown envelopes awaiting... something? You should seen my wife's face when she discovered them, asked what I was saving this junk for as she dumped one out. Wouldn't know my marriage license was laying on the top of that heap. But that is another story for another forum.

[turkey junky]

im with you charlie i never throw away a tag even them cheap ol nebraska printer paper tag man they are chaep tags a mean printer paper??? i pay 110$$$ for a peace of paper that can get wet every ez??? any way i have missed placed some of my MN tags as MN is not my fav place to hunt its just wear i happen to live im mad at our MN turkeys they dont want to play with me any longer & thats fine as WI write next door & they are friendly turkeys lol...

as for hootnscoot yes that was quit a rant buddy but thats ok this turkey hunting thing eats me up to!!!
im 27 & been hunting turkeys for around 14-15 yrs all i need is my public land osceola for the public land slam
the public land thing is more importent to me then just pulling the triger to obtain my slam same goes for my father he is a public land osceola away from his public land slam he has had medical issues due to cancer & we tried to talk him into buying his osceola & he is addimit about the hole public land thing he keeps saying i have never had to pay for a turkey & i wont start now man i love that guy!!!

i have only hunted around 7-8 states & MT & FL are the only states to shut me out 7+ inches of snow in MT cut our hunt short & 50-65 other hunters on the WMAs in florida maid for a hard hunt for the osceolas so when i say that i would rather hunt any private land in FL with turkeys on it then have to hunt public land in FL due to the over hunting /& pure amount of other hunters on the WMA i do know what im talking about...
& part of turkey hunting is THEY WERE HOT HOT HOT YESTERDAY BUT TODAY WEAR ARE THEY ALL??? so that always plays a roll in a hunt but at least on a GUIDED HUNT you have a guide or land owner or some guy other then your self to ask HEY WERE DO TURKEYS USEALLY HANG OUT? WERE DO TURKEYS USEALLY ROOST?
WERE DO YOU USEALLY SEE TURKEYS AT SUCH A TIME!!! well my friend on public lands with NO GUIDE or GUIDE FEES to help you out you/me/we are all on our own & have to find these places all on our own WITCH WAS MY POINT... & to be honest i can go to a public land area & have the same problums u mentioned about the turkeys just shut n up but i dont have a guide to fall back on...

also you can have the best place to hunt in the world & if the gobblers are with hens you have a very hard time calling any bird into your set up that hapens on private & public lands the sheer number of hunters on public lands seperates the boys that pay for hunts from those of us that make our own hunts... on a guides land you can bet that hunter pressure is not a major proublum & if it is you maid the mistake of pick n a greedy guide that is just out to make a $$$ & not to offer a quality un pressured hunt & thats what i assume everybody who pays a guide is paying a guide for??? to offer a quality hunt on un pressured lands & birds...

i can think of at least 3-4 hunts wear i got out of the car in a area & state totally un familiar to me in a land ive never seen except maybe once on a computer screen & ended up walking back to the car with a gobbler over my shoulder & or carrying out my fathers bird that is all part of the traveling turkey hunters game & we did it all on public lands no guide or person to just drop us off... shoot i did it 2-3 times my-self last season in WI,OK,KS i had hunted KS B4 but not the areas i killed turkeys at so yes been there done that... the best was in FL if your from the upper mid-west & you drive all day/nite to get to florida then when you get out of the car its still dark & u start wondering around south floridas woods/swamp for the 1st time in the pitch black of the nite hearing things un-familiar to you/me wild hogs gators armadillos that was a trip to remember i did find turkeys but didnt see or hear a gobbler at all in 6-7 days of hunting but even thow that was the case id rather do it that rout the public land way & end up with out a gobbler then pay a guide to just put me someplace or let me out the car & say have at it its just not any wear close to the same kind of hunt to me & many public land DIY hunters out there...

[dewey]

Great post Hoot!!! So many great points on many different topics, tip of the hat to you. The idea that a guided hunt is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel is ridiculous. I have never been on a guided hunt but someday when i go to Florida for the osceola or to Mexico for the ocellated or Goulds I will hire a guide. Sure some guided hunts might turn out to be extremely easy but the same thing could also happen on public land. Also the point that all public land is crawling with other hunters and all of the birds are highly pressured but somehow turkeys on private land have never heard a call or seen a hunter is equally crazy. I give my farmer where I go a case of beer and some chocolates for his wife and he lets me hunt there, I am sure he would let me hunt there anyways but for me it is a small way for me to say thank you. Does that make me a lazy hunter because I give him something for the privilege to hunt his land and he tells me where he sees turkeys at?

I appreciate everyone's passion for turkey hunting but I guess I choose not to try and diminish other hunters accomplishments because they might not fall in line with my own.

My 2 cents.

Dewey

[turkey junky]

dewey is the man you give the gifts to or his wife a licensed GUIDE??? if so your lazy hunter comment was off topic??? haveing a friend say hey i see birds over there at noon is something most hunters wish they had the luxuery to have... but HIREING A GUIDE to do so is just lazy & your are takeing a short cut...

& if you beleave that there is a EZ OSCEOLA PUBLIC LAND BIRD IN SOUTH FLORIDA you my friend are ridiculous or just plain un-aware of the hunting pressure in south florida each march-april guys from damn near every state travel there to hunt i mean wake up man... to be honest dewey just because you went to KS & didnt have other hunter probs thats great but there was a guy shot there from MN this yr 2 times also the statement that just because its private land dosent make it EZ to harvest a turkey is true but i was refering to LANDS THAT GUIDES MANAGE FOR TURKEY like in florida they have huge ranches & they may be able to take 20-30 turkeys off that ranch & have many many more birds for the next season but them guides will only take 8-10 clients & to make up for the other hunters not comeing they chare 1500-2000 for a 3-5 day hunt so on them peaces of land THAT GUIDE MANAGE they try to make it as EZ to bag a turkey as possible the guides live on the land & know the birds & wear they hang out that is priceless info to have in the turkey woods buddy like it or not...

i like to say when you use a guide that you just like to shoot things because if you liked hunting things you wouldnt use a guide because hunting means that you did just that hunt not just listen to others on wear to hunt/sit & so on...


also go hunt some public land that is crawling with hunters then come back & say how EZ it is to take a pressured birds not just 1 other group of guys hunting the land B4 u got there dosent make the birds pressured...

i didnt call anybody crazy or ridiculous so if your going to comment on my comments id appreciate the same i was just saying i couldnt think to highly of a guy that buys 4 hunts for 4 different sub species & says i got my slam thats lazy like it or not... DIY hunting should be respected not guided hunts... or packaged hunts like some call them

[dewey]

I am not going to get into a pissing match with you, turkeyjunky, about hunting turkeys, you win.

Dewey

[turkey junky]

no need to take ur toys back from everybody & leave dewey???

i speak of heavy pressured turkeys because i hunt both PRIVATE land turleys in MN & the rest of my hunting is done 100% of the time on public lands i have had people offer me up private lands while out of state but i just have to politely decline thats just me? but while out hunting these heavy pressured turkeys out of state i see how birds act across the property line on private lands & they sometimes act the same but on old established WMAs/NTLF ETC. these turkeys are another breed most of the time i mean in these areas the loud mouth birds die fast & young & the survivers are leery its just the way it is after 4-10 birds get whacked in front of a tom they get scary...

my-self personaly after a season of hunting public lands across the country i tend to appreciate the PRIVATE land birds or hunts that much more when i do go on or help others on PRIVATE LAND hunts as the birds are well un-pressured & if i/we do our job as hunters we should get a crack at some turkeys if there in the area but nothing is certin & thats true on both private & public lands i have had my best ever hunts on public lands in heavy hunted areas... maybe they stand out more in my mind because i had to out hunt other hunters as well as the heavy hunted turkeys them-selfs...??? like i have shot rios on private lands that were opened up to hunters but one yr they are there & the next they can be un-enrolled in the program & no loner open to the public... this yr i got well my 1st true public land rio in oklahoma on a well established WMA that was just crazy with other hunters as it is well known to many folks... thats a hole other type of public land hunt in & of it-self... guess i should say im a WMA osceola away from a grand slam now...???

GUIDES are all about or should be all about offering quality hunts to folks & thats a great thing im not bashing all guides its just another ball game then HEAVY HUNTED PUBLIC LANDs thats fact...

[dewey]

For any of you out here looking to hunt MN or KS I might be able help. I might be able hook someone up with some good hunting land in MN for a return trip to your home state or some information on other states. Kind of a trade

Here is an article from the Fargo Forum talking about leftover licenses available in North Dakota for this fall.

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id ... up/Sports/

Dewey