Suggestions for the 2012 contest

[ylpnfol]

i am fine w/ the format we used last year, the only thing i would like to see is that the submitted photo should show the beard on the bird,or else it is disqualified, plain and simple..... that is all

[1Morgan]

Last year we got the teams finalized a bit late. The opener here in SC is March 15th, I think Florida is a bit earlier and maybe Mississippi. It would be nice to have the team members confirmed with the team captains at least a week prior to any opener to make sure that everyone who signed up is going to participate. My team had two no-shows last year. One was for a family illness the other just disappeared.

[turkey junky]

add a spur & lenth pic to that & a overall pic of the turkey like the trophy pics we all like to take of our birds & im good... spurs are a true trophy so im a sucker for spurs
also a weight would be sweet that way i can have somebody score my birds once i submit a pic??? lol ill go with what ever format???

[turkey junky]

also NEBRASKA opens a early archery season march 25 & im going so... florida mississippi open around the 1st wk in march... march 3-7???

[Treerooster]

i am fine w/ the format we used last year, the only thing i would like to see is that the submitted photo should show the beard on the bird,or else it is disqualified, plain and simple..... that is all

Why disqualified? For spring turkey hunting in Nebraska a turkey does not need to have a beard, it only has to be a male turkey. In fact if you dress your turkey and cut the head and both feet off but leave the beard on, you technically are illegal. Not sure if you would get a ticket...I leave the feet on because I don't want to find out .


I like the way the contest was run last year...you got a turkey then atta boy...you scored. I took Jim's oath and will abide by it, I got in the contest for FUN.

I have "scored" exactly 1 turkey in all my turkey hunting and that was for a contest over on the OG site. A PIA IMO with all the pic taking and proof needed. I ain't been back to that contest.

[ylpnfol]

there was an ISSUE last year, that would be put to bed if this were the case.....i'll send you a pm.....i'm not a real competitive guy especially when it comes to killing things, but i thought the contest was a good thing, and a way to converse w/ fellow addicts.....strange about the nebraska law, lots of states have the " bearded bird " rule, never heard of no beard neccessary, wonder how many hens are killed by not having to see a beard, strange, we have the bearded bird rule in va. and i know of two instances when the hunter thought he shot a jake and it was a bearded hen [ which i have no problem with btw ] anyhow, it's just a suggestion.....

[Treerooster]

Nebraska does have a provision in the law to allow the take of bearded hens and then the bird must have the beard on.

Yes NE does do it differently and that is a very good reason to read over the regs in any state one intends to hunt.

I doubt Nebraska's illegal hen kill is much different than other states.

[dewey]

I like the way the contest was run last year...you got a turkey then atta boy...you scored. I took Jim's oath and will abide by it, I got in the contest for FUN.

I agree with Treeroster the contest is for fun and to share the obsession with fellow addicts. Get a picture of yourself and the bird and that is good enough for me. We don't win anything and I think the contest is more than killing gobblers it is sharing in the stories of the hunt and getting to know other people on the forum.

my 2 cents.

Dewey

[turkey junky]

im all game for what ever method we use??? i do know there is a thread for posting pics of your self with turkeys & u also just tell the storys there it would be the same thing as dewey & treerooster mention? if you want 2 put ur bird in the contest just take a extra pic or 2??? 3 pics is to much??? i love reading storys with pic??? & also like seeing big ol spurs & beards & pretty fans??? dont mean to offend but thats my 2 cents??? i do understand that for some of us guys we may be takeing many more pics then just 2-3 if more then 1 bird is in your future??? again im game for what ever but it just makes sence to me to add pics of the birds measurements no biggie if not???

[Bobbyparks]

Last year I was in 3 different contest counting this one.

OG...required you show a score card for the bird along with detail shots of spurs, beard, and scales showing weight....16 man team with 10 bird total entry per team.....one per member with bird scores totaled....(I got very lucky on that team and ended up with some very nice calls from Scott's (Willowridge) and had a lot of fun being involved with them

GON.....required a photo with clear view of mature bird fan with newspaper or phone where a date could be verified...... and only spur or beard shots with a tape if you were going for bonus points...it was a simple but good way...mature birds scored 5 points...jakes 2 points....10" beards added a bonus point...11" beard 2....1 1/4" spurs added a bonus point...... 5 man teams randomly drawn were established with a 12 bird limit....ended up with 33 teams (165 people).....the teams that got the 12 bird limit with some bonus point birds had the best chance ( I got lucky and ended up on the winning team there)

They had indivdual contest as well such as:

Longest Spurs
Highest Scoring Hunter (3 birds)
Longest Beard

I liked the scoring system at GON because it balanced out for those that might not hunt in places where avg bird weights were higher and it requyired all team members to be contributors as no single team member could enter more than 3 birds....random member placement kept anyone from stacking a team lineup


Both were ran well and fun and both were good contest....GON had lots of prizes and both required what they did because of the prizes at stake and numbers of people involved

I'm not planning to get involved in either of those this year because I just want to relax and hunt

For what we're doing here it seems just a full fan photo of a bird would suffice and add to the fun..most take photos anyway...that said...this is a good group of people here and being on the Jim Bates Sworn Honor System is fine by me and if anyone says they killed one even if he blew out of the bed of the truck before they got home...I'm not going to question anything