https://www.outdoorlife.com/hunting/ban-turkey-reaping-fanning/?amp

And I’m not judging anybody that does it because I’ve done it. But after half a dozen or so I figured out it’s not fair. And for anybody that says hens don’t have anything to do with picking out which gobbler gets to breed them that’s no different at all than saying a doe has no say so in which buck she chooses to mate with. If fans and gobbler decoys were illegal we could have whatever kinda turkey season we wanted. The wanna-be’s and Facebook and Instagram hunters would quit and we’d have our turkeys back.

For someone to say it doesn’t work blows my mind. Every turkey hunting show on tv and most on YouTube are fanned or decoyed. You might get a young bird or possibly one that got away that’s shy but that Tom with a field full of hens has already established himself in the pecking order is the most vulnerable of all.

I’m not so sure on the dominant gobbler thing. I’ve always heard and read that a hen was most of the time bread by several different gobblers while and/or before starting to lay. Just because 2 turkeys were “litter mates” didn’t mean they were from the same gobbler. That doesn’t mean that’s true, nor do I think I know more about turkeys than a guy who hunts them and has a doctorate and studies them daily. It’s just kind of odd that all the sudden the info I am being given is changing after all these years.

As far as reaping and decoys in general, I do think that’s a problem. Every nutscratcher out there from 12 to 80 is now a turkey whisperer because they can sit all hours of the day with a spread of decoys, or walk behind a fan and kill “A LIMIT”. I wish they’d do away with them all.

Another thing about the next gobbler just showing up and taking over breeding. A gobbler doesn’t chase down and rape them. He stands there and struts all day waiting for those 2 seconds she Squats for him. Decoys became legal around 2005 and most people that turkey hunt a lot will tell you the numbers started declining not long after that. The state knows this also by banning the use of them the first 10 days of the season.

If they do away with decoys it no big deal - lot of people like me will not care. Sounds smarter than having decoy part of season then not for other part

If they do away with all decoys all of our turkeys are not just going to come back - it’s more than one single thing - predators are also on The list - guys that hunt illegal or kill over limit are one on the list - etc

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A lot of good posts on this thread so far.

Yes. Go watch SpringThunder on YouTube or take a peak at Michael Waddells Twitter. There are BIG names in the hunting industry that pull out a decoy or a fan everytime a turkey hangs up at 80 yards and it’s teaching the new generation that it’s an ethical way to hunt turkeys.

I agree with BrentM. I used to do it a bunch and it’s a rush to have one sprint towards you. Too many people now doing it and have killed a lot more turkeys than they would have if they had to call them in (me included). I’m on the side of “Ban the Fan”.

Well decoys and fanning works. I’m confused, do y’all want people to have success or do away with all of it and limit everything? I don’t have to have either to kill one but decoys and fanning has it’s place. I guess we just need to do away with all of it sense no one can seem to agree on anything anymore. Turkeys declining after 2005? When decoys became legal? Are you saying that decoys make that many more birds die every year? I think the problems lies in predators and the number of folks hunting today, but no one seems to look at it from my perspective.

If you can’t kill him without a crutch…… you probably didn’t have no business killing him anyhow. That’s just the way I look at it.

^^^^
It does not correlate to other state declines - not all of it lines up to decoys - other states that always used decoy hv not declined all that time

Decoys can actually hurt u a lot of the time - I never got the bug to fan - never tried it

I do know a mature Tom can scare away another Tom pretty easily sometimes - I bought the primos gobbler years ago - it got put down about as quick as I bought it - worked on a few birds - also it scared a few - never pulled it again - not even sure where it is and will not use it again - hurt me as much as it helped

I can only speak for Skyline in Jackson county. I’ve been hunting it a little over 40 years. That’s exactly what I’m saying there were 3x more turkeys and 3x more hunters during the 90s and early 2000s. Look at the numbers in the other thread. Nothing has changed up there habitat wise the only thing is the use of decoys. I can remember working turkeys and listening to a half dozen more within walking distance.Those birds that had the bulk of the hens often made it til the last week of the season. Now those birds get killed first hour of the season by a crawler with a fan.We’ve been talking about this for 10 years and I never heard of Dr Chamberlain til last year.

Ban it - it sure sounds stupid to hav it in for part of season and out for other part

Can do it either way

I ain’t got nothing to hunt now hardly anyway - moot point

I ain’t carrying no fan - legal r otherwise

IMO,,, it's timber cutting . I hunted places for years with no predator control and hunting never changed. Then the timber cutting started , first one place than the other . Turkey hunting went to hell.


For as the bans I got no dog in that hunt. Long as it legal.

I don't use decoys , fans, tss. But that's just me .

It's gonna be hard to convince me on the dominant gobbler Theory bs . I have seen one roll off a hen and another roll on . I've killed a Tom out of pairs with hens and know both had bred hens.

One may be the boss you kill it another gonna move up . The pure nature of turkeys the Tom calls the hens come.

^^^ habitat what killed the quail off - quail use to be everywhere- bout extinct now

Plus now we got hogs

Texas had decoys forever seems like - they just started really sucking on there populations - so did Missouri

Never seen a hen squat for multiple gobblers same time. I have seen a young gobbler strut with multiple hens for 6-8 hrs and not one hen allow him to breed.

" If you can’t kill him without a crutch…… you probably didn’t have no business killing him anyhow. That’s just the way I look at it"

Agree 100%!

Good article BrentM