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All day hunting

Rick Howard

By Rick Howard,
in Turkey Hunting

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Rick Howard Newbie

Rick Howard

Posted
Posted

What say you?

Me? I would like to follow the PA model and allow all day hunting in the later portion of the season. Last half or even just the last week. I like to hunt the entire month if I can. It would be nice to be able to hunt an entire day for some of that month.

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123 Newbie

123

Posted
Posted

Biologists weighed in on this many years ago, and the hold up is hunter opinions and a lot of old wife's tales. Basically politics. All day hunting is not at all like what many profess that it would be if they ever allowed it.

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turkeyfeathers Veteran

turkeyfeathers

Posted
Posted

Any idea how many states allow all day hunting versus not ?

Since I've never hunted birds past noon it's tough to form an opinion

Whether I'm disturbing nesting birds , will I kill birds after noon etc.

I love getting up at 3 am and sitting in the dark awaiting the woods to come alive however. Noon sometimes takes awhile if things are slow and not sure I could last the whole day anyhow.

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Pygmy Experienced

Pygmy

Posted
Posted

I've hunted in several states ( plus 1 Canadian Province) that allow all day hunting, and I haven't witnessed any negative affects.

I also haven't had much luck getting birds to come to the call in the afternoon, but maybe that's just me. I'm hunting Ontario next week and shooting hours are half an hour before sunrise to 7:00 PM. Generally by 1:00 or 2:00 PM I am ready to call it quits for the day.

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123 Newbie

123

Posted
Posted (edited)

I'd like to read what the biologist said. Do you recall a source?

 

 

SEARCH ON "ALL DAY HUNTING EFFECT ON TURKEY HENS"

 

The nwtf bilogists and those of nysdec are of like minds and what they told us at the NY state nwtf board.

Edited by mookyj
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maytom Newbie

maytom

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Posted

I don't see why we can't hunt all day here in NY? Most hunters during the spring hunt the mornings anyway, if they have off. Late in the normal season, how many times have you actually spooked a hen off the nest? Few if any right, so why the ban on all day spring season hunting? This has always been a political thing which doesn't make any sense at all.

Very similar to the state of PA not being able to hunt on Sundays!!! Wake up people....

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DirtTime Mentor

DirtTime

Posted
Posted

I think the Spring season is just fine the way it is. If too many people keep making a fuss about all day for the whole season or all day for part of it, it will end up like the fall season. Two weeks NZ and two weeks SZ.

Some thing are best left alone.

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Bowguy 1 Newbie

Bowguy 1

Posted
Posted

I think a lot of good opinions/ideas are being said. My state went to all day last two weeks. It's hot, buggy, birds often not gobbling than.

I'm old school n really not a fan of the all day thing.

That being said I'm not busting hens off nests.

Walking away from birds is always gonna happen, be it 11, noon or simply cause you have to be in time to work. It's why our time w the birds is so valued

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reeltime Explorer

reeltime

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Posted

the only state I have hunted that allows all day hunting is Pa. and that is only the last 2 weeks.  I generally go the last week of the season so that I have less chances of hunter interference and the older gobblers are more prone to play.

 

I rarely hunt afternoons even though its legal, the birds don't want to come to calls, its hot, buggy, and it makes for a long long day when I leave camp at 3 am.   myself personally from what I have seen is that when you have all day hunting although it gives folks more time in the woods it also brings out the bad element in some people.

 

I see WAY more "road" hunting than folks being in the woods,  there is way more roost shooting and more trespassing issues.   I would like to see the cutoff time backed down to 5 or 6 pm to cut down on the roost shooting.

 

While its true we don't see many hens we kicked off the nest I am sure that we kick off many that we never even knew were there, they just quickly and quietly move off and let us pass by then go back to the nest. 

 

I have not seen a great impact on our populations around camp with the extra hunting time and with going to an extra gobbler tag. our populations were and are good as we have not contend with the harsh winters and have been lucky to have decent nesting weather. 

As far as here in NY our populations are down considerably from even 5 years ago, while its true that gobbler harvests have a minimal effect on populations as a rule when you have a small population taking gobblers can and will affect your population especially when your populations are really low.  It takes both a gobbler and hen to produce fertile eggs, if the population is so low that you take out the only gobbler in the area your not doing yourself any favors by shooting him. 

Its even more important today in a large portion of upstate to know your populations and make a decision whether or not you should hunt that gobbler or let him go.  is it a hard decision.... YES, especially when your talking about a bird we love to hunt, but in the long run you may be better off.

 

With dropping the fall season to 2 weeks it saved some birds, while yes it stung a little as a fall hunter in the long run it may help the populations but is only 1 factor in the population equation.  The biggest factor is the one we have no control over and that is the weather.  consecutive years of wet June's has really hurt our populations, while its true we have had decent July and August weather the later in the summer the hatches happen the the higher your winter juvenile mortality is.   We really need a weather break this year to help bring up our numbers.

 

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Uncle Nicky Apprentice

Uncle Nicky

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Posted

I'm all for it. I've hunted in quite a few states that allow all-day hunting, not too many folks make a day out of it, most guys like to hunt the mornings because birds usually gobble harder right before fly-down. I've killed my share of birds in the afternoon, lots of times hens & gobblers will meet up in a field late afternoon before heading for the roost. You just have to be there when the birds show up.

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LET EM GROW Experienced

LET EM GROW

Posted
Posted

I agree with uncle nicky. And I've always wanted to try different styles of spring turkey hunting, I'm sure afternoon hunting is slightly different than morning when it comes to strategies. But I'd like to see for turkey numbers first. I know we're only given 2 tags per spring but they all don't get filled with our half day hunts. And many areas have low turkey numbers. Which could be for many different reasons.. just saying

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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