ORIGINAL: Ironhed

My quote waS a JOKE ! GET IT, OR DON'T YOU EVER JOKE ??

Boy, you sure do joke around quite a bit on these forums...

Ironhed

Don't ever under estimate me ! LOL

Just think if everyone agreed with everything said, "Ironhed you sure have pretty painted toe nails.Why thank you OA. I like your too." We have opinions and will never agree on some things. Maybe that why the hunting thread ranks near top for total replies. Don't criticize me Ironbaby, you should thank all that participate here.

Okay.. I have to ask...

please show me where it says that fall turkey hunting is by calling only ???

It sure ain't in the digest that's for sure... and I know many who just walk and hunt, as if small game hunting and even one person who use dogs to hunt fall turkeys..

true I also know some who break them up then call them back in, but as I said others just shoot them if they see them... even know guys who have shot them from their tree stands while deer hunting..

none of which is illegal to my knowledge in the fall season ...

I'm not from Missouri BUT == show me

You can still call a turkey and shoot it at 80 yards with a rifle but not with a shotgun. As for dogs I know no one that uses dogs primarily for turkey. Anyone else ?

When it comes to fall turkey hunting I would be willing to bet that over half the harvested birds in any given year were taken by methods other than calling and always have been. Around here the favorite is tracking them in the snow but the less mobile wait them out near corn fields, etc. Even when you break up a flock it is done by trying to kill one.
No doubt calling a scattered flock is deadly but many times a bird is killed in the process of scattering the birds. I have hunted many times with DWCO's over the years and we have always killed them as they come.

            Myself turkey is all about CALLING. (But nothing can trump a little luck........LOL)
For my first years, as I began the hunting experience with my dad, he was big into small game (rabbit and squirrel) and deer. He bought a box call one year and decided to give it a try. As years past with no turkeys in shooting range, my brothers and me discovered his calling was BAD, REAL BAD. Slowly we would sit further and further away from him, hoping to get a bird in range. Never did. When I turned 16 I got my first box call and 2 mouth calls. Practice , Practice, Practice. It took me a few more years to get birds within shooting range. I missed several.. Found out it was the gun. Dad's over/under Marlin. Just could not stop them. I bought my Mossberg 8200 and been putting them in the freezer ever since.
       Hunting is something different for everyone, and changes as life passes by. I know several people who count on their successful kills to feed their families. Me as I mature....GET OLDER...its all about the free time from work, home, and lifes trials and tribulations. Exercise is good too. I don't expect to kill something every trip to the woods. Although my wife would love that because that means I have tagged out and could get to work on her honey do list. Trust when I say its "Take my gun for a walk time," I really mean it.
     Yes we all would like to get that trophy. How many hunters have you ever heard say they past on a 25 lb.tom with a 13" beard, or a 12 point buck?????

  WOW off the track...If hunters have to push the limit of any laws to get their prize is it worth it?
I do feel that in every state, county, or local municipalities there are some laws that don't make sense. We just need to get better representation in positions of power to make the changes.

to some of us its all bout the enjoyment of 'the show' when calling them back together

Different strokes I guess. I find calling fall scattered birds too easy, my favorite in the fall is putting on my whites and chasing them in the snow. Nothing like tracking out a big old gobbler. You also learn a lot about what makes them tick doing it that way. I'll call them if I don't get one on the flush but much prefer tracking them as long as my legs hold out.

Actually, I didn't even realize tracking in the fall or still hunting was no longer legal until this thread. Either my DWCO friends don't either or it is just one of those rules they use to bust someone who gets involved in a mistaken shooting incident. It sure didn't change the way they hunt. How are you supposed to break up a flock if you just set on a stump and call all day and who is to say if you are still hunting or stalking?
The first longbeard I ever shot was one of three I busted out of a clearcut near Marshburg after a couple hour tracking job.

who is to say if you are still hunting or stalking?

Based on the code it doesn't matter if you are still hunting or stalking. Both methods are illegal in both seasons. All a WCO has to do is have enough evidence to charge you with hunting by using a method other than calling.

Has anyone read about a case where a hunter shot another hunter and was charged with stalking ? As I recall,based on the reports I have read, the hunter is usually cited for failure to identify their target and for injuring or killing another hunter.

Here is the PR where the PGC announced that the use of dogs were legal in 2007.

OGS ALLOWED IN FALL TURKEY SEASON
The Pennsylvania Game Commission reminds hunters that a new state law permits wild turkey hunters to use
dogs in the upcoming fall season, which begins Oct. 27.

On June 30, Gov. Edward Rendell signed Senate Bill 580, which made it lawful to use a dog "to pursue, chase,
scatter and track wild turkeys during the fall wild turkey season." Before the Governor signed this legislation,
hunters were prohibited from using dogs to hunt any big game animal, which includes wild turkeys.

This change of law does not appear in the 2007-2008 Pennsylvania Hunting and Trapping Digest because the
agency has a deadline of mid-April for material to be included in the annual Digest so that it can be printed and
ready for distribution to license issuing agents in mid-June. Consequently, the agency is attempting to reach
hunters with information about this new law through news releases and its website, as well as updates provided
by Wildlife Conservation Officers to local hunting and sportsmen's organizations.

The change in law was contained in Senate Bill 580, sponsored by state Sen. Roger A. Madigan, which passed
the Senate by a vote of 48-1 on May 1. On June 26, the bill was approved by a vote of 187-14 in the House of
Representatives before being sent to the Governor's desk.

Note that it doesn't say anything about shooting birds that are flushed by dogs breaking up a flock and it doesn't state that methods other than calling are illegal.

ORIGINAL: Dr. Trout

How are you supposed to break up a flock if you just set on a stump and call all day and who is to say if you are still hunting or stalking?

EXCELLENT THOUGHT ...

You never heard me call. They run for the hills..

On June 30, Gov. Edward Rendell signed Senate Bill 580, which made it lawful to use a dog "to pursue, chase,
scatter and track wild turkeys during the fall wild turkey season."

Would not you the hunter then be pursuing????

Oh man if one could go out in to the woods, set-up, start calling....then have a dog run around chasing birds to you..............WOW that would be one dam* well trained dog........

Why not just go to Giant Eagle?

    By particular Tom meant the ONE you have decided to track. Not any other, just that Tom you are tracking.. See some hens-no go- work on THAT bird.   I like the idea of it---its my kinda hunting.
  Like I said- for some of us it aint bout meat.


   NOT knocking a meat hunter- like some hen or young doe too. But talking about a HUNT.

Hey Deerfly- I kinda find flocks in  the Fall to be rather stalkable. I DO stalk the flock for a shot when bowhunting them.
  Generally find a set of scratches and follow a bit to check direction and then try and swing around in front. As spooky as the birds are in the Spring they are often  like a different species in Fall.
  Surprised how often ya can be right there with them even when some are aware of you and clucking. Others just keep feeding sometimes and calm a lot of the flock for a bit. Sometimes they just start moving all over looking to see what the heck spooked their friend, often giving ample time for a bowshot. They ARE  Turkeys so ya dont have time to waste but it happens frequently enough to be a decent bow  technique.
  Have had them move from the woods upon making ya into nearby fields and when ya ninja up to the treeline there they are a few yards out in the grass looking around.
   Very different than Spring- think is may have something with the young birds wanting to keep flocked up.

Are you living under a rock or in a groundhog hole? i posted the section of the code that specifically states that it is illegal to hunt turkeys in either spring or fall by any other method that calling. I also posted that the Digest failed to state that it was illegal to hunt turkeys in the fall by any other method than calling.

We the members is what makes this site (hunting forum) tick. Agree or disagree you need members that voice their views and opinions rather liked or not. Don't you agree ? Or do you prefer only members that fit into a certain clique like that was mentioned a long while back ? Which is it ?

Ok

I see what you posted under title 58. I believe though that it can be, and was amened under title 34 Game & Wildlife code.

"The provisions of this § 141.45 amended under the Game and Wildlife Code, 34 Pa.C.S. § § 322(c)(4) and (5), 2102(a) and (d) and 2524."

I could be wrong, but I believe title 34 can and does take precedence over title 58 under the authority granted the PGC. At least in some instances.

Hopefully RSB can elaborate on this.

Under the powers & duties of the commision pursuant to title 34.

"(6) Limit the number of hunters or furtakers in any designated area and prescribe the lawful methods of hunting or taking furbearers in these areas."