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  #31  
Old 04-24-2017, 07:59 PM
waterninja waterninja is offline
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Originally Posted by flyguyd View Post
Weird


Its just the opposite in Idaho. Shotgun or bow only in the spring. Any weapon in the fall, cause they are almost impossible to call in the fall.


Nice gobblers Ninja
Funny you should mention that. We talked to some local experts and they want it like that also. The argument is that in the spring it's easier to locate turkey's, and they can be called.
Just another example of a reg. that can cause heated debate between hunters.
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  #32  
Old 04-25-2017, 08:18 AM
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Originally Posted by waterninja View Post
Funny you should mention that. We talked to some local experts and they want it like that also. The argument is that in the spring it's easier to locate turkey's, and they can be called.
Just another example of a reg. that can cause heated debate between hunters.
The real argument is that rimfires for turkey hunting are extremely dangerous. Anybody who says otherwise hasn't turkey hunted for very long.

Nice birds, that's something to be excited about!

I need to borrow your scale for my fishing trips
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  #33  
Old 04-25-2017, 07:31 PM
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Good lookn birds ninja ..congrats to u and your bro
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  #34  
Old 04-25-2017, 09:03 PM
WingmanGSP WingmanGSP is offline
 
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Default Big bird

32lbs Merriam I bet that is world record! 36.5 for an Eastern

Well done!

Grant
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  #35  
Old 04-26-2017, 10:40 AM
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Congrats, Waterninja! And welcome back.

I gotta try going for those birds some day. My sister sent me pictures of the gobbler she shot yesterday - sure makes one consider trying it!
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  #36  
Old 04-26-2017, 09:30 PM
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Congrates waterninja, that is a nice bird for sure.

Hunting turkey is just like you said, really cool.
Next year rasie the bar and put one down with the bow.

Trust me you will never regreat trying. :-)
When you do, it's like the first buck to hit the ground.
Nothing else like it.

Again congratulations on a fine bird my friend.
They are not easy to kill. That's the way it should be.
And a well earded reword for those who try.

Balance of things in nature as it naturally goes.

Last edited by Bonescreek; 04-26-2017 at 09:41 PM.
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  #37  
Old 05-01-2017, 08:53 PM
btridge btridge is offline
 
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Originally Posted by Pierre Tessier View Post
The real argument is that rimfires for turkey hunting are extremely dangerous. Anybody who says otherwise hasn't turkey hunted for very long.

Nice birds, that's something to be excited about!

I need to borrow your scale for my fishing trips
I've hunted turkeys a long time, and in the spring I only use my 22 mag.
All firearms are dangerous if used carelessly, safety first and KNOW your background before you pull the trigger.
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  #38  
Old 05-01-2017, 09:45 PM
waterninja waterninja is offline
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Originally Posted by Pierre Tessier View Post
The real argument is that rimfires for turkey hunting are extremely dangerous. Anybody who says otherwise hasn't turkey hunted for very long.

Nice birds, that's something to be excited about!

I need to borrow your scale for my fishing trips
I have to ask. Why is it so much more dangerous hunting Turkey's with a rimfire then it is anything else, like gophers, squirrells, or grouse?
Yes it was exciting, and the scale wasn't off that much. I'll be back in the fall, when only shotgun is allowed, but any Turkey is legal.
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  #39  
Old 05-02-2017, 07:25 AM
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Originally Posted by btridge View Post
I've hunted turkeys a long time, and in the spring I only use my 22 mag.
All firearms are dangerous if used carelessly, safety first and KNOW your background before you pull the trigger.
YOU are a responsible hunter and will probably not shoot through decoys or at a someone reaping a bird with a real fan. You cannot expect everyone else to be. From 75 yards away or more, which is the distance many of the guys using rimfires in BC seem to try shooting birds from what I have seen, an average hunter could easily make that mistake. A shotguns effective range on turkeys is 30-40 yards, and for most guys it's under 30. Making that mistake at that short a distance is a lot harder and less lethal than a rimfire.
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  #40  
Old 05-02-2017, 07:58 AM
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Originally Posted by waterninja View Post
I have to ask. Why is it so much more dangerous hunting Turkey's with a rimfire then it is anything else, like gophers, squirrells, or grouse?
Yes it was exciting, and the scale wasn't off that much. I'll be back in the fall, when only shotgun is allowed, but any Turkey is legal.
When turkey hunting you are trying to lure a bird into a specific spot by calling or using decoys and hiding behind the set up against a tree. There are too many guys creeping up on calls and shooting or taking shots from distances where they can make the mistake of shooting at a decoy which has you somewhere behind it. You all are questioning that but it happens. There is a reason BC and SD, maybe TX are probably the only places that allow rimfires for turkey hunting.

Scale wasn't off that much, does that mean it was off?

Just have to nag ya a bit, those weights are high. My turkey hunting experience is fairly expansive and I have NEVER seen a bird over 24lbs weighed on a digital scale and that was a cornfed eastern (merriams have much tougher conditions to winter in general with more snow, more cold and lower quality food to get through winter so they lose more weight), the average wild merriam being between 16-19lbs live weight.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/an...w/wild-turkey/

Congrats again on your hunt!
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  #41  
Old 05-02-2017, 08:03 AM
waterninja waterninja is offline
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Originally Posted by Pierre Tessier View Post
YOU are a responsible hunter and will probably not shoot through decoys or at a someone reaping a bird with a real fan. You cannot expect everyone else to be. From 75 yards away or more, which is the distance many of the guys using rimfires in BC seem to try shooting birds from what I have seen, an average hunter could easily make that mistake. A shotguns effective range on turkeys is 30-40 yards, and for most guys it's under 30. Making that mistake at that short a distance is a lot harder and less lethal than a rimfire.
Very good point PT. Exact same argument used by locals against Rimfires, plus the fact that you can call them in spring. At the same time, a bowhunter could say no firearm of any kind should be allowed, for safety reasons. I know of at least 2 different shooting incidents that have occured in the states this year while turkey hunting. One involved a fellow shooting his 2 buddies in the face and upper body with a shotgun through the fan they were using for reaping. To me this is carelessness, pure and simple. No matter what kind of regs or saftey rules you try to implement, you can't fix stupid. Accident's and carelessness can occur no matter what type of firearm you are using. It gets tiresome to see new laws and regs written to protect the lowest denominater of intellegence or experiance and frustrate the rest of us.
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  #42  
Old 05-02-2017, 08:10 AM
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Originally Posted by waterninja View Post
Very good point PT. Exact same argument used by locals against Rimfires, plus the fact that you can call them in spring. At the same time, a bowhunter could say no firearm of any kind should be allowed, for safety reasons. I know of at least 2 different shooting incidents that have occured in the states this year while turkey hunting. One involved a fellow shooting his 2 buddies in the face and upper body with a shotgun through the fan they were using for reaping. To me this is carelessness, pure and simple. No matter what kind of regs or saftey rules you try to implement, you can't fix stupid. Accident's and carelessness can occur no matter what type of firearm you are using. It gets tiresome to see new laws and regs written to protect the lowest denominater of intellegence or experiance and frustrate the rest of us.
As for scale, my brothers was weighed by a proper scale at taxidermists. 26 lbs. I had no scale in the field, but we agreed that mine was a larger, older bird with a longer beard, so we figured 5-6 lbs would be an acceptable addition. Now I'm wishing I had officially weighed it. Could have been record, but it was certainly a trophy no matter what criteria you use. Smiling right now thinking of holding Mr. T up for the pic. Gorgeous bird.
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  #43  
Old 05-02-2017, 08:24 AM
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By the way Pierre, what do you do with the turkey's that you shoot, or have shot? This was my first turkey hunt and first turkey, and I plan a DIY feather mount.
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  #44  
Old 05-02-2017, 09:00 AM
Brock1 Brock1 is offline
 
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So just for Clarity, you don't require a hunter host or a draw as an Alberta Resident to go and hunt Turkeys in BC?

did i understand this correctly?
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  #45  
Old 05-02-2017, 09:09 AM
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Great birds ninja! Congrats!
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  #46  
Old 05-02-2017, 11:17 AM
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Originally Posted by waterninja View Post
By the way Pierre, what do you do with the turkey's that you shoot, or have shot? This was my first turkey hunt and first turkey, and I plan a DIY feather mount.
I usually clean the bottoms with a knife, get rid of all the meat (but not too much of the cartilage or they fall apart) and salt them generously, lay them out to dry. Once dry they should be permanently in the open position like a strutting bird. Sometimes I finish them off with epoxy or bondo to form a base which allows them to be mounted on decoys or plaques for the wall.

My fans are kept in a box, some are used for decoys which I rarely use anyways and others are for a man cave one day. Wings are for fletching traditional arrows and the bones used to make wing bone calls.
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  #47  
Old 05-02-2017, 12:03 PM
waterninja waterninja is offline
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Originally Posted by Brock1 View Post
So just for Clarity, you don't require a hunter host or a draw as an Alberta Resident to go and hunt Turkeys in BC?

did i understand this correctly?
that is correct. I would make some phone calls first to make sure you know where your going to get your license. Not always easy to find a location that sells them.
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  #48  
Old 05-02-2017, 01:30 PM
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Originally Posted by waterninja View Post
that is correct. I would make some phone calls first to make sure you know where your going to get your license. Not always easy to find a location that sells them.
Service BC are the only vendors to have tags it seems like, as non residents don't have BC wildlife numbers/cards therefore they can't print us a tag at regular vendors (and the only place to do tags manually is Service BC). Open 9-5ish monday to friday.

I made the mistake once... bird watching isn't as fun as hunting....
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  #49  
Old 05-02-2017, 01:47 PM
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Originally Posted by walking buffalo View Post
Beautiful birds!

I sure don't want to borrow your scale, I would weigh 300 lbs.

Eastern can get that big......
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  #50  
Old 05-02-2017, 03:48 PM
waterninja waterninja is offline
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Originally Posted by Pierre Tessier View Post
Service BC are the only vendors to have tags it seems like, as non residents don't have BC wildlife numbers/cards therefore they can't print us a tag at regular vendors (and the only place to do tags manually is Service BC). Open 9-5ish monday to friday.

I made the mistake once... bird watching isn't as fun as hunting....
And worse then that, not all Service BC, or Front Counter BC locations have them. Like I said, best to phone ahead.

Non residents can get a FWID #. I have one.
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  #51  
Old 05-02-2017, 09:08 PM
WingmanGSP WingmanGSP is offline
 
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Originally Posted by Reeves1 View Post
Eastern can get that big......
http://www.nwtf.org/hunt/records/records-search

30lb is not that rare

Grant
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  #52  
Old 05-03-2017, 07:46 AM
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Originally Posted by WingmanGSP View Post
30lbs for a merriams is extremely rare in Canada, and almost as rare for a Canadian eastern. In the Usa, they have 5 recorded merriams over 30lbs, out of hundreds of thousands of birds taken overtime. In fact we have none recorded in Canada as per the NWTF, the biggest being under 22lbs. Even if many birds aren't recorded, don't kid yourselves, the 25lb mark is rarely passed, so the 30lb mark is a milestone even guys with hundreds of birds in their hunting lives might never actually see.

To reach that legitimate 30lb mark, birds usually need prime midwest cornbelt country and really easy winters where easterns live (Iowa,Illinois,Missouri).

How many 400lb whitetails have we all seen?

Canadian Records for Merriams
Hunter's Name Weight Harvested Method
1 GARY MUISUS (M)
NY ( details) 21.9375 lbs. Apr 17, 2015
WEST BRIDGE, BC, CAN M Firearm
2 KATHLEEN NEAULT (F)
CO ( details) 21.8700 lbs. Nov 1, 2007
BC, CAN M Firearm
3 EDWARD KALINOWSKI (M)
PA ( details) 20.6875 lbs. Apr 19, 2011
GRAND FORKS, BC, CAN M Firearm
4 JASON MICHAEL (M)
PA ( details) 20.5000 lbs. May 4, 2011
REGION 4, BC, CAN Bow
5 ROSEMARY STUART (F)
BC ( details) 20.0000 lbs. Apr 17, 2006
, CAN M Firearm
6 KATHLEEN NEAULT (F)
WA ( details) 19.6250 lbs. May 14, 2009
KOOTENAY, BC, CAN M Loader
7 EDWARD NOONAN (M)
NY ( details) 19.0000 lbs. May 6, 2010
BC, CAN M Firearm
8 CLYDE NEELY (M)
TX ( details) 18.3750 lbs. Apr 16, 2011
OKANAGAN, BC, CAN M Firearm
9 DOUGLAS BAIRD (M)
ON ( details) 18.0000 lbs. Apr 30, 2012
OKANAGAN, BC, CAN M Firearm
10 RICHARD TIPPER (M)
SK ( details) 17.0625 lbs. Apr 17, 2008
BC, CAN M Firearm
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  #53  
Old 05-03-2017, 08:38 AM
waterninja waterninja is offline
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Wow, wish I knew this info. before. We both had record scoring birds. Never thought about it.
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  #54  
Old 05-03-2017, 02:31 PM
waterninja waterninja is offline
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Originally Posted by Pierre Tessier View Post
30lbs for a merriams is extremely rare in Canada, and almost as rare for a Canadian eastern. In the Usa, they have 5 recorded merriams over 30lbs, out of hundreds of thousands of birds taken overtime. In fact we have none recorded in Canada as per the NWTF, the biggest being under 22lbs. Even if many birds aren't recorded, don't kid yourselves, the 25lb mark is rarely passed, so the 30lb mark is a milestone even guys with hundreds of birds in their hunting lives might never actually see.

To reach that legitimate 30lb mark, birds usually need prime midwest cornbelt country and really easy winters where easterns live (Iowa,Illinois,Missouri).

How many 400lb whitetails have we all seen?

Canadian Records for Merriams
Hunter's Name Weight Harvested Method
1 GARY MUISUS (M)
NY ( details) 21.9375 lbs. Apr 17, 2015
WEST BRIDGE, BC, CAN M Firearm
2 KATHLEEN NEAULT (F)
CO ( details) 21.8700 lbs. Nov 1, 2007
BC, CAN M Firearm
3 EDWARD KALINOWSKI (M)
PA ( details) 20.6875 lbs. Apr 19, 2011
GRAND FORKS, BC, CAN M Firearm
4 JASON MICHAEL (M)
PA ( details) 20.5000 lbs. May 4, 2011
REGION 4, BC, CAN Bow
5 ROSEMARY STUART (F)
BC ( details) 20.0000 lbs. Apr 17, 2006
, CAN M Firearm
6 KATHLEEN NEAULT (F)
WA ( details) 19.6250 lbs. May 14, 2009
KOOTENAY, BC, CAN M Loader
7 EDWARD NOONAN (M)
NY ( details) 19.0000 lbs. May 6, 2010
BC, CAN M Firearm
8 CLYDE NEELY (M)
TX ( details) 18.3750 lbs. Apr 16, 2011
OKANAGAN, BC, CAN M Firearm
9 DOUGLAS BAIRD (M)
ON ( details) 18.0000 lbs. Apr 30, 2012
OKANAGAN, BC, CAN M Firearm
10 RICHARD TIPPER (M)
SK ( details) 17.0625 lbs. Apr 17, 2008
BC, CAN M Firearm
Talked to my brother about this weight thing. We had his weighed at a reputable taxidermists, with his apprentice as a witness. Might enter it to wherever you enter turkeys. Wish I had known about this before. Oh well, it was a terrififc experiance anyways.
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  #55  
Old 05-03-2017, 06:00 PM
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Not wanting to start any fires here but thought I'ld mention a thing about
weights in the states..

Deer are weighed and judged gutted not on the hoof, as in the "over 200lb. club".

Turkeys how ever have no reference made to "cleaned" or "on the leg".

Unspoken rules as far as I can recall.
I have no idea why turkey weight specks have never been defined like deer
were, just the way it went over the years I guess ?

Either way nobody talks about a turkey weight cleaned even to this day.

Not to provoke but food for thought. :-)
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  #56  
Old 05-03-2017, 06:11 PM
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It all tastes like chicken to me. lol Really, i couldn't tell the difference, though the hens breast meat was much firmer then the Toms.
didn't bother with the drumsticks. All muscle and sinew. You should see these things run. Neck and head stuck out low and as fast as a Coyote. Quite a sight, esp. when trying to find in your scope at 50-70 yds. Just a blur.
Nice birds!
I've cooked them every way I can think of and making breaded cutlets with the breasts and throwing all the rest into sausage works best for me. We've come up with a couple of good recipes for them. I'm speaking of most toms. There are exceptions and a fall hen is always good.
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  #57  
Old 05-03-2017, 06:14 PM
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Biggest I've heard of in our area is 26 lbs and that is word of mouth and not confirmed measure. Same guys call a 2 lb rainbow a 4 pounder. lol.
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  #58  
Old 05-03-2017, 06:34 PM
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I usually clean the bottoms with a knife, get rid of all the meat (but not too much of the cartilage or they fall apart) and salt them generously, lay them out to dry. Once dry they should be permanently in the open position like a strutting bird. Sometimes I finish them off with epoxy or bondo to form a base which allows them to be mounted on decoys or plaques for the wall.

My fans are kept in a box, some are used for decoys which I rarely use anyways and others are for a man cave one day. Wings are for fletching traditional arrows and the bones used to make wing bone calls.
Pierre, I do use a 50/50 mixture of table salt and borax on my birds to dissuade bugs from attacking them.
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  #59  
Old 05-03-2017, 06:41 PM
waterninja waterninja is offline
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Pierre, I do use a 50/50 mixture of table salt and borax on my birds to dissuade bugs from attacking them.
I had limited facilities at a motel 700 kms. from home so I simply skinned the tom out, sprinkled borax on liberally, folded and froze it. Still in deep freeze here at home. I'm hopeing it will be fine when I get round to doing the feather mount.
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  #60  
Old 05-03-2017, 06:48 PM
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I had limited facilities at a motel 700 kms. from home so I simply skinned the tom out, sprinkled borax on liberally, folded and froze it. Still in deep freeze here at home. I'm hopeing it will be fine when I get round to doing the feather mount.
It will be great. You did right.
I want badly to lure a tom in with a fan. My son just did for a friend and said that a big tom that would not commit just waltzed in when he lifted his fan - even though he was in plain sight in the open. gotta get some video of this stuff.
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