Quote Originally Posted by raybird View Post
that’s a strong statement.

Ive accidentally killed 5-6 jake’s over the last 30 years and im sure ill kill another one.
It happens on occasion. As of right now on the app it says 9,471 turkeys have been killed this year. 549 have been jakes. If we are to the point where 549 birds are making an impact on our population we have much larger issues.

I think it unnecessarily complicates the turkey regulations. And who am I to tell someone they can’t shoot a Jake when it’s not going to impact a population. Several years ago I went to the Westervelt turkey school and sat with Tom Kelly, Eddie Salter and an 80 year old guide named Junior. As they sat and ate breakfast they lamented the days when they would shoot a Jake and be damn proud of it simply because it was a turkey. It changed my thinking a lot listening to those guys. They said at the time the earlier days were the bad old days of turkeys and we were currently in the golden age(this was a 13 years ago) and that it would cycle back down to somewhere in between. Boy were they ever right.