# Full dose of public hunt 234



## ezcaller (Feb 21, 2009)

I have been reading, because of the covid 19 and the stay home orders nation wide many of the small public land areas are having a very high success rate this Spring. With what I seen this weekend I can see it may be true. I'm not sure the new 234 opener reaches DNR goals of a quality hunt. I have been hunting the same public land for over twenty years and never had multiple run in with hunters moving in on a gobbler or on me calling. Had to whistle one guy off.I dont usually rag on a guy's calling but this fellow moving in was making a sound no turkey makes. My thought process was if he thinks that is a turkey sound there is no telling what he might shoot at. So I got out of dodge. I hope this was the one time result of a lot of people being off work because of the shut down. Or maybe the start of a new version of the zoo as in Lake St Clair ice fishing.


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## hmrx (May 4, 2012)

The result of the dnr turning April tags into 234. I'll bet total license sales will be way up. Eichenger/MUCC will get their wish of more license sales. Covid has turned many into turkey hunters that wouldn't go hunting. Same kind of results in the northwest too. I hope it's a 1 off. Your right the hunter satisfaction will suffer. The steady 70% plus satisfaction we've had for years with the old season structure is sure to go down. Hunters have always said the most important factor for spring is a quality hunt. Even more than a kill.

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## RMH (Jan 17, 2009)

ezcaller said:


> I dont usually rag on a guy's calling but this fellow moving in was *making a sound no turkey makes*. My thought process was if he thinks that is a turkey sound there is no telling what he might shoot at. So I got out of dodge.


That was my shock gobble.


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## jatc (Oct 24, 2008)

ezcaller said:


> I have been reading, because of the covid 19 and the stay home orders nation wide many of the small public land areas are having a very high success rate this Spring. With what I seen this weekend I can see it may be true. I'm not sure the new 234 opener reaches DNR goals of a quality hunt. I have been hunting the same public land for over twenty years and never had multiple run in with hunters moving in on a gobbler or on me calling. Had to whistle one guy off.I dont usually rag on a guy's calling but this fellow moving in was making a sound no turkey makes. My thought process was if he thinks that is a turkey sound there is no telling what he might shoot at. So I got out of dodge. I hope this was the one time result of a lot of people being off work because of the shut down. Or maybe the start of a new version of the zoo as in Lake St Clair ice fishing.


Sorry man. Funny you brought it up though, cause I told my buddy that the one turkey I was working sounded way more like a satellite bull than a bird. I was just responding in kind as I am all new to this game.


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## SWMbruiser (Jan 25, 2012)

I remember once hunting with my dad. From off behind us came the most ungodly turkey sound we ever heard. We laughed for a good 20 minutes as we were sure it was some rookie hunter who didn't have a clue. Hen ended up coming down that ridge after 20 minutes. Couldn't believe it

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## Yankee#1 (Jun 3, 2015)

The worse turkey calls I’ve ever heard in the woods - whether it was NY, OR or MI - have always been a live hen...

It makes sense when you think about it - calls are mass produced to make (relatively) the same sound. Sure, maybe this one is slightly higher pitched or a 3-reed has more rasp than a 2, etc - but in general, any turkey call is produced to make ‘clean sounds’. 

Real vocal cords are all different, and just like people who can’t sing, there are some hens that sound like drowning cats.

For me, the mature toms with broken gobbles are even worse - I don’t know how many toms I had give me the slip in my early hunting days because I thought for certain it had to be a jake. Then you cry when you see the rope or even worse, a broken beard with 1.5” spurs at 10 yards with your gun on the ground...




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## Hespler (Oct 6, 2007)

ezcaller said:


> I have been reading, because of the covid 19 and the stay home orders nation wide many of the small public land areas are having a very high success rate this Spring. With what I seen this weekend I can see it may be true. I'm not sure the new 234 opener reaches DNR goals of a quality hunt. I have been hunting the same public land for over twenty years and never had multiple run in with hunters moving in on a gobbler or on me calling. Had to whistle one guy off.I dont usually rag on a guy's calling but this fellow moving in was making a sound no turkey makes. My thought process was if he thinks that is a turkey sound there is no telling what he might shoot at. So I got out of dodge. I hope this was the one time result of a lot of people being off work because of the shut down. Or maybe the start of a new version of the zoo as in Lake St Clair ice fishing.


I was a bit confused about the tag transfer so I ended up calling the DNR Detroit Division and the office told me that if I had a public tag for areas north of my residence that I could pull the 234 tag but could only use it on private land below the ZZ line and with that being said if they allowed all the north tags to transfer to public south of the ZZ line it would be a slaughter because there is not near enough public land in southern MI to take the up tick of hunters coming in not to mention we would wipe out the bird population, then asked him if I had to eat my tag and he said unfortunately yes if you don't have private land to hunt below the line. So some might want to make sure they are not poaching.


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## ezcaller (Feb 21, 2009)

Hepler that is what is going across the country.High success rates on adult gobblers may be detrimental to hens being bred. I know it is speculation at this point, we wont know until next year.


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## Yankee#1 (Jun 3, 2015)

Jakes are fertile after 6 months of age...

Even if every 2+yr old tom was harvested in an area, I’m sure the jakes will be glad to take on the job of fertilizing a hen that lost her nest.

The biggest downside would be the next 2-3 hunting seasons, which could suffer...

Changing the season, coupled with this pandemic and increased hunting pressure, could be a doomsday scenario I suspect the DNR never anticipated. In their defense, how could they...


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## Yankee#1 (Jun 3, 2015)

Hespler said:


> I was a bit confused about the tag transfer so I ended up calling the DNR Detroit Division and the office told me that if I had a public tag for areas north of my residence that I could pull the 234 tag but could only use it on private land below the ZZ line.


The 0234 is always good for private only below ZZ and public + private above the line.

I thought it was a nice compromise by DNR, it gives the tag holder the options of hunting the entire state and still the potential of hunting public north of ZZ.

The 0234 tag season was expanded this year and allows you to hunt the entire month of May, which is about an extra week.



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## hmrx (May 4, 2012)

Jakes are fertile but not aggressive breeders and adult hens are not likely to pick them to breed. Although they will. The 3 year old has proven survival ability. Predators and hunters. Natural selection would normally select the older or more aggressive bird. You will never know about that Jake. Dominant, older hens breed earlier and only let certain gobblers breed. In a pinch the Jake's do breed. I was at the Homer release in 86. 12 hens and 4 Jake's from Vermont. Those birds did famously. However, the hens had no choice.

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## ryan-b (Sep 18, 2009)

S


SWMbruiser said:


> I remember once hunting with my dad. From off behind us came the most ungodly turkey sound we ever heard. We laughed for a good 20 minutes as we were sure it was some rookie hunter who didn't have a clue. Hen ended up coming down that ridge after 20 minutes. Couldn't believe it
> 
> Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk


some of the worst calling ive ever heard was a from a live hen. Same with when i used to guide elk out west. Worst bugling ive ever heard was from bulls.


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