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Hunters Vs. Competitors


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Why do the two groups seem so seperate. My hunch would be less than 5% of hunters compete and less than 10% of competitors hunt. Why is that? Am I a renaissance gun nut for wanting to hunt, shoot trap, IPSC, 3gun, highpower, while still believing that the primary purpose of my guns is self-defense?

atek3

ps anyone know strategies for hunting fall turkey?

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I would say over 50% of competitors in this area hunt or have hunted actively in the past. In a state with several million hunters I would say less than 1% of hunters compete here.....

The only places I have ever hunted fall turkey have allowed rifles, so it was just a spot and stalk hunt. If you can't use a rifle you better find the roost.....

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I don't know... Maybe it's because different folks find different hobbies or uses with the same object or tool.

Some people like to race cars, others like to build them, others like to just ride them for pleasure, others work them (taxis); all the while, the car just has the function of transporting you from one place to another.

I don't think that in order to fully enjoy the usage of one object or tool, one has to employ it for every possible utilization it may have.

Of course, respect needs to be given to those that utilize those tools for other applications different than the ones we give them.

I don't think it has a deep political or philosophical meaning.

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Why do the two groups seem so seperate. My hunch would be less than 5% of hunters compete and less than 10% of competitors hunt. Why is that? Am I a renaissance gun nut for wanting to hunt, shoot trap, IPSC, 3gun, highpower, while still believing that the primary purpose of my guns is self-defense?

atek3

ps anyone know strategies for hunting fall turkey?

hunting used to be an excuse for drinking-especially deer hunting. i do miss pheasant & quail hunting...

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Well, I can be counted among the 1 or 10%.. I compete (IPSC/ICORE/3-gun) and also hunt (Waterfowl and upland game). Ok, so I don't hunt big game.. I was raised as a wingshooter.. I think a big part is if you weren't taught hunting by a parent of family member, it's difficult to get into in this state unless someome takes you under their wing. There are opportunities all around, but knowing people and where to go is most of the reason people don't go or they have gone once and never again since it was an excuse to go drinking.. It's never been any part of my hunt save an after hunt glass of wine with the other Italian Duck hunters dad knew.

Woo hoo, Duck season starts.. on the 21st.. :)

Vince

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Sadly, there is a rift between not only Hunters/Competitiors, but even with in the competition groups.

At our club, the only discipline that I have not yet shot is Smallbore. Only because I always seem to have someting to do that night. I support actively all types of competition.

What I see and read is that:

USPSA is better than IDPA, or IDPA is better than USPSA.

Action Shooting is bad

Trap (clay birds) is goo, but only with a double, Auto loaders are bad.

Bullseye is the only acceptable pistol sport.

It is in some respects a "Not Me" syndrome. Our guns are "Good Guns" its those (insert sport here) types that give shooting a bad name. If they went away no one would bother us.

Just an opinion, mingled with a bit of observation. Probably skewed a bit based upon point of view.

Jim

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I shoot USPSA, ICORE, 3gun, and used to shoot tons of skeet and sporting.

I bird hunt and waterfowl. USPSA slows down around here in the fall and early winter months. It works out well.

I'm headed to Iowa in a month for the annual Airedale pheasant vacation.

If you want to see turkeys, come shoot at Silver Creek (site of the Ky State match). They are all over the range!

Dave

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getting into hunting if you don't know anyone that does it and didn't hunt as a kid is pretty tough. I'm going hunting for the first time this year, it feels like i'm reinventing the wheel despite the fact that millions of people do it.

atek3

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Get a good turkey call, practice with it. Find a turkey, use the call to win his confidence and trust. get him real close. Shoot him.-----Larry

the local gun store recommended a call called "the egg", its a friction type device, will that work?

How do you find a turkey? The gun store recommended going out the night before with a "hooter" and find where the turkey is roosting. Then come back before dawn, find a tree to sit against, and then when it comes off its roost, call it, then shoot it. how does that sound?

atek3

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atek3, to find a turkey you have to find some turkey tracks, follow them. The turkey will be standing in the last two, unless he flew off. I never hunted a turkey in my life, that was supposted to be a joke, but I probaly know as much as the guy at the gun store.-------Larry

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find some turkey tracks, follow them. The turkey will be standing in the last two, unless he flew off

:)

One time I spooked a turkey while walking to a fishing spot, didn't know he was there, I got to within 10 feet or so and he took off.. an animal that makes that much noise flying, can't be a bird.

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I agree with Jim Norman. My earlier post was referred to people with open minds, but different tastes.

I wouldn't know what to say about people with closed minds that think their way is the only way, except that they should reconsider their attitude.

I agree with Jim Norman. My earlier post was referred to people with open minds, but different tastes.

I wouldn't know what to say about people with closed minds that think their way is the only way, except that they should reconsider their attitude.

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I'll bite on this one.

I admit I go through phases - where I'm a hunter or a shooter. Rarely am I both because the two activities mean something entirely different to me.

When I'm shooting, I'm competing. I am out to to execute every shot as flawlessly as I know how. I understand that there will be misses and make up shots and what not - it's part of it. Shooting is competing to me - it is difficult to differentiate.

When I'm hunting is probably the time when I am most comfortable in life. When we go hunting we go to Alaska, and we get away from everything. No phones, no computers, no cars, no houses, no nothing. Life is primitive. You work hard during the day and what you do, the decisions you make, are important. I'm out there because that is where I love to be. It is home. It is comfortable. It is life.

The only component of shooting is the two shots I make (I buy two tags ;) ). There are no misses, no make up shots. I have an obligation to hit the target both to myself and to the creature I am hunting. I am certain my competition shooting helps in that I don't really think about the shooting part. But it isn't a speed game. It isn't maxing out my visual input. It is placing the crosshairs on a target - accounting for all the factors (range, wind, elevation) and squeezing the trigger.

I got into shooting because of hunting. I love the guns. The two activities for me are strangely enough very different though. I understand the link - the gun - but aside from that (to me) the similarities part ways.

J

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If it's a game or sport with a gun.....I'll play.

As I've gotten older, I prefer more of a challenge and the kill isn't so important. As a result, I hunt mostly big game and leave the rabbits alone these days.

For fall turkeys, they flock up and it's harder to call them in than say gobblers in the spring who want to mate. Usually, you find a flock and catch them coming/going to roost or food. Despite what the hunting mags say, you can stalk them to some degree given the right cover (turkeys have killer eyesight and hearing). If you have a chance, bust up the flock and scatter them. Once they are scatterred they readily come to calls as they try to flock up again. Be aware that fall turkeys don't usually gobble and often come in silent.

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It may depend a whole lot on where you are for this to be the percentage of hunters among competitors. I am pretty sure it will be a lot higher in some areas than others and vice versa.

Yeppers. Try holding a club level match on the opening day of deer season here in Wyoming and see what kind of turn out you have. :lol: In October and November, at our club, you are more apt to have someone ask, "Did you get your elk?" than you are to be asked, "Can I see your new blaster?"

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Why do the two groups seem so seperate. My hunch would be less than 5% of hunters compete and less than 10% of competitors hunt. Why is that? Am I a renaissance gun nut for wanting to hunt, shoot trap, IPSC, 3gun, highpower, while still believing that the primary purpose of my guns is self-defense?

atek3

ps anyone know strategies for hunting fall turkey?

I can't speak for everyone, but, I hunt Turkey, Grouse, Pheasant, Deer, Elk, Moose, Bear, and Varments(prariedog, gophers, and prarie wolf), as well as the scoring targets at the range, and clay birds and bouncing clay rabbits......

I like to shoot, and my Wife can shoot well too. We have two dogs for primary warning systems and we both know the State Laws here in Montana for armed defense.

If you are a gun nut, welcome to the club! :D

RPM

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