Mom called, the meatloaf’s done
Doh good one! Can’t wait to get done with your mom so I can have some loaf.
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Wow you’re a piece of work. Why do you even log in? Just to prove to everyone how much of a d bag you are? Get lost.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mike Schulz wrote:</div>
Yes, you can hunt turkeys from an elevated deer stand in Minnesota. It can be a good strategy, especially in fall, as it provides concealment and allows you to access food plots or travel routes where turkeys may be. However, remember that Minnesota DNR emphasizes safety guidelines for using elevated stands, including using a haul line for equipment, choosing a suitable tree, and being aware of physical limitationsfound this for you
Thanks, my kid wants to sit in his deer stand tomorrow in hopes they walk the same trail they do almost every day. I told him sure thing, but then I seen orve say it was illegal. Had me question myself for a minute
It’s legal. The main reason most hunt from the ground is because turkey’s are wary of death from above. Their main predators are other birds. Your probably more likely to be spotted up in a tree than on the ground.
It’s amazing to me that you’ve gone that long without being checked. I get checked 3-4 times per year on average.
This past winter I was checked 3 times in 3 different areas of the state.
I’ve never had a negative experience.
I got checked on a lake in January, he showed up right when I happened to be doing very well for crappie and walleye. Guess who was in my holes when I went back a couple days later? Mr CO himself. I can’t blame him, I’d probably do the same thing if I was in his shoes.
My only concern with bow fisherman is killing native species.
Leave the Buffalo, Suckers, and Dogfish alone.
Kill every carp you can find.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>grubson wrote:</div>
Again with the same old regurgitated arguement. Did you think of that all on your own? Apples to oranges.
Does your GPS tell you where the fish are? How big they are? Direction of travel? How they react to your presentation? I think not.Let me explain this so even you can understand! Every new tool that is put out there to enhance the process of catching fish is a step up from the way it used to be done. FFS is no different. I’m guessing that you use DI/SI and GPS and Spotlock. All 4 are massive improvements in aiding success! But now you get to decide if we are slaughtering fish by using FFS?? And no I didn’t think of that all by my self…. thousands of other sportsman feel the same way as me!
I get where the name comes from……
Yea, I get your point, because it’s the same one everyone uses everytime we debate this. Hence why I said it’s the same old regurgitated arguement. If you think I didn’t understand that, well, think more.
Yes all of those things you mentioned were technological advances. We all know that. Personally I don’t think any of those things offer the advantage that FfS does. Can any of those things show you real time movement of the fish? Can they show you how fish are reacting to your bait? Why do all the pros just use FFS and not watch SI while they cast away at fish? Because FFS offers a greater advantage and shows more information than all of those other things combined.
Round and round we go. 
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>grubson wrote:</div>
As it should be.So in you line of thinking, you just boat out to your fishing spots by lining up the tower with the tree and the silo? It would be unethical to use a GPS!!
Again with the same old regurgitated arguement. Did you think of that all on your own? Apples to oranges.
Does your GPS tell you where the fish are? How big they are? Direction of travel? How they react to your presentation? I think not.
Grubson, this is an invite to jump in my boat for a few hours and I’ll show you how we fish with FFS and you can decide if that added or took away from your experience of fishing that day. On many guide trips the FFS doesn’t even go in the water, but when it does most of my clients want to look at it. And for the rest of the trip “Are there any fish by my bait? Are you seeing any? Should we go find one/active ones?”
BTW, the group I guide with does offer sight-seeing tours as well for people that want that experience.
Thanks for the offer, I’d gladly take you up on that some day if you have time. As I said I have used ffs a lot. It doesn’t necessarily take away from my day but it’s definitely a different day with it vs without it.
There is definitely an urgency to keep searching and chasing when using FFS. At times it gets tiring. Sometimes it’s nice to enjoy the other aspects and relax, fish or no fish. Some people can’t do that and I feel bad for them. There’s so much more to it than catching a bunch of fish.
Oh, I dont know grubson, with all the money in fancy tackle, electronics, mapping and other stuffs, its still hard to catch fish at times.
As it should be.
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I am a guide and I’ve hired guides for other species of fish or bodies of water I’ve never fished. As a client I expect to catch fish or see a fish depending on species, and I expect my guide to work hard to make that opportunity happen. I expect the same of myself when guiding.
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That mentality is just as dangerous to our resources in my opinion.
It’s called fishing (not catching) for a reason. I remember when one could go fishing and not expect success. Catching was a bonus. You used to have to work for it, study lakes, practice different presentations, practice boat control techniques, etc.
It used to take a lifetime of effort to collect all the equipment and knowledge to be consistently successful. Now you need a couple grand for a ffs unit, spot lock, time, and a jig and plastic to compete with the world’s best anglers.
Now days we have all this tech and the common mentality is that catching is required in order to consider it a good day.
Guides are pressured to produce limits and success when in my opinion neither should be expected. Guides should provide a fishing experience, if fishing is slow you show all the other ways to enjoy the water. Teach them how to enjoy themselves without a bucket full of fish. If you guide because you truly love the sport and being on the water, there should never be a bad day in the boat.
FFS is definitely not the only reason this mentality has become so common, but it’s a big factor. I think people wanting their moment of fame on social media plays a part as well.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>grubson wrote:</div>
I think playing God is a bad idea.so I assume you are against fish stocking then?
Are we stocking formerly extinct fish species?
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>grubson wrote:</div>
If you were trying to defend FFS with that story, you failed.
That’s a very above avg day of musky fishing in the pre-FFS days.Ive had better many times than that. Boated 4 fish over 40″ in a day a few times. Not the norm, but this was before all the 1 foot detailed mapping on GPS units like we have today. They were LONG days and we had no idea we were casting AT fish.
Exactly. Not the norm, that is the norm now.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>grubson wrote:</div>
If you were trying to defend FFS with that story, you failed.
That’s a very above avg day of musky fishing in the pre-FFS days.The same can be said about simple sonar finders back in the day! I remember back in the 70’s when I got my first Green Box! Many older fishermen told me “that’s cheating”. Every time something new comes out there’s always those who have negative comments about it. Whether it be FFS, Scopes on Muzzleloader, Crossbow, and the list goes on and on. Usually it’s those people who don’t have it and know nothing or very little about it. Or they don’t like change. At the end of the day it comes down to ethics in the eyes of the users!. Some people use it to slaughter fish day after day just like they used DI, SI etc to do it when that was all that was available. We have some local guides that use it, especially in the winter to fill their clients limits. They bring a second batch out in the same day. As a result a few lakes in Otter Tail Co. have changed the crappie limit to 5 starting this spring. With the popularity of “Ice Castles” there are tens of thousands more fisherman that camp on the lake every week-end so the harvest of fish is huge! Are they going to ban that? I think not! In the end it comes down to each individual to conserve our resources and be a responsible angler!
Comparing the green box to FFS is like comparing a 1919 Model T truck to a 2025 1 ton crew cab diesel with dual rear wheels. It’s an old invalid arguement that has been used over and over again.
Ice Castles don’t tell you where the fish are.
Fish populations are already suffering, like you have seen in otter tail county, it’s happening all over.
People are greedy and irresponsible. Without rules, regulations, and limits they’d take everything and we’d have little to no natural resources to enjoy.
For the record, I’ve used FFS a lot and anyone who says it doesn’t completely change the game doesn’t know how to use it.
I’m not for a ban, but lowered limits and education are the bare minimum that’s required to sustain our fisheries with this tech increasing the pressure on the fish.
I think playing God is a bad idea. With extinct animals could come extinct viruses, bacterias, or diseases as well.
Typically when I read these anti-FFS posts I just bite my tongue and move past. How many of you people commenting have actually used FFS? How many of you would consider yourself proficient with it?
It’s a great tool to locate fish and even watch the fish react, but it doesn’t guarantee a bite.
I use FFS sonar for every species, but I don’t consider myself a Muskie fisherman. Last Summer I was invited to fish with a guy who guides for them all Summer. We scoped for 8-9 hours, marked 35, casted to 20-25, hooked 4, and landed one. No fish marked were deeper than 15’ down over 20-40’ of water. For you guys worried about the guys fishing over deep water, the fish aren’t on the bottom! This angler has top of the line gear so the fight is fast, the net is always ready, and when in the net they stay in the water the entire time except for a quick picture. The fish swam away just fine and I would consider the day a success. This isn’t the guy you need to be worried about killing all the fish which is probably true of most anglers that have taken the time to become proficient with FFS.
If you were trying to defend FFS with that story, you failed.
That’s a very above avg day of musky fishing in the pre-FFS days.
Have these fools not seen Jurassic Park?
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>big_g wrote:</div>
They were reintroduced in the 1970’s by the DNR… and yes, the NWTF did raise and release thousands through the 1990’s to present day. The definitely are not “invasive”… like the Ring Neck Pheasant, which was brought from Asia to the Americas.I have never heard this part about raising and releasing turkey’s in MN and not sure I believe it. The turkeys released in MN were wild birds captured from MO with rocket nets and exchanged for ruffled grouse. The general stance of wildlife biologists is that turkeys incubated and raised by man don’t make it in the wild. The only exception to this is a population of birds in Michigan. I’ve heard this several times over the years from people. They will have a story that the neighbor bought some turkey chicks, raised them for a few months and then let em run free, and now there’s a bunch of wild turkeys in the neighborhood. A very dubious claim. Pen reared birds are too dumb to evade predators and survive in the wild.
I’m not sure what has happened regarding turkey in the past. Maybe they’re completely different, but people pen raise and release pheasants all the time. If it works for pheasants, why not for turkeys?
No I just have more constructive things to do than argue with someone about some stupid bird. I got nothing against the people that hunt them the only thing I wish is they’d kill more.
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Right, constructive things like argue about bears? I saw that you tried in the bear thread. Stop trolling and you may stop getting your feelings hurt.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>grubson wrote:</div>
Walleyesforme/ Fins
You’re wrong, a lot of people want them there. Myself included. It’s a great edition to the area. We have a great time at turkey camp up north and are relatively successful. You can’t say that about the deer hunting anymore.
Id love to learn more about when, where, and how many turkeys have been transplanted into northern mn. I honestly do not know. You seem to know, let’s here it. They’ve definitely made there way north at a fast pace. We see them all the way up 53 to the Ash River trail.
Do you feel the same way about whitetail? Remember they’re not native to Northern mn either.
How about pheasants? They’re the most adored and protected invasive specie ever.The most protected invasive species would have to be the turkey. Short season and you can only shoot one? I’m done here. My opinion or the opinion of the good majority of northern Minnesota obviously doesn’t matter on a thread like this.
Your opinion absolutely matters, so does EVERYONE’S.
You can’t possibly be speaking for the majority of northern mn. You’re just being ignorant and arrogant if you think you are. You didn’t even attempt to answer my questions. You make statements as facts but have no facts.
As soon as someone disagrees with you, you either get nasty or whine and leave. Probably why you were booted in the first place. Grow up.
Walleyesforme/ Fins
You’re wrong, a lot of people want them there. Myself included. It’s a great edition to the area. We have a great time at turkey camp up north and are relatively successful. You can’t say that about the deer hunting anymore.
Id love to learn more about when, where, and how many turkeys have been transplanted into northern mn. I honestly do not know. You seem to know, let’s here it. They’ve definitely made there way north at a fast pace. We see them all the way up 53 to the Ash River trail.
Do you feel the same way about whitetail? Remember they’re not native to Northern mn either.
How about pheasants? They’re the most adored and protected invasive specie ever.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>grubson wrote:</div>
I do find it hypocritical how the dnr is so concerned about some invasive species, some native ranges, but not others. With their concern for other species you’d think they would at least attempt to study their impact on new areas that they’ve expanded to.We should get a posse together to hunt those Super Pigs coming in from Canada. I have heard there have been some sightings already in NW MN, but I havent heard of any getting killed. Honestly, I dont even know what the DNRs stance on them is if we were to run across them?
Sounds like a good time to me.
They’re an unprotected species here. So in other words, fire away!!
This exactly. No different than the feral hogs down south. There should be no season or limit on them. It’s obvious their population is out of control and they are having a huge impact on not only things in nature but also farming and agriculture.
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That’s a stretch. Your a kind of drama queen aren’t you? Over react much? I bet you’re fun to be around.
Their population seems high in the northern regions but it has more to do with suitable habitat. The best habitat for turkeys in the northern forested areas is yards, ditches, roads and trails. Therfore they are very visible and your likely seeing all the turkeys in that general area at one time. If you get far from any of those there are very few turkeys. If you know anything about the north woods, you know there’s a lot of area that isn’t ideal turkey habitat.
As for agriculture. They’re aren’t many species of wildlife that farmers don’t have distain for. The landscape most of them create on their farms shows that. No wildlife is good wildlife to a lot of them.
The farmers I know are much more concerned about deer and goose numbers than turkeys. Turkeys eat a lot of things other than grain.
I do find it hypocritical how the dnr is so concerned about some invasive species, some native ranges, but not others. With their concern for other species you’d think they would at least attempt to study their impact on new areas that they’ve expanded to.
There is definitely a hatred for turkeys, like wolves in some of the forested areas of the state. Specifically among people I’ve met in Aitkin County and St Louis County. Mainly because they’re allegedly hard on the grouse. I have no first hand experience, I’ve never seen a turkey kill a grouse chick or eat an egg. Turkeys are omnivores though and will eat just about anything they can fit in their mouths. It’s definitely possible that they prey on grouse and/ or woodcock chicks or eggs.
Turkeys showed up at our place in Aitkin County about 10-12 years ago. We’ve seen their population fluctuate quite a bit since then. Deep snow (especially this time of year) is definitely hard on them. So far we haven’t noticed any concerning changes in grouse numbers or any other changes at all.
Some of my favorite turkey spots also are my favorite grouse spots.
They are generally not competing for the same habitat, turkeys prefer high open mature areas and grouse prefer young low thick areas. The common area where they may overlap is trails and roads. All animals utilize the trails in the big woods.
Maybe time will tell a different story but at this point I’m not too concerned about their impact, though they definitely have far surpassed their original range in the state.
I haven’t been out scouting much yet but I expect a good season following yet another light winter in the snow department. Especially in the northern counties.
For what it’s worth, we took the boat with us when we picked it up Just to make sure everything was good. I am so glad we did because the were was some side to side rocking. We fixed this by changing the feet height.
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So it wasn’t square? Great idea and everything but $2500 for a tackle box that isn’t even square on the bottom?
Or was your boat the issue?
Woops, let me know if you need a chevy to come pull you out!! 
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>BigWerm wrote:</div>
And honestly unless you are road hunting (which I’d argue isn’t really hunting), it has no impact on hunting imhoI disagree 100%
Where I grouse hunt, 90+% of the other “hunters” in the area are road hunting on ATVs on the same trails. It really takes the sport out of it and the pressure significantly impacts bird movement. They ride trails that are not designated ATV/OHV trails, drive like a bat out of hell, often have alcohol in the cup holders, and will drive down a trail even if a truck is parked at the end and very clearly hunting it with a dog (i.e. kennel in back of truck). If I ever come up to a trailhead and see a truck parked there, I will let them have it and go hunt somewhere else.
There is very little etiquette by this crowd. I try to avoid them the best I can but its hard when they can cover 10 miles to your 1 mile you can cover on foot. It really puts a damper on things when you walk 3 miles into a trail and you know the last mile is where you will see the payoff with the most birds only to get leapfrogged by a couple guys in a SXS and hear a bunch of shooting 2 min after they leapfrog you on the trail.
I agree. It’s really frustrating when that happens. I have no time for atv hunters. The only reason I see it being acceptable is if it’s an older guy who can’t walk well. My 92 year old great uncle grouse hunts from his atv and in my opinion, he has every right to. I’m glad he’s still able to get out and enjoy the woods.
The nice part about it is that the lazy hunters never leave the trail. I’ll go off the trail 100yds and find birds that the lazy guys never see.
I focus on areas that have no good access, if you have to bust the brush there’s a good chance you’ll find birds that nobody else was willing to find.
Incorrect, but a typical generalization.
In the last 20 years the United States has seen about a 6-7% reduction in farmland.
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6-7% in farmland nation wide. That’s a generalization if I’ve seen one.
In our region with multiple dry summers in a row has been the opposite. More rows and more drain tiles every year around here.
I think the land is far better off owned by someone with local interest. Any large corporation is gonna be more worried about profit than local environmental or economical impacts.
I think allowing our enemies like communist China to buy our land is beyond ignorant.
You are correct Dutch. He can’t compete with the online retailers. His only advantage is his region specific jigs and tackle that you can’t get anywhere else. I can’t imagine making a living by selling jigs.
I have a good friend who owns a bait shop, it’s very long hours with very little pay. He does it because he loves it and loves the people. Love doesn’t pay the bills though.
Thank you, China.
I wouldn’t be surprised.
The world has big plans for the superior region. Mainly mining. They want the Copper, nickel, and helium. I think they are preparing/ hoping to forever change the landscape of that region. Any land close will likely be going way up in value should these mines be built.
I hope for your sake you’ve matured a bit since then. That ain’t even in the same ballpark as dispatching a feral cat. You do what you gotta do but to take joy or find entertainment by pitting one animal against another is bottom of the barrel stuff.
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Does that go for hunting dogs too? Just curious where you draw the line there?
