An in-depth look at reaping—what it is, safety, ethics, and why turkey hunters clash over methods and tradition.
I harvested my first turkey at age 17. Too green to know it at the time, the hunt was classic. I’d purchased two foam decoys—a jake and a hen—and walked toward a distant river bottom a tick after 10 am. I moved toward an area where I’d seen tracks and strut marks. Thank God for Jim Casada, a legendary turkey hunter and outdoor writer. I’d read enough of Casada’s stuff to point me in the right direction.
I set the decoys in an opening 150 yards off the river bottom, put my back against a giant cottonwood, and waited. After 10 minutes, I reached into my backpack—I had no turkey vest—and retrieved a Quaker Boy box call. I slid the paddle across the box, which made what I will refer to now as a “brutal” yelp. That yelp, however, produced thunder, not from the sky but from a dense maze of tamrasik 80 or 90 yards to my right.
I froze. I had no idea what to do next. Before my brain could recall any of Casada’s advice, the springtime noisemaker fired again. Although this time, he was noticeably closer. Slowly, I situated my Remington 870 on my knee, moved my butt a touch to the right, and froze. Seconds later, two toms emerged. I’ll never forget that moment. Two fans with creamy tips spread wide; each step slow and deliberate. Time stood still. Wing tips dragged across the short river bottom grasses, and heads changed color from fire-engine red to electric blue to bright white.
The larger of the two birds form-tackled the imposter jake, sending my adrenaline through the roof. I fired. Nothing. The lead bird dropped its strut only for a moment, then, like a possessed serial killer, turned on the decoy again. I shot. The load of Federal #5s rocked the gobbler’s head, and after a couple of death flops, his ebony body was still.
Thank God for that hunt. It made me fall in love with wild turkeys, and now, almost 30 years later, I’ve hunted them in over 30 states, harvested the Grand Slam twice, and am chasing the illustrious 49-state turkey harvest.
Some of you read the title and question why I started the article with a story about my first wild turkey harvest. Stay with me. It didn’t take me long to learn how passionate turkey hunters are. As my friend Lake Pickle, who is one of the best turkey callers and hunters I know, put it, “Turkey hunting in many places of the world, especially the South, is a religion.”
After chasing longbeards around the U.S., my time talking with many hunters has revealed three groups of turkey hunters. First is the no-decoy, calling only crowd. This group believes that the finest, purest way to harvest a wild turkey is from the ground, with a shotgun (archery tackle is a sin), using no decoys. This group wants to use topography and vegetation to call a bird shotgun close and make a killing shot. I’ve hun this way. It’s awesome.
The thinking of group two mirrors that of group one in many ways. Bowhunting turkeys is a sin. This group also wants to call birds shotgun close, but will use full-body turkey decoys. I’ve hunt this way. It’s awesome.
The final group is the one I fall into. It’s my alignment with this group that will keep me from ever being known as a “real” turkey hunter. That’s fine with me. This group will call birds in the timber without a decoy. We will set up a ground blind, use decoys, and bowhunt birds. We will run-and-gun with a shotgun, using decoys when necessary. What makes this group the red-headed stepchild of turkey hunting, though, is that we will reap/fan. Some of you read that word, and your blood is already boiling. Good. Now we can dive in.
What Is Reaping?
I’ll keep it brief. Reaping is using a fan, a lightweight turkey body with a fan, or a bow-mounted full-strut decoy to provoke an aggressive gobbler and bring him close enough to kill.
Why Is Reaping Frowned Upon?
One reason reaping is frowned upon is safety concerns. When reaping, hunters often move through the woods with a some sort of mobile turkey decoy with an attached or detached fan. The idea is to locate a gobbler, move toward the bird, and show the bird the reaping-style decoy. This DOES present a safety issue. That said, I LOVE to reap turkeys using a shotgun or a bow. However, I only reap birds on private land and during bow-only hunting seasons.
Could someone trespass on the private ground I have access to? Yes. Could I get shot? Yes. The thing is, I know this, and I’m willing to accept it. My choice to hunt how I want shouldn’t be judged.
Could another hunter have access to the same property I’m turkey hunting? Yes. When that’s the case, I contact the other hunter, inform them of my intentions, and we work out a game plan. Communication is key.
Is Reaping Fair Chase?
Sadly, hunter safety isn’t the main reason those who choose to reap turkeys get so much hate. Reapers get grief because reaping goes against tradition. Groups one and two will tell you that their ways are the only ways because they require calling and excellent woodsmanship. I had one hunter verbally bash and even threaten my life on Instagram recently, telling me: You’re not a turkey hunter. You’re nothing. I should kill you. All you’re doing is triggering a fighting instinct and getting a bird to either come to you, or you crawl up on the bird and shoot it at point-blank range. Yikes!
I’ve received hundreds of similar emails and DMs on social media. Some read that a reaping decoy turns the tables too far in favor of the hunter, noting that I’m exploiting henned-up gobblers that wouldn’t otherwise come to a decoy. Others note that reaping isn’t hunting because it works 100 percent of the time. In the minds of those in groups one and two, reaping is not fair chase. Some states, like Pennsylvania, have recently made reaping/fanning illegal. People let me know about that one all the time.
My Thoughts on Reaping and Safety
What I’m going to write now will dip my book sales, cause me to lose followers on social media, and fill up my inbox and DMs with more hate. I don’t care. My job is to service you, the reader, with actual knowledge. Knowledge is power, and ignorance is, well, ignorance.
I spoke with two members of Pennsylvania’s Game Commission. Both told me that safety was the primary reason reaping was banned. Pennsylvania measures 46,055 square miles. According to the PGC, nearly 172,000 hunters participate in the spring hunting season. That’s a lot of turkey hunters.
Colorado, where I live, covers approximately 104,094 square miles. Colorado, like many western states and even some midwestern states, is twice the size of Pennsylvania and more than three times the size of New Jersey, another state where reaping is banned. Roughly 30,000 hunters participate in Colorado’s turkey season, and the state has an estimated wild turkey population of 35,000 birds. You do the math.
I believe the safety of hunters should be the top priority for game commissions and the hunting public. If a state game commission feels reaping creates a safety issue, I absolutely respect that.
Woodsmanship & Misconsepiton
I’ve read enough outdoor articles and watched enough YouTube to know the turkey-hunting elite (pun intended) will creep close to a roosted bird, make a few tree yelps and hope that the bird flies down into shotgun range. That’s woodsmanship?
Two springs back, I killed an Osceola gobbler over an Avian-X Quarter-Strut Jake and LCD Breeder Hen. I had no ground blind. A bird gobbled. I got the decoys out on a logging road and made myself small in the palmettos. I called to what turned out to be three gobblers for 30 minutes. Finally, the trio materialized and started beating the crap out of the male decoy. I had to wait until the fans were blocking their eyesight to draw my bow. Then, I had to lean out from my hide and make a killing shot. Besides using a bow and arrow, I think groups one and two, especially group two, would call this a pure turkey hunt that required excellent woodsmanship.
Last spring, while hunting Merriam birds in the cedar-sprinkled canyon lands close to my home, I opted to reap. Over three days, I showed the reaping-style decoy to nine different gobblers. Not one came in. The next morning, while hiking a knife ridge, I used a hawk-scream locator call, and a tom thundered. The timber was thick, and I dipped into a heavy cedar with low-hanging branches. I made a single yelp hen call—single yelps can be deadly—and the longbeard came to 32 yards. His eyes scanned the timber intently. He figured a hen was close, but couldn’t see her. I showed patience and let him keep coming. I shot that bird at 15 yards. That hunt should appeal to groups one and two.
Last year, while hunting in Vermont, our turkey crew was having a rough time. We only had a day and a half before heading to New York, and toms were not coming to the calls and decoys. Yes, I could’ve crept close to the roost and made a play, but I don’t like hunting turkeys that way. I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it, though. I stated that hunting turkeys that way isn’t for me.
That afternoon, my good buddy and turkey slayer, Hunter Navari, and I glassed a longbeard guarding a group of hens. We crawled on hands and knees over 300 yards. When Navari showed the strutter the decoy, he came on a string. I shot that bird lying on my belly at less than 10 yards. It was legal. It was fun, and this time, it was effective.
I like reaping turkeys. If you don’t want to play that way, don’t play that way. I have zero issues if you don’t want to fan/reap turkeys. I don’t enjoy hunting birds off the roost. It just doesn’t do it for me. The difference: I will never bash a fellow hunter for utilizing a legal tactic. Sadly, it’s the same people sending death threats my way who make posts preaching about how the anti-hunters are after us, and we all need to band together. Roll that one around for a minute.
Final Thoughts
Is this a controversial article? I guess. Again, I don’t care. What I care about is educating those who love reaping and those on the fence about it the facts. It’s far from 100 percent effective. Can a fanning/reaping decoy drive a tom turkey over its boiling point? Yes. Doesn’t a full-strut full-body tom decoy with an actual fan do the same thing? Is it safe? Not 100 percent. When you fan/reap, there is alwasys an element of danger involved. I know that. I’m penning that. However, the choice, unless deemed illegal by a state game and fish commission, should be up to the hunter.
