THE MYTH OF THE BEST SPRING TURKEY HUNTER

[MK M GOBL]

The hunter who doesn't tell you how good they are usually is.

Just like their hunting spots. "Haven't heard a gobble all morning"

and "I don't kill any birds"

... LOL

MK M GOBL

[mtns2hunt]

The hunter who doesn't tell you how good they are usually is.

Just like their hunting spots. "Haven't heard a gobble all morning"

and "I don't kill any birds"

... LOL

MK M GOBL

Not true! Some of us don't have anything to brag about and keep to ourselves. It's the rare occasion I hear a gobble and when I do its on someone else's land. I really thought I seen a true Trophy Turkey in Kansas. Turned out to be one of them big African birds. Glad I realized my mistake before pulling the trigger. Reason I hang around on this forum is to hear how others do it. No shortage of real turkey hunters here. LOL

[Yoder409]

I will name one name of a real man's turkey hunter that impressed me as a person and turkey hunter...Harold Knight. Now I only met him once and watched him hunt that one time, but I think i was right to be impressed. Someone can correct me if I am wrong.

Or someone can concur.............

I have never hunted with Harold.  His turkey hunting skills do not need to be proven to anyone.  I did have the immense pleasure of having a nice visit with him and David one time.  I would welcome either or both of them to hunt my land ANY TIME.  Two nicer, more grounded fellers you'll never meet............

Yep.

[Yoder409]

P.S.   Over the years I have had occasion to visit with almost everyone you've seen hunting turkeys on TV. 

There are a whole lot of good folk in the bunch.  There are also some real wads.............

[quavers59]

Alot of good replys here.  A good way to look at this is to see that once a Spring Turkey Hunter has 20 plus years under his belt-- that hunter is more or less equal in terms of knowledge  and skills. All of us here employ different levels of skills when it comes to calling and woodsmanship.  It all equals out-- we are all more or less equal once we reach around 20 years. Numbers really don't mean much either. Enjoy yourselves out there.

[eggshell]

Quavers59, I agree number of kills is a poor litmus test. twenty years is a good number to use as a measure of a seasoned turkey hunter, if you haven't developed advanced skills by then it's unlikely your going to.

[mtns2hunt]

It seems this post will never die. In fact I have been thinking about it a lot since it keeps popping up. Twenty years to become a seasoned turkey hunter? Incredible! This may be true about a couch potato! Someone that is more interested in sports such as football or playing video games is going to have limited time in the field. How much are they going to learn? Take someone that hunts 30 or more days a year, studies turkeys, learns to call well. I would say two or three years at most: even then he/she would be considered a slow learner. IMO,LOL.

I have seen some real young guys not even twenty demonstrate super turkey hunting skills. Some about 25 years old that have excellent skills. Guess they started at about 5 years of age.

In all seriousness with the abundance of videos, books magazines and forums like this it does not take long to develop the necessary skills. It just takes dedication and time in the field. I take deer hunting, and predator hunting just as serious as Turkey hunting and put in just as much time. In fact I worked nights for over 30 years just so I could hunt everyday. (Good way to lose weight too). You just simply cannot take a general formula and apply it to everyone. How discouraging is that to a new hunter? Well that's my two cents. You may not hear too much out of me as deer season ( Archery) starts Saturday. I've also patterned a gang of turkeys so needless to say I have the pot ready. Good luck to everyone and be safe.

[eggshell]

mtns2hunt,  I apologize for posting to the thread and bringing it back to attention. I by no means meant a person had to hunt 20 years to reach a certain level of expertise. It is a matter of time in the field. all I was agreeing with is if a person has 20 years under their belt it is fair to assume they have mastered the skill set at an advanced level, they probably done it sooner. Across the board considering all turkey hunters, I would guess there are far more who spend 10 or less days afield than there are 30 days out. When you average across all hunters it moves the average time to develop skills up. I ran a turkey check station for 30 years as a supervisor for DNR and saw and talked to thousands of turkey hunters. I can tell you over that time I would guess only about 25% of the hunters I saw had advanced hunting skills, across all ages and time hunting. So there is truly no magic number but there are averages you can make general assumptions from.

I used to train bird dogs and we always considered it took 1,000 contacts with birds to make a truly good dog. Some learned faster and some slower, but if you put 1,000 contacts on a dog he was pretty much finished. Maybe there's  a number like that for turkey hunters. Again, I had no intention of offending anyone.

[daddyduke]

Let's not forget that some people work for their skills and others have God given abilities that let them advance very quickly. Abilities that allow them to see what others don't. Just my 

[g8rvet]

The exact formula for how many times it takes to make an experienced, most awesome, most excellent turkey hunter is X-1.   Where X is the number of times I have hunted. So after I hunted the last time, I was awesome!   

[compton30]

mtns2hunt,  I apologize for posting to the thread and bringing it back to attention. I by no means meant a person had to hunt 20 years to reach a certain level of expertise. It is a matter of time in the field. all I was agreeing with is if a person has 20 years under their belt it is fair to assume they have mastered the skill set at an advanced level, they probably done it sooner. Across the board considering all turkey hunters, I would guess there are far more who spend 10 or less days afield than there are 30 days out. When you average across all hunters it moves the average time to develop skills up. I ran a turkey check station for 30 years as a supervisor for DNR and saw and talked to thousands of turkey hunters. I can tell you over that time I would guess only about 25% of the hunters I saw had advanced hunting skills, across all ages and time hunting. So there is truly no magic number but there are averages you can make general assumptions from.

I used to train bird dogs and we always considered it took 1,000 contacts with birds to make a truly good dog. Some learned faster and some slower, but if you put 1,000 contacts on a dog he was pretty much finished. Maybe there's  a number like that for turkey hunters. Again, I had no intention of offending anyone.

If you read Malcolm Gladwells "Outliers" he talks about the 10,000 hour rule. To be world class at something you need to practice deliberately for 10,000 hours. Now this is a general number, but the idea of it fits here. How much do you learn in the off season? How much time do you spend getting quality practice on mouth calls? Learning to read maps? Consuming every bit of information you can about the sport?

[eggshell]

Compton, I have not read that but I think it is a valid application. I hired and trained a lot of employees in my life. If an employee proved to be reliable conscientious and honest I would put them on my 5 year plan. One to two years to learn a job, in three years be proficient and on their own and in five years have it close to mastered and ready to promote. Some made it and some didn't, those who were willing to take on more and had a hunger to learn were ready in five years. I don't know why it wouldn't apply to turkey hunting. However,since turkey hunting is for a short period and done part time for most, a longer time line is probably in play, on average. As daddyduke said some are born with natural talent.

[Farmboy27]

Way to many veritables to put a time frame on it fellas. Some people have the chance to hunt more in one year than others will have in 10-20. Some have better teachers. Some learn it all on their own. Can't put a time frame on mastering this game when there are to many ideas of what that even means. And really, when it all comes down it, do any of us ever truly master it?

[larry9988]

I started turkey hunting in 1987. I just laugh at how little I knew when I started. It took me three years to kill my first turkey. There were very few birds in Georgia then and I just did not know what I was doing. There were no turkey mentors for me either to learn from. I started reading every book and watching every video I could find. I started making calls in 1992. I have made every mistake you can make in the woods. I have called up many turkeys I didn't deserve and did not come close on some when I thought I had done everything right.Things really started turning around for me several years ago when I decided to learn how to use more different call types besides a box call proficiently. I learned to use a pot call, tube call and mouth call. Things really moved forward when I learned to play a trumpet call. I had to learn to hunt in the afternoons because of my job. I hunted mornings on the weekends and on holidays. I retired from my teaching job three years ago and started working for myself. I have adjusted my work schedule so I can hunt mornings during the spring and have finally learned to hunt in the mornings. I can honestly say that things have finally started clicking for me and it's taken a long time to get there. I don't think you can really face enough situations in just two or three seasons unless you are able to hunt every day and very few people can do that. So I must just be a slow learner, but it's taken me long time to feel like I have become a fair to good turkey hunter. But I would not change the learning curve one bit if I could. There truly is not a day that goes by that I do not make a call, play a call, read a book or something to do with turkey hunting. Heck I even have five live turkeys in a pen to listen to every day.Turkey hunting is in season at my house 365 days a year, I just might not have a gun in my hand. It truly is a way of life for me. My son called up all of his own turkeys for himself this past season and that gave me a lot of satisfaction too. I also go hunting with a man that is eighty years old. He doesn't hear well and and can't see good either, but he still loves to go as much as ever. It's great to hunt with my son that's just beginning his career and then hunt with someone that is nearing the end. I just love to turkey hunt no matter how long it might have taken for me to learn how.

[eggshell]

Larry, I enjoyed reading your story and I know it is typical of a lot of people's start. I started in 1971 and I think there was only one other guy in our whole area that had ever turkey hunted. He had hunted in Va for years. He gave me my first turkey call, a Rhodes snuff box. I had no mentor other than him and he would not help me much, he only gave me the call because he wanted to hunt our land. Season was three days long back then, in Ohio, and you could only hunt until noon. So you did not get much chance to learn. Typically if you found one gobbling bird you spent your whole season on him. I remember hearing a guy say he heard six gobblers one morning and I called him a liar. I was horrible on that box call, but had never heard a real hen and didn't for probably 2-3 years. About the mid 70s I made acquaintance with a man named Lew McClure, he had won a national turkey calling contest and made these things he called diaphragm calls. I bought one and learned to use it. By today's standards it was crap, but nobody had them but me in my area. At the time I worked for one of the country's largest hunting dog and hunting supply houses and I became a dealer for his calls. I suddenly made more contacts with people who really knew turkey hunting. That launched my skill levels a lot when I could get tips from people like Ben Rogers Lee. So learning is exponential to opportunity and access. Today's hunters have equipment and resources 1,000 fold from what I had and thus can build their skills much faster. Also, birds are abundant now and you can experience more in one day than you could get in two seasons when I started. I am convinced repetition is one of the best teachers and that is a matter of opportunity.