Turkey hunting really starts with the right attitude. Granted nothing will replace experience but confidence can go a long way to helping you succeed. Stores try to sell it to you but it can't be bought. If you are scared to screw up then you probably will but starting out you need to be able to keep in perspective that a turkey is just a bird. They aren't rocket scientists and most of them can be killed with a little thought and effort. Hunt like you are sure of yourself and if you screw up then make a mental note of where you went wrong and try again. Stubbornness can kill a lot of turkeys and you will find over time that the mistakes get fewer and sucess will go up. However if you get to where you never screw up then please write a book because I will be first in line to by it! Bottom line is have some faith in yourself and don't get discouraged when a bird with a walnut sized brain makes you look stupid. Call with confidence and move with confidence. You won't always be right but you will start to get a feel for the game and the tide will turn to where you are right as least as often as you are wrong.
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If it hasn't already been said , when the woods go quite the gobblers can still be looking,. So be patient and still and a nice one may come sneaking in . He knows where that hen calling came from and she/you may still be there .
Yep.
Some days it's not gonna be your fault at all. Remember, as turkey hunters, we are trying to reverse Mother Nature. A Tom gobbles to attract the ladies to HIM. We are trying to coax him to us. Sometimes it just doesn't work - mainly due to competition from the real deal. A man sitting at a bar with 3 pretty ladies buying him drinks isn't going to leave his stool to go say "hello" to the 1 that winked at him across the room.
Confidence in your choice of set-up location and ability to use your call of choice will go a long way in eliminating that sudden sensation of "stage fright" that sets in when that gobbler hammers back at you 100+ yds away out of sight, and you nervously attempt to produce the next sounds without squeaking or squawking!
I always talk about how this is in my head, the mental game that leads to success not the "Ahhh now what do I do" or the like.
Of course there is always luck and sometimes no matter how good you are on a call, your skill as a woodsman or how good the spot is, silence and patients pays off.
One of my hunt stories on this is how around 9:00am and sunny and the day is warming up and I tend to take cat naps :) Well during one of these hunts I did just that, leaned up against a tree soaking in the sun and eyes closed for some indeterminate amount of time (somehow my ears still seem to work though) I never heard a gobble, never heard the leaves and there it is I hear one strutting, don't know how but I slowly start looking for where this is coming from and then I spot him, gobbler strutting at about 20 yards. My guess after the "hen" that had been talking to him went quiet on him he came looking, I had some luck and was able to take him home with me :)
LOL and I will say this has not been just a single occurrence, not to the same details but I do like them cat naps.
MK M GOBL
I LOVE a mid-morning cat nap......
Confidence is a very important item in your turkey hunting arsenal, but remember, on any given morning, a gobbler can give a very large dose of humbling.... :character0029:
Don't let the mornings, when everything goes wrong, get you down.....We've all had them...
Persistence and determination are key to killing gobblers.
I generally go out "knowing" I will kill a bird... With the realistic expectation that I probably will not.
Tough dichotomy to explain... But you have to have the confidence to know that you can kill a bird, with the understanding that it does not always (or usually) happen.
Quote from: Happy on February 20, 2017, 08:22:19 PM
Stores try to sell it to you but it can't be bought.
Great line and 100% true :icon_thumright:
I agree w happy's thread but as a beginner type thread I'd think it would be more determination than confidence. Happy aludes to that w the stubbornness part of his post
As I am still a novice when it comes to turkey hunting, this is probably one of my biggest problems. Actually, my personality has a lot to do with it too. I tend to overthink/over-analyze things, am afraid of "screwing up", and think shoulda/woulda/coulda.
Thank you Happy for posting this. I will keep it in the back of my mind this season and venture to try new things and not be afraid to mess up. After all it will be a learning experience one way or another. This in-turn will give me more confidence in what I do.
Quote from: Treerooster on February 21, 2017, 12:30:04 PM
Confidence in calling is important too.
I remember when I first started I was not confident in my calling. It was one thing to be able to call back at home, but a whole lot different to call with a gobbler hammering back. At least for me anyways.
I wouldn't say I was afraid to call, but I was certainly nervous or anxious about making a mistake while working a gobbler. That made me hesitant to call at times.
One thing that helped get me over that was to "call through" any mistake I might make. I'd try to end series of calls with a good sounding note(s) if I made a sour note or two. This helped me less hesitant to call and build up my confidence to call in front of the real thing.
X2
Quote from: Bowguy on February 21, 2017, 09:18:00 AM
I agree w happy's thread but as a beginner type thread I'd think it would be more determination than confidence. Happy aludes to that w the stubbornness part of his post
great point. Hard to be confident when you're virtually clueless, just starting out. Having some success will build the confidence fairly quick. Determination kills a lot of turkeys. If I didn't have determination I wouldn't have killed half as many birds as I have. A giving up or hopeless attitude is a bad attitude to carry in the turkey woods. An "I'm gonna figure something out" attitude will keep you in the woods longer and at some point you'll come across a bird that wants to play. And even after a long day of nothing, remember that not every day ends in nothing, and the next day is worth just as much determination.
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I guess what I was trying to say was confidence in yourself. In turkey hunting it is easy to get down. Especially starting out. Having confidence that you can figure things out and play the hand you are given goes a long ways. It takes time and work to develop confidence in having success. And that can only be built over time. You can also be confident you will screw up as well.
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Confidence and a sense of humor, very important You almost have to be able to laugh at yourself turkey hunting. You will do some things that may not seem funny at the time but you will need to be able to laugh about it. If not your probably not going to enjoy your first year or two.
Quote from: boatpaddle on February 20, 2017, 10:47:33 PM
Confidence is a very important item in your turkey hunting arsenal, but remember, on any given morning, a gobbler can give a very large dose of humbling....
Persistence and determination are key to killing gobblers.
So true.
Confidence is important,...but no newbie starts off with it, unless they have had a good mentor that has shown them the ropes and taught them to call. However, even a new hunter can cut down the learning curve a bunch nowadays as a result of the media sources, videos in particular, that are available today. In addition, the availability of basically "fool proof" calling devices on the market make it so that even a total novice can become proficient in calling with very little practice.
The preparatory work of learning to call a bit,...and learning the ways of the wild turkey and where to pursue them,...can build that preliminary confidence in what you are going to do when you hit the woods. However, until someone has actually gone through the experience of having a gobbler or two come to their calling, finding that total confidence in what you are doing is hard to muster. That is where the persistence and determination boatpaddle mentions really comes into play. Just sticking with it when nothing seems to be working,...sometimes for days on end,...is a requirement in this endeavor.
Sometimes all the confidence in the world is not enough,...but combine a bit of confidence with a "don't quit" attitude, and you are going to eventually kill turkeys.
I absolutely love to hunt a bird that makes me look stupid. Then it becomes personal. That is turkey hunting at it's finest. And yes I will waste a whole season on one bird if needed. Some people don't like to hunt with me due to that. That's just the way I roll. Those turkeys are the ones that generally earn names. Never get discouraged if a birds makes you look stupid. Think of it as a challenge and challenge accepted!
Its easy to get down after a few days of nothing. You have to keep your head up and a positive attitude and dont let your frustrations let you make bad mistakes. Notice i said bad mistakes. There has been plenty of times that desperation has led to learning new things,or learning how close you can get or other little tricks that actually help you. Dont be afraid to try something that is out of your comfort zone,but dont get careless and make mistakes because you are frustrated.
Before using my Primos gobble tube along with a jake decoy and breeding hen, I was taking a gobbler about once every three years. This went on for probably 15 years and was a frustration. Since adopting the gobble tube/decoys, I most often fill all three of my Southern Illinois tags, taking five days to do so last spring. This has allowed me to expand my shooting methods, utilizing flintlock muzzleloading fowlers as well as black powder hammer shotguns.