What's the Biggest Myth you usually hear about turkey & turkey hunting???
I'll start by saying that I dont buy into the idea that turkey get "call shy"... I just dont believe they are intelligent enough to become call shy.
What say the rest of you? Whether it be your thoughts about "call shy" or any other "myth".....
That you need #4 shot to kill one..
I may have to disagree about birds becoming "call shy". Maybe that isn't the best terminology to use...
Turkeys are definitely a wary bird. When something spooks them, they bug out and may not go back to that area for some time. I think they are smart enough to associate sounds with danger. If their hearing is such that they can bust you when your jacket brushes against bushes or you step on a twig, I think they can differentiate the sound or hens in their area from sounds that may sound somewhat similar.
I have heard other folks calling in the woods. While I am no competition caller, some of the calling I heard, I could quickly tell was not a real turkey. In fact, one time I heard a hunter calling in a piece of woods where I had not heard or seen turkeys in several years. I made sure I got well out of shotgun range and answered his horrible friction calling with a tube call gobble. He would call, I would get further away and respond with a gobble... all the way back to the truck. I nearly busted a gut as I slowly drove down the road gobbling away.
That said, I have also heard a hen from no more than 5 yards away that sounded like she had been smoking menthols all her life. If I had made a call that sounded like that hen, it would have left the shop only in the garbage can.
that gobblers won't cross creeks
The biggest myth is that turkeys can see thru trees.
That's not true, they cannot. They can, however, see around trees. :goofball:
That humans are more intelligent than turkeys. I have, on several occasions, proven that assumption to be incorrect! :( Neill
That they are EASY to kill....
That particular bird can't be killed.The worst hunter in the woods can kill that bird when everything falls in line.Dumb luck is better than no luck.
Quote from: ghillie on February 28, 2013, 10:01:45 AM
That they are EASY to kill....
:agreed:
This is the assumption from most folks up here that have never actually hunted them. Seeing a flock in a field in the winter is a lot different than than shooting a mature gobbler at 20 yards after an hour or more of playing cat and mouse.
"You can only kill a turkey in the morning. Usually after flydown. After that they basically shut down."
I actually hope the hunters by me keep believing this! I love watching a truck leave and then I slip in and carry out a turkey 3-4 hours later!
They won't walk through thick stuff, brush, high weeds,growed up fields, etc...
That you must have a lot of patience to kill turkeys. I have very little patience and I have killed a whole bunch of turkeys. But maybe, I would have killed many more ?
- "Turkeys are smart."
Turkeys have a brain the size of a walnut. They have very little problem solving ability. I've seen them battle with a hog wire fence for a half an hour when they could easily hop right over it. They are not smart. What they are is wary. They have extremely well developed eyesight and hearing. Turkeys rely heavily on these two senses to avoid predators. They also can be highly inconsistent with their behaviors. Some days they are very responsive to calls, others they aren't. Some of this varies from bird to bird, and even from season to season with a particular bird. There are very few constants in turkey hunting. When they don't do what we want, we assume that they saw right through our scheme.
- "A turkey will never..."
I can tell you that's BS right off the bat. A turkey is liable to do just about anything you can imagine, either be ready for it or accept failure when you aren't.
That killing them with a bow out of a blind is harder than using a shotgun and no blind. I really enjoy hunting both ways, however when I hear tent sitting bowhunters claim their superiority it really grinds my gears. Only thing more difficult about that is packing in all the crap on your back, blind, chair, decoys etc.
You can't call a turkey down hill.
If he shuts up, he's coming. I wish that were true all the time.
Quote from: I-55Bandit on February 28, 2013, 09:30:14 AM
that gobblers won't cross creeks
that and you cannot call one down hill.
Or turkeys are "smart"
They wont cross a fence line
Anything that starts with "they never" or "they always".
Quote from: ghillie on February 28, 2013, 10:01:45 AM
That they are EASY to kill....
This :)
Just because you get an occasional Terrible Two that runs into the end of your arrow or shotgun, does not mean they are easy to kill.
Just because they fight with black trash bags caught on a fence along the highway, does not mean they are easy to kill.
Just because you can get close and photograph them in the off-season, does not mean they are easy to kill during the season.
I once walked right past a sleeping 350+ class bull elk, sound asleep, in the front yard of a mountain home outside of Boise, ID. Not sure, but I think he was drooling in his sleep. How stupid would I look if I posted up everywhere that 350 class bull elk were stupid, easy to kill, etc.
They can be simple to kill on occasion, but they generally are not easy to kill...
mudhen
Quote from: I-55Bandit on February 28, 2013, 09:30:14 AM
that gobblers won't cross creeks
Creeks lol, rivers ! A friend and I were sitting along sode a swamp next to a 200 yard wide river. He called this bird across it.
Turkeys will fly across revenes.
Quote from: Garrett Trentham on February 28, 2013, 12:16:15 PM
- "Turkeys are smart."
Turkeys have a brain the size of a walnut. They have very little problem solving ability. I've seen them battle with a hog wire fence for a half an hour when they could easily hop right over it. They are not smart. What they are is wary. They have extremely well developed eyesight and hearing. Turkeys rely heavily on these two senses to avoid predators. They also can be highly inconsistent with their behaviors. Some days they are very responsive to calls, others they aren't. Some of this varies from bird to bird, and even from season to season with a particular bird. There are very few constants in turkey hunting. When they don't do what we want, we assume that they saw right through our scheme.
- "A turkey will never..."
I can tell you that's BS right off the bat. A turkey is liable to do just about anything you can imagine, either be ready for it or accept failure when you aren't.
Bingo! You hit the nail on the head Garrett.
Another is: they have a memory. I think they may have somewhat of a small memory, gets them to feed.
If they could remember from day to day or week to week, they'd never fly down through turkey season!
That any bug spray will protect you from turkey mites, or deer ticks, or whatever you call the bugs that bite and then leave the itchy little bumps from your ankles to your neck. I finally found permanone spray several years ago and it does work. :z-guntootsmiley:
He's either coming or going ::)
My favorite myth is that you always have better success staying put. Sometimes, it's better to move on one. Just depends on the bird and the day.
Turkeys won't walk or wade through water
Quote from: dawgfrombama on February 28, 2013, 12:31:04 PM
If he shuts up, he's coming. I wish that were true all the time.
If he shuts up he is either coming or going you can be sure of that! :TooFunny:
A gobbler won't leave a hen and come to YOU!!!!!!!!
Cause he just might!!!
When a gobbler answers you, he knows exactly which tree you're sitting at. Oh, puhleeeze. ::)
FullChoke
Quote from: guesswho on February 28, 2013, 05:26:10 PM
He's either coming or going ::)
Yep, my thoughts exactly, the only difference between a cluck and a put is weather he is coming or going.
That they aren't smart
Because one gobbles his brains out and responds to every call you make, he must be a two year old.
HC
"That no jakes can gobble like big gobblers."
Some jakes can flat out gobble like the big boys and fool you.
That Eating Turkey Makes You Sleepy :funnyturkey:
Roosted means roasted!
Quote from: Hardcore on February 28, 2013, 11:12:02 PM
Because one gobbles his brains out and responds to every call you make, he must be a two year old.
HC
Or that every quiet or spooky bird is a 3-4year old...
Quote from: FullChoke on February 28, 2013, 09:56:16 PM
When a gobbler answers you, he knows exactly which tree you're sitting at. Oh, puhleeeze. ::)
FullChoke
He may not know "exactly which tree" you're setting at but I bet my left acorn he can fly down to within 10 yards of where you're settin'!
With thinking you have to have the latest "XYZ" to kill one. Save your $ for gas and just go more.
"Big gobblers can't fly very far". Their wings are simply for flying up and down from their roost.
That was spoke by someone that never saw these birds around here. I watched a flock of turkeys that was mostly hens but had a couple of big gobblers in it fly nearly a mile. They started on a hill on the south side of a major highway and knowing that they coudn't land in the middle of a bunch of heavy traffic they started gaining altitude and climbed around 200' to land on the hill on the north side of the highway. It was a sight. I could tell that this wasn't the first time they had pulled this. reflexl
That they are hard to kill... :z-guntootsmiley:
That you can't belly crawl close enough to one struttin' in a field to kill it...
Quote from: VooDooMagic on March 01, 2013, 08:51:15 PM
That you can't belly crawl close enough to one struttin' in a field to kill it...
Turkey ninja....that's what I call that.
That they will roost in the same tree. I would like to hunt where they do anything the same.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2
Quote from: barry on March 01, 2013, 03:15:43 PM
Quote from: FullChoke on February 28, 2013, 09:56:16 PM
When a gobbler answers you, he knows exactly which tree you're sitting at. Oh, puhleeeze. ::)
FullChoke
He may not know "exactly which tree" you're setting at but I bet my left acorn he can fly down to within 10 yards of where you're settin'!
I can testify to that from experience. Story too long for this thread, but I had one come right to where I "had" been sitting and cross only five feet from the tree. I watched it happen
Quote from: barry on March 01, 2013, 03:15:43 PM
Quote from: FullChoke on February 28, 2013, 09:56:16 PM
When a gobbler answers you, he knows exactly which tree you're sitting at. Oh, puhleeeze. ::)
FullChoke
He may not know "exactly which tree" you're setting at but I bet my left acorn he can fly down to within 10 yards of where you're settin'!
:z-winnersmiley: :icon_thumright:
That they will... &...That they won't.
That Hevi-13 #7's are too small for turkeys and they don't have enough penetration at 40yds to kill one as good as larger shot. I used to think that way, but now I know better.
After reading all the replys, I have to agree with most due to experience. I would like to touch on two.
First, I totally agree with ILIKEHEVI-13, I have harvested several birds at +40 yds with #7's. In two cases, it was the second bird that ran after the first shot. In the excitement, I don't check to see how far the birds were.
Second, myth about knowing where the call sound comes from. On one occasion, I had three mature gobblers on the other side of a high fence. I called them to within 5-10 yards of me, looking me straight in the face. I let them walk down the fence about 100-120 yds. I called them back, either 3 or 4 times. Each time, they would return to the same spot, looking at the same tree, searching for the source of the call. They knew exactly where the sound was coming from, down to the tree I was leaning against. I was not hunting with a decoy, so they had no point of reference, only the sound.
I Also think it' a myth when people say they shot a bird so hard "he didnt even flop"...
I've shot turkey at 5 to 10 yards and about blown their heads off and still seen them flop. I've also shot them at 40 yards and seen them never twitch...
I missed!
Quote from: redleg06 on March 02, 2013, 12:19:16 PM
I Also think it' a myth when people say they shot a bird so hard "he didnt even flop"...
I've shot turkey at 5 to 10 yards and about blown their heads off and still seen them flop. I've also shot them at 40 yards and seen them never twitch...
I killed one that didn't flop at about 18 yds.
There wasa video on youtube a guy shot one up close and it never flopped or twitched. I'll see if I can find it for ya.
At 5:52 in this video you can see that this bird never twitched. Shooting into them about head on up close like this seems to maybe be the only way to drop them stone dead.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/f5B2NB0lIIM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Quote from: Eric Gregg on March 01, 2013, 11:12:35 PM
Quote from: barry on March 01, 2013, 03:15:43 PM
Quote from: FullChoke on February 28, 2013, 09:56:16 PM
When a gobbler answers you, he knows exactly which tree you're sitting at. Oh, puhleeeze. ::)
FullChoke
He may not know "exactly which tree" you're setting at but I bet my left acorn he can fly down to within 10 yards of where you're settin'!
I can testify to that from experience. Story too long for this thread, but I had one come right to where I "had" been sitting and cross only five feet from the tree. I watched it happen
If there's anything fairly consistent about turkey and turkey hunting is that a gobbler, even a jake, knows the location of a call or other noise. They're so good at this that its spooky!
Quote from: ILIKEHEVI-13 on March 02, 2013, 02:29:08 PM
Quote from: redleg06 on March 02, 2013, 12:19:16 PM
I Also think it' a myth when people say they shot a bird so hard "he didnt even flop"...
I've shot turkey at 5 to 10 yards and about blown their heads off and still seen them flop. I've also shot them at 40 yards and seen them never twitch...
I killed one that didn't flop at about 18 yds.
There wasa video on youtube a guy shot one up close and it never flopped or twitched. I'll see if I can find it for ya.
I'm not saying that its a myth because it doesnt ever happen. I'm saying that I dont think the flopping is a result of them being "more dead" because of a "hard hitting" load of (insert your favorite brand of choke tube or shell here___________).
I'm talking about a guy coming in and telling me that he shot that bird with "that hevi shot" or "Jelly head choke tube" and it hitting the bird so hard he "didnt even flop"...
I've shot turkey at various ranges with various loads and some of them were as direct of hit as you could ever make and the bird still flops. The opposite can also happen - not a ton of visible damage but the bird doesnt flop. Both are dead and the flopping (or lack of) had nothing to do with the load or choke, past the extent of killing him...dead is dead....a flopping dead bird is just as dead as a perfectly still dead bird IMO.
you have to shoot 3.5 inch shells to kill one!!
Quote from: guesswho on March 02, 2013, 01:40:24 PM
I missed!
:TooFunny: :TooFunny: :TooFunny: :TooFunny: :TooFunny:
That a bird that just slept all night in the rain will not walk around anywhere after flydown except in an open field so his wings will not get wet!
That you cannot move or a turkey will see you.