Thought this might be fun & shed a little insight as to what everyone thinks makes a great turkey hunter. Don't have to name names, but who is the best turkey hunter you have had the pleasure of hunting with & what makes them such a good hunter?
Mine is actually a member of this team. His mouth call is so good it's a wonder he hasn't already been bred by an overly amorous Jake and he has the persistence of a bad cough. But the one characteristic that kills more birds than anything is his patience. I can't tell you how many birds we've been on together over the years that would have been spooked had I taken the lead. We are both aggressive hunters, but he doesn't mind if it takes 2 or 3 hours to close the gap on a henned up Tom where I am constantly trying to come up with ways to make it happen now. I get a lesson in patience every time we hunt together & have become a better hunter because of it.
I wish I could add to this but my hunting partners are limited. I hunt alone or with my friend Bruce. Sometimes his glass pot makes my heart start pounding, expecting something to come running. What makes either of us good (which is a stretch) is knowing the areas we hunt. Bruce started hunting one year before I did and only a few weeks of the season.
Together we have made enough mistakes to know what not to do 90% of the time. Guess I'm saying we learned the hard way and real fast.
I hunted turkeys several years in TN and some before I got here, but I really feel like a changed happened after a particular trip to Lincoln Co., TN. I hunted with Chris and my buddy McGee hunted with Craig. We both killed, and 3 years later I'm still huntin with them and still amazed at these guys ability to get on and kill birds. I think you could drop them off anywhere in the country and if there were turkeys there they would come back with a couple over their shoulder. They just think like Turkeys. I do think patience is a big part of their success. Chris came to hunt with me last year and still taught me something. I probably would have screwed up again that day, but he said lets go here and do this....and he killed. He had never stepped foot on that farm, but knew how to handle it better than I did. This aint no StrutnTom love fest :z-loveshower:, but I just don't believe there are better turkey hunters anywhere.....anywhere!
I had killed 4 turkeys in about six years of serious turkey hunting until that fateful trip to Fayetteville....in the three seasons since then I have added 16 to that list. I had a good friend that I have hunted with since college say to me "I dont know what they did to you but they taught you how to hunt turkeys". I agree.... I still screw up way more than I get it right. I really think a man needs to kill about 1000 before graduating from kindergarden to 1st grade and I've got a long way to go. Turkey's still make me look stupid on a regular basis, and I've got a lot to learn. But I sure am enjoying the ride. Thanks guys........ :z-guntootsmiley:
This is a tough question. I know and are friends with a number of guys that are great turkey hunters, they kill their limits every year. Some also get other species in other states every year. Funny thing is that we never hunt together.
A handiful of the guys are great woodsman, a few are great callers, one just has the best luck of anyone. Some have the time and are able to hunt 5 days a week.
If I had to pick two all around (besides myself) it would be Covehunter off this message board and a guy with the call name Captn Stan on the Georgia Waterfowler board. Those two guys seem to have it all. Woodsmanship, time, calling skill, and they take others..they share the love.
Well when it comes to the best I know now it has to be either Craig or Chris. I've hunted more with Chris so it leans towards him but Craig got a kill shot on the one and only time I hunted with him ... on camera.:-) anyway ... the best I've ever known was my grandpa. Now I never saw him kill a bird, but TONS of people did and one man told me at his funeral that he watched my grandpa kill a tom at 65 yards with a 16 guage! He taught me the best lesson ever the only time I hunted with him."If you call, and he answers, shutup! cause he knows where you are." And he was right, he called once to a bird over 300 yards of hardwoods ... two hours later we watched that bird POP out of the woods directly where the gobble had come from. Now we didn't kill that bird, but to this day it rings true.
Quote from: Wehuntproductions on February 08, 2011, 08:51:25 PM
Well when it comes to the best I know now it has to be either Craig or Chris. I've hunted more with Chris so it leans towards him but Craig got a kill shot on the one and only time I hunted with him ... on camera.:-) anyway ... the best I've ever known was my grandpa. Now I never saw him kill a bird, but TONS of people did and one man told me at his funeral that he watched my grandpa kill a tom at 65 yards with a 16 guage! He taught me the best lesson ever the only time I hunted with him."If you call, and he answers, shutup! cause he knows where you are." And he was right, he called once to a bird over 300 yards of hardwoods ... two hours later we watched that bird POP out of the woods directly where the gobble had come from. Now we didn't kill that bird, but to this day it rings true.
Aint that something about those old timers.....a few have told me the same. I just cant make myself sit there.
Quote from: savduck on February 08, 2011, 09:05:14 PM
Quote from: Wehuntproductions on February 08, 2011, 08:51:25 PM
Well when it comes to the best I know now it has to be either Craig or Chris. I've hunted more with Chris so it leans towards him but Craig got a kill shot on the one and only time I hunted with him ... on camera.:-) anyway ... the best I've ever known was my grandpa. Now I never saw him kill a bird, but TONS of people did and one man told me at his funeral that he watched my grandpa kill a tom at 65 yards with a 16 guage! He taught me the best lesson ever the only time I hunted with him."If you call, and he answers, shutup! cause he knows where you are." And he was right, he called once to a bird over 300 yards of hardwoods ... two hours later we watched that bird POP out of the woods directly where the gobble had come from. Now we didn't kill that bird, but to this day it rings true.
Aint that something about those old timers.....a few have told me the same. I just can make myself sit there.
so true - doesn't matter how much patience you got, that Tom always has more...
Last year I hunted w a family friend whos a retired guy.This guy cant remember how many turkeys he's killed.He's killed a limit for as long as he can remember and his big thing is def. patience but mostly to not over call. He does have alot of time to hunt but he taught me alot about being patient and calling soft. I know the guys on the tv shows want to make a bird gobble alot for a good show but I mostly purr,cluck,and scratch the leaves. I rarely yelp loud or cut unless its to locate(which I prefer to do w/a crow or peacock). He got me to listening to real hens and most of the time when they're calm thats all they're doing.I know sometimes a henned up tom can need to be called at more aggressively but usually that'll just bring the hens to you instead of pulling the tom away.Which is good! :)Getting him all fired up on the limb just keeps him up there longer and he's prob going w/ the hens right off the roost if there there anyway. If I have a turkey cut me off up in the morning or during the day im getting sat down and taking the safety off cause he's looking for me! Anyway, sorry about the rant Im just so fired up I need to talk about it!! :TooFunny: I know im not telling you guys stuff you dont already know it just helps pass the time!
I have hunted with a lot of real good gobbler hunters, but 2 stand out in my mind. My granddaddy, Smith Eason and a old friend Tom Atkinson, both are now huntin in the happy huntin grounds. They taught me so much about turkey habits, being a good woodsman and being a veerryyy patient hunter. Neither called loud or very much, both were box call hunters...they made their calls and they let the gobbler hunt them...both from the old school. When I turkey hunted with them, both where in their 70's...they had tons of time and patience!! They were gobbler killers and I'm much better for having hunted with them...I think about them both when I'm tryin to out wait some off these tough old birds.
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The best turkey hunter i know started hunting these birds before they were ever reintoduced in Tennessee. He would tell me how he would get up at 3:00 in the a.m and cross two ridges and a major highway just because he thought he heard a turkey gobble.( keep in mind we were 13 or 14 at the time) I thought he was crazy at the time but i listened intently. Now as time went on he wld try to get me to go with him and finally i did. To make a long story shorter; he was patient with me and has a love for the sport like no other. He drug me around in the woods made me be still and let me use his gun when i took my first shot at a turkey. It's his fault i have this addiction now!! He taught the how, when, and where's of turkey hunting and whether i was ready or not he taught me how to hunt them on my own. I guess you can say he built the foundation for the hunter that i am now. :you_rock:
This is simple theirs no one else like him he's the feller that got got me started showed me the ropes an set me on my way to learn they don't makem like him these day he may not have killed a bunch of turkeys or deer but he showed me what hunting was all about not just the harvest an for all of this I have to thank my father for being the best turkey hunter I know...