As I am unwinding from a busy Sunday's (I'm a bi-vocational pastor) I have been thinking about my years turkey hunting and the role confidence plays in success. I realize this may be silly to some, but humor me for a moment. I began turkey hunting in 1995. All I owned was an old revelation 12 gauge and a handmade box call. I knew precious little and everyone I asked seemed tight lipped about how to go about hunting a turkey. I managed to find some sign before season opened but was unable to hunt till a few weeks into the season. (This was before I knew that skipping college classes for turkey hunting was worth the risk!). Anyway when I finally went I found myself in the midst of five gobbling birds. They'd gobble and I'd yelp on that box. One bird, the closest one, got fired up to the point that he jumped off the limb and came running. It was a killing in self defense. Had I not shot him I believe he would have run right over me. Two things happened. I became forever hooked on turkey hunting and my confidence soared. For the next many years when I heard a bird I knew I could kill him. I rarely doubted my success when I set up on a bird and I was pretty hard on them. Even these tough Mississippi public land birds were not a whole lot of trouble. Seven years ago my son was born the day before season opened. I didn't hunt that year. My wife had a good bit of trouble and I simply couldn't be away. That being said, over the last seven six seasons I haven't hunted much and I lack the confidence I used to have. I've killed few (six to be precise) birds in those six seasons. Now when I set up on a bird I am constantly second guessing myself and invariably will make poor decisions. Last year I got on more birds than I ever have in a single season and only managed to get one to the gun. My point in all this rambling is that confidence plays a huge role in this most terrific sport. Do you feel the same way? Now if I could only get it back...
I totally agree, in my opinion if you lose confidence you start getting impatient and start making mistakes.
Nothing worse than self doubt. You obviously know how to kill turkeys. Put the negative thoughts away and go get a bird. Good luck!!
Although I agree with the idea that a person must feel confident in their abilities and methodology, I think a lot of what you are talking about is related to another topic that we have discussed here lately,....that is hunting pressure, and the consequential result of the turkeys wising up.
There was a time not too many years ago when a hunter who made the effort could pretty easily find gobblers that had not been messed with by other hunters enough that they would come to the call with regularity. Those birds, for those of us that have to hunt places that other hunters can hunt at will (i.e....public lands), have become much more rare. ...Not everywhere, but in a lot of places.
I used to hunt ten days a year and call in twenty or thirty gobblers during the season. Now I hunt twenty days a year, hunt a lot harder, and maybe call in five. The cause,....more hunters and the birds have wised up a bunch.
Of course, that decreasing success makes one think that he has lost the touch, but in reality, I think it is just the turkeys adapting. Also, with the increasing hunter pressure, the easy birds are getting thinned out a lot quicker nowadays.
Confidence and patience are keys to success.
Quote from: mlisandro on March 23, 2015, 08:24:28 AM
Confidence and patience are keys to success.
well said.
^
No doubt,good advise...
Believe that you are going to be successful in killing every gobbling turkey and if unsuccessful, believe it again the next time.
Turkeys get tougher to hunt with each passing year. The longer they have been hunted in a particular area the tougher they are.
You should be still be extremely surprised and somewhat shocked if a gobbler does not come within shotgun range of your calls. You do need a short memory, kind of like a closer in baseball.
:smiley-patriotic-flagwaver-an I have no fear that the birds will get shy or wary. That will keep the leaky booters out of the woods after the second weekend. More hunting for the "Faithful". Patience is the key, that seems to be a theme here.
I agree in confidence when hunting or fishing. I try to tell myself, "I'm going to get one today." In my early years, I did not have the confidence and the results showed. I would over think or give up.
My dad does not have the confidence while hunting and because of that, he does not give it 110%. This deer season he sat home, while I sat in the rain/fog and shot a nice buck. He didn't fish 2 weeks ago because it was cold, I got a nice mess of fish. Last year, he didn't want to hunt in the afternoon because the morning was slow and that afternoon, I called in 3 birds. I am not saying my dad is a bad hunter, he just doesn't have the confidence which in turn leads to him not trying as hard or pushing himself which is his choice.
Being in the outdoors requires mental strength and confidence. Good players don't walk up the free throw line and think, "I'm going to miss" or step to the plate and say, "I'm going to strike out."
Quote from: GobbleNut on March 23, 2015, 08:20:12 AM
Although I agree with the idea that a person must feel confident in their abilities and methodology, I think a lot of what you are talking about is related to another topic that we have discussed here lately,....that is hunting pressure, and the consequential result of the turkeys wising up.
There was a time not too many years ago when a hunter who made the effort could pretty easily find gobblers that had not been messed with by other hunters enough that they would come to the call with regularity. Those birds, for those of us that have to hunt places that other hunters can hunt at will (i.e....public lands), have become much more rare. ...Not everywhere, but in a lot of places.
I used to hunt ten days a year and call in twenty or thirty gobblers during the season. Now I hunt twenty days a year, hunt a lot harder, and maybe call in five. The cause,....more hunters and the birds have wised up a bunch.
Of course, that decreasing success makes one think that he has lost the touch, but in reality, I think it is just the turkeys adapting. Also, with the increasing hunter pressure, the easy birds are getting thinned out a lot quicker nowadays.
My sentiments exactly!!!
Without confidence you're just hoping
Yep confidence is a good part of the game...but like has been said its tougher hunting educated Birds :z-twocents:
Quote from: Longshot on March 23, 2015, 02:36:42 PM
Quote from: GobbleNut on March 23, 2015, 08:20:12 AM
Although I agree with the idea that a person must feel confident in their abilities and methodology, I think a lot of what you are talking about is related to another topic that we have discussed here lately,....that is hunting pressure, and the consequential result of the turkeys wising up.
There was a time not too many years ago when a hunter who made the effort could pretty easily find gobblers that had not been messed with by other hunters enough that they would come to the call with regularity. Those birds, for those of us that have to hunt places that other hunters can hunt at will (i.e....public lands), have become much more rare. ...Not everywhere, but in a lot of places.
I used to hunt ten days a year and call in twenty or thirty gobblers during the season. Now I hunt twenty days a year, hunt a lot harder, and maybe call in five. The cause,....more hunters and the birds have wised up a bunch.
Of course, that decreasing success makes one think that he has lost the touch, but in reality, I think it is just the turkeys adapting. Also, with the increasing hunter pressure, the easy birds are getting thinned out a lot quicker nowadays.
My sentiments exactly!!!
I think a booming turkey population can be a challenge. When a gobbler can fly down with twenty hens he does not need to gobble or travel to find hens.
I "turkey hunted" for several years as a youth with my father. We had no idea what we were doing and never killed any birds we more or less chased gobbles around the mountain making pitiful noises.
When I was 18 I purchased some walmart pot calls and really practiced them, called my first bird in and was hooked. The next year i met a friend of friend of my dads that was willing
Without knowing me at all to take me to NY for 4 days and show me the real ropes of turkey hunting and I tied two tags on birds and had the most memorable hunting experience of my life.
Those hunts gave me tons of confidence that I could kill turkeys and not just chase them. I've never killed less than 2 birds every year since and most years call in several more for others on extremely limited number of days in the field.
I agree with the others. Confidence will give a hunter or fishermen patience and persistence. Every time I hunt a mature buck or a long beard I say to myself... it is not a question if I am going to kill him only when I am going to kill him. I have a hunting partner that is a professional lacrosse player considered to be one of if not the best in the world. Two years ago he won the MVP of the professional lacrosse league. That year we would talk prior to a game and he set his sights high and had the confidence and determination to meet those expectations. He was scoring almost at will. He made it look easy. He then suffered from two back to back injuries and really struggled to regain his confidence and still has not gotten back to form. He says he thinks it is almost as much of his mental outlook as it is his health.
Go get em!
Some of the most successful turkey hunters I know are the most confident. Second guessing and being apprehensive have saved a many a gobblers life! Heard Ben Lee say..."Im either going to run him off or kill him."
Quote from: mlisandro on March 23, 2015, 08:24:28 AM
Confidence and patience are keys to success.
Confidence and patience go hand and hand... It is confidence that gives you the patience and/or tenacity to wait things out, "knowing" that bird will come in.
With some patience, you will have success, which will also give you confidence...
That being said, I have learned far more from the birds I did not kill than from the ones I did... Analyzing what went wrong, and what I did wrong, so that I do not make those same mistakes again actually adds to my confidence for my next outing.
The frustration of almost killing a bird also helps to add to that tenacity...
Quote from: tha bugman on March 24, 2015, 10:11:51 AM
Heard Ben Lee say..."Im either going to run him off or kill him."
There it is. :icon_thumright:
I'm always confident that there's a bird that wants me to kill him. I just gotta keep lookin til we find each other.
Quote from: Bigspurs68 on March 24, 2015, 02:14:43 PM
I'm always confident that there's a bird that wants me to kill him. I just gotta keep lookin til we find each other.
You should be confident that you're going to kill every bird not just the right one ;)
I find its easy to not have as much confidence when hunting new or unfamiliar areas, but part of the fun is "Learning". on my home turf my confidence is sky high. i know what they do and when they are going to do it. if i don't kill a turkey then it just wasn't going to happen that day.
if you will just go out and set your goal for "enjoying the day" in the turkey woods and not make it about having to kill something then the pressure is off. go have fun. enjoy just being outdoors
Quote from: turkey_slayer on March 24, 2015, 02:51:20 PM
Quote from: Bigspurs68 on March 24, 2015, 02:14:43 PM
I'm always confident that there's a bird that wants me to kill him. I just gotta keep lookin til we find each other.
You should be confident that you're going to kill every bird not just the right one ;)
trust me, I'm always confident that I'm gonna kill some!!!!
I'll put a little spin on the "confidence and patience" thing. Confidence is not hesitating to make a decision and can involve patience or making the right move at the right time. Lack of confidence makes you second guess. They're independent of each other.