Just curious with all the trinkets and gadgets what really makes a turkey hunt successful for most? Is it having to kill one at all costs. If you kill one you kill one?etc...Seems like so many people are interested and going to Tss it's hard to believe everyone wants a turkey that dead at 40ish yards.
Not bashing anyone. Sometimes I use decoys sometimes I don't. If it's raining or I'm with my kid I'll use a blind. Most generally I prefer not to though. I also use H-13 #7s. At 40ish yards or less it hammers them.
If I feel like I'm becoming to successful I've switched over to a bow and after awhile of being humbled with misses and no success it's back to shotgun again.
I guess I'm in the I like to kill one once in awhile,but don't have to category. Mainly like to kill one enough to make me feel like I know what im doing,but not to much where It wouldn't be a challenge which keeps me thinking all year about it and wanting to go all the time.
I can also understand where fellow hunters get a different sense of accomplishment with blind or without,Bow verse gun, Decoy verse no decoy,etc..
I remember when I was a kid and had one good coonhound,leash made from a rope and snap,cheap boots,and cheap flashlight. I never knew I was missing much. Hunted all season and a little in the off season just to keep my dog in shape. Had a whole lot of fun on the weekends with friends going along.
When I got older and back into hounds again I had 4 or 5 of them. Traveled all over to competition hunts,all the latest equipment, ran dogs 5 days a week at least and after awhile it became work and then I lost interest.
I guess that's why I mix up the way I turkey hunt keeps it fun and challenging.
Anyone else mix up the way they hunt?? Or just hunt the same way all the time??
If I'm in the woods turkey hunting, its successful. Actually anymore, if I'm in the woods, its successful. Happy new year to everyone!
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Success to me is watching one die. I can have a good time without one dieing but that's not success in my book. I'll use any tactic I see ethical to kill one.
I think Fred Bear said it best.
What makes it for me is patterning and seeing a bird before the season, then killing that bird. I spend way more time scouting than I do hunting.
Some of my most memorable hunts ended with no bird. Ultimately my goal is to kill one every time.
I like your Arnold quote Sir-diealot. I write a devotional for a small group of friends and my most recent dealt with life's struggles.
Turkey hunting is a lot like that quote, it is the hunts you struggle on that you learn from. A big part of being successful is learning what does not work.
For me I consider the goal killing a gobbler, but am often a little down when I filled that last tag. The most fulfilling seasons are the ones with the most struggles and mistakes. I like hunting smart old birds, but enjoy the dumb two year old as well. Many years I have filled my two tags the first two days of season and actually felt disappointed. I like to hunt more than kill, but killing is still the measure of success. I grew up that way because we were poor and hunted as much for food as fun and failure meant there may not be meat on the table. The hunt was not as fun if all you had for the table was potatoes and green beans.
Simply put I an always trying to kill a turkey when hunting them. However I will not kill one unless I feel I have beaten him and earned it. It's good for a person to loose and struggle. It also makes the success sweeter.
As I have gotten older I began to realize that the kill was the end and began to enjoy the hunt. The experience to me is what it is all about, the stories of the mistakes, the beauty of just being outdoors. Last Spring while sitting on a hilltop I watched an incredible sunrise that I still think about. To each the hunt or kill is different but for me it is being out there.
For me, the last paragraph in Gene Nunnerys' The Old Pro Turkey Hunter pretty well sums it up:
"Later in life as you meditate and enjoy the memories of your hunting years, up will come one of these old gobblers who bested you and finally at that point in time you will be the victor. Man that's real turkey hunting"
This is a great question,...and quite honestly, it took me a while to try to formulate my thoughts and answer as to the definition of "success" for me. In my contemplation, at first, it was just a jumble of thoughts about all the aspects of turkey hunting that are important,...basically, hunting a place that has turkeys and in which I can apply the turkey hunting methods that I like to use in hunting them.
Considering the idea of whether killing a gobbler is, or is not, important, I eventually came to the conclusion that, if all of the important "stuff" for me in the hunt are there, then I will most likely end up by killing one. On the other hand, I have hunted places where I eventually killed a gobbler,...but had to resort to tactics that really did not suit me or my turkey hunting "style".
Were those hunts a "success"? Yes and no. I was happy to leave with a bird, but not all that happy with the overall experience because it was not my exact idea of what a turkey hunt is all about.
Another question to ask here is whether each of us would trade a "crummy" hunt that we ended up killing a gobbler for a really great hunt that we somehow did not manage to kill one? That's a tough one for me to honestly answer. At the end of it all, I really like having a bird in hand.
I bow hunt turkeys on public ground in 3 states nowadays. I use a Ghost blind, Double Bull blind and decoys. Don't care to take time away from my family to not be successful. To change things up I gun hunt at home and in Fall. Only killed a 3rd of my birds with gun.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190101/3cd2f3011179eb844fdf3f14b206fd53.jpg)
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If I hear one gobble its a success, I've reached the point in life where just getting in the woods and back safe is what its all about. If I never kill another I would be alright with that.
if I wake up above the grass and I'm able to hunt that day it's a success,
I'm to the point, and have been for a long time, where I don't care if I ever kill another one. That's not saying I don't enjoy it because I enjoy it now as much as I did 50 plus years ago. I'd much rather have fun with someone trying to kill one, than kill one where smiles and laughter wasn't a big part of it.
For me the hardest part of hunting anymore is time, just finding time to hunt. So success is simply making it out and enjoy the best time of year to be in the woods.
I've always averaged a better chance of killing a bird then not on a full day of hunting when on private so killing them isn't that hard. Public adds to the challenge and traveling to out of state on public more so. I don't use decoys because I hate carrying them around and find that unless you are trying to get a bird to dance around for a camera they are a mute point of you just need him to stick his head up. That would change if I hunted giant flat fields I would imagine.
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I really enjoy taking kids and other hunters, particularly non experienced ones into our mountains and calling birds for them. The excitement that they show is amazing. Every morning I spend in the woods is a successful day for me.
Gobblenut, I have had my share of crummy hunts that killed a bird and great hunts that left me scratching my head.....I ultimately measure success in a kill, but I love a match of whits too. Gosh you had to ask didn't you.
I think my experience from last year will shed some real light on how I feel deep down. I did not kill a bird for 5 days in my home state of Ohio, but I was on birds everyday. I hunted two birds by my house and had a couple others close. I had birds fighting in front of me, breeding in front of me and Gobbling like fools. I can't count how many times I nearly pulled the trigger, but it was a bunch. In that time I let a friend shoot one bird. The first Saturday I stayed by the house on our land and went after the bird behind my house. I sparred with this old long beard for 4 hours and finally killed him...he wasn't big, he was just a adult gobbler. I was happy as an old dog with a new bone. The other bird I was after I put a friend and his deaf mute son on and they killed him. The hugs from that kid meant more than any gobbler in my pouch. So now three of my birds are dead and I still have a tag. Then birds went silent on me and I struggled to work a bird. The first Monday of our third week I decide to hook up the bush hog and start mowing. In the process I cut my hand and had to go get stitches. when I came home my wife told me there was a strutter in the back field. I looked and sure enough there he was. So i grab my gun and a call and slip down the fence row, with only a camo jacket. I had decided I just give a go like the wild throw of a rock and did not expect anything. That bird turned immediately toward me and ran right up the fence row and I killed him standing by a tree. I felt like I had cheated and was guilty of doing something wrong. I slipped to a set up and called him in, but I just felt crummy.....no it was not a good hunt or experience. I was frustrated with my injury and hunting and I just done it because I could. Afterward I wish I hadn't. So a kill does not make a crummy hunt a good hunt to me.
eggshell/ gobblenut, I know exactly what you are saying. Some kills are way more gratifying to me than others.
I've had several different times turkey hunting I actually did not shoot if I didn't call them in. One morning for instance during fall I woke up a little late and when heading into where I was going to hunt at least 40 birds pitched down and landed almost at my feet and off in front of me. I didn't shoot I wouldn't have felt like I accomplished anything other than killing and having blind luck. I enjoy the challenge of bringing birds into the call close and if I don't accomplish my goal I'll buy one from the store.. ;D
All romantic notions aside and just enjoy being in the woods. That said I especially enjoy shooting stuff, most of all turkeys.
I've deer hunted all of my life but have only seriously turkey hunted the past 3 years. A guy took me once and I fell in love with it, with that being said I basically have taught myself how to call, this being the case if I call one into shooting distance that is a successful hunt for me.
First year I could get them to about 70 or 80 yds and I felt that was a successful year given I was a newbie.
Second year I called a really good one in and just missed, to me that was successful hunt for what I wanted to do.
Last season I called one in and shot him 5 minutes after daylight, that was definitely successful. I spent the rest of the year calling for a guy I deer hunt with and got one close but the jake decoy spooked him and he never got close enough so I definitely need to work on my late season tactics.
Basically though anytime I call one in or learn something new I consider it successful hunt.
This year the 3 other guys I deer hunt with all want to turkey hunt and basically I am sort of teaching them the ropes (still learning myself), so my definition of success may change. It does help we picked up another property for deer that is loaded with turkeys.
If I never kill another turkey, I've killed more than my share...... That being said, I get a bigger thrill from watching one of my kids or someone who's never seen it done before than I get from killing one myself. THAT being said......my heart STILL pounds now, when I've got an old longbeard about to commit assisted suicide in front of me, like it pounded 40 years ago when I started with this sickness.
My hunts are all inherently satisfying and gratifying.......sunrises watched, gobbles heard, wild flowers photographed, other critters seen, God's awesome creation appreciated....... And gratifying is fine with me. But I am out there hunting a longbeard. To be truly "successful".......by definition.......a harvest takes place.
I gotta say I love turkey hunting best of all. Hearing the gobble and working a bird is a blast for me. The ultimate goal is getting a bird and I still love that moment.
Taking the grandkids and seeing them get one tops even that tho. Watching their reaction to the first gobble of a wild turkey is one of the great pleasures of my life. I have two more that start turkey hunting this spring. I'm already excited about that.
I hunt everyday of the Spring season across several states each year. My goal in each state is to kill my limit but only with a call and shotgun I would rather finish a season with no gobblers killed than resort to some of garbage folks call hunting nowadays. I have hunted several Gobblers over the years that I never killed and considered each hunt a success because I learned something from each encounter. I've learned way more from the older gobblers that got away than from the two year olds that made it seem easy.
Most of my turkey hunting is all done on Public land. So if I can figure out where I bird might be and or get him to come in to my call that is success hunt, kill him or not. A lot can and dose go wrong on public land that prevents a kill. I killed eight birds in six states last year, seven were on public ground. The eight bird that was an Eastern on private land in MN, that was on my own land. Even though I had to hunt that Eastern hard for two days, because he was henned up. I didn't get as much satisfaction in killing him as the public land birds. And that was because I knew I didn't have to worry that someone else was going to sneak in between me and shoot him first. And if asked then why I didnt hunt that eastern on public, because was running out of time off. I was trying to finish a double single year Grand Slam.
After losing hunting for 17 years it really is being out there that means the most to me. I have never gotten a turkey, I am sure I would have if not for my car accident but now I really enjoy the time spent out in the field, the people I hunt with and the wonders of nature I get to see. I remember looking to my right one morning sitting against a tree in a gully and seeing an intricate spider web full of morning dew with the sun shining on it and making it glisten, one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
My successes come in many forms, I have always been about getting others involved in the outdoors. I took my dad on his first turkey hunt and his last, and the memories that go with it. I have taken many friends and family, introduced many other youth hunters and first timers turkey hunting. I do like to see a bird laying on the ground on those kids hunt, I do like a bird beating me and me having another day to beat him even if it has been years in the making. In the past 15 years my challenge has been putting them birds right in your face with both gun and bow, then I started getting into videoing the hunts and added a new twist to the game. I have developed my own products to use and shared that too! This last year I started my own business doing display mounts and going pretty well.
At the end of the day the thing that makes it for me is in the challenge, sharing the hunt and passing it on, and it's not based on using a decoy or not, a blind or not it's all based on the hunt!
Of course I still like to pull the trigger a time or two :)
I'm HOOK'd
MK M GOBL
A day in the turkey woods is a success to me. Being there as the woods wake up is awesome!! The chill of the morning air. The moon above giving way to the sun. Wind whistling through the pines. Songbirds and owls doing their thing and eliciting gobbles. :gobble: Watching the woodland denizens going about their lives. The competition of trying to get a gobbler to come to you. That my friends is success.
Every now and again, actually getting a gobbler :turkey: is just icing on the cake. :hb2:
Personally, I support the right to use any legal method of hunting, even if it is something that I would never do. I'm building a 20 ga. TSS turkey gun as we speak. Most of the time I use dekes, sometimes I don't. Very occasionally I use a pop up blind, but not very often. I've never tried reaping, but it does seem pretty cool, and is probably something I'll try, but won't be my go to tactic. I try to call them in, but I'm not above crawling after them if they won't come to me.
To each their own is my opinion, as long as it is legal. Ethical? That depends on who you are talking to.
Quote from: Tail Feathers on January 01, 2019, 02:59:28 PM
I gotta say I love turkey hunting best of all. Hearing the gobble and working a bird is a blast for me. The ultimate goal is getting a bird and I still love that moment.
Taking the grandkids and seeing them get one tops even that tho. Watching their reaction to the first gobble of a wild turkey is one of the great pleasures of my life. I have two more that start turkey hunting this spring. I'm already excited about that.
Absolutely on the first part!!! :icon_thumright:
My grandkids aren't old enough yet for the turkey woods, but when they are, I am very much looking forward to taking them out.