Patience

[TurkeyReaper69]

I think my lack of patience and attention span of a squirrel kills me more birds than sitting around being "patient". Often times when I am patient it is out of desperation.

[g8rvet]

Had a friend hunting with me opening morning. Massive storms had come through on Friday evening.  Not too windy in the morning, but warm, humid and overcast.  No gobbling birds.  At all.  We walked 2+ miles and did not strike any birds.  I had some places pre-scouted and there was one ridge that extended out like a finger between two large drains - both open and pretty.  It just looked like turkey woods.  We sat up there and called some soft, some aggressive and some in between and I said we would give it a little while.  I had just said to him, I know birds have heard us call this morning, but no one wants to play, let's give it a few more minutes.  5 minutes after that I heard him say "There he is".  I thought he was joking at first until I heard his breathing and the "snick" of the safety.  BOOM and I spin and see a tom flopping.  His first Florida bird!  The bird came straight up out of the bottom-straight to us on a string.  He was a 2 year old-had some torn tail feathers and some places on his side where the feathers had been knocked off. I think he was sneaking in to breed the hens without gobbling because he had been getting his butt whooped. Will go back this weekend to see if we can strike the one whooping him!  I think that was a patience bird.  Maybe if we had kept going we would have struck one, but no complaints from me.

[CowHunter71]

Knowing the Turkeys and knowing the ground, with confidence in a good setup, I have the patience of a rock

[RustyBarrels]

Love this question, especially because of the contradiction it puts me in. Those clear as a bell days, when the barometer reads over 30, seem like such a "waste" and nothing feels like it's clicking. Pure silence. But pick a spot where you can relax and settle in, enjoy your time alone outside, and it's a rewarding hunt. (Of course u gotta know the area is one they love to travel) Even more fun when a bird wakes you from a nap.
  Anything between dawn and noon: I like to move around, with one big exception.  After learning one particular Dom Tom, I eased in at 8 and set up camp 100yd from his strut zone. I knew this bird never wasted his time following hens around, and he never left "his" 10 acre area for long.
  Never engaged in a conversation with him at all. Just tried to sound like 2 indifferent hens minding their daily business. I pulled the trigger at 1:30PM. 25 lb, 1.5", Dirty Bird. Hardwork, Was it worth it? You bet ur sweetass

[CowHunter71]

Everyone says patience is #1 key to success to harvesting a bird. What is the dividing line between patience and wasting time?


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While sitting at public land gates over the years, waiting on the "impatient" to come out, I always get a chuckle when they tell me I am wasting my time going in behind them. Experience has taught me patience. Because of this, I am that last person you want to see waiting "patiently" for you to come out

[Paulmyr]

I think the effectiveness of being patient is a matter of perspective. An experienced hunter set up on a small flock of turkeys patiently waiting for the hens to disperse or for a satellite tom to make his presence know cannot not be compared to a beginner pulling up a tree and sitting for extended periods trying to blindly call up gobblers. The experienced hunter uses patience as a tool. He recognizes the situation and acts accordingly. The newb uses patience because that's what he heard kills turkeys. There's no situational awareness involved. Pick a tree and hope for the best is not patience IMO. One has a far greater chance at success than the other.

[GobbleNut]

I think the effectiveness of being patient is a matter of perspective. An experienced hunter set up on a small flock of turkeys patiently waiting for the hens to disperse or for a satellite tom to make his presence known cannot not be compared to a beginner pulling up a tree and sitting for extended periods trying to blindly call up gobblers. The experienced hunter uses patience as a tool. He recognizes the situation and acts accordingly. The newb uses patience because that's what he heard kills turkeys. There's no situational awareness involved. Pick a tree and hope for the best is not patience IMO. One has a far greater chance at success than the other.

Exactly.  For new hunters, this is probably the biggest misconception that is drilled into their heads when talking about having patience.  Patience without having the knowledge about to when to apply it has probably cost as many hunters a chance at a gobbler as has not being patient when the circumstances called for it.   

[Zobo]

As long as you're in and among the birds, in good habitat, you can be patient or more aggressive and you'll kill turkeys. Both methods  regularly work.

[maddog3355]

Patience is very much needed in turkey hunting but if I have the real estate to roam and nothing is going on I'm like a poster child for ADD!!!   I can write a book about not having enough patience, like moving on a turkey thinking I'll getting in front of it and have to sit there and listen to it gobble it's head off at the location I was last sitting at.

[Gooserbat]

Patience is when you know or at least believe your in the zone and you want to make something happen but the next move is in the birds hand.  Waisting time is hunting where there's no birds.  I might add, going in blind is somewhere in between and that's the tricky one for me. 

[Mallard1897]

I can recall about as many times moving on a bird only to have him gobble from original location just about as often as I've had one cruise by or head the other way with hens.

It's always going to be situational. If you have the whole season to hunt them, if you're hunting heavily pressured areas, if your days afield are limited; all things that will dictate how patient I am with a bird.

When I'm familiar with an area and how the birds use the terrain I'm more likely to stick around. In general I'm likely more conservative when it comes to moving on birds and have missed opportunities because of it. Most of the time I'd rather he beats me by leaving than by busting me though.

Some good points on this topic inspiring me to try and be more mobile this spring when the situation calls for it.

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