Confidence

[TauntoHawk]

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.

[1tiogabowhunter]

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! 

[tha bugman]

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."

[Marc]

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...

[paboxcall]

Heard Ben Lee say..."Im either going to run him off or kill him."

There it is.   

[Bigspurs68]

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.

[turkey_slayer]

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

[jwhunter]

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

[Bigspurs68]

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!!!!

[chcltlabz]

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.