What's the Biggest Turkey Hunting MYTH????

[redleg06]

What's the Biggest Myth you usually hear about turkey & turkey hunting???


I'll start by saying that I dont buy into the idea that turkey get "call shy"...  I just dont believe they are intelligent enough to become call shy. 

What say the rest of you?  Whether it be your thoughts about "call shy" or any other "myth".....

[Hognutz]

That you need #4 shot to kill one..

[lightsoutcalls]

I may have to disagree about birds becoming "call shy".  Maybe that isn't the best terminology to use...

Turkeys are definitely a wary bird.  When something spooks them, they bug out and may not go back to that area for some time.  I think they are smart enough to associate sounds with danger.  If their hearing is such that they can bust you when your jacket brushes against bushes or you step on a twig, I think they can differentiate the sound or hens in their area from sounds that may sound somewhat similar. 
I have heard other folks calling in the woods.  While I am no competition caller, some of the calling I heard, I could quickly tell was not a real turkey.  In fact, one time I heard a hunter calling in a piece of woods where I had not heard or seen turkeys in several years.  I made sure  I got well out of shotgun range and answered his horrible friction calling with a tube call gobble.  He would call, I would get further away and respond with a gobble... all the way back to the truck.  I nearly busted a gut as I slowly drove down the road gobbling away. 
That said, I have also heard a hen from no more than 5 yards away that sounded like she had been smoking menthols all her life.  If I had made a call that sounded like that hen, it would have left the shop only in the garbage can.

[I-55Bandit]

that gobblers won't cross creeks

[Tail Feathers]

The biggest myth is that turkeys can see thru trees.

That's not true, they cannot.  They can, however, see around trees.

[Neill_Prater]

That humans are more intelligent than turkeys. I have, on several occasions, proven that assumption to be incorrect!  Neill

[ghillie]

That they are EASY to kill....

[redarrow]

That particular bird can't be killed.The worst hunter in the woods can kill that bird when everything falls in line.Dumb luck is better than no luck.

[870FaceLift]

That they are EASY to kill....

This is the assumption from most folks up here that have never actually hunted them.  Seeing a flock in a field in the winter is a lot different than than shooting a mature gobbler at 20 yards after an hour or more of playing cat and mouse.

[busta biggun]

"You can only kill a turkey in the morning. Usually after flydown. After that they basically shut down."

I actually hope the hunters by me keep believing this! I love watching a truck leave and then I slip in and carry out a turkey 3-4 hours later!

[harvester]

They won't walk through thick stuff, brush, high weeds,growed up fields, etc...

[J Hook Max]

 That you must have a lot of patience to kill turkeys. I have very little patience and I have killed a whole bunch of turkeys. But maybe, I would have killed many more ?

[Garrett Trentham]

- "Turkeys are smart."
    Turkeys have a brain the size of a walnut. They have very little problem solving ability. I've seen them battle with a hog wire fence for a half an hour when they could easily hop right over it. They are not smart. What they are is wary. They have extremely well developed eyesight and hearing. Turkeys rely heavily on these two senses to avoid predators. They also can be highly inconsistent with their behaviors. Some days they are very responsive to calls, others they aren't. Some of this varies from bird to bird, and even from season to season with a particular bird. There are very few constants in turkey hunting. When they don't do what we want, we assume that they saw right through our scheme.

- "A turkey will never..."
    I can tell you that's BS right off the bat. A turkey is liable to do just about anything you can imagine, either be ready for it or accept failure when you aren't.

[budtripp]

That killing them with a bow out of a blind is harder than using a shotgun and no blind. I really enjoy hunting both ways, however when I hear tent sitting bowhunters claim their superiority it really grinds my gears. Only thing more difficult about that is packing in all the crap on your back, blind, chair, decoys etc.

[30_06]

You can't call a turkey down hill.