Is over confident's just about killing Turkeys

[Greg Massey]

School is in session every day in the turkey woods. From the minute you leave your truck until the second legal shooting hour expires. I think people can pretty much become to over confident and make mistakes with being successful in turkey hunting. Experience and what to expect and how to react is all a part of becoming a good woodsman. No matter where you hunt you must spend time with turkeys to learn about their habitat, you must scout, watch and spend time to learn more about these birds and later on it will pay big dividends.  Being a successful turkey hunter is more than I'M JUST A KILLER OF TURKEYS you have to become excellent woodsman, that can call and are skilled with the tools needed to get the job done. More than a lot of other outdoor activity, turkey hunting requires persistence, patience and positive attitude. Spring turkey hunting can change in a second, turning a bad day of hunting into a hunt of a lifetime. Turkeys have a nature of acting in a seemingly random fashion, not following any pattern or mode of behavior from day to day. Without question, experience, woodsmanship skills, scouting and learning are some of the most important factors in turkey hunting success. So again can we become so over confident that killing is all we think about as a turkey hunter? Sometimes i think we become to over confident in thinking it's just about i'm a killer of turkeys. It more of just having the opportunity and enjoying what nature has to offer and how bless we are to hunt these birds. So again as hunters let's not get to the point that it's just i'm a killing machine of these animals if you get to that point i would suggest you take a few years off from turkey hunting. This is again just my opinion of becoming over confident in our ability as hunters at my age of 60 and all the years i've hunted i still want to learn about these turkeys and how to become a better woodsman. I never want to say i'm the best turkey hunter, were never to old to keep learning our sport of hunting and to keep improving our ability and confidence.

[Tunaguy]

Here,here.Well spoken. You have just given me a uplift for this weekends opening day. Although I scouted last weekend and didn't come up with much,you're right,turkeys are on turkey time and can totally surprise us. Thanks for the morale booster.

Tunaguy
NY

[Bill Cooksey]

Well said.

[WildTigerTrout]

If you want to become a better turkey hunter IMO than hunt them "Old School" without decoys and blinds. Too many hunters today, like it or not rely on blinds and decoys to make up for lack of woodsmanship skills.

[GobbleNut]

Greg, I think I know where you are coming from with your comments,...and if I am not mistaken, I believe it is coming from comments made in another recent thread.  I agree completely,...if I am understanding you correctly. 

My summation is that when someone gets to the point where turkey hunting is just a body count,...rather than a celebration of this magnificent wild creature that brings us all together here,...then that individual needs to take a step back and evaluate himself and his motives.  All of us hunt with the goal of harvesting a bird on occasion, but in all frankness, when that goal becomes a tunnel-vision mission to put as many gobblers on the ground each spring just to be able to proclaim ones superiority over other hunters, I think that individual has lost sight of the true point of it all. 

With todays tools available, anybody that really wants to become a good, successful turkey hunter can do so.  All is takes is a bit of time, dedication to the sport, and a decent place to go hunting.  Once someone reaches that point, the real goal each spring should be to apply those skills learned while celebrating the process.  Given adequate opportunity, most of us that have been doing this for a while will kill a few birds each spring,...while at the same time making sure we leave some in the woods for the next guy,...and the next year. 

[Bill Cooksey]

I believe you hit the nail on the head. I'll add though that having confidence one can kill every turkey he hears doesn't necessarily mean hunting for the "body count" and/or being a bit of a game hog. I have that kind of confidence. Sometimes it's misplaced, but sometimes it isn't.

I'll hear or see a bird and go through the process of figuring out how to kill that bird, and often I'll decide it either isn't worth it or I wouldn't enjoy that hunt. I'll walk away to find another. When I get beat by a bird, I believe it's because I made a mistake. Those birds are some of my fondest memories, and I've learned more from them than any of the birds I killed.

If a turkey hunter can't fail to kill a bird while also feeling like he had a great hunt, he needs to take up golf.

[Greg Massey]

Greg, I think I know where you are coming from with your comments,...and if I am not mistaken, I believe it is coming from comments made in another recent thread.  I agree completely,...if I am understanding you correctly. 

My summation is that when someone gets to the point where turkey hunting is just a body count,...rather than a celebration of this magnificent wild creature that brings us all together here,...then that individual needs to take a step back and evaluate himself and his motives.  All of us hunt with the goal of harvesting a bird on occasion, but in all frankness, when that goal becomes a tunnel-vision mission to put as many gobblers on the ground each spring just to be able to proclaim ones superiority over other hunters, I think that individual has lost sight of the true point of it all. 

With todays tools available, anybody that really wants to become a good, successful turkey hunter can do so.  All is takes is a bit of time, dedication to the sport, and a decent place to go hunting.  Once someone reaches that point, the real goal each spring should be to apply those skills learned while celebrating the process.  Given adequate opportunity, most of us that have been doing this for a while will kill a few birds each spring,...while at the same time making sure we leave some in the woods for the next guy,...and the next year.

Yes you read it right.. if you feel this way of just trying to be a Turkey Killing Machine you have lost the reason the good lord bless us with these turkeys... Agree Bill Cooksey... they need to take up golf.

[TauntoHawk]

I'm missing the correlation between "confidence" in ones ability to kill turkeys and putting too much focus on "killing/or body count"..

[hobbes]

I agree with your comments.  I also think Gobblenut made a good summation.  We've probably all been through stages of "over confidence".  I've got roughly 27 years (a drop in the bucket compared to some of you guys) in hunting these great birds and can think back to different stages along the ride thus far where i thought i had it figured out and recognize times that I didnt know near as much as I thought.  That in itself gives me some indication that I've grown along the way.  I hope 10 years from now I'll look back at this stage and say "I wish I had known that then". It will indicate I've not given up on learning.

I think I know which thread brought this on and hope my comments weren't taken wrong.  The misconception that I think some folks have is that there is some magic step to take to suddenly have every bird in the woods lay down and give in, that one improvement that takes the ordinary to elite status (whatever that is).  That just isn't the case.  While working towards any one improvement may be a good goal, it isn't going to change much for someone with minimal time, minimal turkeys, or minimal understanding of turkey behavior. 
I suppose that some refer to it as woodsmanship.  Whatever you call it, I've hunted with some buddies through the years that could call quite well, they even knew where to find the birds, but a turkey had to fall from heaven for them to kill one because they just suck as a hunter. 

Also, recognizing that a lot of what a turkey does has no rhyme or reason other than him going about his daily life surviving as a turkey.  He's seldom purposely avoiding you.  Recognise that and it becomes apparent that a big part of killing these birds is hunting hard for the right opportunity. Days of no luck and borderline depression changes in a matter of seconds and you're standing with your foot on a Tom's neck.

[Farmboy27]

I'm confident that on the right day I can kill any turkey out there. I believe lack of confidence is a sure set up for failure. I can understand a beginner not having much confidence but anyone with experience should hit the woods with a "if I stick with it, I'll succeed" attitude. That doesn't mean I'm obsessed with the "body count". But I do want to kill turkeys. If I just wanted to hear them and call to them I'd save a lot of money on guns and shells.

[Happy]

I don't believe that it's all about killing turkeys. For many yes, however there are also a large number of people putting all their confidence in gizmos and gadgets instead of their ability. They only way to gain confidence is to prove it to yourself and if you believe in your abilities and your ability to learn then you will gain confidence. I always tell my kids when they are struggling "if you don't believe in yourself then don't expect anyone else to". I try to always go out in the morning with a "killer" mindset. I am going out tomorrow fully believing that a bird is spending his last night on the roost. I hope he had a good day today. Because tomorrow ain't gonna be so good. That being said, if I don't kill a bird tomorrow is that a wasted hunt? Absolutely not! I was hunting and I love to play the game. I will go out the next hunt and the hunt after that with the same mindset. If you can't enjoy the game even if you loose then maybe you shouldn't play.

[silvestris]

I carry a world of confidence into the woods, not that he will die, but that he will come.  They all don't, of course, but I have become pretty adept at determining whether a particular turkey will come.  I pointed out one gobbling bird across the creek to my son and said he will not come; he didn't.  I pointed out another across the creek and told him that he would come; he did.  And later in the morning, I told him that the bird we were calling to would come; he did and my son killed his first.  I can't tell you how I know these things as after 42 years of chasing them, I don't think about it, I just know and I am rarely wrong.

[Happy]

Confidence.

[2eagles]

Some really good thoughts here. It doesn't make any difference what I'm hunting for, I plan on bringing home game. If a hunt begins with an I don't think I'll do good today attitude, you're already defeated and should probably stay home. To me, after hunting for over 60 seasons, it comes down to having fun. I enjoy getting up stupid early in the AM. I enjoy the ride. I try to enjoy the whole time hunting. If I'm lucky enough to bring home the bacon, I enjoy eating the gift. Have fun. Get it?

[g8rvet]

We are all hunting for sport. That, to me, means I am hunting to enjoy the process.  If killing the turkey is not the ultimate end goal, then why bother with a gun?  But when I am competing in the turkey woods, I am competing with the turkey. Not with other turkey hunters.  I could care less if someone thinks I am a good turkey hunter.  I could care less if someone approves of my methods of turkey hunting.  On the flip side, I don't care how others (legally) turkey hunt as long as it does not affect my hunting (nor mine, theirs).  In today's world, a lot of folks like to make a living out of hunting (duck, turkey, deer) or fishing (redfish, bass, etc) and do so with guiding, tournaments, endorsements.  Part of doing that means they have to advertise themselves and frankly I am disgusted by a lot of it.  Advertising a guide service is appropriate for getting clients, but some take it too far with pushing themselves as the greatest ever.  Others push themselves just to stroke their own ego. I know duck hunters, quail hunters, tarpon fishermen, turkey hunters, deer hunters etc that all do that and I just no longer have time for them.  Many of them like to stroke their own ego by putting down the methods or the results of others.  Seems sad to me.  But I also know I ain't gonna teach them nothing their momma or daddy did not teach them, so it is just easiest to laugh at their expense and let it go. 

When I get to the point where my self worth is tied to my success killing ducks or turkeys or catching redfish, I will stop doing all of it.  It is for fun, period.  It is my avocation, not my vocation. 

Don't get me wrong, just like when I coached youth football, I told the young'uns that we were playing for fun and it is more fun to win. But you better enjoy the work and the process or the winning is just an empty result.  Winning with no effort is a hollow victory.  Killing the turkey, on my own self guided terms, is the point.  We would all be happier if we worried about what we can control (ourselves) and not what we can't (others). 

Just my thoughts on this and the other thread.  Not that they are worth a hill of beans to anyone but me.