Is it easier to kill turkeys solo? Am I hindering my growth as a turkey hunter?

[Sevenyearsandcounting]

Congrats. That's a good bird.

Thanks happy! Hey I really want to post the birds photo. It keeps saying file too big and like every photo I have it's on my phone.

If anyone can help that'd be awesome. Unless I just need to download them to my lap top and then do it?

[beakbuster10]

Congrats on finally getting it done, but I'll throw my .02 into what's going wrong for you. You're just not setup between where a bird wants to be and where he is at any given time. There is just no way after all that time in the woods you got your first bird. From the sounds of it, you're covering a lot of ground scouting and hunting but it seems like it's too much ground to really know the land. Turkey hunting for the past 12 years has made me such a better deer hunter in the fall and really hunter in general; because to kill consistently turkeys you have to know every ditch, fence, creek, hill, hedgerow, thicket and logging path on your piece of dirt to know where a bird wants to and will not go.
Also don't get down on yourself. I've had a few days to a week where it seemed like I did nothing right. Then I actually think about what went wrong and why, and go every morning for the next week calling a bird to someone's gun barrel. That's what's so great about turkey hunting, you can go from jester of $h1# mountain to the king of the world in the snap of your fingers.
Also from the way you talk here about knowing exactly where the bird always goes but then he doesn't when you're hunting; that leads me to believe you're chasing the same turkey too much. They can sense hunting pressure, yes they are dumb birds but he will eventually figure out that when I hear this nasty sounding girl in the woods and never see her or I see a big camo blob by a tree, I'm not going thAt way and or I'm going to wait for her to come to me while I go the other way.


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[Sevenyearsandcounting]

Congrats on finally getting it done, but I'll throw my .02 into what's going wrong for you. You're just not setup between where a bird wants to be and where he is at any given time. There is just no way after all that time in the woods you got your first bird. From the sounds of it, you're covering a lot of ground scouting and hunting but it seems like it's too much ground to really know the land. Turkey hunting for the past 12 years has made me such a better deer hunter in the fall and really hunter in general; because to kill consistently turkeys you have to know every ditch, fence, creek, hill, hedgerow, thicket and logging path on your piece of dirt to know where a bird wants to and will not go.
Also don't get down on yourself. I've had a few days to a week where it seemed like I did nothing right. Then I actually think about what went wrong and why, and go every morning for the next week calling a bird to someone's gun barrel. That's what's so great about turkey hunting, you can go from jester of $h1# mountain to the king of the world in the snap of your fingers.
Also from the way you talk here about knowing exactly where the bird always goes but then he doesn't when you're hunting; that leads me to believe you're chasing the same turkey too much. They can sense hunting pressure, yes they are dumb birds but he will eventually figure out that when I hear this nasty sounding girl in the woods and never see her or I see a big camo blob by a tree, I'm not going thAt way and or I'm going to wait for her to come to me while I go the other way.


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Bird

Congrats on finally getting it done, but I'll throw my .02 into what's going wrong for you. You're just not setup between where a bird wants to be and where he is at any given time. There is just no way after all that time in the woods you got your first bird. From the sounds of it, you're covering a lot of ground scouting and hunting but it seems like it's too much ground to really know the land. Turkey hunting for the past 12 years has made me such a better deer hunter in the fall and really hunter in general; because to kill consistently turkeys you have to know every ditch, fence, creek, hill, hedgerow, thicket and logging path on your piece of dirt to know where a bird wants to and will not go.
Also don't get down on yourself. I've had a few days to a week where it seemed like I did nothing right. Then I actually think about what went wrong and why, and go every morning for the next week calling a bird to someone's gun barrel. That's what's so great about turkey hunting, you can go from jester of $h1# mountain to the king of the world in the snap of your fingers.
Also from the way you talk here about knowing exactly where the bird always goes but then he doesn't when you're hunting; that leads me to believe you're chasing the same turkey too much. They can sense hunting pressure, yes they are dumb birds but he will eventually figure out that when I hear this nasty sounding girl in the woods and never see her or I see a big camo blob by a tree, I'm not going thAt way and or I'm going to wait for her to come to me while I go the other way.


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Thanks for the input. You're right I was doing too much traveling and my dad and i have the same issue. He loves calling birds. And I think we're hooked on gobbling too much? He is a master at working them when they want to work but as he birds are changing he has to as well. We will start to hunt them with pop up blinds next year and setup on fields. That was very active this year we just stuck with old school tactics and after opening day those did not work.

As for hunting the same birds? Sort of. We have two large dairy farms we hunt and like
I said I just hoofed it too much.

The bird I shot today? We left him be because so many hunters were after him. When we saw it empty for awhile? We knew it was time to get in there before Memorial Day weekend. I'm so glad this worked out! My confidence is now established and I know I can kill turkeys.

What I don't know? Is patience. No more mega running and gunning. No more marathons. I'm going to start taking it slow.

Also today I got a great symphony of hen calling and I am doing well with my mouth calls and I didn't have confidence before but boy did they whine nice and get those hens riled up. Only cut four notes since my dad was calling mainly but those cuts got the hens mad and forced the tom off the roost and into my game bag!

[beakbuster10]

Congrats on finally getting it done, but I'll throw my .02 into what's going wrong for you. You're just not setup between where a bird wants to be and where he is at any given time. There is just no way after all that time in the woods you got your first bird. From the sounds of it, you're covering a lot of ground scouting and hunting but it seems like it's too much ground to really know the land. Turkey hunting for the past 12 years has made me such a better deer hunter in the fall and really hunter in general; because to kill consistently turkeys you have to know every ditch, fence, creek, hill, hedgerow, thicket and logging path on your piece of dirt to know where a bird wants to and will not go.
Also don't get down on yourself. I've had a few days to a week where it seemed like I did nothing right. Then I actually think about what went wrong and why, and go every morning for the next week calling a bird to someone's gun barrel. That's what's so great about turkey hunting, you can go from jester of $h1# mountain to the king of the world in the snap of your fingers.
Also from the way you talk here about knowing exactly where the bird always goes but then he doesn't when you're hunting; that leads me to believe you're chasing the same turkey too much. They can sense hunting pressure, yes they are dumb birds but he will eventually figure out that when I hear this nasty sounding girl in the woods and never see her or I see a big camo blob by a tree, I'm not going thAt way and or I'm going to wait for her to come to me while I go the other way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bird

Congrats on finally getting it done, but I'll throw my .02 into what's going wrong for you. You're just not setup between where a bird wants to be and where he is at any given time. There is just no way after all that time in the woods you got your first bird. From the sounds of it, you're covering a lot of ground scouting and hunting but it seems like it's too much ground to really know the land. Turkey hunting for the past 12 years has made me such a better deer hunter in the fall and really hunter in general; because to kill consistently turkeys you have to know every ditch, fence, creek, hill, hedgerow, thicket and logging path on your piece of dirt to know where a bird wants to and will not go.
Also don't get down on yourself. I've had a few days to a week where it seemed like I did nothing right. Then I actually think about what went wrong and why, and go every morning for the next week calling a bird to someone's gun barrel. That's what's so great about turkey hunting, you can go from jester of $h1# mountain to the king of the world in the snap of your fingers.
Also from the way you talk here about knowing exactly where the bird always goes but then he doesn't when you're hunting; that leads me to believe you're chasing the same turkey too much. They can sense hunting pressure, yes they are dumb birds but he will eventually figure out that when I hear this nasty sounding girl in the woods and never see her or I see a big camo blob by a tree, I'm not going thAt way and or I'm going to wait for her to come to me while I go the other way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for the input. You're right I was doing too much traveling and my dad and i have the same issue. He loves calling birds. And I think we're hooked on gobbling too much? He is a master at working them when they want to work but as he birds are changing he has to as well. We will start to hunt them with pop up blinds next year and setup on fields. That was very active this year we just stuck with old school tactics and after opening day those did not work.

As for hunting the same birds? Sort of. We have two large dairy farms we hunt and like
I said I just hoofed it too much.

The bird I shot today? We left him be because so many hunters were after him. When we saw it empty for awhile? We knew it was time to get in there before Memorial Day weekend. I'm so glad this worked out! My confidence is now established and I know I can kill turkeys.

What I don't know? Is patience. No more mega running and gunning. No more marathons. I'm going to start taking it slow.

Also today I got a great symphony of hen calling and I am doing well with my mouth calls and I didn't have confidence before but boy did they whine nice and get those hens riled up. Only cut four notes since my dad was calling mainly but those cuts got the hens mad and forced the tom off the roost and into my game bag!

Again congrats on sticking with it and finally getting it done. There is only a couple ways to kill a gobbler any given day and about 1,000 ways not to kill him. And those ways change from day to day with weather, hunting pressure, time of the season, where the bird is located and really what kind of mood he's in. The key to success is learning from mistakes to know which ways will kill birds by the way any bird is acting/gobbling/located. I think you got down on yourself too much when you weren't killing birds and you weren't taken anything from positive from coming up short. Over the years I've truly been blessed to kill more than my fair share of gobblers, ducks and mature bucks compared to a lot people, but what got me to killing those creatures fairly regularly were the days I didn't or the days I've messed up. I still mess up, not nearly as much as I used to, but it still happens. Biggest thing is to make sure you learn something from messing up and don't get so down on yourself that you miss the lessons God sends us through failure.


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[Sevenyearsandcounting]

Still trying to post the photo.....tough system on here

[Sevenyearsandcounting]

lol it didn't post the photo but the attachment ugh...If anyone is willing and smarter about the photo posting on here than i am....please post it. MAN! lol dying to show this big gobbler off. Just heard from one of the best turkey guides I know and he said he would have boosted his business this year if he put just one down for a clinet like that.

Lean year in new york. I feel very blessed to call this my first Eastern gobbler!

[Happy]

You can download tapatalk and load pictures directly from your gallery . It's a free app

[TRG3]

If you can find someone that hunts at your pace, more power to you. If it's your dad, that's even better. I can sit from daylight to dark, if necessary. I haven't found anyone willing to be that patient, so I'm a lone hunter, enjoying the time I spend in the woods. If I get a turkey, all the better. I've got a ground lounger that allows me a variety of options from watching to sleeping to reading, so I'm happy just to sit, wait, and watch.

[Sevenyearsandcounting]

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[Sevenyearsandcounting]

If you can find someone that hunts at your pace, more power to you. If it's your dad, that's even better. I can sit from daylight to dark, if necessary. I haven't found anyone willing to be that patient, so I'm a lone hunter, enjoying the time I spend in the woods. If I get a turkey, all the better. I've got a ground lounger that allows me a variety of options from watching to sleeping to reading, so I'm happy just to sit, wait, and watch.

My dad is 6 inches shorter than me and 60 but he walks faster than me! He is a turkey fiend and loves it more than any other sport.

He tried way too hard to get me a turkey and I appreciated it but now it's time we hunt together as a team without worrying who shoots what. I think we are just beginning a long and memorable career as hunting buddies.

My dad does have diabetes and he wears a Fitbit to track his miles. He made me wear it when he went to work each day. I'm well in the 110 mile range. I'll walk another 110 if it means a bird like this is waiting at the end!


Look at that rope! I still feel shock! Like I'm in shock I got s turkey like this. He's everything I could've wanted in a first turkey!


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[owlhoot]

Nice one , what a rope!
Congrats 

[Sevenyearsandcounting]

I can't wait to get this little guy out hunting!
He's wearing the only available outfits as the washer dryer hasn't been delivered yet lol. Santa came home with a turkey and his elf made sure to get all up in that turkeys business picking feathers and what not! He can't keep quiet yet but hope soon as he realizes what hunting is maybe he will be a good boy who knows?


My oldest turns 12 next season. She has CP. she is very very good at being still and quiet and if I wheel her in and hold a cross bow she can aim fairly well. She shows amazing interest in hunting. Her real dad passed away and he would have done the same for her. I'm proud of her and hope one day she can do what she loves I won't let anything get in our way if she wants to turkey hunt! Ducks maybe too much but turkey and deer are bigger targets she can handle it I think.Better get working on a portable crossbow tripod! .


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[Sevenyearsandcounting]

Nice one , what a rope!
Congrats 

Thanks I'm happy i got the big boys photo up! He was worth every ounce of sweat and weight lost!


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[Sevenyearsandcounting]

Hey I'm halfway to a grand slam already! Rio adult bird and eastern adult bird. Both will be tail mounted next to each other!

Wife's from Hawaii so I'm
Planning on grabbing a merriams while there.


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That's the rio. 22lber.

[Marc]

I read most of the posts...

Great to hunt with your pops, but that is not to say you cannot hunt on your own, and start to find your own spots.

But even after reading your posts and of your success...  Hunting good areas with good populations of birds, I gotta' wonder how you went so long with so little success???  That is a long dry spell for a productive area...  And quite frankly something is up with that.  Maybe talking...  Or moving...  Or both.

I really enjoy hunting with my father, and he is an avid bird hunter...  Sometimes we hunt together, sometimes we do not (although he does not really enjoy turkey hunting).

Enjoy some hunts with your dad, but I would really encourage you to get out on your own more than not, find some new spots, do your own calling (the way you want) and learn your own lessons...  So you can be a mentor to your own children.

Honestly, outside of taking the kids, or someone new to the sport, I rather dislike turkey hunting with a partner.  Seems like every time I take someone, one or the other of us ruins the hunt by doing something silly (talking or moving at the exact wrong time).  And admittedly there is a selfish pleasure I receive from setting up, calling in, and shooting a bird on my own...  No one to blame when things go wrong, no body to share the glory with when that bird is flopping on the ground.