Let's Talk Success!

[TauntoHawk]

I was fortunate to guide/outfit professionally for a long time. When talking to a potential client the first question ALWAYS asked was, "what is your success rate ?"
It can be looked at in several ways, either pure numbers, as in actual number killed, or a percentage rate for the opportunity at success. I would not fail at my job of putting you on a deer that you definitely had a shot at, so my success rate was 100% most years. The goober sitting in the stand that couldn't hit the broad side of a red barn consistently kept the actual success rate hovering around 25%. So what do you want to hear ? I can't book people by telling them I have a 25% success rate. I told them the truth, I will set you up to succeed, it is up to you to finish it. If my clients had killed 50% of the deer I put them on I would be considered the greatest whitetail guide in America, but it doesn't work that way.......soon I became bitter about it. I was measuring my success against theirs. I needed their success to further my business and when it didn't work out I started going mad...literally mad, because I looked at pure numbers. I left the business......I now have a severe dislike of the "trophy" side of deer hunting in any form and I'm not scared to say it. I could tell you stories that would leave you speechless.

Flash Forward 10 years

I have a dear friend on this forum that I absolutely love to turkey hunt with. In our years of friendship we have never deer hunted together. But we have piled up some birds. If I had a bird that I had to get killed, he gets the nod. It will die. The boy could absolutely care less. He has tagged out in our state the past 17 years, usually in just a day or three. Could absolutely care less. It's about setting up the tent, cooking great food and a cold beer at nite beside the fire. It completely changed my way of thinking about hunting.  The fire I see in his eyes when a gobbler booms is soul stirring but I see that same fire when he is roasting a weenie on a stick over a camp fire. It's all about the journey and that just can't be measured. I finally started feeling better about it when I learned to quit giving a rip. Got back to the basics, enjoying life more AND loving the ride as a whole. Our best times spent together have involved walking miles down logging roads in the dark, heading toward a roost, talking non-stop about our families or trout fishing. The very best of times have involved a pot of beans and a piece of chicken. That's good stuff man, I quit measuring success in any form. Any day on this side of the grass is a great day.

You just nailed the reason and wrapped in ribbon why I will always say "i enjoy turkey hunting better than deer hunting" even the the reward and challenge could be considered greater with deer, I know I enjoy the meat more. There is so much BS that surrounds deer hunting these days from other hunters, social networking and tv, even friends and family.. People naming deer and thinking that frequent or a single sighting entitles only them to the ownership of a wild animal or what you killed was immature by their standards and wasn't a good deer to kill.

A gobbler is gobbler is a gobbler and we kill all that we have tags for and enjoy each one for the sake of the hunt and not some silly ornamental object grown on the animals body.

That said and back to the topic on hand, I'm an Accountant and numbers and statistics are kind of my thing so i do keep track for my own personal knowledge my statistics and success ratios but I rarely spout off about them (sometimes a little). Success is also a loaded statistic and is based more on access to the game than skill required to harvesting them. I hunt two states each and every year, one I hunt predominantly private land and quality land for turkeys the other I hunt exclusively public in a part of the state with low populations of birds and high pressure. In one state I am something like 94% successful at filling my spring tags in less than 5 days the other I am roughly 25% at filled them over the entire month long season.. am I the same hunter in each state???


Hunting for a turkey to kill is much different than hunting a turkey to kill it.

[1iagobblergetter]

My most successful hunts are the ones that are ingrained in my memory.  And, some of those didn't involve a kill.

I agree totally.

But, some like to brag to others on how many birds they have taken, and nobody likes a braggart!!!

Maytom, doesn't your avatar have a plaque with numerous beards for everyone to see? The original posters thread  title is Lets talk about success..Old Gobblers main rule: BE NICE!!!

[kjnengr]

Like you mentioned MK M GOBL, success isn't always measured in numbers.  In the past 3 years I have scratched in my home state of Louisiana and neighboring Mississippi.   My highest numbers have come from Texas.  But even there, I have scratched 2 of the 5 years I have hunted there and only "tagged out" once. 

However, nearly every year, I come back with memories that will stick with me forever.  In fact, some of the "almosts" are the most memorable.  And that is where my "success" is measured. 

Also, just as BowBendr mentioned some of the biggest smiles come not from the kill, but from the journey getting there. 

[tha bugman]

+1 This ------> Success is also a loaded statistic and is based more on access to the game than skill required to harvesting them.

I just want to see it "happen" one more time.

[maytom]

My most successful hunts are the ones that are ingrained in my memory.  And, some of those didn't involve a kill.

I agree totally.

But, some like to brag to others on how many birds they have taken, and nobody likes a braggart!!!

Maytom, doesn't your avatar have a plaque with numerous beards for everyone to see? The original posters thread  title is Lets talk about success..Old Gobblers main rule: BE NICE!!!

My avatar is just that, a pic. I'm not bragging, never have and never will. It just makes me chuckle at some folks who like to toot their own horn on how great they are.

[trkehunr93]

Lord! Shannon gonna have to shut this down if this keeps up, ya'll remember we gotta be nice each other.  We all look at hunting thru different sets of eyes and measure things differently based on our own personal needs.

[MK M GOBL]

My most successful hunts are the ones that are ingrained in my memory.  And, some of those didn't involve a kill.

I agree totally.

But, some like to brag to others on how many birds they have taken, and nobody likes a braggart!!!

Maytom, doesn't your avatar have a plaque with numerous beards for everyone to see? The original posters thread  title is Lets talk about success..Old Gobblers main rule: BE NICE!!!

My avatar is just that, a pic. I'm not bragging, never have and never will. It just makes me chuckle at some folks who like to toot their own horn on how great they are.

And we all measure success in a different way... Over 2/3rds of the birds I have "taken" I have never squeezed the trigger on. A few of them birds were when I was guiding (that in itself is another story...) But more than anything those "Numbers" are Youth Hunters, Learn to Hunts, Mentored Hunts, Family, Friends & some New to Turkey Hunting Hunters I have taken out over the last 27 years and yes some are my own birds I have tagged... I consider my greatest success "Numbers" is how many I have introduced to turkey hunting and being able to share my passion for this with others.

I'll count every one of  these smiles every time!

MK M GOBL

[kyturkeyhunter4]

Sounds like you had a pretty good year.

[GobbleNut]

+1 This ------> Success is also a loaded statistic and is based more on access to the game than skill required to harvesting them.

I just want to see it "happen" one more time.

Add me to this list.  There places I can go hunt that I know I can kill the hell out of them,...and there are also places I go just to challenge myself.  Sometimes I am the "greatest there ever was",...and sometimes you would think I had never turkey hunted in my life.  I go, I hunt, and I see what happens.  If I am successful, then I am one bad mammajamma,...and when I'm not, I'm still a "legend in my own mind".   

[guesswho]

A legend at the old folks home. 

[GSLAM95]

"Let's Talk Success"
Every year that I learn something new in the woods while turkey hunting is a success in my book.   
In my opinion it would be fun to share a campfire with a different turkey hunter in every state who has successfully killed turkeys at least 10,20,30 or 40 consecutive years.
I have had this pleasure many times and it has been memorable to say the least
Sometimes it was a success just to roll out of the sleeping bag and find the tent zipper the next morning 
Good luck to all of yuh this season....

[1iagobblergetter]

It's been my experience, that those who brag the most about "success" aren't usually very successful at all I've often learned more from those who brag about being unsuccessful

How about successful hunters who have pictures to prove they are successful? Lol....Let me guess someone would still have a problem....Now we can't talk about being successful as far as harvesting a turkey...because it equals bragging????Ridiculous.

[Fullfan]

There are turkey hunters and there are turkey killers. I know which myself and my kids are. 

[guesswho]

I don't see showing pictures and telling the details of successful hunts as bragging.  In fact I enjoy seeing the pictures and reading the stories.  The turn off for me is when people mention every few posts that they have killed X number of birds blah blah blah is when I lose interest. 

[Happy]

Success is a weird thing. I know for a fact that there are fellows on this site that have experienced far more sucess than I. I know some are reluctant to post pictures because they don't want to come off as bragging and that's a shame. I personally am not envious of anyone's success and prefere to keep my score with the turkeys. I know another  fellow that went the other way with it. He was getting quite the reputation locally and was known as a flat out turkey slayer. Then the dnr began busting him multiple times. Baiting, trespassing, exceeding his bag limit and hunting after hours were a few of the charges. He had to kill turkeys and he didn't care what he had to do to accomplish that goal. I knew him well as a young man and looked up to him in a way. I learned a valuable lesson. I don't have anyone i put on a pedestal anymore.There are men who are quite good at this game and can give better advise than I and have killed more turkeys than I ever will, straight up and legal. I have to be the best hunter I can be and only gauge myself over my past history in an effort to improve. I will not let my desire to kill one override regulations or my belief in fair chase. Loosing track of how many I have killed is probably the best thing to happen to me. I could probably sit down with a pen and get close to an actual number but I won't do it. I would rather focus on hunting the next one. So in closing I would say to all the new hunters. Take it for what it is worth when you see a  fellow with a load of turkey beards or spurs. It's a fellow who has killed a lot of turkeys. They may have been hunted legally or they may not have. That's for them to worry about. Hunt to the best of your ability, hunt safe and do your best to practice fair chase. Enjoy every day of it and when the day comes that you are successful enjoy it. This ain't supposed to be a peeing contest but about hunting one of the greatest game birds out there.

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