Lessons my first year

[Ihuntoldschool]

Exactly, you will learn from experience with the turkeys if you pay attention.   That is the only "degree" that will benefit you in turkey hunting.  No need to try and outsmart your common sense.

[g8rvet]

They can easily discern what is natural and what is not.

Like, say, a new blind popped up in a field?   Lots of dead turkeys who's last thought was "Oh, sh**" would argue with that. I have no first hand experience with a pop-up but lots of folks swear they ignore them.   

Technically though, what you say is correct.  They probably notice it, they just do not associate it with danger.


If you "experts" think that a turkey can reason out things, I don't know what else to tell you.

I agree that they can and will become educated.  Easily and quickly.   Smart = intelligence and turkeys ain't got it.  Dumb people can learn as well.  Heck, you even make the point that a bird needs to learn what to be wary of!  I realize we are debating semantics, but to a newcomer, they need to realize that they can get away with more than they think with an uneducated bird and less with an educated one.  It is why 2 year olds are easier to kill than mature birds, why hard hunted public birds are harder to kill than low pressured private land birds - they don't have a lower IQ, they just have not learned what to be scared of!  The point that Happy made is if you kill the bird, he is done learning. 

I mean, are you guys saying that the more education you have, the smarter you are?  That IS what you are saying and I say nothing could be further from the truth. Plenty of non-educated people I know are as smart as can be.  Plenty of educated people I know are not particularly smart. 

To the OP when they say "smart" they mean they have learned what to be wary of, when I say "smart", I mean, well, "smart" by the definition of the word-having or showing intelligence. 

[g8rvet]

Well this educated veterinarian knows that if you think turkeys can reason regardless of where you hunt or how you hunt you don't understand the workings of an avian brain.  Don't feel bad.  Most don't.  it makes a lot of folks feel better to think a turkey is smart, so when they can't kill one it is for that reason.  They are wary, random and easily taught danger.   If they had reasoning ability they could not be killed by most folks. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[guesswho]

Hard to out think something that doesn't think. 

True wild turkeys, true killers    

[g8rvet]

Hard to out think something that doesn't think. 

True wild turkeys, true killers

See, now if you were a true killer you would know that it is not about out thinking them, but more about thinking "like" them

And that is probably the best lesson there is! 

[guesswho]

Hard to out think something that doesn't think. 

True wild turkeys, true killers

See, now if you were a true killer you would know that it is not about out thinking them, but more about thinking "like" them

See, now if you had any comprehensive skills you would know what I was talking about and could have saved that Teacher/Grasshopper crap for someone who doesn't know any better    You may be able to BS a couple people, but I'm not one of them, killer

I hope to one day reach the status of true killer of true wild turkeys

[TRG3]

As your years of turkey hunting experience begin to add up, you'll discover that a turkey will do what a turkey wants to do. That includes flying across a creek or small river, climbing from limb to limb up a downed tree in order to get a better view, sitting on his rump to fan and gobble, returning several times to flog a just-shot more dominate gobbler, hens literally standing at your feet while looking for the "hen" that's been calling, and other "stuff" that turkeys do. This is part of what makes turkey hunting both exciting and unpredictable. Regardless of the number of years you have in the turkey woods, there's a very good chance that you'll learn something new during the season.

[diyj98]

Well this educated veterinarian knows that if you think turkeys can reason regardless of where you hunt or how you hunt you don't understand the workings of an avian brain.  Don't feel bad.  Most don't.  it makes a lot of folks feel better to think a turkey is smart, so when they can't kill one it is for that reason.  They are wary, random and easily taught danger.   If they had reasoning ability they could not be killed by most folks. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree. I can't believe any animal with a brain the size of a turkey is "smart".  Fantastic eye sight and instincts that tell them to run at even a hint of danger, but not smart.

[Bowguy]

I don't get this. G8rvet always has good information that he's wiling to share. He puts things in a way that make sense too. Gobblenut n Guesswho also have good well thought out advice. We're all entitled to opinion but people refuting them like they started last week is nuts.
Great input guys.
Good first year Tidewatertom

[g8rvet]

Thanks Bow, but I freely admit I am learning all the time and I have a small percent of time in the woods and dead birds that some of these folks do.  I only know the biology very well.  Thinking like a Tom is a major weak point of mine. 

[Bowguy]

I've been at it a long time n am pretty good at reading most animals behaviors, except cats lol. But your info is always interesting to read n informative so thanks

[GobbleNut]

Again, this thread has been a good discussion by a number of contributors.  Having said that, we all need to understand that each of us bases our opinions through the "lens" of our own experiences.  While it is true that there are a lot of "generalities" in turkey hunting, there are also variables that change the nature of the game from place to place. 

Honestly, there have been discussions on this forum in which really experienced hunters have outlined their preferred hunting tactics to which I have said to myself,..."If somebody came here and used those tactics, not only would they probably not kill a turkey, but they would miss out on some really great turkey hunting".  I have also said a time or two,..."Boy, if I had to turkey hunt that way, I would just quit turkey hunting".  I am sure that some on here have said the same about some of the tactics I have promoted.

The point to be made is that, if we all listen to what others say on here,...and do so with an open mind,...each of us will probably become a better turkey hunter for it, regardless of how good we think we are right now.  I know I have. 

[g8rvet]

Great point and the truly great turkey hunters, duck hunters, redfish fisherman, etc are humble and gracious.  They are not humble because they are great, they are great because they are humble. They improve every year because they never stop learning.  When someone starts telling me how great they are, my brain shuts off with them.

[GobbleNut]

I've got some time on my hands, so here's a little tale.  I've told this story before, but it sort of fits in with some elements of this discussion.

Several years ago, we entertained a few folks for a filmed turkey hunt at our property here in the mountains of New Mexico.  A couple of them were "world-class" turkey callers, and in fact, one of them had won one of the national calling contests a few years prior.  No doubt, they were good on a turkey call.

Each spring, we always have some gobblers that hang out around our cabin.  They get hunted a little bit every year by a number of our guests, and by the middle of our season, the ones that have survived are pretty well wised up.

We had one old gobbler that hung around.  He had survived several seasons, but every evening he would roost close enough to our place that, like clockwork, we would hear his gobbles after he flew up to roost.  I, and a number of other pretty darn good turkey hunters, had been "put through the ringer" with this bird enough times that we had just decided to let him be.  It wasn't that we couldn't have killed him, he was so patternable that we could have just spent enough time in the area where he hung out that somebody would have eventually killed him,...if they wanted to do so without calling to him.  We had long since concluded that he would avoid turkey calling,...any kind of turkey calling,...like the plague.  At one time or another, we had tried it all.

Well, one of the evenings while our "calling champion" guests were here, the old boy sounded off on the roost,...as usual.  The "regulars" at the cabin laughed it off as we always did, but two of our guests boldly stated that they would go out in the morning, call that gobbler in post-haste, dispatch him, and bring him back to the cabin bright and early so we could all marvel at their supernatural turkey hunting/calling abilities. 

Being as how we had heard all of that before,...many times,...we just snickered under our breath and said,..."Sure, you boys get out there in the morning and kill ya' that gobbler".  Mind you, they knew EXACTLY where that old gobbler was.  So off they went in the dark the next morning, all of us snickering again as they left. 

Well, somewhere around 10 or 11:00, here they came moping back to the cabin, no gobbler in tow.  All of us chuckled and said, "Hmmm,...don't see no gobbler, boys.  What happened?" 

"Ain't never seen a gobbler like that", was the reply.  "We tried every trick in the book on him.  He would gobble at everything.  We could get right in front of him and the second we called, regardless of what we did, he would gobble at us and then turn and go the other way.  He kept moving up the mountain away from us, gobbling at every call, and we would keep climbing and circling in front, but the second we called, he would turn and go a different direction.  Last time we heard him he was headed down the back side of the mountain, still gobbling every time we called."

All the "regulars" just looked at each other and laughed.  We had all been there before.  Boys, it don't make no difference how good you think you are at this game, there are some gobblers out there that are "gooder".   

Post script:  That old gobbler was back roosting in the same place that evening....   

[Rapscallion Vermilion]

^^^^^^^^
Enjoyed that Jim.  Thanks!