Weaknesses

[TauntoHawk]

Most seasons, are done or wrapped up. Most are probably already looking forward to next year. What the one area of turkey hunting you find is your weakest, Something you know you need to refine or improve.

Maybe your finishing your 1st season or your 50th but we all have something we are always trying to get better at. Whenever I get stumped by a bird I always remind myself that the day I stop learning is the day stop hunting.


When it comes to turkey hunting I know my weakness is patience, I just struggle to slow down when the hunting gets slow. I'm sure there are times that the best move is the patient move of set up in a good area and wait but I just can never bring myself to spend a day deer hunting them. I rather get blanked on the run and gun trying to force a bird into a verbal conversation. I'm not sure the last time I killed a totally silent Tom.

[wvmntnhick]

Hunting the small parcels of land I'm on here have taught me patience. However, when on the club with miles of property to roam, I can't hold back either. Gotta go. Having said that, my biggest weakness is probably aggression. I want to hear a bird gobble and I'll over call many of them. If I'd tone it down a bit I'm sure I'd do better.

[Ozarks Hillbilly]

I would say that mine at this time is lack of concentration and a feeling of guilt. Sound funny I know, I hunt before work a lot so I am watching the clock and thinking of all of the things waiting on me. Or if I have time off from work I find myself feeling guiltly for being out hunting or fishing rather than working at home. I still enjoy hunting and look forward to Spring and Fall turkey seasons. I just think I need to find a way to put all of that stuff aside and enjoy my time in the woods or on the water that other stuff can wait and life is too short not too. 

[saverx]

That feeling of guilt is awful. You need to work hard to get over that. You will only live once and you don't know which hunt will be your last. Every hunt is a gift. If the season is open and I'm not in the woods, I am pissed!

[Bill Cooksey]

I lack time and places close to home to hunt. Used to not be an issue at all; had more places than I could hunt, and time wasn't too much of a problem either. The last few years have been the opposite.

[DirtNap647]

over calling im always trying for that story book loud mouth bird but sometimes I just need to lay back

[g8rvet]

I would say that my single largest weakness is not seeing the setup in my mind.  I have had numerous birds almost finish.  I am talking probably 7-8 birds over the years that got to 75 ish yards and did not come the rest of the way in. At first, it probably had to do with over calling, but lately, I think I am not seeing my setup from the bird's eyes.  Some of the guys talk about having the bird where he is looking for the hen and not where he is looking at where a hen should be, but isn't.  I would really love to look at 100 successful setups and see where I may be doing it wrong, cause it ain't sinking in for some reason. 

[tha bugman]

hmmm...this is a very good question...my first thought was that my biggest weakness was buying another turkey call!    But you can never have too many of those IMO.  But on a more Zen note, I guess my biggest weakness is balance....I don't have any....when turkey season starts all other life factors stop. Hunt Eat Sleep Repeat becomes more than just a byword it manifests itself into reality.  I can function (work, family etc.), but it is constantly rolling around in the ole braincase.  There are other things happening outside of turkey season (baseball, fishing etc.).  I see people doing those things, but silly enough I am looking at them thinking..."Wake up people, don't you know there are turkeys to be hunted and your wasting your time with all this fluff!"

[Happy]

Would say my biggest weakness is patience. I can't sit and call for long periods of time with nothing happening. I am still refining my aproach to things and tweeking if you will. Getting better at some stuff but will always be learning.

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[POk3s]

I'm with most of you guys. Patience. Hunting "western turkeys" I'm usually on bigger chunks of public land. Or I see a spot on the map I can drive to and "maybe they'll be there". Gotta go, gotta find 'em, gotta get em! That's my mentality most of the time.

[GobbleNut]

Having been at this for fifty-plus years now, I think my biggest weakness in getting turkeys killed is that I have a tendency to want to enjoy "the show" more nowadays, so I sometimes hold off on pulling the trigger when I should.  More turkeys get away from me because I don't shoot at the first opportunity as much anymore. 

Along the same line, I also tend to not pay as much attention to the small details that are instrumental in getting a turkey killed when he decides to come.  Things like little adjustments in positioning when a gobbler is coming in, adjusting my gun at the right time, overlooking small but sometimes critical details in my set-ups,...all things that I used to do when the killing was more important than the experience,...I seem to not worry about as much anymore.

[SteelerFan]

With 350 acres or less, it doesn't take too long to burn it up on the move. I've forced myself to learn patience in the past 5 years or so. I agree with TauntoHawk - I do not like to deer hunt turkeys. BUT, I will sit longer in areas I KNOW birds are using.

The absolute greatest tool for that has been the Alps / Browning (or whatever your choice of) lounger chair. I can sit for hours in comfort, and that really helps.

Also, knowing birds are in the area really helps with patience. When I don't get that 0-dark-thirty roost gobbling, I still have confidence that I could work a bird at 7, 8, 9, etc.

WEAKNESS: I'm still searching for a cure for the "gobble-addiction". I remind myself every hunt - don't over do it. Inevitably, I'll end up wanting to hear that bird gobble and I'll call when I don't need to. I'm getting better, but I'm not there yet! lol...

I truly believe, for most of us, that response of a gobble, that interaction and conversation with the bird is what we truly strive for. The pulling of the trigger and killing him is secondary, but yet still the customary yardstick used to measure success.

And, as usual, at the end of a season, or near the end - I laugh at the irony of what we put ourselves through. We buy new calls and practice more, only to try not to call too much in the woods. We buy shells and chokes to achieve the very best pattern from our guns, and then shoot birds up close.

[guesswho]

My biggest weakness now is pancakes and sausage, and the distance between me and them.

[Tail Feathers]

My hunting was pretty sound this season but my scouting was weak this year.  Weather and work timing convened to keep me from scouting near as much as I should have.  I will remedy that next spring.

[Chris O]

I know my biggest weakness is calling too much to try to make something happen.If the bird is talking back I do ok, but when they aren't talking I call too much. I guess I want to be able to say that I called the bird in and that I didn't just wait for one to walk by. I guess I always just feel that if I call eventually the right turkey will find me. I also wish I was just a little more aggressive when they are on the roost not my calling ,but getting a little closer to the tree they are in . I have a tendency to stay back a little ways so I don't spook them and at times I feel it costs me the early kills which I think are the best ones or the ones I enjoy the most.