THE MYTH OF THE BEST SPRING TURKEY HUNTER

[Happy]

I am just happy being the best looking male turkey hunter.

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[GobbleNut]

 

I am just happy being the best looking male turkey hunter.

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  Question:  How does one judge the "best looking male turkey"?  How many do you have to look over before you decide which one is the best looking and then start hunting it?

[Happy]

Well to be honest I was referencing my own good looks.    But when hunting a male turkey I tend to select ones that show signs of severe mental disorders. You know the ones that are tripping over their tongues and strutting for cattle. Doesn't hurt if they have hit their heads a few times and their reaction time is slow. I have my hands full competing with the turkeys so I will leave the competition as to who is the best turkey hunter to others. I figure I am the only nominee so far for best looking male turkey hunter so  maybe I have a chance at that title. Chances to enter ended five minutes ago for those of you that wanted to throw your hat in the ring.

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[GobbleNut]

Well to be honest I was referencing my own good looks.  

Well, there's your first mistake,...being honest on a turkey hunting forum,...never any good can come of that!
And I certainly will not challenge you on the good looks claim,...at least between the two of us.  ....I'm not sure what you look like,...but I sure as heck know what I look like....so I ain't placin' any bets!

[Happy]

 

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[Hooksfan]

Looks like I have a confession to make.......i have been hunting the SAME turkey for 38 years and I have yet to kill him.
Every time I think I have him located, either myself or someone else ends up killing him and I realize he's not the one.  Maybe next year....

[quavers59]

A good mix of replys here for this post.Without a doubt though- probably just about any member on this site- myself included-- if the big money was there to hunt in 10-12 States or more next Spring and the time off to hunt from Mid-March to May 31st would probably tag out 25-30 or more gobblers in that Spring. 

[quavers59]

One member here talked about woodsmanship. I could not agree more! I know I spent probably over 100 hours each  year from February to late April  every year for 5 years before I bagged my 1st gobbler. In my case, I had no mentor and had to learn on crowded gun club lands and public lands. I hike year round even today. Probably most members on this site- when they get to around 40 or so gobblers are more or less equal to turkey hunters who have taken far more birds.

[TauntoHawk]

I would take a number of my fellow site members and call makers over anyone I've ever seen on TV. I'm not sure I agree about taking 25 days to kill a bird that's a "even a blind squirrel finds a nut" situation to me. Turkey's simply aren't that hard to kill, they are fun to kill and the game can be challenging at times but I've never considers turkeys inherently difficult.

[Yoder409]

This thread sparked me to remember something...................

I spent about 15 years as a pro-staff member for a turkey call company.   Back in the early 90's another staffer and I had a couple guys on a hunt in WV.  One morning, the other staffer and his hunter ran across an elderly local hunter WAAAAAY up in the boonies.  They got to chewing the fat and it came out that my buddy was a pro-staffer for the call company.  The old fellow looked at him and asked "Ya'll one of them professional turkey hunters ??"  My buddy said "What do consider a professional ??"
The old boy thought a second and said "I reckon the feller with the youngest legs."

I thought that was a pretty interesting answer...................

[Yoder409]

I would take a number of my fellow site members and call makers over anyone I've ever seen on TV.

+1 on that !!!!

Just this week I was watching (wasting time) a show on one of the hunting channels where a pretty famous hunter was after Osceolas with a bow.  Now, I am NOT a competition caller by ANYONE'S standards.  But this dude............ !!!   If I called like he did I sure as HECK wouldn't do it in front of other people.................let alone on a national TV show .............................

He got a turkey, though...................

[stinkpickle]

With the unit of measure being purely subjective, anyone can be the winner.

[Farmboy27]

Completely impossible to crown the best hunter. Number of kills means nothing. Far to many variables. Available money, available time, state, public vs private, pressure. The list goes on. If someone has the time and money to hunt a bunch of states every year then he should dang well kill way more birds than the guy who has one tag to hunt one state. Is the traveler a better hunter?  Maybe. Or maybe he just has more connections or deeper pockets. I've only hunted out of state twice. I hunted for a total of 13 hours to kill those 4 birds. Does that make me great? Heck no!  I couldn't even fill my tag at home in 2016. But those out of state, private land, unpressured birds made me feel like a great hunter. I'm not knocking anyone who has the time and money to hunt multiple states a year. Lord knows I would if I could!  But to use shear numbers to rate a hunter is meaningless. Besides, this is hunting, not football. I can enjoy it even if people don't think I'm number 1.

[ol bob]

I'm not a great hunter but I'm getting better every year , walking slower, sitting longer, calling less. killing more. PS I'm 73 not my choice.

[deerhunt1988]

The guy who kills one in 25 days  has demonstrated an inability to integrate knowledge gained from previous hunts into a well formulated strategy and leverage it for success. I don't find anything respectable about that.

Whether it's on their local turf or out of state, the guys who show up and get to killing quickly rarely get a chance to know what birds are tough or "unkillable" and what birds are easy because they have developed a consistent set of skills that apply universally across all environments and habitats.

If I had to have someone yelping up a bird for me, I'll take someone who's called (not crawled or reaped) 200 birds to the gun over someone who has only called up 40.  There's a big difference in how those callers think while the game is being played, and analytical skills are the single greatest differentiator in a bird over one's shoulder and a story about  the one that got away.

I also dispute that the greatest turkey killers of all time are from the past.  On the contrary, I would argue that names Owens, Ellis, Weddle, Budz and several others will easily endure the test of time when it comes occupying the ranks of turkey huntings greatest.
JM.02

Spot on and worth quoting.