I just couldn't do it!!!

[GobbleNut]

I think most of you would be happy to share the same woods with me. I would honor your position and move on if I knew you were on a bird, I would be sure of my target before I shoot and if we crossed paths I would even tell you were you could find a bird and as we parted I would wish you good luck and mean it.

You're my kind'a guy.  Of course, I have known that for a long time.  Fortunately, I think there are a bunch of our types that hang out here on O.G.   

[Hooksfan]

I will put this very simply......I would have killed him, but every shot is a choice and you exercised you God and law given choice, hooray for you

I find all the reasoning in replies as simply personal preferences also. I wonder if you felt you had to qualify your choice by making it a biological reasoning? If you truly felt this way then good for you, but I believe like Gobblenut, your view is in error and there is no biological reason to pass. You do not have to explain why you passed, because of peer pressure. Just say my hunt was fulfilled and I chose to give him grace.

Turkey hunting is a quest and a game. The law sets the game rules and the object is to win. Winning is finishing and doing it well by the rules. The reward is personal satisfaction and meat to eat or even a trophy on the wall. I would not play a game of football or any sport and not keep score. I am not a fan of participation trophies either. with that said if participation is all you are after then may you be blessed with a lot of it.

After 45 years I still hunt with the objective of killing a gobbler and filling my tags with what I want ( a well worked gobbler) is how i keep score. Numbers do not matter, I do not even tell others what I bag unless they want to know or I am in a hunters group who respect my game. I do not stop at the local sporting goods for pictures, but I also have no fault with those who do.....it's the part of the game they play for.

Most of all I don't care for those who randomly want to refer to people as idiots because they simply share a different view of the game. I have never read Tom Kelly and have zero desire to. My standard is within what I read in the law and what is basic honor of doing what I would want others to do towards me. I have zero tolerance for lawbreaking and poaching....the game laws are written to insure a species' survival and that is the standard. If it excites a hunter to kill a gobbler he happens on and they are excited to take it home and enjoy it......wonderful, he has done nothing wrong.

So I accept that some would see me as an idiot and slob, but I think most of you would be happy to share the same woods with me. I would honor your position and move on if I knew you were on a bird, I would be sure of my target before I shoot and if we crossed paths I would even tell you were you could find a bird and as we parted I would wish you good luck and mean it.

Very well put. Wouldn't mind sharing hunting camp with ya in the least.

[tha bugman]

Congrats on your decision...you just attained the rank of an "Old Pro Turkey Hunter" as defined by Mr. Gene Nunnery!

I passed a greenhead floating into the decoys one time.  I got caught in the moment and it was just too beautiful to spoil.  My buddies ragged me hard and still do to this day.

Passed on an archery deer for the same reason.  Don't regret it at all. 

Never have intentionally let a turkey walk.  You are a much better hunter than I for sure!

[dublelung]

Your hunt, your decision. I won't let a longbeard walk away but that's just me.

I do get a chuckle out of hearing some folks say, "I could've killed him ten times but I didn't"  Yea and you could've also missed, misfired, or wounded him too. You'll never know since you didn't attempt to pull the trigger so don't tell me what you could've done. 

[catdaddy]

Happy hooker--- I have no problem with your decision. Everybody sings to the beat of their own tune--so if you are happy with it--good for you. I mean that sincerely.

For me however---When I gear up and leave my warm bed in the pre-dawn hours carrying several pounds of equipment inclusive of a shotgun--I am turkey hunting--not turkey watching, not adhering some idealistic set of circumstances that must occur before I decide to shoot. If a long beard gets to within 40 yards, I do my dead level best to kill him.     

[Sir-diealot]

What you take and don't take is totally a personal choice. I have made one myself, I was not able to hunt for 17 years and in all that time I constantly thought of taking a big mature tom, not a jake, so I decided to wait to take a tom for my first bird. Before my accident and not being able to hunt for all that time I would have been satisfied with a jake, but not now, not for my first anyway. There is only one other male turkey I know I do not want to take, one with his tail feathers up, I want to get my first mounted if I can and don't want to ruin all those beautiful feathers.

[eggshell]

Sir-diealot, I sincerely hope your goals are met. I understand more than you know how a disabling accident changes you. I think severe trauma takes something from you that you never recover.  I have knocked on death's door and was blessed to live a few more years......nothing has been the same since. If you have not been there you just don't know, you may think you do, but you don't. I think what you are saying is you have learned this.

Within that turkey hunting takes a back seat and it is a blessing just to get to do it. So it actually means more to you and how you do it changes. The choices you make are also influenced. That is why debates over what is "the right way" actually seem silly at times. I respect people's passion, but have it taken away and you'll see things that matter and things that don't a lot plainer. When I thought I was spending my last minutes on earth, I didn't give a dam about turkey hunting, I wanted to hug my kids, kiss my wife and see them all grow old. 

[ShootingABN!]

I love it! Awesome! "Old Pro Turkey Hunter" by Mr. Gene Nunnery great book!

[Sir-diealot]

Sir-diealot, I sincerely hope your goals are met. I understand more than you know how a disabling accident changes you. I think severe trauma takes something from you that you never recover.  I have knocked on death's door and was blessed to live a few more years......nothing has been the same since. If you have not been there you just don't know, you may think you do, but you don't. I think what you are saying is you have learned this.

Within that turkey hunting takes a back seat and it is a blessing just to get to do it. So it actually means more to you and how you do it changes. The choices you make are also influenced. That is why debates over what is "the right way" actually seem silly at times. I respect people's passion, but have it taken away and you'll see things that matter and things that don't a lot plainer. When I thought I was spending my last minutes on earth, I didn't give a dam about turkey hunting, I wanted to hug my kids, kiss my wife and see them all grow old.

Oh yes I have learned this and much more. When I was no longer able to hunt or to put it better when I tried but was unable to or if I did a few hours of hunting would lay me up for days it was incredibly depressing. I felt like the person I was would never return at all. Metallica has a song called "Fade to Black" and there are a few verse in the song that went like this

"Things are not what they used to be
Missing one inside of me
Deathly lost, this can't be real
Cannot stand this hell I feel
Emptiness is filling me
To the point of agony
Growing darkness taking dawn
I was me but now he's gone"

That there explains exactly how I felt. Now I have a part of me back, I still can't do all I could but I am grateful that I can do some of the things that I used to do. Who I was is gone and I will never have that time back again but I am beginning to get some of those things I loved to do back, hunting is a MAJOR one, I am hoping that I can get back to riding my mountain bike again but my balance is not quite there yet, getting on and off are the main concerns. My tailbone is the other concern as that is the worst pain center for me. It was great to go and see my family 2 years ago this CHRISTmas, I was up and walking around and able to do things with my nephews like walking to the school with them on the weekends, that was great because just one year earlier I could not have done that, I was still 200 lbs. heavier and had not started on the pain killers that I am on now that have made all the difference in the world and helped me to start getting my life back again. That means more than being able to go hunting or riding a bike or anything else like that, it is good to be able to do stuff again and yes you realize that certain things are so much more important than you did before hand.

Pic to show how much I lost, those are my old swim trunks

[eggshell]

sie-diealot may the Lord bless you with many years of pain free life and mobility. may  he restore and keep you. Congrats on all the ground you have already recovered and prayers for much more.

[Sir-diealot]

sie-diealot may the Lord bless you with many years of pain free life and mobility. may  he restore and keep you. Congrats on all the ground you have already recovered and prayers for much more.

Thank you very much, I hope the same for you as well.

[High plains drifter]

I'm beginning to feel some guilt about rubbing out so many gobblers.I'm going to let some go next spring, and take some photos, and try to count cou.

[Happy]

I only manage to kill the mentally challenged ones so I am actually doing the population a favor. Still waiting for the NWTF to recognize this and give me my lifetime achievement award.

[Sir-diealot]

I only manage to kill the mentally challenged ones so I am actually doing the population a favor. Still waiting for the NWTF to recognize this and give me my lifetime achievement award.

[PALongspur]

To each their own, but if I wasn't there to kill a bird, I'd carry a camera.

I have to agree 100% with this response.