Chasin' gobblers after 60

[2eagles]

Noooo! Gimme a deer any day of the week. Because, ya know what? It's all about eating for me. I love to eat. A noisy old Tom gives me and my wife about six meals. A nice deer can feed us for six months. I truly do love turkey hunting and I hunt public ground so I go in deep for turkey and deer so getting them to the truck can be an issue, but I've got two aces up my sleeve.  My sons. When I need help, I call, they come. Simple!
Flip side....
I was waterfowl hunting Oklahoma in January and realized a flock of mallards locked up and committed had my heart rate up higher than turkeys or deer. Go figure.
Should add I'm 65.

[g8rvet]

As I get closer to 60 (I am 56) I have seen the way I hunt change.  I quit deer hunting 15 years ago to focus on ducks.  For me, the deer hunt became boring and when I squeezed the trigger, the work started.  So I quit it.  I like duck hunting even when I don't kill any ducks.  Same for turkey hunting.  I can hunt all day, or I can squeeze in a hunt before work, or just go in the afternoon if that is what my schedule allows.  I don't put as much effort into the ducks as years past (mostly because there are not many left where I live - I still remember the glory days and it has lost it's luster).  For turkey hunting, I hunt small pieces of land and open National Forest. It is like 2 different types of hunting.  My  biggest problem now is that the turkey season coincides with the best redfishing, but as I can catch a red the rest of the year, I concentrate on turkeys when they are in.  I don't scout as hard as I used to (due to time constraints) and it shows in my success ratio, but I am still having fun doing it my way and hope I stay fit enough.  My dad is 84 and still deer hunting. 

[Muzzy61]

I'll be 58 this spring. I've dear hunted since I was 14 ,and started tournament bass fishing when I was 21 and did so until was 46. Our tournament season started getting fired up the same time as spring gobbler, so never turkey hunted. Because of some medical problems I stopped tournament fishing and a buddy took me turkey hunting and I  have been hooked ever since.
Now it's not even close I'd rather turkey hunt, than Deer hunt, fish, golf, etc......

[Dtrkyman]

Stop dragging those deer, quarter em up and pack em out western style, or help some younguns learn to deer hunt and let em drag/pack!

Oh and turkey hunt every day you can!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[greencop01]

I'm 66 and have a bad foot, a bad ankle break and complications with Type II Diabetes and muscle flap surgery. It can't keep me down. or out of the turkey woods. I hunt slower and sit longer, patience pays. I also call more than before, and when the tom is coming I stop calling unless he needs a cluck or two. My situation also makes me appreciate turkey hunting all the more........   

[guesswho]

When I was growing up in the 60's we just went hunting.   There were three primary targets when we hunted, deer, hogs and turkeys.  Even way back then turkeys tripped my trigger more than the others and I would find my shotgun loaded with #4's first followed by buckshot in the fall.   I also found myself wishing it was spring instead of fall.  I've been deer hunting once in the last five years and that was one day this November, just enough to remind me why I quit.  It had been about four or five years prior to that since I had been.   But I have never missed a spring season and always look forward to the next one.       

[randy6471]

 I'm 57 and have been hunting for 45 years.

I'm an avid whitetail bowhunter, especially during the rut. I put a lot of time/money into foodplots and habitat improvement work to insure that we always have plenty of deer around to hunt, BUT if I had to choose between deer hunting and chasing spring gobblers...it's turkey hunting without hesitation.

[TRG3]

I'll be 77 before the spring turkey season is over. I quit hunting the hills and now concentrate on the flat ground. Once I've got my decoys set out, my camo piece of cloth in front of me, and the ground lounger set up behind, I settle in for what could be a 15 minute or 4 hour hunt, depending on the cooperation of the gobblers. Trying to sound like a hen that's being courted by an intruder gobbler often results in me filling all three of my Illinois tags over that many short seasons. While I may not get a gobbler that morning, I almost always catch a few zzzzs, and more than once have been awakened by a gobbler flogging my decoy! My son helps pull out deer of any size or difficult location while I handle those where I can drive the truck to within a couple of hundred yards. All of that tugging and pulling makes for a few sore days, but that's just the price to be paid when you continue to be lucky enough for your feet to hit the floor day after day. I can't complain!

[appalachianstruttstopper]

I have personally quit deer hunting all together. Just got to the point I lost interest. Turkey hunting pumps me up as much or more now than it did when I started at 11 years old. Last deer I shot I never got the thrill of the hunt. Buck came out, I shouldered the 7 mag, pulled the trigger, and no excitement. Literally cool as a cucumber. If turkey hunting ever gets like that for me, guess I'll drop it like a hot potato. But until then......game on!

[Happy]

Interesting how many have just lost the interest in deer hunting. I guess I am just weird but I enjoy procuring and processing our meat for the year. Granted bowhunting is my favorite form of deer hunting but I can't say I don't enjoy hunting with a rifle as well.  Turkeys are far and away my favorite but I just enjoy hunting and hope I never loose that. To be able to spend time in the woods and investigate new areas as well as get away from work as well as provide the majority of the meat we eat is just something that I love.

[joey46]

I'm 72 and thankfully still able to do both.  I no longer deer hunt anyplace that it is not legal to drive close to a downed deer.  The drag 'um 1/2 mile days are over.  My last Florida WMA gobbler required a mile in and out walk.  That is still doable.  My buddies of like age agree that deer hunting can be a lot of work. LOL.  Pic is me in 17 at a FL WMA.  That is sugar sand not a skiff of snow btw.

[Harty]

I'm soon to be 66 and just like being outdoors. Started following my grandfather around the woods when I was eight and totin a gun when I was twelve. Fished during the spring and summer. Hunted during the fall and winter. Pretty much did it all. Turkeys were a late addition to the Wisconsin scene. So when permits were available and a friend said I would love it  I tried it . He was right. If given a choice I'd choose my Beagles and cottontail hunting first ,but spring turkeys would be a close second. Nothin like hearing the woods wake up in the AM and that longbeard sound off at close quarters.

[richard black]

I'm 67 and have been hunting my whole life. My Daddy started taking me when I was 3. I have taken many many deer as I enjoy the meat and the first buck that walks by is always a trophy. But turkeys have a spell over me and If I had to choose one or the other the turkeys win. In the spring at first light when the gobblers sound off, there is no other time I enjoy more and hope to enjoy for a long time to come. Gobble gobble gobble!

[trad bow]

I'm 61. Back surgeries have really slowed down my deer and hog hunting. I have turkey hunted for forty years and that is my spring passion with a little fishing thrown in. I also have started back upland bird hunting and have a GSP I'm training. So that's what I do in fall and winter now instead of deer hunting. I still get plenty of deer meat as neighbors kids keep me supplied.

[turkaholic]

If deer could gobble it would make for a tough choice. This spring will be my first hunt at 60. I believe I hunt way harder for turkey than I do deer. It's all about the gobble, after 31 years it still takes my breath away. I never get sick of it. It obsessed me. It's always wondering if over the next ridge or maybe the next spot will produce the drug,that makes me walk way to much. I still hunt deer but archery only. I will never gun hunt deer again.