How long do you think you would go?

[Cut N Run]

I went 4-5 years before killing my first.  I called in several for others before I got access to decent land to hunt.  I get frustrated if I don't fill my tags.  I'd probably go to state park land and hunt with a camera if I didn't have a good place to hunt.

Jim

[TRG3]

I started turkey hunting in 1987 and probably didn't take a bird until 4-5 years later, then only getting a gobbler about every third year thereafter for the next 10+ years. There was no turkey season in my county so I'd get up at 2 a.m., make the 1 1/2 hour drive to the Shawnee National Forest in Pope County, and then walk in 30 minutes to my spot. While I always heard gobblers, they seldom would come in and by noon I'd leave to make the drive back only to do it again the next few days until frustration and fatigue made the bed too cozy and I slept in. Since the five different Illinois seasons are only 5-9 days long, sleeping in a few days can eliminate the season. Finally, my home county opened up just about the time I read an article by Ray Eye on taking advantage of the peck order after which I began to usually fill my three tags annually in Illinois. Like Ray says, the peck order is always in force whether the breeding season is in or not.

[appalachianassassin]

If I go 2 days I start gettin pissy

[coyote1]

I would still go. Being in the woods and hearing the birds is what keeps me going. I call for others that I take hunting before and after I get my bird. There have been a couple years I didn't get a bird also.

[Crghss]

Don't know how long I'd go but it would not be 20 years.

[Harty]

If someone looked into their crystal ball and said "you are not going to shoot a gobler over the next 20 years"...... I'd still be out there listening and watching.

[roberthyman14]

I'm gonna on year 8 I believe.  Self taught on tough public land.  Had opportunities that I screwed at the last sec.  Missed a couple birds and spooked a few.  I believe Imma kill this weekend.   Heading to no pressure private ground.

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[Yoder409]

I started young and self-taught.  We had a decent turkey population back then.

I think by about year 3 or 4 or 5, if I were still birdless, I'd have been thinking about taking up golf or fishing or knitting or SOMETHING else.  Turkey hunting can be frustrating as heck at times.  But they ain't THAT hard to figure out and kill.

[fallhnt]

It's bad enough waiting for Fall turkey season every year.

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[mtns2hunt]

Turkey hunting is not all about killing a turkey but it sure helps keep up the moral. Not sure I would even call it turkey hunting after 20 years of no success.

[shaman]

I went for the first time in the early 80's and didn't finally shoot a bird until 2000-- almost 20 years.

1)  When I started, there weren't all that many birds in Ohio.  I didn't see a gobbler for 5 years.
2)  I had to drive 3 hours to get there, I could only hunt Saturday until Noon
3)  I was a busy computer guy and starting to raise a family.  I only got to hunt 1 or two days a season
4)  The farm where I hunted for the first decade had turkeys, but they generally roosted off the property. I had to call them onto the property before I could shoot them.
5)  The second decade was struggle just to find a place to hunt. 

I saw turkey hunting as a sort of religious retreat.  I went to humble myself.  It was something I knew I wasn't going to do well.

Here it is almost 40 years later, and I still feel like a beginner.

[turkaholic]

As long as I can hear a gobble , I will always go GOD willing.

[ferocious calls]

It's not about the harvest, but the hunt. I used to scout for a month before the season. Call in every Tom in the area before opening day just to have fun. Made those Toms a bit wiser and a bit harder to harvest in general. Just the way I liked it.

We eat so much Eastern turkey it wouldn't matter if I never harvested another wild one. Well maybe a little. Lol

[blake_08]

If i could know the future, and i knew i wouldn't kill another turkey for 20 years, i would still get up every morning i could and go to the woods with the same enthusiasm as always. Turkey hunting to me is so much more than killing a turkey. I can buy turkey feathers online and turkey meat at the grocery store. So if i was told i could have the entire experience of a good turkey hunt, with the exception of the trigger pull, i would gladly agree, even if it was for the next 20 years.

Don't take any of this the wrong way. Given the chance, i'm still going to kill every single full fanned gobbler that i have a tag for, if i've earned him.

[Chordeiles]

If someone looked into their crystal ball and said "you are not going to shoot a gobler over the next 20 years"...... I'd still be out there listening and watching.

Yep. Every chance I got.