Most of us like to try/use the latest and greatest...whether it be guns,ammo,camo,calls,decoys,etc.Just wondering if we have any dyed-in-the-wool old schoolers here.Older(before early 90's) or no camo,fixed choke non camo guns,lead,minimal equipment that you pack every day into the field.Stuff you've used for years and years and dont change just because it works,dont need "new and improved".Seems the older I get the more I lean to this type of hunting.
Post up any pics or comments love to look at em!!!
I like a good pattern at 35 yards because it is ethical. I would love to find some Treklite clothing in a solid dark gray, but they ain't gonna make any. I have been using, if not the same callers, the same type of callers forever, however, I would use any turkey sounding caller that would help me seal the deal. I wouldn't touch a decoy for any amount of money. I don't know what all that makes me.
Sinew strung hickory bow- check.Flint tipped feather fletched arrows-check.Grass blades between thumbs for calling-check. Breachclout-check. yup, old school!....lol!
I sit in a blind with A/C and TV. Back 1/2 has a bunk and potty. I have 6 decoys on motion stakes and an e-caller. My ATV is quiet enough to drive all the way to the blind and it has green headlights so the roosted birds don't see me. I have an extension on my Browning and can shoot 9 lead-free shots. If I don't have my bird by 11:30 opening morning, the property owner brings one out and ties it to a stake 61 yards from my blind so I kill it DEAD with 7 shot.
Quote from: 2eagles on March 13, 2014, 05:50:18 PM
I sit in a blind with A/C and TV. Back 1/2 has a bunk and potty. I have 6 decoys on motion stakes and an e-caller. My ATV is quiet enough to drive all the way to the blind and it has green headlights so the roosted birds don't see me. I have an extension on my Browning and can shoot 9 lead-free shots. If I don't have my bird by 11:30 opening morning, the property owner brings one out and ties it to a stake 61 yards from my blind so I kill it DEAD with 7 shot.
Way to stir the pot!
Quote from: silvestris on March 13, 2014, 05:17:11 PM
I like a good pattern at 35 yards because it is ethical. I would love to find some Treklite clothing in a solid dark gray, but they ain't gonna make any. I have been using, if not the same callers, the same type of callers forever, however, I would use any turkey sounding caller that would help me seal the deal. I wouldn't touch a decoy for any amount of money. I don't know what all that makes me.
REI and other camping/hiking outlets sell technical clothing in earthtones that considerably pre-dates Treklite.
Quote from: Turkey Trot on March 13, 2014, 06:17:56 PM
Quote from: 2eagles on March 13, 2014, 05:50:18 PM
I sit in a blind with A/C and TV. Back 1/2 has a bunk and potty. I have 6 decoys on motion stakes and an e-caller. My ATV is quiet enough to drive all the way to the blind and it has green headlights so the roosted birds don't see me. I have an extension on my Browning and can shoot 9 lead-free shots. If I don't have my bird by 11:30 opening morning, the property owner brings one out and ties it to a stake 61 yards from my blind so I kill it DEAD with 7 shot.
Way to stir the pot!
Probably wears a black hoodie with TEAM ME plastered all over it and sounds like a NASCAR driver thankin all his marvelous sponsors on camera everytime he kills a bird;then tells you "this is what its all about" ::) ::)
I hunt deer with a recurve or long bow I shoot wooden arrows and hunt in a camo or plaid shirt and Cathcart pants!.
My father started hunting turkeys in the late 70's to early 80's. He only wore tiger stripe or woodland camo BDU's and a black sweat shirt. With the old white converse tennis to pick up and run to a bird gooblin to half the distance. He still sports the sane attire and has taken a stringer of beards in his day lol
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Old school...
I don't use dA'coys....nor do I hunt out of blinds....sometimes I wear a face mask and gloves sometimes I don't. Sometimes I hunt with 130 year old guns....most springs find me toting a SBE with brass beads for sights.
Never worried too much about the in-fashion cami'flage....
I call up and kill numerous gobblers each year standing by a small tree....most people talk "set up". I think in spur of the moments. A lot of times if a gobbler is hot and coming I stand up. I've never crawled up on a turkey...if I make a move on a turkey it's fully erect.
I never try and pattern turkeys nor try and think I know what they're going to do next....heck their brains no bigger than a pecan.
With the exception of diaphragms....I've been using the same calls that I made for years. (box, trumpet and slates). Never like to brag...but I can back up anything I've ever said.
I think of it as Commando Style...rather than Old School.
Would love to see some pics of you and your old guns with some birds there Mr. Cox!!
If i set out to actually KILL a turkey, I do whatever it takes to get 'er done... ( decoys or whatever), to me, the hunt is way more fun than the kill, if i kill him, i just gotta go find another bird cuz this one's dead... I'll never hear him gobble again...
I've got a choke tube, a decoy, and a cushion but I never take a bird over 40 yds. I own a blind but rarely use it even for a youngster. No I'm not a call three times and shut up guy. But I started before there was, mossy oak or realtree, before decoys, before choke tubes and "turkey" vests. It was woodland camo, bandana facemasks and cover those white socks, long barreled guns, sore butts and wet feet. Wasn't much to go by so the gobblers taught us the hard way. It was just as much fun as today with less reward and they didn't start Daylight Savings in the winter so you could start hunting at 5:00 and easily be at work on time!
I buy the highest quality everything I can afford. With the utmost intent not to present myself as a d-bag in this post, but I have no problem spending my hard earned money on under armour, avian, b brand shotguns etc. I have a passion for the sport to the point where I will spend the money on what is ARGUABLY the finest gear available. That being said, the guys that took us on our first turkey hunts, to this day, wear the oldest, most faded camo, If they're even wearing camo, have no decoys, old POS shotguns, and the oldest, crustiest box calls you've ever seen. They do not know how, or have any interest in learning how to operate a slate or a diaphram. YET, they both literally have a whole dresser drawer full of beards. Both the old timers tag out every year. They are truly amazing hunters. Old school because its all they've ever known. Dont get me wrong, my buddies and i kill birds. Still, every year, me and my best bud are in awe at how easy they make it look with nothing.
You're not gonna believe this, but when we started huntin, there were no camo clothes. Just had to wear some kind of brown flannel coat, and some brown pants.
All guns were shiney blued, and pretty stocks.
2 3/4 lead 4s were the medicine. Calls were simple. No Dekes invented yet.
Totally different now. All camo, not much change in calls. Ammo has been a huge step. Mostly just the camo for me. Pretty much hunt the same as I did then.
I probably am since my camo doesn't match, vest is over 20 years old, pack 3 calls of which one I made from a mussel shell in the creek, my bow is 14 and my primary weapon is traditional black powder 12 ga double.
It doesn't mean I am better than anyone else, just a tight-was, LOL.
I'd say we all are smiling wide come April as the sun begins to rise and the ol gobbler starts to hammer!!! I simply can't wait and wish everyone the best if luck!
Take some pics!!
Wess
I find every year going back to my roots little by little
When I started hunting turkeys as a teen in the mid 1970's the only camo available was the WWII pattern. I had one turkey call, a Lynch "World Champion" box. I used a H&R single shot "Topper" 20 ga shotgun with Win 3" #4 shot. We put camo paint on our face and hands. No blinds, no vests, no decoys, no GPS, no special choke tubes, no turkey specific shotshells, no HTL, no camo guns, etc. I am surprised we EVER killed a turkey without all that stuff! LOL. I have improved my guns, ammo, clothing and calls. I do not use blinds or decoys or HTL shot so I guess I am a mixture of "new" and "old" school.
Quote from: WildTigerTrout on March 14, 2014, 01:21:05 PM
When I started hunting turkeys as a teen in the mid 1970's the only camo available was the WWII pattern. I had one turkey call, a Lynch "World Champion" box. I used a H&R single shot "Topper" 20 ga shotgun with Win 3" #4 shot. We put camo paint on our face and hands. No blinds, no vests, no decoys, no GPS, no special choke tubes, no turkey specific shotshells, no HTL, no camo guns, etc. I am surprised we EVER killed a turkey without all that stuff! LOL. I have improved my guns, ammo, clothing and calls. I do not use blinds or decoys or HTL shot so I guess I am a mixture of "new" and "old" school.
Started with the H & R 10 ga. in 1979 and still using it !!!!! My birds are just as dead as your birds !!!
No fancy gun or chokes here either....fixed full choke !! :z-guntootsmiley:
I'm a mid 60's hunter and kept up with a lot of the new fangled stuff . Have hunted from dove stools, sat on the ground but never from a blind and no decoys. Got super tight chokes and HTL and wonder why when he's out there at 15 steps or closer at times. I do use a home made face mask and gloves on whatever cammo smells best. If he's very far at all when I first hear a gobble then I know that by the time I get there he is on the ground or died on the limb. The older I get the more times I awake during the night but not from excitement of thinking about going the next morning; it's just another nature call.
Love having everything right ready to go for the next morning and just as I walk out the door I think of something that requires awaking my true love just one more time. I thank the Lord every day for having the opportunity to be able to go turkey hunting one more time. I'd rather call one up for a kid or someone new to the sport than to shoot one myself - but I ain't a saying I won't shoot one when I want to.
Turkey hunting is the best outdoor show in the world in my opinion.
does owning a shirt in the drake old school pattern count?
I am old school--not because I especially try to be--its just the way I am.
Not much of an old school guy...would hate to have tried to turkey hunt with polio...
mudhen
I don't think it matters if you are "old school" or "latest and greatest" we all enjoy the same thing and that is what counts. I do not knock a guy for what he wears, weapon he carries, or call he uses, that is his choice as long as he hunts ethically. When I bow hunt I wear plaid wool shirts, wool green pants, backquiver, cedar arrows tipped with Bear Greenies, and carry a 68" longbow. I also carry an 870, wear Ol'Tom gear, yep and I have a decoy. I do not hunt from a blind, or shoot past 40, killed more than some and alot less than others. If I never kill another I am thankful the Good Lord still lets me chase them. My point is, I won't waste my time or argue about what gear you use or I use, we are all hunters. As I said as long as you hunt ethically, most of you would be welcome to hunt with me at my farm anytime, because we are all Turkey hunters and outdoorsman. Just my thoughts.
Quote from: TJK68 on March 14, 2014, 07:53:22 PM
As I said as long as you hunt ethically, most of you would be welcome to hunt with me at my farm anytime, because we are all Turkey hunters and outdoorsman. Just my thoughts.
Very good thoughts! :icon_thumright:
Quote from: Byhalia on March 14, 2014, 01:27:55 PM
Quote from: WildTigerTrout on March 14, 2014, 01:21:05 PM
When I started hunting turkeys as a teen in the mid 1970's the only camo available was the WWII pattern. I had one turkey call, a Lynch "World Champion" box. I used a H&R single shot "Topper" 20 ga shotgun with Win 3" #4 shot. We put camo paint on our face and hands. No blinds, no vests, no decoys, no GPS, no special choke tubes, no turkey specific shotshells, no HTL, no camo guns, etc. I am surprised we EVER killed a turkey without all that stuff! LOL. I have improved my guns, ammo, clothing and calls. I do not use blinds or decoys or HTL shot so I guess I am a mixture of "new" and "old" school.
Started with the H & R 10 ga. in 1979 and still using it !!!!! My birds are just as dead as your birds !!!
No fancy gun or chokes here either....fixed full choke !! :z-guntootsmiley:
I must agree my Benelli SBE and Browning BPS 10 ga. are fancy but man do they knock-em dead! LOL
If the bar for old school is 1990 then yes I guess I qualify. 1981 for me, killed my first couple one evening on my own in 1986. The learning curve was steep. I wish the heck I'd have known all that old gear and camo I used then would be so sought after now. Most all of it has was handed down to other new hunters along the way.
Love the "Old School ways" but I am also thankful for mordern technology; I do hunt with decoys (a lot of them) I LOVE my Mossy Oak camo, LOVE my turkey seat with the soft cushion, I do hunt out of blinds when ever possible but also run and gun a lot too, have several "old school" shotguns that I kill turkeys with but also have the lastest as well, use the modern shotshells, and the rest of my gear is pretty much considered modern; I TOTALLY agree that the Old Timers were and still is some of the BEST hunters out there but I am pretty sure that IF alot of this stuff would have been available back in the day, the old timers would have used it.
Most definitely would have used some of it. Hevi shot being #1. You youngins wouldn't have nothing to shoot at now if we'd have had it back then!