I friend wanted to get into turkey hunting, took him hunting, called up his first bird.showed. Him some stuff, first season we killed 9 turkeys,thought I had a good hunting. Buddy to tag team some tough gobblers, instead he tries to mislead me, talk me into not hunting areas, discredit. My techniques.. I now have a turkey hunting rival, how about u guys anyone have a turkey hunting rival? Lets hear some stories please
I let hunting be about me vs. the turkeys.
I don't care what the other guys do unless they beat me to a spot in the morning.
Don't sweat the people, keep it about you and the birds.
Our local postmaster and I hunted different pieces of the same farmers ground and this went on a couple of years with no problems...then he informed me he was going to be hunting the ground I hunt "because it was close to his house". He is a native of this area, I have only lived here 8 years so he knew the landowner before I did so no reason for me to complain to the landowner. I still hunt the ground too but didn't take a bird on it last year due to the extra hunting pressure...in my opinion anyway.
What really steamed me is I got a call from another neighboring landowner I hunt on asking if the postmaster could hunt his ground that weekend because I was out of town...we were out of town and I had stopped my mail delivery for a period of days. The landowner had never called me before and had no idea I was out of town...wonder how the postmaster knew??????
This motivated me to find more and better ground to hunt which I did so I'm not dependent on the two places mentioned above...and I keep my mouth shut about where I hunt and don't stop my mail delivery during turkey season.
I've only ever turkey hunted with two guys. Both are very good friends. Like brothers really. One is a member of this site. The three of us have never hunted together but that doesn't matter. Any time I'm hunting with one or the other, they've probably been more geared towards getting me a bird since they know the lands batter. In recent years, my one buddy and I have started going separate directions but not because of any rivalry. Just makes it easier to hunt separate birds when you're not in each other's laps. He tells me what he's heard and I do the same. We regroup the next morning. If we hear one bird, we get after it together. If not, we go different directions. If we hear multiple birds, we'll split right there and go forth. As for rivals, I've got none in the woods I'm concerned about. Sorry you got burned.
As a kid I took a guy out n showed him a spot Id killed tons of birds. Showed him where they roosted, how to set up, call, etc. showed him where I go n what I do if the first bet didn't pan out. I was around 15 straight opening mornings killing longbeards there. Was a good spot.
That year I called a few birds for him. There were plenty for both but being it was a private farm we only had 300 acres to hunt. So it was limited.
Next spring he calls n says him n his friend put up a blind a couple days before the season in the place I start out.
I was a kid so this naturally irked me. My ex wife (gf at time) n I got there planning to go on the other side of property.,
The fellow wasn't there so we went to my normal spot. At daylight birds were gobbling everywhere. I heard crashing coming from the hill above. It was the 2 guys.
They circled around me planning I guess on a calling contest.
Birds flew down n each time I called the birds answered n the other guys called. Kind of a stalemate. Told my ex to stay put n called walking away trying to draw birds up hill. Birds came to her n the idiots kept following bumping the birds.
While on hill I heard distant birds gobble. Ran down to her, grabbed her gear and called 2 Longbeards to 8 yards. She didn't miss her first bird. Was a great day.
Nowadays I try n have a bunch of back up ideas so it matters a little less. That guy was a rival that day though. Never showed him a thing again
I don't feel burned, just wanted to hear about others experience. I still hunt where I want, there are many other hunters out there . I bunt lease. And public ground. I love it he is the one sweating, he has become a road hunter. I killed a good one on opening day public land last year, I lo e everything. About. Turkey hunting just want to hear some stories. Here's. One. Opening day public ground, trying. To get him his first turkey, ends up another hunter calling. To same bird. We get the gobbler in sight at 50 yards hanged up .. Finally. In range I tell buddy to shoot, the gobbler falls gets back up and flies right at us, buddies gun is jamed Im looking at him and the gobbler, gobbler flies past buddy at 10 yards, I swing and shoot the gobbler. In the head at 8 yards, was to be his first turned out I kill it ???? unbelievable
I don't have any rivals that I know of. I have lots of buddies that I've hunted with and I would put any one of them on a bird and I believe they'd do the same for me. Besides good natured ribbing, I've been lucky enough to not experience what you have.
+1 People gonna do what they gonna do. Nothing better than taking a young person on their first hunt!
Quote from: Tail Feathers on February 17, 2016, 04:30:59 PM
I let hunting be about me vs. the turkeys.
I don't care what the other guys do unless they beat me to a spot in the morning.
Don't sweat the people, keep it about you and the birds.
We have a saying in our circle. You are "in the tribe" or you are not. When someone kills from the tribe, everyone eats. My tribe has family and friends. I have given info, hot intel, to tribe members so they could kill a bird. They have done the same for me. Had a guy "in the tribe" lie right to my face about where his Dad was hunting (he was in the tribe, if he would have told me his Dad was gonna hunt where I told him I was gonna hunt, I would not have gone - a friend is more important than a turkey). Got there where I was intending to hunt and someone had hung their peg in the area I had told my buddy I was hunting. It was his dad, and he got there a full hour earlier than I had ever seen him get there. No sweat off my *****. He told me that turkeys were more important than friends to him, so I took the message. I have never hunted with him again. Life is too short to hunt with people like that.
I have hunting buddies that I will take on a turkey or duck hunt. But they are not "in the tribe" and will not get full information. I enjoy hunting with them, but it is not quite the same to me.
"Turkey Hunting"
One man's game...... :icon_thumright:
By Kenny Morgan.....
Quote from: tha bugman on February 17, 2016, 05:18:08 PM
+1 People gonna do what they gonna do. Nothing better than taking a young person on their first hunt!Quote from: Tail Feathers on February 17, 2016, 04:30:59 PM
I let hunting be about me vs. the turkeys.
I don't care what the other guys do unless they beat me to a spot in the morning.
Don't sweat the people, keep it about you and the birds.
Totally agree.....
My only rival is ol 3 toes and that is all I have to say about that. :funnyturkey:
There are 3 of us who get after em and share info. Well one of us never likes to work so he will share our public land info to others so he gets "free" rides,meals and even has guys buy his permits. So we still hunt together but 2 of us now have new spots that we lie about. It's public land not public info...
I'll show naked pics of my wife before showing someone turkey land!! Haha
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^^^ :drool:
I have been burned before, I used to do some guiding and was a pretty good gig at the time. Then it came down to money... So never really had "leases" around here where I used to hunt, my deal with the locals was I kill/guide a bird off your property and you get a cut of my fee. This was a great deal until unknown to me a group of 4 Out of State hunters I guided one spring went back to the landowner and offered him $$$$ to lease his ground for the next spring and even told the owner I told them to do this.... So here I am out 680 acres of prime turkey ground and never knew it until Xmas time when I was making some contacts about the upcoming spring. It just put a sour taste in my mouth and by the following year I quit the guiding game, but this decision was way better than I could have ever imagined. I took to only taking out friends and family, then this lead to youth hunts and "Learn to Hunts" and there is never a dollar exchanged, I don't pay leases, I don't charge for hunts and the reward is all personal! I get to "Hunt" for seven weeks, take out first time hunters and introduce youth to the challenge and here is my payment :)
MK M GOBL
I learned years ago there are very few friends when it comes to turkey hunting.
Friends don't take friends turkey hunting.
i had a guy i used to be friends with think it was a good idea to take pop shot at a tom that was hung up at 65 yds. i was rather rude and told him i never wanted to hunt with him again. im sure you guys have probably figured out by now i dont like turkey snipers.
I am what you might call a solitary man and do all my hunting that way. If I want company I'll stay home with the wife. Less people involve the less complicated life is.
"Very few friends when it comes to turkey hunting" ?? "Friends don't take friends turkey hunting"??
Are you guys serious?
I mean I like hunting alone, but there is no better hunt to do with a buddy or two.
Some of you guys apparently do a terrible job picking friends. It sounds like this "rival" thing is a two way street.
I've taken a number of guys turkey hunting. Yes, I've had to think about who I was taking and not take someone that I knew would be a problem or ran with those kinds of folks, but that doesn't seem to be too hard to distinguish. I've typically taken them to public spots that everyone else hunts, but some I've taken to "honey holes". I've not had one of them do anything afterwards that I wasn't ok with.
Quote from: boatpaddle on February 17, 2016, 05:48:50 PM
"Turkey Hunting"
One man's game...... :icon_thumright:
By Kenny Morgan.....
Quote from: trad bow on February 17, 2016, 10:00:56 PM
I am what you might call a solitary man and do all my hunting that way. If I want company I'll stay home with the wife. Less people involve the less complicated life is.
Quote from: RemingtonRules on February 17, 2016, 09:25:54 PM
Friends don't take friends turkey hunting.
I guess I fall into this group lol.
I'd rather hunt alone.
Sent from the barrel of a model 70 at 3300 fps
I have no rivals in turkey hunting. I'm perfectly capable of screwing things up all by myself! ;D
Listening to some of this I must have it golden have made nothing but friends While hunting turkeys never had a rival just good fun
I hunt with a small group of guys and we all understand. If we take someone to an area we have permission to hunt (we hunt all private) you are NEVER to go back and ask for permission. Period. My hunting group use to be pretty big, but now I hunt with 3-4 guys on occasion. I take them and they take me knowing the rules.
Gaining permission to new land in my state is very hard. And when you do gain access typically others hunt it. A lot of people think it is not right to gain permission knowing another guy hunts it. If that were the case you would never hunt private land. I always ask how many people hunt. If it's more than a guy or two I don't bother depending on the size of the property. I just gained access to a 300 acre farm that one other guy hunts. The owner is only allowing me to hunt because I'm a teacher and he was a former teacher as well. In this case there is plenty of room, especially since it backs up to another 600 acres of public ground. I have turned down plenty of spots that were 100 acres or so and they started listing 3, 4, 5 guys. Thanks but no thanks.
I treat turkey hunting spots as if they were moonshine stills , ain't nobody's business
Once you tell folks where your hunting all these problems start to happen , moal of the story , don't tell them squat
Quote from: Old Gobbler on February 18, 2016, 11:28:12 AM
I treat turkey hunting spots as if they were moonshine stills , ain't nobody's business
Once you tell folks where your hunting all these problems start to happen , moal of the story , don't tell them squat
Very true don't tell folks where you hunt and you won't have any problems.
There are very few people I will turkey hunt with. I prefer to hunt with someone on my level. If I hunt with someone who doesn't have as much experience they better shut up do as I say and watch the show. Nothing worst than hunting with someone who knows it all and has done very little hunting. 1st and last time I hunt with them . Been there done that
Quote from: GobbleNut on February 18, 2016, 10:37:50 AM
I have no rivals in turkey hunting. I'm perfectly capable of screwing things up all by myself! ;D
Amen to that !
I thought that I was the only one...
2015 Old Gobbler contest Champions
Mine isn't a rival because I was lucky and stopped it before it happened but I did take a guy to a spot. That night I was talking to him and he said he was going to take his girlfriend to my blind. Unbeknownst to me he had used his phone to mark the spot. I told him no he wasn't as there would be someone else hunting it. That was 2 years ago and I have not shown him another spot nor helped him in any way. We still talk and he asks me to take him or go with him and I refuse.
Quote from: Gamblinman on February 17, 2016, 08:40:56 PM
I learned years ago there are very few friends when it comes to turkey hunting.
Same hold true for deer hunting.
I hunt with him sometimes, I'm not mad but I can't help but smile when he calls me like he did mo day to tell me he's been scouting and hasn't seen any turkeys
Quote from: hotspur on February 17, 2016, 04:18:19 PM
I friend wanted to get into turkey hunting, took him hunting, called up his first bird.showed. Him some stuff, first season we killed 9 turkeys,thought I had a good hunting. Buddy to tag team some tough gobblers, instead he tries to mislead me, talk me into not hunting areas, discredit. My techniques.. I now have a turkey hunting rival, how about u guys anyone have a turkey hunting rival? Lets hear some stories please
Proper punctuation is important....in fact, it saves lives...
It can mean the difference between "Let's eat, grandma!" and "Let's eat grandma!"
Rival? No. But there are a few folks I won't turkey hunt with for various reasons. I'll break bread with them, but won't hunt with them.
I don't have any hunting rivals to speak of other than the usual public land stupidity and assorted bs that goes on on the hunting club I belong to. I have found that those type of people are pretty lazy and it doesn't take much to distance myself from them. I do hunt with one true friend and even though we don't hunt the same style I enjoy the company and he is gracious enough to play by my rules when we do. I can't do the whole rifle,blind thing in Wv even if it's legal. We don't get together to hunt much but I truly enjoy our time in the woods together. I have also had the pleasure of calling in first birds for a decent amount of kids and a few of their dads. Some of those people are doing it on their own now and at their own locations so all is good. I have been blessed and I wouldn't change it for the world. If I call a bird in it's a success whether I am behind the trigger or not. The good memories I have made are not worth being greedy over a bird. I have been treated better than family by my friend and I feel sorry for those who have never had that. With all that being said, if I really want to kill a bird I go solo. No offense to anyone but I hunt better solo. And there is no one their to raz me if I miss.
I once took a friend/co-worker to a farm that I have permission to hunt. Been hunting it for years and have a great relationship with the folks there. Called him after the first of the year and told him when I was planning to come up in the spring. He said great, what about the other group? I said what other group? Apparently my "friend" gave his number to someone else saying that it was his contact and to use my name. Without going into too much detail he pretty much stabbed me in the back and violated my trust in him. We're no longer friends or co-workers but it still sucks.
Lesson learned for sure. I will not take another person that I do not have complete trust in. Never again, no way, no chance, etc. I can say it is not worth the risk.
Quote from: WV Ridge Reaper on February 17, 2016, 08:04:30 PM
I'll show naked pics of my wife before showing someone turkey land!! Haha
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thats funny right there,but totally true :TooFunny:
i have one good buddy i fish with a lot,and we hunt together on occasions,we do it like this,if i have the spot then i call,if its his spot then he does, who ever has killed the least birds gets to shoot,or if we go multiple days in a row,we rotate,he shoots one day bird or no bird,the next day i do,and so on,if there two,i get the one on my side and he gets his side.if i took him to a place he understands not to go back alone or to try to seek permission for himself,and its the same if we go to a spot that he has.we only go together a couple times a year,and we always have a great time whether we get one or not.its fun to go with a true friend from time to time,but when it comes down to it,i like hunting alone,and so does my buddy,maybe thats why we never have once had an altercation,and we have been friends for at least 25 years,but fishing thats a different story,i had rather have my buddy by my side,and he had rather take me too.
Quote from: BowBendr on February 18, 2016, 01:59:44 PM
Quote from: GobbleNut on February 18, 2016, 10:37:50 AM
I have no rivals in turkey hunting. I'm perfectly capable of screwing things up all by myself! ;D
Amen to that !
I thought that I was the only one...
2015 Old Gobbler contest Champions
Add one more to the list! But also friends , no rivals even though some think they are. Some one else to help me screw up ::) when taking the youth it is all my screwup, they did great.
I only Turkey hunt with two other people. One is my oldest brother, and the other is my best friend ( honestly he is more like the younger brother I never had). All bird and hunt info is exchanged between us three. We keep no secrets and it has really been great all these years. If one has been hunting a bird but has to go to work the other will call one of us and tell us where he is and where he was headed before he left. I have hunted with other folks in the past that turned out like some of you guys mention though. It's a cut throat world for some people in Turkey season lol
As of right now I have no real rivals but all could change in a couple months.
Me and a good friend have permission on a small track of land that Ive been hunting deer and hogs on for almost 18 years. In the past 5 years the turkey population has risen to the point that we started hunting them as well. By buddy has took his son on youth weekend for the past two years and had success which has been awesome. Last year my daughter drew a good Quota so I took her there for her first hunt but didn't get a bird so this year is her turn on the private land. My buddy agrees that we hunt youth weekend and they get the regular opener and everyone is happy. Well a while back we had some trespassing issues and called on a local law man to keep an eye on it for us and buddy he did just that, he has now swindled the owner into giving him permission to hunt too. He hunted the end of deer season and has been hunting hogs ever since and that really didn't bother me to bad but I have no idea if he has intentions on going for turkeys. My priority now is go have a talk with him and see what he is planning, let him know what I WILL be doing and hope he agrees to back off and give us our room. If not, well...hunting rival is not even the word for him.
I do 99% of my turkey hunting alone. I take my boys. I go with someone other than them a time or two during the season MAYBE.
Quote from: darron on February 18, 2016, 11:02:33 AM
The owner is only allowing me to hunt because I'm a teacher and he was a former teacher as well. In this case there is plenty of room, especially since it backs up to another 600 acres of public ground.
Man, you're lucky. I have had the teacher card work for me exactly Zero times. (i take it back, i can get into Legoland ::)
I'm a solitary person. I hunt by myself. The only person I thoroughly enjoy hunting with is my dad in ohio. That is until my kids want to go.
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I learned a LONG time ago to keep hunting spots close to the vest. I only take friends who I know won't hunt those spots unless I take them. Same goes for where they take me. I NEVER ask permission on a place that one of my friends takes me to. It's just an unspoken rule with us...
I only have two friends that I trust enough to take them to my hunting spots...
Had a neighbors son just arbitrarily take over a spot I had hunted for years. He hadn't even asked permission...
I have too few hunting spots to take the chance...
You never know when hunting will turn a friend into an enemy and that enemy will go after your access.
No one has a higher interest in my success than my brother and no one has a higher commitment to his success than me. That's a time tested fact. If he ain't with me, I prefer to be by myself.
I've gotten three guys into turkey hunting and duck hunting. All of them were my best of friends. None of them knew jack about turkey or duck hunting and really still don't. Two of them hunt the same clubs as me. Last year they up and decided to turkey hunt on their own and basically said to heck with me. They have caused me more problems in the turkey woods and duck swamps than I could have ever imagined. Moral to the story don't get your deer hunting buddies into turkey hunting especially if they have just as much right to hunt as you on half of the land you can hunt. The other guy is my best friend to this day. We hunt my club and farms some days and his club and farms other days. I don't step on him and he doesn't step on me. I'm just as happy when he pulls the trigger as I am when it's me. And him and I both kill more birds every year than the other two anyway, so it doesn't really matter. Just losing two good friends to birds really sucks.
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I agree that some of you guys need to pick better friends.
I prefer hunting with a buddy. I usually do the calling and recently have started running a camera rather than a gun. If I get to call a bird into range and play the game, who takes the shot doesn't matter in the least. Don't get me wrong, I still fill my tags but that's usually because our schedules don't line up with I go alone a couple days.
My buddies and I are all lucky enough to have family farms to hunt. And we go by some unwritten rules. Mainly, we don't hunt one another's farms with out the other there. So, I can hunt my farm alone but won't hunt theirs unless they can go. Also, whoever has not taken a bird for the longest amount of time gets to shoot first.
We didn't have to discuss these rules and they aren't written down. They are simply the right way to do it.
LOL if you buy land that is connected to public land... Said public land is not yours alone. I had some fellas irritated because they perceived my presence as encroaching on their territory. Its public land. Your gonna run into the public.