I've bagged six birds this spring, and I'd still spend my days off hunting them if I could (within reason). And I'd pretty much hunt/kill them by any legal method short of using a rifle. So I suppose I'm still pretty mad at them. What about you?
Left after work last friday and drove 21 hrs straight to south dakota and hit the hills without sleep. Pretty ate up
I'm still mad enough I stomp a nest when I find one!
I'm not so mad at turkeys, I just love the game of pursuit and the reward of fresh turkey for the table. I love the fact that just because he's standing somewhere behind you gobbling his @$$ off, it doesn't mean that you'll necessarily get the chance to see him, much less shoot him.
Is there a better sound than spitting & drumming?...Yeah, I don't think so either.
There's also something to the smell of freshly burnt gunpowder in the smoking shell casing on the ground as the bird that has kept you up nights, wrecked normal sleep, and taunted you as he followed hens last week, will be wearing your tag out of the woods.
It is hard to beat the way a ThermaCell provides a force field that keeps mosquitoes at bay as you're set up in some of the most hostile, bug infested, snaky terrain possible, because you couldn't be happier doing anything else.
It's about more than anger for me, it is obsession.
Jim
Quote from: Cut N Run on May 01, 2017, 06:38:36 AM
It's about more than anger for me, it is obsession.
This. I'm obsessed/addicted enough that I've stayed single the past few years just to be able to afford my spring turkey trips and continue to knock off new states. I don't 'bank' too much of my personal leave like a lot of co-workers. We are not guaranteed tomorrow so I'm not gonna let something happen and then go 'Dang, wish I woulda took more turkey trips!' Nope, not me! My friends continue to get married and pop out kids..I got two nephews to spoil, plenty enough of me! Selfish or not, I'm completely content with being able to throw my camping gear in my truck and drive 1,200 miles alone to go kill more turkey. I could go on but it'd probably just make me look crazier.
It is an obsession, disease, etc. etc. I structure my life around it. I stay in the gym 5-6 days a week (when it is not turkey season) just so I can get to a bird if he gobbles. A big hill or hollow is no excuse to let a gobbling bird go unbothered!
Ok, promised I wouldn't go on. You get the point.
Got one tag left and I'm stuck on getting one particular bird now. He made me mad last time we talked...and that was my third attempt at him. Finally saw his head peeking out at about 60ish and that's as close as he'd come. Been obsessed with figuring him out. Public land bird that has a few habits and I got a week to get it done. Now he's the one I'm after. >:(
Quote from: Cut N Run on May 01, 2017, 06:38:36 AM
Is there a better sound than spitting & drumming?...Yeah, I don't think so either.
Now now........ I can agree that it is a very good sound, but if you want the all time instant hard on when you hear it........ put a bow in your hand, get within 100 yds, and work on that big bull to come into bow range and he bugles his butt off. I can't think of more of a turn on. I'll stay single the rest of my life as long as I get that spitting and drumming and big bulls bugling :boon:
I ain't mad at them at all. I love the game. I won't sacrifice my personal rules of engagement for a kill. That cheapens it in my eyes.
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I'm not mad enough to evening hunt silent birds, hunt in the rain, deerhunt them, ambush or limb one. If he's not playing, I don't want to either. But if he wants to gobble, I lay in bed and can't wait to chase him the next day.
I don't get mad at them at all. I have never hunted anything out of anger/madness.
And I definitely will NOT hunt them by any legal means. I agree with Happy, that cheapens things. I most definitely would not resort to a visual aid, food plot, or a blind to cheapen things or take an unfair advantage. I don't get mad at turkeys, naw I have a lot of respect for them.
I kill them with love.
You guys are tempering my "mad" mood. When I was walking out I was thinking, cool I get to come back and do this again. They do take you through a range of emotion some days that's for sure. :funnyturkey:
I stomp the nest....lol
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My relationship with God and my walk with Christ in this life into the next will ALWAYS be more important than a turkey. The fact is there will never come a time when "enough" turkeys have been killed. Hunting in general always leaves you longing for one more, then another then another and in the end none of that really matters.
19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[a] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.- Matthew 6:19-21
"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the path of sinners but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night!"- Psalm 1:1-2
Quote from: fallhnt on May 01, 2017, 01:35:19 PM
I stomp the nest....lol
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Ha. Ha. Thanks man. I needed that laugh today
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Quote from: Ihuntoldschool on May 01, 2017, 11:48:42 AM
And I definitely will NOT hunt them by any legal means. I agree with Happy, that cheapens things. I most definitely would not resort to a visual aid, food plot, or a blind to cheapen things or take an unfair advantage. I don't get mad at turkeys, naw I have a lot of respect for them.
I don't think I would be telling everyone that I will NEVER hunt 'legally'......
I'm about hen killing and egg stomping mad.
Drove 2 hours to hunt the last day of the MS season at the Homochitto where I've been playing cat and mouse with (pretty sure) is the same turkey all season only to bust two off the roost that were roosted 300 yards closer to the truck than they have all season. I have a love hate relationship.
Okay, let me clarify. I hunt by LEGAL means only. What I meant was I will not use tactics/tools/aids/crutches to cheapen the experience and make for an unsafe situation. In other words, just because a tactic/tool/aid/crutch to help you kill a bird may be legal, does not make it right and certainly does not mean I will resort to it just because it may be legal. In other words I am at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from the original poster. Whereas, he will try any method and take any advantage that is legal, I choose to hunt them the way they were intended to be hunter under fair chase conditions. Just call them to you.
Sanctimonious turkey hunters are my favorite. So inclusive ::)
I'm not mad at turkeys. I go thru sleep deprivation and lots of $ every spring chasing 'em because I love 'em.
I love the gobble, the spit and drumming and to see a gobbler in strut. I also love turkey nuggets, smoked turkey, turkey jerky... :toothy12:
I didn't kill a bird last spring and no luck so far this. I'm still not mad at the turkeys. But I do get pretty damn irate with myself sometimes!!
Never hate, Turkey is a awesome creature. Its a big game of chess for me. I hunt the dominant bird, or biggeest. If I win its great but if he wins its also great. You get out of it what you put into it. I get such a laugh at individuls on here talking about cheapening the hunt by using certain tactics or strategies. We all develop our skills over time and select the way we prefer to hunt. So why give the guy trying to hunt and develop skills a hard time. Someone said something about stomping nests. It would get very nasty if I seen that! Sorry, just some of my pet peeves. Love the Turkey.
Quote from: compton30 on May 01, 2017, 06:20:20 PM
Sanctimonious turkey hunters are my favorite. So inclusive ::)
(https://i.makeagif.com/media/9-01-2013/K0g2nk.gif)
I think people are mistakenly interpreting the word "mad" literally. I'm not literally angry with turkey. I love hunting them as much as anyone else. But I'm still at the point in my turkey hunting career that if a bird will not play ball, I'm going to find another legal method to kill him. I'm not one bit ashamed of how I hunted New Mexico this past week/weekend. Tough conditions, pressured birds, and a relatively short window to hunt them called for tactics I don't necessarily enjoy as much as calling them in on a string, but it made the difference between going home with two turkey vs leaving empty handed.
For me, I think frustration is a more appropriate description than mad because they sure do that some times. But, the feeling every time I get to accomplish or learn something new hunting them makes it all better in a hurry. Called two across a wide creek this year. That was new. Had one I wasn't working come in quiet but on a string. Sealed the deal with a couple real subtle and soft mouth calls that impressed myself even. That was new and much to my delight, he went home with me.
Learned again that the bird with hens at daybreak may not come in but he might at mid morning (see above sentence). Having my buddy let me call for him when he takes a bird because he likes my calling better is always awesome. I also learned (again) to not take it all so serious and to just enjoy what I've been blessed to be able to do and experience.
I'm not mad enough at ducks anymore to get up at 4am to go to all the effort that hunting them entails.
I'm still mad enough at turkeys to do that every day of season tho.