Hey folks. I just kicked off the start of my 7th decade on the planet, and I have decided it's time to make a transition. (No, not that kind of transition...) I am going to focus more on turkeys than deer. I was a fanatical deer hunter for many years, but, without land of my own where I could drive a truck or 4 wheeler to pick up a deer I am destined to drag deer and tree stands long distances. Not that I am in bad shape - actually great shape for a 60ish desk jockey - but I like to hunt remote areas. Carrying a 20# bird is just far more appealing than dragging a 160 buck. Don't get me wrong, I love deer hunting, but I think I am ready to leave the deer for the youngsters and start chasing birds both spring and fall.
Anybody else move away from chasing deer as the years turned into decades?
T4T
I never started hunting turkeys because of age,but simply because it's just plain fun.. I think you will be glad you did. I would much rather chase Turkey's than deer and have land to hunt that holds big deer.No comparison in my eyes..Somewhere around 20 years of hunting turkeys and still get as excited to go as my first time out hunting them.
I'll turn 72 during season this year and I'll be chasing gobblers if I'm able. I like deer hunting but I LOVE to turkey hunt.
I just enjoy the outdoor's both deer and turkeys . I don't hate deer near as much as i did in my younger day's but i still enjoy the challenge of getting that nice buck... regardless if it's a trophy deer or not ... Turkeys are a different story, i like the chase and calling him within gun range , it's like a competition between him and me, someday's it all falls together and i get to carry him over my shoulder , someday's he just wipe's my BUTT...that why they call it turkey hunting . I fell i'm successful either way ... WHY .. because i got to hear him gobble before he hit the ground and in my opinion that's what it all about and the hunt is on ... scouting , call's, turkey guns and all the equipment necessary is something i enjoy .. As people have said , it's about as much fun getting ready to go hunting as hunting ....remember turkeys do what turkeys do regardless how hard we try sometimes , it just doesn't work out .... BUT I WAS STILL ABLE TO SEE ANOTHER SUNRISE AND HEAR HIM GOBBLE ONE MORE TIME ... Gobble , Gobble , Gobble... still raises the hair on the back of my neck...
I have a ways to go before I'm 60, but I haven't deer hunted in a couple years. I bowhunted deer with a recurve then a longbow, never owned or hunted with a compound and didn't rifle hunt. It took up a lot of time practicing to stay proficient with traditional bows. But I was a deer hunting fanatic for most of my life. I killed a lot of deer and some really nice bucks and never thought I'd quit. I had to split my off time between bow season for deer and turkey season and that was the reason I quit. Now I take off the whole Spring season and am able to hunt in as many states as I want. It wasn't a hard choice.
I like Fall turkey hunting the most. So I shoot deer that get to close while archery turkey season is open. Been this way since the mid 90's.
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Yup. I don't deer hunt as much anymore. Heck of a lot easier to get a bird out of the woods, and a LOT more fun.
It will be a little while before I hit the 60 mark but can say that since I started turkey hunting it's always been the passion, now I bow hunt and gun hunt for deer and predators, bowfish all summer, and waterfowl, small game and bird hunt too, do like to do some fishing as well, pretty much put me outside and I'm happy :)
Biggest thing for me was we never had wild turkeys in Wisconsin when I started, dad raised me on hunting and fishing but not turkey, all I knew of them was we raised them on the farm for food. I was 23 when this all started, buddy and I wanted to try it out. Wisconsin DNR had been working with NWTF and turkeys were being released and trapped and transplanted in south west Wisconsin, my buddy deer hunted the area and a few turkeys were being seen. Well from a fall scouting trip, a few seminars and old Primos "The Truth" about Turkey Hunting VHS the game was on. Buddy and I drew tags (WI has a lottery draw system) now I didn't kill a bird that first year but I did call one in for my buddy and he did! (lot more of a story here) but by the next year I had my dad going and I called in his bird too ( buddy and I didn't draw tags but were both on that hunt) and third year was mine! Success!! After those first few years and getting Hook'd on turkey hunting things really changed from job (construction) to working for a mom & pop archery shop to several outdoor stores and more and still continues today.
Dad taught me about the outdoors, Turkey Hunting was the one thing I got to "teach" dad about :)
Like I say it's always been the passion, dad even said if he had to give up deer hunting to keep turkey hunting he would have...
Enjoy the Hunt it's what it's all about!
MK M GOBL
Turkeys have always been my favorite. That being said I still enjoy my deer hunting. Bowhunting is my favorite but I still get after them with a rifle as well. I don't have any plans to quit any of them so long as my health holds out. I make a pretty big effort to be in shape and feel like I am just hitting my prime at 38.
Just turned 40 and can honestly say that I stopped deer hunting about 3 yrs ago (just didn't have the passion that I once had for it. Also must say that I don't miss freezing in NY in a tree stand either). I will never stop hunting turkey. Just love this sport since I was a kid. Best of luck this spring.
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Im a avid bowhunter but im a turkey hunting maniac. I have always said if i was limited to choosing only one thing to hunt for the rest of my life , it would be spring turkey hands down.
I like deer hunting, but I LOVE Turkey hunting. There is something about a turkey gobble, and the excitement that it brings, knowing what you are hunting is in the same woods as you. And now all you have to do is try and get him to come close enough. Started late turkey hunting been hunting them about thirty years, and i am 63 now. And still in good enough shape to run up and down the hills for another year, thank the lord. But always thought this is one sport I could always have someone push my wheelchair out into the woods to hunt. And unlike deer that can smell you and bust you. If you can sit still and call when your suppose to you can Bring a turkey to you and have a great time. Welcome to the addiction now that your ready.
I'll be 71 next month when another spring turkey season rolls around and God willing I'll be in the woods before sunrise on opening morning. I still deer hunt but I have always said, "if I had to give up either turkey or deer hunting, there is no doubt, deer hunting would have to go" There is just something magical about hearing that longbeard gobble and knowing that "the game is on"
I turned 60 last July, and have been going at the turkeys close to 40 years.
Turkey has always been like a second religion for me, and going hunting was like a pilgrimage. I spent the first few years not even seeing a gobbler, and it was almost a decade before I got a shot. I did it, because it was hard to do, and it was one of the few things I had in my life that I could be wholly mediocre at and still feel good doing it. When I first started, I'd have to drive 3 hours after work on Friday, hunt a half day and then come home, because there was no hunting after noon and no hunting on Sundays. That was a heck of a commitment. I still feel like a beginner, and I still throw myself at it like it is my first season.
Deer was something altogether different. Once I found a place to hunt that had a good population of animals, I was pretty well set. For me, deer hunting has long become a routine. I still love doing it, but I'm far more concerned with the complexities of being the patriarch of camp than I am about my individual hunting success. Deer season is like Christmas with guns.
I'm only 52 and for years I loved deer huntin more than any other species. I still love to deer hunt hunt but if I had to choose between turkeys or deer I'm going turkey huntin!
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.
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.
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......
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!!!
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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........ :happy0064:
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Turned the big 70 a few months ago, still have the desire to chase turkeys. Early last year, I lost my hunting place I've had for over 30 years. I've killed a lot of turkeys and deer on that property, and losing it has been devastating. I have lost a lot of desire to deer hunt, but have found something that is more challenging, and fun. For the last 2-3 years I have been hunting coyotes, mostly at night. I have been hunting coyotes for over 30 years, but there has been a lot more hunting than killing. A buddy (I think) introduced me to night hunting coyotes with night vision and thermal equipment. I made the plunge and bought a thermal scanner and scope, definitely a game changer. I usually hunt 2-3 times a week, and have killed quite a few coyotes in my area. Another plus, getting permission to coyote hunt is usually easier than permission for deer and turkeys.
40+ years ago I was a coon hunting fanatic and loved to catch them bass in the spring. One day a deer hunting buddy introduced me to turkey hunting and I heard my first wild turkey gobble! I put down my fushing rod and my old coon hound died of heartworms . I took up turkey chasin and never looked back . There simply is nothing like it ! I missed my first bird and more than I care to admit since, but I was ruined from day one! After that first year I have got my limit every year. If I had never taken that first one I think I would still be trying some 40 yrs later!
Congrats on your 7 decades of hunting, lots of good history in those years. I'm in my 60s also and can understand your plan to make the change, however I look forward to every change of seasons type outdoor sport, be it fishing or hunting. I think you might find it hard to transition to only hunting turkeys when deer season rolls around every fall, I'm glad i don't have to make that decision Good Luck.
I'm 64 and my need to kill deer has waned quite a bit. I'll still shoot a good buck but I let the little ones walk. I was never much of a doe shooter.
But I love turkey hunting!!! Don't shoot them in the fall anymore and don't shoot hens but May 1st in New York finds me in the woods.
I love all the gadgets, calls, camo, guns, chokes, shells, decoys, lots of stuff to play with. And it's warm!! Not in the beginning but by the end of the month it's hot.
Can't wait!!!!