Curiosity question as to thoughts

[Tail Feathers]

I'm with Yoder, I think the ealy Outdoor Channel shows kind of started it.  They had to fill the slots and spring turkey hunting isn't too hard to film.  Combined with the population increases and restoration efforts paying off,seemed to be real kick off for turkey hunting.
I was 40 or so when my "deer" lease opened up turkey hunting after deciding the population was adequate for hunting.  Thankfully not too many of our members turkey hunt.  When I first started, I used an instructional VHS tape and book to help me learn.  I didn't know anyone who turkey hunted back then.

[runngun]

"WE" only have our self to blame.  I know that I was part of the "problem". In the early to mid 1980s I started buying every single video that I could find, bought every magazine that concerned any and all things turkey hunting. WE all funded it. WE exposed our passion to the world to see. That was the beginning and look where we are now. SIMPLE AS THE CLICK OF A BUTTON, EXPOSED EVERYTHING.  The power of a dollar.

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[Greg Massey]

Sure, Knight Hale, Primos, Outdoor TV shows and others played a part along with the evolution of call builders making and producing custom calls. All of this played a part along with cell phones and social media ... Custom calls and Outdoor Sports Shows along with other companies attached themselves to this evolution of turkey hunting / hunting with better guns, shells and other needs for the Turkey Hunters / Hunters...  The days of old have gone by the way of changes in hunting some of these changes I embrace and some I don't .... I learned to turkey hunt from an older gentleman who took me under his wing and took me to my first NWTF chapter meeting and calling contest after that I was hooked on turkey hunting and pretty much worked at it to make myself a better hunter overall... I think of my friend who  passed away many years ago in how he loved to hunt and chase all kinds of wildlife along with fishing.  RIP Gerald ....   I don't blame anyone, if I need to blame someone I will blame myself...

[MK M GOBL]

I got started in turkey hunting when a buddy and I were scouting for treestand sets and we happened upon a fall flock of birds, as we were scouting my buddy and noticed some odd scrapes that didn't make sense, low and behold we bump a flock of turkey scratching for the acorns on the ridge. He was what the heck was that, now we raised domestic broad breasted bronze turkeys back home on the farm and that was my best guess, when we were heading out, we stopped and talked to the landowner, and she said a couple of years ago the DNR stocked birds in the area and they have been showing up.

We decided to give it a go the next spring, (1991) from that fall I was digesting anything and everything I could find out about turkey hunting and as you said there wasn't even that much around at that time, and there wasn't a person I knew that had ever turkey hunted, my whole knowledge base was our farm birds. We did find a few seminars to go to and I bought the old Primos "The Truth About Turkey Hunting" and it came with a mouth call, there was a Wisconsin DNR Seminar we went to, and then the one that was the biggest turn for me was a seminar at an Ace Hardware Store the put it on with some actual turkey hunters, buddy and spent the entire day there talking to everybody we could. From there more and more information started to flow, more VHS and the DVD realm, finally to internet and YouTube. I still like that we did it ourselves, and pretty much self-taught, but in reality, the best teachers I had were those farm birds, they did everything a wild bird did other than the didn't run from me and I could follow them around through their daily habits, pretty key to how I learned the biology of what turkeys do.

Anymore I share almost everything I have learned, got hold something back to give you that edge when others wonder what your secrets are I have been a Turkey Hunting Mentor for over 20year, and to some degree 30+ years. I started a Seminar Series in1995 called "Turkey University" where I talk about what I have learned over the span of my hunting experiences.

This will be my 33rd spring!!


MK M GOBL

[Will]

I'll bet the same could be said for deer and duck hunting. Flocked decoys and the many duck and goose calls on the market. Look at the archery industry alone. Now you're getting much better accuracy out of production rifles. Hunting all together has changed in my opinion.

[Happy]

I dunno, and quite honestly, I don't really question it. I was born fascinated with turkeys. No-one in my family was a turkey hunter, but at 10 years old, I was determined to be one. I still hunt how I did 20 years ago. I have better equipment, but the rules haven't changed,and the game hasn't changed for me. There was no YouTube when I started. Just books and the occasional hunting show on TNN if I got lucky enough to watch. I pretty much worked on it on my own. I kinda wish everyone had to work at it as hard as we did back then.

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[TrackeySauresRex]

Good post! as many have become slaves to the internet in all aspects.

Hunting all together has changed in my opinion.

There wasn't Dick's, Cabela's, Walmart or Amazon you could call or get on the internet and order something you got what they had at the general store or made something yourself. A 35 MM film case and cap cover with a condom made a decent turkey call.

I kinda wish everyone had to work at it as hard as we did back then.

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I could remember when a hunting catalog came in the mail. It was 12 pages long of the latest and greatest gear and we were excited for the upcoming season. I hope that excitement never leaves us.

I started in the 80's. The person who introduced me to it was a turkey hunter. (May God be good to him). He was tight lipped and always said to me, sit still, don't move. That's all I really got from him. I pretty much learned on my own. The VHS's and cassette tapes taught me a lot with calling. (The start of the shift) I  kept it pretty simple. My first call was a Lynch one sided 101, I purchased it in an old hardware store in Pa., and I did have a 35 mm tube call. We were also tickled pink if ya had a dozen hits at 30 yards on yer pie plate with them Ol' #4's.

    I guess I started right around when the "shift" occurred. Almost everything I learned was because of the times that were a changing. And of course....My many self taught mistakes 

Always a great place here at OG. I picked up a lot of nuggets on this page.

[Cut N Run]

I started in the 80s too.  The competition used to be me against turkeys, now it seems to be me against other hunters trying for the same birds.  Anybody who has a computer or phone these days can learn more in a few hours of videos what it took me years of reading and trial & error (read mistakes) to figure out in the woods.  I read everything I could get my eyes on. But, reading and translating words to sounds or behaviors doesn't translate well to a visual learner like me.  Getting busted and learning what I couldn't get away with honed my abilities.  The volume of sharing probably goes along with the instant gratification generation not wanting to spend the time to develop the skillset for results.  Unfortunately, there's no going back, just like there's less land to hunt and a bigger competition for the resource.

Jim

Jim