The older I get.....

[GobbleNut]

 

I'm probably one of the few that think patience is over utilized.  It's not over rated by any means, but I know and see a lot of people over use it and patience themselves right out of a kill.  Once you learn patience then you need to learn passive aggressiveness, aka slow and steady and learn to use them together. 

There is a time for patience and a time for aggressiveness.
It's the spent in the turkey woods and critically assessing hunts from the past that'll teach you to become more aware of when to be one of the two.

Ditto,...and Ditto.

Patience is most certainly a virtue,...in the right situation and circumstances. 

For me, at least, turkey hunting is about having a proactive interaction with the bird.  There reaches a time in a hunt where "being patient" becomes "waiting in ambush".  When I get to the point where I think I am doing nothing more than "waiting in ambush", I am off to find a gobbler that is willing to play the game more to my liking. 

I would rather spend my time in the woods seeking one gobbler that I can have a lively conversation with than killing a truck load that just show up unexpectedly because I sat somewhere being "patient".  So far, that strategy has worked well for me, and until it ceases to do so, it will be my primary method of turkey hunting.

[guesswho]

Crap, Goobernut agreed with me again.  Can I change my answer?

[Farmboy27]

I'm probably one of the few that think patience is over utilized.  It's not over rated by any means, but I know and see a lot of people over use it and patience themselves right out of a kill.  Once you learn patience then you need to learn passive aggressiveness, aka slow and steady and learn to use them together. 

There is a time for patience and a time for aggressiveness.
It's the spent in the turkey woods and critically assessing hunts from the past that'll teach you to become more aware of when to be one of the two.

Ditto,...and Ditto.

Patience is most certainly a virtue,...in the right situation and circumstances. 

For me, at least, turkey hunting is about having a proactive interaction with the bird.  There reaches a time in a hunt where "being patient" becomes "waiting in ambush".  When I get to the point where I think I am doing nothing more than "waiting in ambush", I am off to find a gobbler that is willing to play the game more to my liking. 

I would rather spend my time in the woods seeking one gobbler that I can have a lively conversation with than killing a truck load that just show up unexpectedly because I sat somewhere being "patient".  So far, that strategy has worked well for me, and until it ceases to do so, it will be my primary method of turkey hunting.

Amen!!!  I'm out to enjoy myself first and kill turkeys second. I much prefer a more aggressive approach so that's how I hunt. I have all archery season to sit around and be patient.

[fallhnt]

The older I get the less patient I am with idiots.

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[Greg Massey]

The older I get the less patient I am with idiots.

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[g8rvet]

My brother's pa-in-law that has since passed, killed a whole lot of turkeys on hard hunted public land from the 60s-early 00s when his health ended his career told us that many a bird that he fooled with in the morning would come back around to that hen he heard at first light if you would just wait on him.  Of course, he did not care about who thought he was a great hunter, probably tossed the beards and spurs as they were not edible, and was hunting for both sport and support.  He enjoyed the hunt for sure, but he was there to kill a bird.  By whatever legal method he needed, not for pictures or bragging rights, but to feed his family.  My SIL says they put one steer in the freezer and the rest of their meat was trapped wild hogs fed out or deer and turkey. 

I kinda miss those simpler times. 

[Hooksfan]

Looks like Guesswho and VaTuRkStOmPeR pretty much nailed this one down, so I'll just move along.

But I will add, I was raised around old timers who abided by the "if he answers you once, he will come check you out at some point" theory. While that may hold true for SOME deep south gonblers, I can tell ya, Midwest gobblers never received that memo.
When I started having the best success turkey hunting was when I started my teaching career and was hunting before school. I had to make something happen before 7:30. Found out real quick there was a time for patience and a time for aggressiveness. My theory today is that when I get done with a bird, he is either gonna be scared or dead.
Granted, my approach would burn a place out if hunted every day, but that's why I spend all of my off season looking for new places. Right now, I have 12 to 15 different properties in SW Mo.

[Happy]

I agree that you can be patient and kill some birds. I ain't geared that way tho. I have to be moving. It may be at the speed of smell but I will be moving. As time passes I have discovered that I am still moving as the bird is approaching and don't stop until he is dang close to being in killing range if I can get away with it anyways. I have sprinted to get where I need to be and I have sat for three hours to work a slow flock in. I CANNOT sit and call for hours when nothing is happening. The more I thought about it the more I disliked the sit and yak theory. How natural is that? Short of being in a pen turkeys move. Sometimes fast,sometimes slow but they don't stand there and yak for two, three hours at a time. So in closing I go with move. It is often pretty slow and deliberate but I am moving.

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[g8rvet]

I agree that you can be patient and kill some birds. I ain't geared that way tho. I have to be moving. It may be at the speed of smell but I will be moving. As time passes I have discovered that I am still moving as the bird is approaching and don't stop until he is dang close to being in killing range if I can get away with it anyways. I have sprinted to get where I need to be and I have sat for three hours to work a slow flock in. I CANNOT sit and call for hours when nothing is happening. The more I thought about it the more I disliked the sit and yak theory. How natural is that? Short of being in a pen turkeys move. Sometimes fast,sometimes slow but they don't stand there and yak for two, three hours at a time. So in closing I go with move. It is often pretty slow and deliberate but I am moving.

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With the exception of 2 small properties that I hunt, that is pretty much my motto. Run and gun (100 yards, yelp yelp yelp, lather rinse repeat rarely works for me.  But I have had more success with the slow and deliberate.

[J-Shaped]

As already stated on this thread, it's good to know when you should be patient vs. when you need to react. The ability to adapt to the situation at hand, on the fly, is of more importance to me.

Patience has its virtues, but paralysis through analysis can bite you in the rear.

[Gooserbat]

There is a time to sit tight and don't move.  Also a time to move.  Experience will teach you how to gauge whether you should try to make it happen or let it happen.  You'll never be 100% but if you play the game long enough you'll at least bat 50%. 

[Gentry]

Turkey hunting to me is a game of choices and decisions. Sometimes you make the right ones and sometimes you don't.

It sure is nice when the correct ones are made.
You win some you lose some.


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[Vabirddog]

Many will say "patience will kill more gobblers" but you can sit all day in the wrong place after hearing or working a gobbler and never see him. Others will say "when I got aggressive I really started killing the birds" but you will no doubt spook many birds you would otherwise kill by moving or calling aggressively toward birds.

  A coach once told me " take a conservative game plan and play it aggressively". I think this is sound advice in any situation where risk/reward is strongest. There will be times a gobbler is gobbling his head off and you need to move to kill him and others where he is almost silent and you need to sit tight and vice-versa. The trick is in the knowing and experience is the guide. I think the OP speaks to the notion that the game has slowed down for him and now he makes his moves deliberately and tactically instead headlong. If you sit in the right place first you can be extremely patient, sometimes you have to get there fast though! Same with calling, 2 calls can be 1 too many while other times you may need to work a gobbler into a frenzy. It is what makes this one of the greatest hunting adventures day after day.

[grayfox]

Patience & aggressiveness each have their place. I think if the area you are hunting in has plenty of birds you can probably spook some by being aggressive & still get away with it by having a good chance to get on another one. But if the birds are more scarce I believe you need to have more patience. The older I get I kinda like the lazy approach like another member said. 

[Happy]

The true "key" is knowing when to do which. There is a razor fine line between too aggressive and not aggressive enough.

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