Our Reps Are On The Line!!

[zelmo1]

I have to do my part, if you score 62, I need 67. Just the least I can do. I shouldn't let my mouth overshoot what what I can actually produce. I do like it when my wife outshines me though. I am a selfish @#$tar#.  If she is happy, I am ecstatic. She did pull off a fantastic shot, kind of more impressive than my 30 yard gimmee. 

[Happy]

Go ahead and talk smack zelmo! Ain't none of really worried about the outcome. This is were the fun happens. Hope you and your wife have a blast and lots of success.

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[crow]

Go ahead and talk smack zelmo! Ain't none of really worried about the outcome. This is were the fun happens. Hope you and your wife have a blast and lots of success.

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Speak for yourself Happy,

Listen up Zelmo you friggen Maine-iac, put another lobstah on the Barbie because we're coming for you, and Hell's coming with us

[crow]

This has been an off year for me. Everyone has one of "those years" every so often and this is mine. Kentucky has been a briar in my heel the last two seasons. From people to uncooperative birds to my dumb mistakes it just hasn't been good. I am losing my drive to hunt very hard. I hope I get a little more motivated by the time I get to South Dakota, but my enthusiasm is waning

As you say, we all have years when it seems nothing is going right,...and, yes, it is really hard to stay motivated when they come around.  Been there,...Done that!  What I have found is that when I throw in the towel for whatever reason, after the season, I always regret not putting in that extra bit of effort that I should have.  As Happy said, it is a long wait until next season.  Great advice for us to keep in mind and focus on just enjoying this one for what it is,...another chance to do what we love.

Getting philosophical for a moment:  I am at that age where a guy starts to realize,..."Hey, I made the 'round trip' again this year and I have another spring to do this thing I love to do, and the health I need to do it. I only have so many years left to do this, and I should make the best of it, whether the turkeys cooperate or not."  Quite honestly, that is easier said than done.  Age also seems to bring an attitude (for me, at least) that my individual success is less important than the overall experience, but that only goes so far before frustration can set in with that "throw in the towel" attitude. 

Ever since I was a youngster, my family always had house cats.  With every one of them, they went from the stage in their younger years of wanting to catch and kill every bird they saw to a late-life stage of just sitting there and watching the birds without going after them.  I always asked myself why they changed with age from being focused killers to being seemingly indifferent to the same prey.  I am beginning to understand the process of how that happens more clearly now. I see it happening with me,...and that is a fairly recent phenomenon.

That's not to say that I necessarily like being at that stage, but it is a reality. Sometimes, to keep hunting hard, I find myself fighting to overcome that "old cat" indifference...

I like this quote from Calvin Coolidge, it's in one of Earl Mickel's books

"Persistence...
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."


When you're not swavee and deboner like Happy, or have his good looks to fall back on.
Or have a dictator, I mean authoritative commanding personality like Gobble nut,
You can always rely on persistence

[eggshell]

I appreciate all the kind words. I have approached this whole season differently than most. I decided I wasn't going to push myself to collapse and total exhaustion. Turkey hunting has been a waning desire for the last three years or so. I enjoy it, but it just isn't driven like it used to be. That is evident in the fact I will not go after birds that require a heavy physical effort. I'll just move on. That became evident in opening day of Kentucky this year. There was a red hot bird across a deep valley and he was all over my calls. My buddy and I knew we had too cross to kill him. My buddy said, he's your bird go get him, but I said "I'll sit here on this log, you go kill him and bring him back and I'll take your picture. I kept the bird gobbling as he crossed then when he called I shut up, he killed the bird (picture attached). Then my old honey holes dried up in Kentucky and Ohio went to one tag and it just added to my malaize. So, don't cry for me gentlemen of Old Gobbler I chose my path and I walk it. A few more gobblers will die along this way, but many more will get a salute and live to gobble another day. I'll be fishing, it's way less stressful. I just regret that my sour season has not aided the team. My one bird is not up to the standards of my past. I usually kill whatever comes to the call, but usually at least one bird is in the mid 60s. Geessh, last year I killed a 77 point bird and a 67+. So I feel bad for my team contributiion.  I have one hunt left in Ky tomorrow and then South Dakota and maybe I can upgrade. Today I am taking my wife's cousin that logs for the family and help him.

[Happy]

When you're not swavee and deboner like Happy, or have his good looks to fall back on.
Or have a dictator, I mean authoritative commanding personality like Gobble nut,
You can always rely on persistence

I am swavee and deboner? That doesn't sound good at all. Hope my wife doesn't find out.

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[guesswho]

Deboner?   I'm out!

[GobbleNut]

Deboner?   I'm out!

You should just be glad that crow didn't use deboner and dictator in the same sentence.  That is what is known as a dubbel ontaundry,...or something like that...I think... 

[Happy]

I dunno, I have been suspicious that our dictator has been trying to give us deboner for sometime now.

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[zelmo1]

Not" Maineiac " Bubba, lol. I did live there a few years ant try to hunt there. I am back in NH. You did hit it, I used to be a "lobstah" fisherman but its too hard in December to March so I became a "weldah". And talkin smack is all I have right now, Nut is whoopin me and I need to play catchup. Keep at it. I know our boys will keep at it till the end. Be safe and shoot some beaks. Al

[crow]

Not" Maineiac " Bubba, lol. I did live there a few years ant try to hunt there. I am back in NH. You did hit it, I used to be a "lobstah" fisherman but its too hard in December to March so I became a "weldah". And talkin smack is all I have right now, Nut is whoopin me and I need to play catchup. Keep at it. I know our boys will keep at it till the end. Be safe and shoot some beaks. Al

that must have been a couple years ago when we were talking calls you were in Maine

[crow]

When you're not swavee and deboner like Happy, or have his good looks to fall back on.
Or have a dictator, I mean authoritative commanding personality like Gobble nut,
You can always rely on persistence

I am swavee and deboner? That doesn't sound good at all. Hope my wife doesn't find out.

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that was suave and debonair, spell check fizzled

[crow]

Deboner?   I'm out!

You should just be glad that crow didn't use deboner and dictator in the same sentence.  That is what is known as a dubbel ontaundry,...or something like that...I think... 

this thread took an unintended "downward" turn

[Happy]

I know. I was just having fun with it. Hey Jim! Where's our boat?

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[GobbleNut]

I know. I was just having fun with it. Hey Jim! Where's our boat?

I think our boat sank a couple of months ago,...just a day or two after I was put at the helm.   
...I suppose I should have mentioned that my most recent captaining job was on the Titanic...