The Times they are a Changin'

[FullChoke]

Quick discussion subject, How long have you been hunting turkeys and how has the sport changed for you from when you started?

[wbpc]

I've been hunting 34 years. My hunting style hasn't changed much at all from the way I was taught.  The biggest changes I seen now are map apps, guns, ammo and calls. There are a lot of things out there that have definitely improved the efficiency of turkey hunters today.


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[Clif Owen]

The biggest changes I have seen are the calls are better, the guns/ammo and there are a bunch more folks out there than there used to be. I think the second 2 are pretty clear but in the early 80's, I don't think the different cuts were popular in the mouth calls. Probably better materials but I don't make them so am not positive. Pot calls were mostly slate as far as I know. Never saw a glass call; much less aluminum or ceramic back then.

[zelmo1]

2001, 25th year for me. Technology in ammo, chokes and my obsession have grown since I started. I've gone from a 3.5" 12 gauge #5's to a 28 gauge with #9 TSS. A pushpin and pot in my pocket to a vest full of calls. It has been fun. Z

[FullChoke]

This season will make 51 years since I started chasing these birds. I started out using my only shotgun, an Ithaca model 37 Deerslayer 12 gauge. It was not choked at all as it was designed to shoot slugs. I used woodland camo, acrylic paint on my face and hands and 2 3/4" #6 lead pheasant load shells. I patterned it once and decided to not do that again. I hunted with one turkey call, a Lynch's Fool Proof box call that I bought at an Ace Hardware store.  I primarily hunted WMAs because they were just about the only places that had turkeys. Back then I was an amateur hunter and they were professional gobblers. I read anything and everything I could soak up about turkeys, including light reading such as 'The Taxonomy and Morphology of the Wild Turkey.' I was desperate to know it all. One miraculous day I finally killed my first gobbler that I called up myself and my little world changed. I now shoot a 20 gauge, 3" TSS #9s, wear Mossy Oak camo head to toe, and give love chirps with a vest full of different calls because I know that there are some mornings that every one of them will call a turkey and nothing else. I use map apps to move around the woods with more surety and to study topography to plan approaches. I am still as crazy about hunting this incredible game bird as I ever have been. I love the mind games, strategy and outloud bawdiness of these magnificent survival experts.

Cheers 

FC

[GobbleNut]

This season will make 51 years since I started chasing these birds. I started out using my only shotgun, an Ithaca model 37 Deerslayer 12 gauge. It was not choked at all as it was designed to shoot slugs. I used woodland camo, acrylic paint on my face and hands and 2 3/4" #6 lead pheasant load shells. I patterned it once and decided to not do that again. I hunted with one turkey call, a Lynch's Fool Proof box call that I bought at an Ace Hardware store.  I primarily hunted WMAs because they were just about the only places that had turkeys. Back then I was an amateur hunter and they were professional gobblers. I read anything and everything I could soak up about turkeys, including light reading such as 'The Taxonomy and Morphology of the Wild Turkey.' I was desperate to know it all. One miraculous day I finally killed my first gobbler that I called up myself and my little world changed. I now shoot a 20 gauge, 3" TSS #9s, wear Mossy Oak camo head to toe, and give love chirps with a vest full of different calls because I know that there are some mornings that every one of them will call a turkey and nothing else. I use map apps to move around the woods with more surety and to study topography to plan approaches. I am still as crazy about hunting this incredible game bird as I ever have been. I love the mind games, strategy and outloud bawdiness of these magnificent survival experts.

    Good stuff, FC. With a few minor variations about specifics...and in a completely different part of the country...I could have written the same synopsis of my turkey hunting history. Like yours, the journey has been priceless. Little did I imagine when I first decided to try spring gobbler hunting (sixty years ago this spring) that it would get the grip on me that it has. Times have changed...and we have "aged"...but the thrill remains the same after all of these years. I'm not sure there are many other things in life where that same statement can be made. 

[3seasons]

Times have changed for sure some for the better some for the worse. I still hunt the way my dad taught me to and all I have learned chasing these magnificent birds through the national forest as a kid. Didn't know it at the time but those lessons learned are invaluable.
My$.02 on some things that I've seen
-Camo has changed a good bit but the old school still works just as good.
-Guns have changed and are more tricked out now days with better chokes and optics. Still work on them with an older gun though.
-Shells have probably changed the most of all and are way more efficient. Good and bad
-Call are more consistent with newer ways to make them and there are a lot of amazing call makers out there now.
-Mapping is way better and goes along with the shells. Good and bad.  Nothing like using an old paper map to figure out where that gobbler is. Digital has made it way easier.
-Social media\Youtube has changed the game too. For better or worse. It has gotten people in the woods that normally wouldn't go and it has taught a lot of folks how to KILL a gobbler. It has also change things in the worse ways too. Won't go in to all that.
-Accessibility to info has changed.  Its a lot more out there and it doesn't take much work to find it anymore.

The way I look at a wild turkey has changed over the last few years.  It's not about the "KILL" for me anymore but the whole experience.  I had a longbeard at 5yds yesterday and another one at 25 in another place. Let both of them walk off.  Thats 3 so far this year.  I've got meat in the fridge and freezer so no need in Killing another just because I can.