Your #1 turkey hunting weakness

[HFultzjr]

Wondering if the calls I didn't bring would have worked better than the ones I did bring!
I'm always 2nd guessing myself on that one.

[Gumby]

[/quote]

Public, private.  It doesn't matter.  The guy who is an expert with his calls, knows turkeys, understands set-ups and has the confidence to believe that the bird he's after is about to fly down from his final roost is not delusional.  It's about knowing you're a killer and having a killer mindset.

My brother, for example, has killed on public land in Florida (on a non-quota WMA), California, and Oregon so far this spring.  Additionally he's punched tags in Tennessee on private and here in Virginia, as well.

Last year was public land birds in Montana, Idaho and Washington.  The bird he killed in Washington was banded as a mature gobbler 7 years ago.  That's at the minimum a 9 year old turkey.

Not only does he know he's going to find turkeys, but he knows he's going to kill them.

I fee the same way he does.  I will find turkeys and I will kill them; quickly.  The only way you get to that point is to test your skills by traveling and demonstrating consistent success in tough environments. 

Turkeys will certainly throw you for a loop every once in a while but a killer will demonstrate resilience by adapting and overcoming.  The only way to become a killer is to chase the s.h.i.t. out of turkeys far and wide and constantly critique your strengths and weaknesses in order to improve your harvest numbers.
[/quote]

And your weakness is?

[Bill Cooksey]

^^^Modesty.

I tend to agree with him for the most part, but the delivery was lacking.

[g8rvet]

I have killed ducks and geese in Fl, Georgia, Miss, Missouri and Canada. A lot of them.  I still learn every year.  And I still have weaknesses. 

I also am dang good at my job.  Been doing it 26 years and I learn something new all the time. 

Admitting a weakness, or second guessing yourself is not the same as lacking confidence, nor does it mean you lack skills.  But some people don't grasp that deep. 

[jwright8]

Calling to aggressive and patience.

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

[beakbuster10]

Well I was going to to go with not being patient enough, but apparently it's because I share the same home state as VAturkeystomper and his brother. I guess I need to get into that "killer mindset" and do it "quickly"; quicker than those two anyway.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hobbes]

I dont know what some of you guys success rates are, but Ill say this.

These birds arent rocket scientists.  Anyone with a decent set of skills, plenty of time, and the willingness to keep after it can fill tags.  Improving in any one area is a great goal, but improving into say a great caller and just adding that to doing the same thing in the same places that isn't already resulting in dead birds won't improve your odds by much.  Becoming more patient in a location that isnt good for more than one bird per season won't fill that second tag.

I'd suggest that there are two things (at least) that could help everyone improve
A better understanding of turkey behavior.
A willingness to not give up.

In addition to those, if I could improve on anything it would be more time and money to hunt more often and more places.  I have the wrong job.... ..I need a job that gives me the following months off:
April, May, September- December.  I really need a reverse teacher's schedule with at least 4 times the pay to cover my travels.

I dont need big ranches or outfitted hunts.  I just want plenty of time and big parcels of public land to keep after them.

[kline4303]

My biggest weakness is my calling.. I spend more of my time scouting birds and figuring out where they WANT to be. They are WAY easier to call in if you are already where they want to be or go which requires less calling on your part to get them in range. Using trail cams on field scan mode is awesome for fields and or strut zones to give you great intel.

Run and gun is way more fun but there is definitely a time and place for "deer hunting" turkeys if you want to fill tags

[Flounder]

Pre season scouting. Need to do more on those places that hold those older birds. I also need to be more patient when I don't have my eye's on him.

[FlyFishNut]

Not being as good a student of the flora as I could have been.  Find the preferred flora and you find the birds.

Can you elaborate on this? 

[VaTuRkStOmPeR]

Public, private.  It doesn't matter.  The guy who is an expert with his calls, knows turkeys, understands set-ups and has the confidence to believe that the bird he's after is about to fly down from his final roost is not delusional.  It's about knowing you're a killer and having a killer mindset.

My brother, for example, has killed on public land in Florida (on a non-quota WMA), California, and Oregon so far this spring.  Additionally he's punched tags in Tennessee on private and here in Virginia, as well.

Last year was public land birds in Montana, Idaho and Washington.  The bird he killed in Washington was banded as a mature gobbler 7 years ago.  That's at the minimum a 9 year old turkey.

Not only does he know he's going to find turkeys, but he knows he's going to kill them.

I fee the same way he does.  I will find turkeys and I will kill them; quickly.  The only way you get to that point is to test your skills by traveling and demonstrating consistent success in tough environments. 

Turkeys will certainly throw you for a loop every once in a while but a killer will demonstrate resilience by adapting and overcoming.  The only way to become a killer is to chase the s.h.i.t. out of turkeys far and wide and constantly critique your strengths and weaknesses in order to improve your harvest numbers.
[/quote]

And your weakness is?
[/quote]



Last Monday in Kentucky I crawled within 60 yards of a gobbler who was revealing his location every 2 minutes or so on the ground.  I chose a tree with better concealment than shoot-ability.  I also quietly 4 note yelped instead of giving an almost inaudible cluck.

The bird was at 35 yards in 30 seconds after I made contact. He came in looking hard and had me pinpointed because the 4 note yelp was too much. If I'd trusted my camo a little more I would've picked a tree 6 feet away that had better shooting on the runway I anticipated he would use for his approach.  If I'd only given him a cluck he would've walked around more looking for where the call came from instead of starting to leave after 60 seconds of intense scrutiny.  I missed him at 40 on the egress.  I made two poor decisions that cost me that bird.

If I'd taken the other tree I would've had him dead to rights where he stood, which was already in the exact area I expected him to approach through.

If I'd only clucked or scratched in the leaves it's likely he would've taken the 2 more steps I needed for a truly clean shot because he wouldn't have been as certain of exactly where the call came from.

I was furious at myself after I missed that bird because  the reasons were so flagrant and I deviated from my normal behavior in that particular scenario for some unknown reason.

I got home late Monday nite from Kentucky and was back in the VA timber Tuesday morning.  I encountered an almost identical scenario.  I couldn't get ideal position off the roost so I let the birds fly down to determine my next action.

They flew down below a ridge lip and were gobbling just enough to let me keep tabs on them.  It took 25 minutes but I crawled to within 55 yards of that lip, clucked one time and then scratched in the leaves with my wing.

I shot that turkey 5 minutes later after he came in drumming and had to look harder than the bird the day before.

My weakness is that I'm a better float caller and guide than a solo hunter.  2 man turkey hunting is murder with 2 guys who are seasoned and analyze the unfolding events accurately.  I want to control a bird's approach better than I do currently, in particular the bird that commits and then goes silent.  I don't like it when a bird shows up and I think "why the hell is he there and how the hell did he get there," and where the weaknesses of my set-up were that allowed the bird to get in a position where I'm not going to be able to get my gun on him.

There are always areas where a turkey hunter can improve but the key to consistently killing and guiding turkeys is minimizing mistakes and accurately analyzing each situation as it presents itself. 

Being reactive is part of turkey hunting but control is achieved once you're in the spot where you know you can kill him.  Killing him, at that point, depends on a sequence of precisely executed decisions and clear judgement.

[THattaway]

For some reason if public vs. private is mentioned in regards to turkey hunting a bunch of folks go off about turkeys being turkeys no matter the land. Well duh, you completely miss the point. Has nothing to do with the turkey, it's the pressure they are seeing. You pressure a turkey enough and they start looking for camo blobs when they hear hen calling. Generally speaking, you should have a better chance of knowing what pressure turkeys are seeing on private land you are hunting as opposed to public where anyone is subject to show up from another access point at anytime.

Any turkey who gobbles regularly should be a dead bird for any hunter worth his salt, even if it takes a little time, FACT.

[TauntoHawk]

I rely on my calling too much, I am a pretty good caller and thus think its the answer to all situations sometimes less is more but in the moment its tough.

patience is tough for me and when nothings gobbling keeping after it in a logical manner. I usually crack it up and try and make them gobble rather than slowing down and maybe sitting in good loafing areas

[lhprop1]

My primary weakness is my experience.  I have plenty of years of experience hunting everything else, but this is only my 4th turkey season and I just got my first bird this year, so I have a lot to learn.

My calling is passable with diaphragm, box, and slate calls as evidenced by the tom I called in and blasted last week, but I'm a far cry from being an expert and if I was working a tough bird, I'm sure my calling would be inadequate.

Last, but not least is my scouting.  I live over an hour away from where I hunt and with two small kids it's not easy to get away without the wife getting all huffy and puffy.  I brought my 4 year old out scouting with me the weekend before the season opened this year and he got to see a giant tom strutting at about 25 yards away.  Too bad that bird never came into the area during the season. 

[GobbleNut]

Fortunately, I have no weaknesses in my turkey hunting.  If I hear him clear his throat, he is taking a truck ride with me. Rivers, roads, fences, swamps, creeks, mountains - none are impediments to my calling skills and woodsmanship. 

Yeah,....me too!  I can also leap tall buildings in a single bound and bend steel with my bare hands. 
...Unfortunately, then I wake up and reality sets in. 
In the meantime, since nobody can prove otherwise,...I am just summarily declaring myself to be the best of all time,...anytime,..anywhere.