Your #1 turkey hunting weakness

[GobbleNut]

Bill,
How you can believe that a turkey will go quiet when molested but you can't believe that they can be imprinted to connect sounds (calls) to the molester. You do realize turkeys can recognize other individual turkey's calls don't you? Have you ever witnessed two broods and hens separate? Then if that's the case don't you think a turkey can be imprinted with calling from those "dozen nimrods blowing through birds" you mentioned earlier who might hammer the same spot repeatedly throughout the season? Don't just take things I've said here out of context. Still seeing "If they were afraid of turkey sounds, they would never mate" while that has never been claimed. Cracks me up. Why do folks assume anyone who mentions "Call shy" never killed a turkey, can't call, can't hunt, has no woodsmanship skills, can't understand turkey habits, etc. etc. I raised far stupider domestic turkeys as a kid and witnessed first hand negative behavior related to calling. There are and will always be a few animals who've experienced enough hunting pressure to live to see a ripe old natural death. I've ranted enough on that subject so I will stop but I will say one thing further. Don't anyone tell me it's a fact a turkey cannot become call shy unless you are a turkey yourself.

Greg,
You feel free to come on to SC and try the easterns here with calling harder as the season progresses for a few years on turkeys that are hunted and report back to me how your success rates stack up.

Right on the money.   

[TRG3]

My #1 weakness is that warm, cozy bed at 4 a.m. after going to bed early at 9 p.m.

I hear you on the 4am part, but you lost me at 9pm.  How can you drink beer with the guys until midnight if you go to bed at 9pm? 

Which brings me to another weakness of mine:  Dozing off in the blind.

Dozing off reminds me of a tom I took a couple of years ago around 9 a.m. after a short night of sleeping. I woke up from a sound slumber in my ground lounger to the sound of my Pretty Boy being taking a good whoppin' to which I awkwardly jerked my 870 to my shoulder and downed the gobbler as he was getting away as fast as possible.

[Jmbradt3873]

Bill,
How you can believe that a turkey will go quiet when molested but you can't believe that they can be imprinted to connect sounds (calls) to the molester. You do realize turkeys can recognize other individual turkey's calls don't you? Have you ever witnessed two broods and hens separate? Then if that's the case don't you think a turkey can be imprinted with calling from those "dozen nimrods blowing through birds" you mentioned earlier who might hammer the same spot repeatedly throughout the season? Don't just take things I've said here out of context. Still seeing "If they were afraid of turkey sounds, they would never mate" while that has never been claimed. Cracks me up. Why do folks assume anyone who mentions "Call shy" never killed a turkey, can't call, can't hunt, has no woodsmanship skills, can't understand turkey habits, etc. etc. I raised far stupider domestic turkeys as a kid and witnessed first hand negative behavior related to calling. There are and will always be a few animals who've experienced enough hunting pressure to live to see a ripe old natural death. I've ranted enough on that subject so I will stop but I will say one thing further. Don't anyone tell me it's a fact a turkey cannot become call shy unless you are a turkey yourself.

Greg,
You feel free to come on to SC and try the easterns here with calling harder as the season progresses for a few years on turkeys that are hunted and report back to me how your success rates stack up.

I agree totally, I hunt only heavily pressured public land in north Florida, the louder, faster, harder approach definitely does not work here. I see several guys from different states here every year, who came down to hunt a few days and kill them an Osceola only to go away disappointed, some of them I have even told where to look for a bird that I scouted but haven't had a chance to hunt, most don't succeed.

Bill,
How you can believe that a turkey will go quiet when molested but you can't believe that they can be imprinted to connect sounds (calls) to the molester. You do realize turkeys can recognize other individual turkey's calls don't you? Have you ever witnessed two broods and hens separate? Then if that's the case don't you think a turkey can be imprinted with calling from those "dozen nimrods blowing through birds" you mentioned earlier who might hammer the same spot repeatedly throughout the season? Don't just take things I've said here out of context. Still seeing "If they were afraid of turkey sounds, they would never mate" while that has never been claimed. Cracks me up. Why do folks assume anyone who mentions "Call shy" never killed a turkey, can't call, can't hunt, has no woodsmanship skills, can't understand turkey habits, etc. etc. I raised far stupider domestic turkeys as a kid and witnessed first hand negative behavior related to calling. There are and will always be a few animals who've experienced enough hunting pressure to live to see a ripe old natural death. I've ranted enough on that subject so I will stop but I will say one thing further. Don't anyone tell me it's a fact a turkey cannot become call shy unless you are a turkey yourself.

Greg,
You feel free to come on to SC and try the easterns here with calling harder as the season progresses for a few years on turkeys that are hunted and report back to me how your success rates stack up.

Right on the money.   

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

[Greg Massey]

Bill,
How you can believe that a turkey will go quiet when molested but you can't believe that they can be imprinted to connect sounds (calls) to the molester. You do realize turkeys can recognize other individual turkey's calls don't you? Have you ever witnessed two broods and hens separate? Then if that's the case don't you think a turkey can be imprinted with calling from those "dozen nimrods blowing through birds" you mentioned earlier who might hammer the same spot repeatedly throughout the season? Don't just take things I've said here out of context. Still seeing "If they were afraid of turkey sounds, they would never mate" while that has never been claimed. Cracks me up. Why do folks assume anyone who mentions "Call shy" never killed a turkey, can't call, can't hunt, has no woodsmanship skills, can't understand turkey habits, etc. etc. I raised far stupider domestic turkeys as a kid and witnessed first hand negative behavior related to calling. There are and will always be a few animals who've experienced enough hunting pressure to live to see a ripe old natural death. I've ranted enough on that subject so I will stop but I will say one thing further. Don't anyone tell me it's a fact a turkey cannot become call shy unless you are a turkey yourself.

Greg,
You feel free to come on to SC and try the easterns here with calling harder as the season progresses for a few years on turkeys that are hunted and report back to me how your success rates stack up.

Thanks for the offer but i'm still hunting in my home state, took another nice bird yesterday with aggressive calling.  In any of your calling you have to be creative. I agree some birds are harder to hunt than others, good hunting on your SC birds.

[TrackeySauresRex]

Snoring    I can be to aggressive at times. However...I am slowing down as I get older.
   

[Ol timer]

In my state it's a Lottery Tag, if your not lucky in the first lottery then there is a over the counter sale its like a crap shoot, we have separate weeks A B C D E all separate Tags all priced at @$21 per zone. to me this lotto is my weakness no tags NO HUNTING!!!

[Bowguy]

My main weakness is often my schedule allowing very limited time during the week n I'm often w my kids or before them a friend who needed a bird called in.
Because of my short timeframe I sometimes push it to happen on my schedule which is not a good thing.

[Cut N Run]

I have two turkey hunting weaknesses that I'll admit to;

1.) Not being able to consistently get away from work enough to find out what the turkeys are doing day to day.  The more time you spend in the woods around turkeys, the easier it is to learn what's happening and where they are in the breeding phase.  I would hunt every day of the season if I could.

2.) I hunt small pieces of land like I expect turkeys to be there all the time.  I know better, but that doesn't stop me from going to low populated areas and hunt like it is some of the densest turkey woods in the state.  I get a lot of experience hearing no gobbles, but persistence and patience pays some of the time.  Most often, I leave the woods disappointed.  That small land is all I have close to the house, so I give it my best shot.  So far this season I have had exactly one (mature) turkey gobble on the same property I was hunting, but he came home with me.  I've called up jakes, but they will always get a free pass from me.

Jim

[hs strut]

i have a couple of weaknesses. 1 being pateint and letting the bird work i actually busted a hunt on a big old tom today. 2 watching a tom work away from you and not being able to do anything about it.

[Bill Cooksey]

Bill,
How you can believe that a turkey will go quiet when molested but you can't believe that they can be imprinted to connect sounds (calls) to the molester. You do realize turkeys can recognize other individual turkey's calls don't you? Have you ever witnessed two broods and hens separate? Then if that's the case don't you think a turkey can be imprinted with calling from those "dozen nimrods blowing through birds" you mentioned earlier who might hammer the same spot repeatedly throughout the season? Don't just take things I've said here out of context. Still seeing "If they were afraid of turkey sounds, they would never mate" while that has never been claimed. Cracks me up. Why do folks assume anyone who mentions "Call shy" never killed a turkey, can't call, can't hunt, has no woodsmanship skills, can't understand turkey habits, etc. etc. I raised far stupider domestic turkeys as a kid and witnessed first hand negative behavior related to calling. There are and will always be a few animals who've experienced enough hunting pressure to live to see a ripe old natural death. I've ranted enough on that subject so I will stop but I will say one thing further. Don't anyone tell me it's a fact a turkey cannot become call shy unless you are a turkey yourself.

I believe we are arguing semantics. I don't believe birds get "call shy." I believe they adapt to pressure. Obviously if the same calling, and especially from the same location/s, results in negative encounters, they will avoid that calling and location. Change the calling and get in a location they are comfortable approaching and you have a different outcome. In my opinion, that isn't call shy. When pressure is great enough to impact hen vocalizations, it would obviously behoove a hunter to adapt and behave as the real hens there do. They aren't silent, but they aren't running around the woods cutting and throwing out loud assembly yelps. They simply respond to that pressure and avoid behavior associated with negative encounters.

Duck hunters are famous for throwing out "call shy." It's a misnomer. When they are "call shy," they are also blind shy, decoy shy, levee shy, hole shy and a host of others. Adjust, get where they feel comfortable going and they'll work a call. They're really everything shy because they are responding to pressure. Adjust, and they still act like ducks. It's the same with turkeys.

Yes, intense pressure (whether from hunters or other predators) makes turkeys more difficult to hunt. I suppose I just take the meaning of words too seriously. I used to use the term "call shy" all the time. Over the years I've come to believe it isn't accurate. That belief has paid off handsomely.

[RutnNStrutn]

For me it's lack of patience. I get busted a few times a year moving in on birds that sound like they're hung up. Over the years though I've also killed several gobblers that were hung by moving in on them.
I also know that I call too much, and probably too loud too.

[g8rvet]

Duck hunters are famous for throwing out "call shy." It's a misnomer. When they are "call shy," they are also blind shy, decoy shy, levee shy, hole shy and a host of others. Adjust, get where they feel comfortable going and they'll work a call. They're really everything shy because they are responding to pressure. Adjust, and they still act like ducks. It's the same with turkeys.

Great example.  When the birds are "local" birds, meaning they have been there a while, they have seen the setups, heard the calls and are pretty wary.  Let a huge temp drop occur (assuming they are in the middle of the flyway) and all those same ducks are triggered to feed and will dive bomb your spread.  Same ducks, same locations, different impetus to feed.  Move those ducks down the flyway to a new location and they respond to calling like any other duck.  Duck hunters in Manitoba don't call any different than duck callers in MS.  The calls don't change, the location and pressure to feed changes and they act like ducks. 

The phenomenon is real, but in most cases, it is only partially, if at all, linked to the actual calling.  Henned up and call shy are the two best friends of an empty handed turkey hunter.  Often, they are not accurate.  There are lots of potential reasons why. 

[MISSISSIPPI Double beard]

Mine would be going to much according to my wife.

[FLTXhunter]

Calling too much and not knowing how to get a bird that is roosted inside of 100 yards to fly down and come to me and not go the other way.

[trackerbucky]

#1 Patience   
#2 Patience   
#3 Patience