Wow, thought I was alone!

Sounds like turkey hunting to me. Keep at it.

I have been turkey hunting 4 times and have yet to get a bird. I have had action everytime I go and keep learning from my mistakes. I just need to close the distance a little more and I will get a bird into shooting range. Then he is in serious trouble! Keep at in and remember that you will only become a better hunter with each time you make it into the woods or field.

I have been hunting turkeys since 2001. In my 8 years, I have been very fortunate to kill 6 birds. I do not consider myself a very good turkey hunter though. I am just fortunate to hunt a farm that I know very well, in a part of the state that has a lot of turkeys.

I have never been successful as a "run and gun" style turkey hunter. I have tried it and gotten close, but never scored. That is the part of the sport that some of the others on here that are REAL turkey hunters can do. That is for the experts. I will continue to work on it, but every turkey I have ever killed has been after I gave up on the "locate them and set up on them" approach and just gone to sit in a blind overlooking a field and wait for turkeys to come through. That takes a lot of patience, and that is something I have a lot more of than talent. I think most of us amatuers tend to call WAY too much and be way too visable to be much good at the locate and set up method.

I still want to keep working on that method though because, quite frankly, it looks like fun and I think it is the real "skill" part of the sport.

Keep at it and it will happen if you have enough patience.

Best of luck.

long path walker , if you can master that art please let me know lol!


I have been hunting turkey's for about 12 years maybe a few more
I have filled my tag several times but have watched the season end with many tags in my pockets
I have enoyed everyone of them and look forward to each new season
some times the bird will come right in like he is on a string but no very often

I hate hunt birds that won't gobble , it's kinda like deer hunting , I just can't hardly sit still when I could be catching crappy and redear and finding mushrooms

I consider my self very lucky anytime I can bag a bird and get frustrated when i eat my tag

we have all been there and go back many times

even the exsperts have the same probelms we all do
they just edit the film on many hunt to make it look easy

I have been hunting turkey for 25 years, I have ups and downs, I was self taught and after alot of errors I scored on my first bird in 1995 after 5 hard years, thankfully I have a lifetime license so nothing burned. It can be very frustating at times. I was counting the turkeys I have harvested or called in for others and that number is 14 birds. It doesn't sound like much but I can remeber each and every hunt. I called in my two boys first turkeys what a rush it made me proud and I was so excited for each of them. I feel after all the years I have hunted the biggest factor in whether or not you score, is the state of mind of the TOM!! I hate when the birds aren't talking it makes life rough and usually adds up to miles of walking. Then I had this year by far my quickest hunt ever. I spotted 2 toms with a hen in a field around 1:30pm, I quickly set up in the woods adjacent to the field made some soft yelps on my box call, he gobbled, I then made a call on my diaphram call he hammered it again within 5 minutes I was filling out my tag. MY calling does not change, the mood of the tom is the variable, don't give up that is why it is called TURKEY HUNTING and not turky shooting and why we are all addicted to the rush. Good luck and don't give up your time will come!!!

This is my first year hunting turkey and I have learned each time I have entered the woods this season, but my season is not over yet going this weekend a couple of more times.

Ain't that the truth! Just completed my 19th season with around 70 birds to my credit & i can tell you that you will discover that:
1. You will kill birds you didn't earn, & earn birds you didn't kill.
2. You moved when you shoulda stayed put, stayed put when you shoulda moved
3. Its not the one you hear that will bust you, but the one you don't see
4. you can go from hero to zero faster than you can go from zero to hero
5. turkeys that see you sittin will act like they don't until they reach a tree that they can walk directly away from you
6. If he lifts or tips his wings slightly while walking, he's gonna keep walking(see # 5).
7. A gobbler going behind a tree can actually keep his body walking whilst his neck & head stay put...GOTCHA!( see#5)
8. Using hen calls to locate a gobbler, moving closer & calling again...moving closer yet again after more calling creates hung up gobblers
9.making a mental list of who your gonna call as a gobbler closes in is detrimental to execution of the shot
Hope this Lil bit of "learned" experience helps anybody who hasn't been thru all of the wars & trials by fire of turkey hunting. One thing i can count on, there will be more to add in the years to come ;D

Thanks for everyones input. I am out of knee surgery(it went well), unfortunately my wife won't let me head back out hunting just yet.......Can you imagine that?! Anyway, if things continue to go well I will definately make it back out before seasons end. Thanks to all again and good luck/congrats to the rest of ya. If I do end up with a bird I will re post a new thread. I am still in the contest---go team13!