Jump to content

What is the single most frustrating factor?


CH/QuakerBoyProstaff

Recommended Posts

the most frustrating thing I have found in ALL my years of turkey hunting in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Texas has been knuckleheads on both private and public lands! I can't count the number of times my opening day hunts were screwed up by guys who seem to only care about them selves....sneak into a hen yelp, shoot my decoy, try to flank a gobbler I have roosted and set up on (knowing someone is in there calling), or shooting at a gobbler 40-50 yards away only to miss him but give him a good education! Most of these events have happened on private land and from guys who don't have permission to hunt (trespassing) others have happened on public land. I've had guys on public land drive down the long winding gravel road, see my truck and pull in directly behind me and try to beat me into the woods....when there is hundreds of miles of gravel or dirt road this is simply rude behavior! There have been a couple of times that I have walked into an area that I have scouted for several days prior to the opening day hiked in and found a guy (or two) set up on a ridge I had planned to hunt and I simply leave quietly and resort to "plan b".....some of these knuckleheads don't have a "plan B". So here are a couple of tips;

 

1.) have a "plan b"...."plan c" and a "plan d"!!!

2.) don't be irresponsible and hunt close to a fellow hunter.

3.) don't trespass

4.) stop shooting at turkeys that are further than 20 yards!!!

 

With respect to the last tip, I have killed many turkeys since I began turkey hunting in the 80's and I have never shot one beyond 20 yards.....most have been at 10 yards or less and my biggest gobbler was a 26# 11 inch beard 1-1/2" spur beast taken at less than 8 yards with a 70 year old 16 ga double choked full & modified....nope I didn't fire both barrels hit him with the modified and was using #6 shot (upland game loads! My point here is you don't need a mega choked gun and 3-1/2" magnums to kill gobblers, half the fun is trying to "talk" him into that magical 10 yard distance (IMHO).

 

Happy Hunting and Good Luck!

 

10Gauge

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BartMan,the editing they do on these shows is UNREAL.If you had the chance to watch one of these things being put together in person and then saw the final product on tape,you would think that you were watching something completely different.They fuse footage from different days together sometimes to make it all look so easy.Not all are like that,but most are because of the pressure to kill gobblers

 

It used to be that you could watch and learn great tactics and hear fantastic calling and be able to apply that to your own hunting,but now even that is in question.It revolves more around selling product now then helping people learn.It's kinda sad in a way.I believe in selling through teaching.But I don't get mad if someone doesn't buy on of our products because they like another one better,I'm just happy that they are out there grinding it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BART, you got me laughing on that one......LMAO actually! I've said this for years when my buddies tell me how easy turkey hunting looks on TV and then they come home crying about how tough it was to get that hung up gobbler to move!

 

"Quake" is dead on regarding the filming of hunting shows! I got the chance to be in on a waterfowl hunt that was being video taped by one of the "big" boys in the hunting show market and the host was a former NFL footballer (not Czonka, either).....this was 10 years ago (1998) and I could not believe the footage I saw after all the editing was done!!!

 

We killed 2 dux in 3 long days of hunting, weather was hot (70's) in stutgart that December, skys blue and birds flying high (10,000 feet!). The camera guys filmed everyone with close up several times each day taking shots at birds that were NOT there, and used this footage along with the 2 dux falling from the sky and extreme close ups (fancy camera work) of these 1/2 mile away flocks of birds to make the "hunt of a life time"!!! If I had not been there I would have thought these boys were flat slaying some ducks but the reality was Mosquitos nearly killed us and it was the worst waterfowl hunting in my life....it aired on ESPN several times prior to the next waterfowl season and nobody was the wiser! Since then I don't believe anything I see in a hunting video!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It just drives me crazy,because it gives people the false impression that they are not doing it the "right" way,and that some 9yr old kid is a better hunter then them because the kid shot a 150b&c buck in a clover field with ten "non shooter" 12 and 130 bucks standing around.Or every time you go out in the morning,you hit the owl call one time and the gobblers always are there hammering away and it's all textbook from there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the old saying...."it's better to be lucky than good!"

 

many days this applies to turkey hunting.....last spring on opening day I went to one of my favorite locations that I had scouted a few times in the preseason but there were two guys already there....went to "plan b" and two other trucks were there....went to "plan c" and a buddy of mine was there so it was down to my last place "plan d" and at this point it is well past fly down so I'm just screwing around thinkin the day is a bust! Walked in about a 1/4 mile out a rigde toward a power line and struck a yelp on the slate......nuttin, went nearly another 1/8 mile and i'm almost to the powerline and struck the slate again....this time 4 or 5 toms gobbled and they sounded like they were all together across the powerline! I took off running toward them, dropped down in the creek bottom where they sounded like they were....maybe a 1000 yd trek further and I got nervous thinking I had to be getting close...struck the slate one more time and they erupt again but one is close, less than 50 yards and in full strut and now headed my way! I'm on my knees in a muddy deer trail watching him make a beeline for my position...he goes behind a tree and i drop to prone and have my gun ready to fire when he gets closer....he's now in the creek bottom and I can't see him but can hear him spitting and drumming all the way....obviously no time for decoys and who needs one??? he pops up outta the creek at less than 10 yards but there is a large log between us....all i can see is the top of his fan as he struts back and forth behind the log for what seems an eternity....i reach over with my right hand and find the mud covered slate with one light stroke of the striker i purr so softly it sounds like a mouse and the big boy darts to the end of the log and peeks around for his lover! The last thing he saw was an orange flash as the copper plated lead rolled him back behind the log....he was dead at 6 yards and didn't have time to do much flopping either!!! From the time I parked until I pulled the trigger less than 30 minutes had passed......my buddy who was about a half mile up the road heard my shot but had never heard a gobble all morning! Neither of us had scouted this area but had seen birds there during deer season.......i'd rather be lucky than good!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the most frustrating thing I have found in ALL my years of turkey hunting in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Texas has been knuckleheads on both private and public lands! I can't count the number of times my opening day hunts were screwed up by guys who seem to only care about them selves....sneak into a hen yelp, shoot my decoy, try to flank a gobbler I have roosted and set up on (knowing someone is in there calling), or shooting at a gobbler 40-50 yards away only to miss him but give him a good education! Most of these events have happened on private land and from guys who don't have permission to hunt (trespassing) others have happened on public land. I've had guys on public land drive down the long winding gravel road, see my truck and pull in directly behind me and try to beat me into the woods....when there is hundreds of miles of gravel or dirt road this is simply rude behavior! There have been a couple of times that I have walked into an area that I have scouted for several days prior to the opening day hiked in and found a guy (or two) set up on a ridge I had planned to hunt and I simply leave quietly and resort to "plan b".....some of these knuckleheads don't have a "plan B". So here are a couple of tips;

 

1.) have a "plan b"...."plan c" and a "plan d"!!!

2.) don't be irresponsible and hunt close to a fellow hunter.

3.) don't trespass

4.) stop shooting at turkeys that are further than 20 yards!!!

 

With respect to the last tip, I have killed many turkeys since I began turkey hunting in the 80's and I have never shot one beyond 20 yards.....most have been at 10 yards or less and my biggest gobbler was a 26# 11 inch beard 1-1/2" spur beast taken at less than 8 yards with a 70 year old 16 ga double choked full & modified....nope I didn't fire both barrels hit him with the modified and was using #6 shot (upland game loads! My point here is you don't need a mega choked gun and 3-1/2" magnums to kill gobblers, half the fun is trying to "talk" him into that magical 10 yard distance (IMHO).

 

Happy Hunting and Good Luck!

 

10Gauge

 

I agree with most of what your saying except #4, but if you want to restrict yourself to 20 yards or less, nock yourself out!!!!

 

I have searched for many years trying to find the ultimate choke/shell to give me the BEST pattern at the fabled 40 yard marker. If you hunt birds long enough, you'll find that some gobblers don't come waltzing in to 20 yards or less. It's those birds that make you smile, since you did your homework and know your gun can take them out to that 40 yard distance every single time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...