dan wrote:What does turkey hunting mean to you? and why do you do it? For me, I don't have near the passion in it as I do deer or bear hunting... It started out with a lot of passion. And when my kids were young and turkey hunting was a family affair it was really something I looked forward to. But hunting turkeys alone is not the same as chasing whitetaiös alone... I see some people who really seem to love turkey hunting, some who can take it or leave it, and some like myself who enjoy it at a moderate level. Where you at? I actually prefer run and gun style, even though it usually means less success
I enjoy the challenge of a one-on-one chess match that a wary, public land gobbler can sometimes offer. I love the late evenings trying to roost gobblers, the early wake ups in order to have enough time to navigate through hundreds of yards of hilly timber in complete darkness, just to get close to a roosted gobbler. I love witnessing each morning awaken as the first rays of the warm, spring sun envelope the area, the melodies as the songbirds searching for mates, the emergence of lush vegetation as the world renews itself from a long, harsh winter. I love the miles of walking/hiking in hopes of striking a mid-morning gobbler all while discovering areas undisturbed or unseen by most other humans. Well, I really don't love the "miles of hiking" but I do love the sense of accomplishment it gives after successfully killing that gobbler that drug me all over the countryside.
I welcome the frustrations of a henned-up gobbler and the time and effort spent coming up with a strategy to kill him. Most importantly, I love all the vocalizations that I try to duplicate when turkey hunting. I could go on and on but you get the point.
I believe the main reasons many folks don't get passionate about turkey hunting is that they really don't know how to hunt turkeys and/or they've never really experienced turkey hunting it in it's raw form. Instead, the only method they use is by "deer hunting" turkeys; sitting in one spot for hours on end, hoping something eventually comes by and sees the decoys. Sure, you can kill a few turkeys hunting that way but you'll never learn very much about wild turkey behavior and tendencies and you definitely won't become a better turkey hunter.