Are they worth it?

QBD2

Old Mossy Horns
How much is a beard, couple spurs, and a few pounds of meat worth to you? How hard will you work to get it? Is it worth it?

Personally, I'm looking forward to the days when I DON'T have to work as hard to kill one. That whole smarter not harder thing...I ain't there yet, but I'm working on it.

A buddy asked a question that got me curious...

How much do we really walk during the spring? I dug back through my pedometer app, and singled out the days I hunted by early am activity.

26 days hunted.
123.1 miles walked.
4.7 avg miles per day
15.4 miles per turkey

Sounds like a lot looking at it that way. But after the season closed last year, I had a nagging thought that as good as my season was, it could've been so much better if I'd worked a little harder...

I'm gonna see if I can't change that this spring...
 

Brad_Colvin

Eight Pointer
It's all the other things about Turkey hunting that you can't put a price on. The uncertainty of the pursuit. The exploring new places because there "might " be a gobbling Turkey there. The sights,sounds and smells of a new spring day are what keeps me getting up every morning. I personally get the most satisfaction out of turkeys that make me struggle, whether it's the terrain or the turkey himself that creates that struggle. I don't think it would be as much fun if it was always easy. Embrace the suck lol.

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Winnie 70

Ten Pointer
Good points there Brad-Colvin...if it was easy would not be a challenge, and if you want to just kill one go grocery store, they already have it plucked, skinned, packaged up, ready for the fridge. I will say this, if a bird gives me the slip one time, next time happens again, that is the one that makes me get out of that warm bed and bust my can to get on him this morning. Has been said by, think it was Ray Eye, that if I could I would breath life back into him and hunt him again tomorrow. No hunting that I know of has the appeal that that ole bird does. He get in behind your tree and he suppose to be out in front somewhere, all of a sudden, WAM!....that gobble blows your hat off! My, what a feeling!
 

Lucky Clucker

Old Mossy Horns
Good points there Brad-Colvin...if it was easy would not be a challenge, and if you want to just kill one go grocery store, they already have it plucked, skinned, packaged up, ready for the fridge. I will say this, if a bird gives me the slip one time, next time happens again, that is the one that makes me get out of that warm bed and bust my can to get on him this morning. Has been said by, think it was Ray Eye, that if I could I would breath life back into him and hunt him again tomorrow. No hunting that I know of has the appeal that that ole bird does. He get in behind your tree and he suppose to be out in front somewhere, all of a sudden, WAM!....that gobble blows your hat off! My, what a feeling!
Ben Lee said it.
 

Ol Copper

Twelve Pointer
Yes, they are worth it.
Yes, I am also working on the smarter not harder thing.
Most of my effort comes from scouting, I try to do that better so my success comes easier when it's go time and the season opens. I would hate to even venture a wild guess how much walking I do each spring, but I can guarantee that I walk more than 99% of people that seriously turkey hunt. It's probably enough to make a fit-bit have a stroke. Aint many birds where we hunt, you gotta out walk everybody to kill them !
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
Absolutely but i must admit jealousy over those that have easy access to birds. I have never had that luxury. either a long ways to get to them or marginal hunting. i think i peaked last year in what i will do to kill one.
i went three days straight over easter driving 147 miles one way to hunt each morning.
it would have been more worth it if i had killed one. :p
i be may approaching that "i aint that mad at them anymore stage"
We'll see come march 20.
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
I may have little different take than others but I'm little weird so here goes. I don't want it to be easy I have had the pleasure of hunting some the best turkey ground there is and it was fun for short while then it just wasnt. There was no mystery no real challenge you knew you were gonna kill your 3 birds at times in one day sometimes 2 days but it was gonna happen. Got to point I traded them easy hunts for other more difficult ones I have no problem eating a tag as long as I feel I gave it my best. I like getting up at 0300 walking 1 or 2 miles into Pisgah or nantahala. Love turkey camp by the creek love scouting finding birds then seeing if can make it all happen. While it is fun to hunt land full of gobblers it can get to easy. I think you just gotta find a medium there where the birds are there but you still come home empty handed at times.
 

kilerhamilton

Old Mossy Horns
Not enough to ever shoot TSS [emoji23]

If I was rolling out of control I might.

Bow hunting is my passion and I wouldn’t dare buy a 1200$ bow... unless I was balling out of control.




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wolfman

Old Mossy Horns
I seem to work hard enough to nearly get fired from a job each year. Trying to sneak a pre-work hunt in on some mornings. It's hard to walk away from a gobbling bird. I usually lose weight every turkey season and I don't have much room to lose it.

Last year was probably the easiest. Took two days off and killed two birds shortly after first light. I could probably have even made it to work on time and saved the vacation days. I was actually looking forward to an all day hunt, eating the lunch I packed, an afternoon nap in the shade. But with the easy hunts under my belt I still went after them anytime I could take friend.
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
It's a game. Winning in a blowout is fun, but it's more fun to prevail in a close one. It seems that when any sporting activity becomes easy, your drive to succeed suffers. I've killed an easy turkey or two. One I pretty much stole, and it wasn't the same.

I will say I'd rather the work be in the woods, against turkeys and not driving 147 miles one way each hunt like OS.
 

DBCooper

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I never know, year to year, if the bug’s gonna bite me hard or not. I’m bowhunting from a blind, and I’m apparently not stellar at it.

I love to hunt with folks or read a book between calling. I just bought a new bow, so I’m predicting a bad bite this year.

If it was easy, I wouldn’t do it
 

TravisLH

Old Mossy Horns
I think is more than worth it .... any one who’s ever met me knows I’m a big boy, and even my fat arse manages to walk 3-6 miles a day per trip to the woods. I haven’t been doing this long (4th season) but even with such a steel learning curve the trill and anticipation of calling in a hot gobbler is like nothing else I’ve experienced in the woods, and my youngest has the fever worse than I do. My youngest daughter actually saves all her slotted non excused absence days for youth season, she’ll go to school half dead if it means an extra day of goblin.
The closest thing to turkey in terms of deer hunting is grunting in a buck that’s very vocal and responsive but that pales to a turkey that is only luke warm. I personally love the interaction between me and the gobbler, and that I have to predict an animal that makes no sense so I can get ahead of him and cut him off.


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Buxndiverdux

Old Mossy Horns
Absolutely but i must admit jealousy over those that have easy access to birds. I have never had that luxury. either a long ways to get to them or marginal hunting. i think i peaked last year in what i will do to kill one.
i went three days straight over easter driving 147 miles one way to hunt each morning.
it would have been more worth it if i had killed one. :p
i be may approaching that "i aint that mad at them anymore stage"
We'll see come march 20.

Glad you have finally been able to admit that. :ROFLMAO: It has been rather obvious. LOL...
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
Now that people have weighed in ask the question. Does the wives think they're worth it? Mine tends to poke little fun at me every year with the old butterball at food lion would be cheaper. Can't understand why would want to get up so early walk till exhausted cone home collapse on couch to do it all again tomorrow. And for non hunters always get the " you mean you can only kill 2" comment thinking turkeys are just everywhere and you should get to shoot bunch. And no way they can understand why you would spend all that vacation time and drive 20 0lus hours for a bird. Seems like most are way more understanding bout deer
 

Brad_Colvin

Eight Pointer
Now that people have weighed in ask the question. Does the wives think they're worth it? Mine tends to poke little fun at me every year with the old butterball at food lion would be cheaper. Can't understand why would want to get up so early walk till exhausted cone home collapse on couch to do it all again tomorrow. And for non hunters always get the " you mean you can only kill 2" comment thinking turkeys are just everywhere and you should get to shoot bunch. And no way they can understand why you would spend all that vacation time and drive 20 0lus hours for a bird. Seems like most are way more understanding bout deer
I quit trying to explain it to non hunting friends a long time ago. My wife supports it,but definitely doesn't understand it.

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ol bob

Six Pointer
Yes its worth it and now that I've got to the point that I don't care if I kill one or not its even better just being out there and enjoying the outdoors one more time makes it all worth while.
 

TravisLH

Old Mossy Horns
Now that people have weighed in ask the question. Does the wives think they're worth it? Mine tends to poke little fun at me every year with the old butterball at food lion would be cheaper. Can't understand why would want to get up so early walk till exhausted cone home collapse on couch to do it all again tomorrow. And for non hunters always get the " you mean you can only kill 2" comment thinking turkeys are just everywhere and you should get to shoot bunch. And no way they can understand why you would spend all that vacation time and drive 20 0lus hours for a bird. Seems like most are way more understanding bout deer
I quit trying to explain it to non hunting friends a long time ago. My wife supports it,but definitely doesn't understand it.

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My wife is In the same boat but I’ll say the first Tom I brought home she was highly amazed at how pretty the colors were and just how big they are. Said also if I can find one close to the truck she may go with me lol


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jboi72

Eight Pointer
After every season of getting my butt whooped, losing alot of sleep, burning a ton of fuel, being covered in ticks, almost losing my sanity and saying next season I'm not doing this anymore... Here I am ready for season to get here again wishing I had somewhere to start season sooner. So yes I say it's worth it.
 

CutNRun

Ten Pointer
Contributor
Totally and completely worth it. Every second of every minute of every hour that I've spent turkey hunting has been a great adventure. The rainy days aren't hitting on much, but rain makes the turkeys move out into fields & changes how you have to play the game. I do it for the satisfaction, the pursuit, the accomplishment, the friendship, the piece of mind, the peace of soul, the tasty meat is a bonus, and a strutting, gobbing longbeard in range is the cherry on top. Can't beat it, though a bugling elk in bow range is a very close second....If either one of them doesn't make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end, just go get some golf clubs or something else to torture yourself with and leave the turkeys to those of us who cherish them.

About the only thing I don't like about turkey season is that is takes 11 months to come back around as soon as the season's over. I'm not too crazy about the no-hunting, no-calling, slam-the-truck-door-5-minutes-before-daylight, idiot who hunts the land entirely too close to my favorite spot. On the other hand, maybe some of his screw-ups are what helps push the birds towards me. I don't really like fire ants or ultra-nervous squirrels, yet I suppose they're worth tolerating in exchange for the ability to go after the king of the woods.

From some of the amounts of money I've spent on turkey hunting, I know that my shotgun is an absolute turkey hammer that I don't need to guess where it's going to hit whenever I squeeze the trigger. My camo helps me vanish and allows me to stay hidden while life in the woods goes on around me. I've seen so much more animal interaction and nature just being in the turkey woods than one person should be allowed in several lifetimes. I'm not even going to bring up the cost of ammo or guns, or calls. I've been doing this too long to be bad at it, yet that turkey is ready to school me, put me in my place, and doesn't care how much money or time I've spent trying to get him. He's ready to vanish faster than anything else should be allowed to move through the woods and mock me with PUTTTS as he goes.

The Turkeys I spooked and didn't get the drop on are the ones I remember most, because they taught me what not to do in their woods. The hard learned lessons also haunt me. In my mind's eye, I can see several birds sprinting away, even though they had no idea what I was. There was just enough of me out of place that they weren't going to wait around to find out what wanted to eat them. Turkeys are born knowing they taste good, and every & any predator would love to have some fresh turkey for dinner.

It's worth it that I have my wife so burnt out on hearing turkey calls, that all I need to do is one yelp on a slate or long box and she goes from zero to 100 on the angry scale, because it grates her nerves. She never complains with a mouth full of fresh turkey though.

Turkeys own me. They have me right where they want me & they squeeze a little tighter every day. I love it too. Anyway, it takes one to know one. Every day gets closer to turkey season. I feel like a kid waiting on Christmas.

Jim
 

BigBow

Ten Pointer
Contributor
Ben Lee was right about the "catch and release"part. Wild Turkeys are such a astounding sight. I am truly amazed every time I call in a big old Old Gobbler and I record the details in a journal on every successful hunt I have had since 1991. I love 'em & I kill 'em, but for some reason I always feel a little sad when I gather up that dead bird. I think it is because they are so beautiful, proud and regal "on the hoof", but not so much when reduced to a lump of meat and feathers. Only a good taxidermist can restore that perfect beauty again. I will never give it up as long as I can make it through the spring woods.
 

bshobbs

Old Mossy Horns
I like those mornings when you get set up in a place that the birds were roosting the day before. Daylight breaks and a tom sounds off... then another and another, they have you surrounded. A big smile comes across your face and you know its fixing to be on....... then they all fly down to a loud mouth hen that sounded a little better than you. They casually ease off into the distance dragging you in tow.

Its alive in the turkey woods and that puts a smile on my mug.
 

Wv67

Ten Pointer
It’s worth it , I hunt and call for others anytime I can and that’s every day I’m off if weather permits , Chasing turkeys is like nothing else and in these mountains it isn’t easy by no means a lot of walking and climbing no fields where I hunt but man it’s fun and challenging
 
To each their own. Im not as passionate about turkey as I am deer or fishing. But I can relate. Deer and fish are not a passion for me they are an obsession. I get it.
 
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