Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Why Do You Hunt Turkeys

Oh I do enjoy the pig hunting!

I have never tried it but it’s on my list. I’ve never hog hunted either but going to see a buddy in Texas one of these days and fix that.

That turkey looks like good eats...

Dale, do you call them in to a popup blind or just use natural flora to cover your draw? Of course, if only one gobbler is fanning for a deek i have no problem taking a Texas heart shot.

Looks great. What do you annoint that breast meat in pls.

I hunt turkeys 'cause I can stab them with a sharp stick from the living room window. Well...ok, I've never actually done it. The yard turkeys are a bit too tame to hunt, at least in good conscience. It is fun to rile up the toms by gobbling at them, though.

Like Dale, I also arrowed two in KS this past weekend. It's an easy hunt, and for me it kind of fills the void between end of calling coyotes and the beginning of whackin' prairie dogs, and they're good eatin'.

It's not spring until you hear a gobbler thunder.

Gets me out of the house and moving around.

Plus ticks need fed.

It's fun, exciting, and for me anyway, low pressure. Never took a big gobbler until last year, just jakes (although the last jake was pretty dang big at 14.5 pounds, oven ready). Last year I did well, calling in two big ones. I'm pretty convinced that calling isn't that hard and depends more on being in the right place at the right time and cadence more than perfect sounds. Missed the first couple of days here due to weather and yard chores, but will hit it in the morning on my nearby public land.

Common here to see a dozen or more big gobblers out in fields along the road. In the hunting woods, not so much. Access to private land is hard to get between liberal landowners and family connections, so public it is. The fun is what matters.

Properly prepared, even a big one is very tasty. We got a number of tasty meals out of that 22.5 pounder last year.

Shrap, looks like your shooting the EZV sight on that bow...how you like it. I put one on last year but didn't manage to hit anything with it, not sure I can blame the sight though.

I love being outside in the spring to see “green up”. Love seeing sunrises. Loving hearing birds. Loving chasing them around and being humiliated by something with a brain the size of a pea.

Ok that last part not so much...

We have a lot of them.

I hunt the Merriam's here because it is very challenging to find and bag them in this high altitude relatively dry part of the Southwest. Watering places are scarce, feed is thin, and they are VERY wary. No one here sets up feeders etc. to draw them - we just go out hunting. It is work, takes patience and skill, and becomes very enjoyable.once you get the hang of the challenges. It makes elk hunting feel easy in comparison. Cooked correctly, turkeyt is good eating.

I like eating wild Turkey. I would never hunt them in the spring. Those guys are too serious about it. I shoot them in the fall. South Dakota used to allow 10 tags. That was fun. Trying to get out ahead of a big flock and wait with the shotgun. Rifle works great too, as long as you hit them in the right spot and dont blow them up.

Our limit in Kentucky is two a year, and I am usually tagged out by now. It's been the worst hunting I've ever experienced. The Mennonites have ruined the deer and turkey hunting in my local area. They over hunt it, and the turkeys that survive become extremely call shy, which means ambushing them is about the only method that works. I've had one opportunity, but the bird was just out of range.

Also, the population is way down. I've heard a variety of reasons why, ranging from disease to too many predators. I suspect it is a combination of a number of things, with the loss of habitat here, and the over hunting being the main factors.

It wouldn't take much for me to just give it up, and I've always liked turkey hunting over deer hunting.

Same reason people shoot up heroin or smoke crack, it’s the ultimate high to me and you just want more once you experience it and get hooked. Killing one is just a bonus, the hunt itself is the thrill. I am not talking about shooting one in a field with a rifle or shooting one over a feeder, but calling one up within shotgun range and watching him put on a show with gobbling, spitting and drumming, and strutting. Smoked a little weed in college, but I couldn’t imagine getting higher than a good turkey hunt, trying to control your breathing and keeping your heart in your chest it’s beating so fast. Love that feeling.

The thrill is always in the hunt, not in the kill.

Our season opened on Monday. Not going to even mess with it until may.

Seems turkey numbers are exploding in the west. Can kill 3 birds in WA's spring season. 12 is crazy!

My cousin sent a picture of a bird he killed yesterday. The shotgun he used is a Colt 1883, with black powder loads.

Nothing sounds so large as a gobbler in the early morning when everything is quiet.

I enjoy trying to see if i can out smart them eyeballs.

James Jr,
Numbers are way down in our part of the State too. I don’t hunt them anymore, but a few years ago it was nothing to see dozens in the crop fields around my house with a lot of strutting going on; not so in the last couple of years. I don’t know what happened to them. Not over-hunted for sure and no Mennonites.