Gobbler Nation

Good Summer Question members. What is your Season goal of number of wild turkeys taken in both Spring and Fall? In N.Y and N.J. where I hunt- my goal is 6 wild turkeys. It never works out that way--4 wild turkeys taken is my most so far. I got 2 this past Spring- so I might equal 4 again this Fall--we will see. What are your goals members and how many turkeys are you able to take in a Season??

I try to fill my tags anywhere I hunt

I try to fill all tags I buy with toms only and have a fun and safe time doing it. Last season I think I filled 18 tags.

0 really over pulling trigger anti climatic and has been for years. Much rather watch friends, family and kids kill while behind the camera or on call.

When I hunt by myself, I leave gun in truck and practice catch and release.

This isn't an arrogant post just been fortunate to hunt 40+ days a year since 98 on awesome ground and awesome places and love the chase as much as anyone, just no longer enjoy shooting them.

I don't have a goal to kill x many turkeys.

I do have a goal to get out and enjoy every second of the turkey woods


sharing my love of the wild turkey with my family and friends


nothing better than taking my nieces, nephews, son , daughter, father and other kids and folks and helping them.

I get just as excited being there calling one in for someone as I do pulling the trigger.

My goal every year is one. If successful, one more. And repeat as long as I have tags.

This area of Montana is 1 tag per year, so that is all I worry about, I have other commitments and chasing wild turkeys doesn't fit in. If they were even slightly edible it might be a different story.

No goal, I just try to fill as many tags as I can, hunting multiple states. I'd say I average 4 or 5 each spring, and anothe 2 or 3 each fall. Most gobblers I shot in a spring season was 7.

X2 Hoobilly- I spend many more days without a gun than I do with calling for friends and family. I try to save a tag for my birthday late in May and try to make that an extra special day for me or whoever I'm with. I just love all things turkey!!!

Boy is that ever a way to ruin your season. My goal is not to kill a bird or number of birds. My goal is to do it the right way and get one in a way that makes that particular bird a trophy to me personally. Otherwise, I'd limit out opening week of most seasons and be one of those poor wandering souls who has to travel to keep up his habit. Instead, I place constraints and hunt heavily pressured public land. I still enjoy the season at least as well as when I hopped around.

My only real goal is 1, here in WV and only because I have taken at least 1 here since 1992 and 92 is the only year I have not killed a bird here since I started turkey hunting in 85, about the only other state I hunt anymore is MO and I have hunted out there for about 20 yrs. and I think I have killed my limit out there every year I have went. I use to hunt MS. AL, VA, TN and KY (not every year for each state) but I am happy anymore just hunting my home state and Missouri. It not so much a numbers game for me anymore and anything over 1 here in WV is just a bonus.

To thank God for the opportunity to participate; a father that had the patience to teach me; and hunt every day I've set aside to do so; take each hunt for what it provides; enjoy every sunrise and nature waking up to start it's day; and to just hear 1 gobble; anything else is a bonus.

My goal is to kill one more than Gobbler. Most years that's 1. I figure if I don't kill one I still have a good chance of tying.

guesswho wrote:My goal is to kill one more than Gobbler. Most years that's 1. I figure if I don't kill one I still have a good chance of tying.

I have never set a goal involving number of birds killed ,but my personal goals are
Have Fun
Be Safe
Kill Humanly
Don't Blow it by making mistakes..
oh and Enjoy My Time in Gods Great Creation...

Grumpy wrote:This area of Montana is 1 tag per year, so that is all I worry about, I have other commitments and chasing wild turkeys doesn't fit in. If they were even slightly edible it might be a different story.

Grump, I'm going to assume you're joking. If you're serious, either you don't know what you're doing in the kitchen or your taste buds are shot. Cut a turkey breast into finger-sized pieces, marinate in Italian dressing, wrap each piece in a third of a slice of raw bacon, grill them on low heat until the bacon is browned. If that don't light your fire, man, then your wood's all wet.

As to the original question of this thread: I try to get into double figures every spring. Some years I get there, this year not quite. I don't hunt 'em much in the fall.

Keep shooting till the tags run out!

Im not happy unless i kill 10 turkeys...

Guess thats why im never happy (-:

I have a mathematical equation I go by. Number of tags x1 = Number of Turkey's I plan on killing.

My goal is to see my kids fill as many tags in as many states as possible and have fun doing it. I usually get to pick off a few stragglers in the process. As far as a number.... one more....

Goal is at least 2 in my home state of MS...
And at least 1 in two 'new' states.. My favorite part of each spring is hunting new ground.

Normally harvest several more but they are just bonuses.

I just try to maximize the number of days spent in the turkey woods every spring. That figure usually ends up at around 65-70. I don't hunt much in the fall.

My goal is to find out where the most "unkillable" gobbler is wherever I am hunting. When I find out, I go there and use my super-human turkey hunting skills to kill him to prove I am the "best that ever was". My secret is to go where that gobbler is supposed to be and cluck one time and shoot him "indaface" when he shows up three hours later,...sneaking into my superior calling. As to how many that may be each spring,...well, let's just say I've lost count.

...Oh no you didn't!...

I look forward to the solitude of being in the spring woods especially where the only man-made sounds are that of an occasional plane passing overhead. The 30-50 minute drive westerly in the pre-dawn sky on a clear night is spectacular with the cloudy Milky Way visible and on my left, the south, lie the constellations Sagitarius with its Tea Pot asterism and Scorpius, the scorpion. Of all the constellations other than the Big and Small Dippers, Scorpius is one of the few constellations that looks like what it is supposed to resemble. If I hear a turkey, good. If I kill one, better. Gil

My dad grew up in the depression and to him, the primary purpose of any hunting or fishing was to put food on the table. Things were much easier when I was a kid, but we still counted on fish and game as a primary food source. When we didn't have that, we ate a lot of meals with no meat. He never got away from the idea that hunting was about eating, and you can be sure he wanted to kill as many turkeys as he could legally kill. The last gobbler he killed at 72 yrs old was a jake, and he was very proud of him.

I understand that turkey hunting for food is pretty silly now, but I doubt I'll ever shake the feeling that I have gotta kill my limit or the season was a failure. I am a perfectionist and can't help it, and my idea of a perfect season had evolved over the years. It's not enough to just kill a limit; I gotta kill a limit of longbeards that I called up and killed with one shot. And I gotta be efficient and make no mistakes that would let one that I should have killed escape. I'm not sure why I feel so driven to do this, but I suspect I will take this compulsion to my grave.

I enjoy out of state trips, but that's just fun. And I really enjoy calling and guiding for others, but I don't take a gun when I do that; let all the pressure be on the other guy.

I don't breast my birds when I clean them; I skin them and save the dark meat too. Eating the turkey is just part of the ritual, but it's something that I have to do. I can't explain why, but I don't think I'm gonna change. I'm getting closer to the end of my turkey hunting career, but I'm saving some money back to use to bribe an orderly in the nursing home to roll me out early on spring mornings to try to get just one more turkey.