Lessons in Patience

[fshafly2]

The (patience-is-a-virtue) light bulb went off for me a few decades ago. I was headed back to the truck mid-morning in Richmond Co, VA, andwoke upa bird with a cutt. I quietly set up on the edge of a hollow across from him,and crankedit up. We couldn't have been more than 150 yds apart. Although the gobbling intensified, the tomwas determinednot to cross the very steep hollow, thick with mountain laurel, andstayed in his strut lane. Hekept pleading for me to join him with deep, resonating double and triple gobbles. I sat there wondering what to do, with an eye on the clock (12 noon closing time). I let things quiet down, and decided I'd cross the hollow above him, and sneak down the ridge his way - I knew the layout of the land and had good landmarks. I backed away, and did a wide loop as planned;45+ minutes later, still 30 minutes of shooting time left, I gave a soft yelp - yep, he gobbled across the hollow, right where I had been sitting. Time to go home, never forgot that lesson...[&:]

-fsh

[statjunk]

For every story you have like that I have one where I had a Tom on a string and I waited patiently only to have the bird hen up or crest a hill and come no closer. I bet you were disappointed but it makes for a good story andalso theentire time you were heading down to cut that bird off you felt like the most clever hunter to have set foot in those woods. Right?

Tom

[turk2di]

[8D]! SSSSSssssssss!! Been there, dun that. Don't cha just love it

[fshafly2]

statjunk
- for sure on the disappointment, at the time I was thinkin' I've got this all figured out . Now "patience" is just one of the tricks of the trade, and I have since used it to success many times- if it worked all the time, everyone would be doing it...

-fsh

[huntnma]

took me 3 years to get a bird, i hunted 4 days a week for the whole season most of the time...and nothing......then one day it happened and i realized then that my patience paid off......finally, lol...

[Coyotestalker]

You never stop learning and that is one of the things that is so great about turkey hunting. I wouldn't be too dissapointed, I would just say "TOUCHE" to the bird, because the bird obviously won. I stopped being disappointed whenever I hunt, just because I realized something along time ago: Not everyone can experience the rush, the solitude, the enormous feeling of being accepted in nature, to feel like a predator again that humans were built to be, and one final thing, you are out of the city, town, building and it is oh so great to be in the wild!......Good luck to every turkey hunter this year, as Spring 2006 should be a slammer.....and don't be disappointed, you are going hunting. That is fun, and not disapointing.

[Mr. Longbeard]

Sounds like a hunt I was on last spring... The only difference was the gobbler stayed put and he busted meGotta love those Mountain Gobblers huh

[ranchand99]

fshafly2,I have learned the hard way too,and I still make mistakes even though I feel like I have tripled my skill level.They will break you down,just when you think you're the man.You gotta love it.

Your story reminds me of onein my 2nd season.Me and my friend chased 2 toms all over for 3 weeks.They roosted in the same area,but would never come to us(I know now they were following hens,that were leading them away from our overzealous calling.)[8D]Anyways,we split up,and got on both sides of the creek,still we wereeluded,we tried every trick in the book.We waded creeks to our belt line,went through briars,belly crawled,got bug bit,and ended up My friend shot both of them with one shot.They were Big 3 year olds with 10",and 10 1/4" beards 1" spurs.Thing is we were walking out when they stepped out of a firebreak,and took off running down it.......60 yds from the truck.

ALL THAT HARD WORK,AND HE GOT THEM RIGHT AT THE TRUCK!!!!It's a humbling experience for sure.It'll drive you crazy.You can work work work,and get nothing then all of the sudden when all hope is lost.One will just come running in there to you.

[one on one]

that story sounds familiar, backed out and played the same game the next day and he lost .

[ultimag]

great tip fishfly i always like to be reminded of this