A lot of people always say that killing a turkey is not that important... That just being outdoors is all they need... For me I like seeing the Red Buds and Dogwoods and hearing the woods come alive each morning. But I really need to get my hands on a gobbler each spring for me to be happy...

What's your thoughts???

i admit i feel disappointed after the season if I dont get a bird.

I think taking a game animal is what most hunters consider their trophy. It is awesome to experience all of nature while hunting but, the main goal is coming home with that animal and the bragging rights that you did your homework, put in the time and fulfilled what you set out to do.
Secondly, it is hard to explain to the wife all the money spent to come home year after year empty handed.

We only get one male in the Spring and one of either sex in the Fall, so compared to deer hunting the kill isn't that important to me. I'm exclusively a meat hunter, and to turkeys just don't produce enough meat to get into a lather over. We get one buck and nearly unlimited antlerless, so I save my urge for the kill for them. I love to see turkeys in the woods, along with all the sights, smells, and sounds around me while hunting them, something that I don't get to enjoy as much when I'm trying to tag a freezer filler. There's a grey phase hen that's survived up until now, and she'd look real pretty on the ends of my arrows, if I see her first this Fall then I'll get excited about a turkey kill.

If it weren't important you might as well take a camera instead of a weapon!

As you get older, you seem to enjoy nature morein a different way than you did when you were younger. If I take a turkey, that's great and if I don't, there's always tomorrow, but I sure enjoyed the time I had observing nature in the spring of the year!

Most turkey hunters are young men who have jobs and families to think about and can't take the days off from work like the old timers who are retired and have as many days as they need to pursue the challenge of the chase.

Most young men have to pick week-ends to be able to take a turkey, when others like myself prefer week days and am able to go to different areas in the state to hunt.

I mentioned these things because I also was young and was in the same worldly rat race like every young person nowadays. Was obligated to a job, was raising a family and the money was always in need for something else.

Guys, if you don't take them today, you'll take them tomorrow, be patient!

the kill is very non essential in turkey hunting to me. yes. im out there to KILL one. the kill is the ultimate climax. but i remember more hunts that i didnt kill a bird than most. ive let more longbeards walk than ive shot. ill admit in 8 seasons i only rolled 2 longbeards. i could have easily filled my tag EVERY season and thats no joke. i usually get too caught up in the show...by the time i decide to shoot he decides there aint no hen and is scootin outta there. but i love it. ill never forget when i had a jake LITERALLY brush my pants. i could have grabbed him and wrestled him no problem. i had an eye to eye battle for atleast a full minute. i think that hunt was probably more exciting than ANY kill.

alot of the excitement from turkey hunting doesnt come from the kill for me. and i honestly usually get too caught up in the show..ill leave my gun laying on my lap just working the call and watchin the birds..then i kick myself the whole way to the truck...

i love killing them big ole longbeards...thats definently the highlight of it all...but i hunted 4 seasons without firing a shot. i looked forward to my 5th season just as much as i did my first. havent killed one in 2 season now..looking forward to this season just as much.

kinda like running coon hounds. i never had to kill a coon. most of the time we ran without guns. just an exciting hunt where the HUNT is more exciting than the kill pretty similar to turkey hunting in a way..

To me its about hearing them gobble...I just love to hear that!!!

My dad used to tell me about turkey hunting back during the Depression...Here in NC the turkeys are really just getting established throughout the state good again (the county I live in has only had a modern turkey season about 6-7 years)....Now I'm lucky, I lived in GA and VA in the late 70s and early 80s....Did quite a bit of turkey hunting then....Moved back to NC in '83 and didn't have enough to hunt until a few years ago....

I also agree that just being in the woods in the spring time is fantastic...One of my best hunts last year was seeing a tulip poplar that was in full bloom last year, its impossible to discribe how beautiful the flowers were...I even took a few home to the wife, she just loved that...

The first year the season came in a few years ago, I killed a huge tom with a 10 inch beard and 2 smaller beards, three weeks later I killed a tom that I called in on public land with a 9 inch beard...Both of these birds were killed by 7:30 am...Yea, I love to call them in and hear them gobble and watch them strut, but there is much more to it than that....I'm happy if I kill one a year.

Some of my most exciting and memorable hunts have ended without me killing a turkey. Of course the ultimate goal for every hunter is to get the kill, but for most of us, that we enjoy the experience even we don't get a kill. I think I enjoy calling in birds for people new to turkey hunting more than I do calling them in for myself.

Good post!
Dr. Andy said it best!
For people that are non-hunters, they dont understand why we have to harvest the bird for the hunt to be "complete". Its just part of it. Its like scratching an itch. I dont ever have to kill a bird to be successful. All I have to do it, "be in the game" with a chance to put the smack down on a wild turkey. To be honest, I love to guide. I would rather take friends and family and shoot 4 birds, than for me to harvest one. To me, its all about the "magic morning" experience. The whipporwills, the owls, the deer, the dogwoods, the mushrooms, the SUNRISE, the gobbling, the spit and drum....I could care less if I harvest one, I just like to be around them like many of you I am sure....