So what was your major mistake this year?
 

What did you learn from that mistake.

Me - I use a blind - a lot - mainly I have gotten old and don't bend well at all anymore.

I do not open up the back of the blind. That was my mistake. According to my camera it cost me a bird - 7 times. So I gotta rethink that as towards the end of the season there where some dandies!

But if I can't coax them out to the front - they win!

JW

My biggest mistake was not hunting enough, but life got in the way last spring.:confused0024:

Didn't hunt the 1st half of the season because my buddy wasn't available and he caretakes the cattle ranch I hunt on. Birds got quiet and scarce in the 2nd half of the season.

My mistake was finding birds in an area I hadn't seen birds much before and hadn't scouted. It was crisscrossed by creeks and I kept setting up with obstacles between me and the birds.

Not pushing it and getting closer to a Rio in Texas at midday.

I played it safe trying to move in front of a very vocal bird. I could've put myself in front of him, as he came up a hill. He came up to my level but out of range, because he drifted to his right.

Didn't do much wrong this season but one day I did hear birds off in the distance in 3 different directions and instead of getting closer to one of them off the bat I stayed put and tried to call them in. When I finally gave it up and headed for the last bird I still heard, he was moving away and there was no getting him back. Same day, I was using a crow call to locate and struck a bird close. Problem was, there was nowhere to set up when he sounded off. When I finally set-up in a decent spot, he went quiet and that was that.

Only went once, called in a very nice 3 yo Tom for my son. Could've got a double if I would've taken my gun.
So, 1 for 1 there were no mistakes made, only improvements needed

I took a shot where I cold see the birds head clearly but not much
else. The moral of this story is trying to shoot thru too much
brush is an excellent way to end up with a Turkey running away
after the shot. Should have waited for a better shot but I felt
he was getting nervous. In the future, I'll wait, I'd rather watch
him walk away with no shot taken than run off after I've shot.

+1

Good lesson for all of us to learn !!! :bash:

Thanks for that................................

I learned, well I already knew, that my eyes are not young enough for fiber optic sights. I missed one and made a poor shoot on another gobbler, all due to blurred sights. I took the plunge and installed a Burris FF3 on my turkey gun.

Been there done that and is why the Nikon scope installed 2003.

JW

Same-o, same-o .... not enough patience. Best two chance I had I moved in too close and moved too soon. It was late season on both and I was antsy to put one in the bag.

It was a rough season where I hunt. I have had superb turkey hunting for decades on this property, but this past season was tough. Over 3000 acres of excellent habitat. Usually covered up with birds. I trampled more ground for less "sighting" than I think I ever in the past. I don;t get around like I did 40-45 years ago, but I can still put in 6-8 miles every morning ... but not as easily as i once could. My GPS told me I did so 9 mornings.

Closest I came to having a shot was a 60 yarder at a Tom easing down a woods roads in the moddle of the day. He was walking across the woods road. I couldn't even get him to check up.

Strangest turkey season I have ever experienced. Never saw a single hen !!! I find that very strange.

Turkeys were hard to come by here due to our harsh winter last year.. I did blow it though on 2 big toms the first week. I am thinking it was because of changing my shotgun shells without doing enough testing with my shotgun.. After messing up on 2 birds I gave those shells away and went back to what I was using.. I soon picked up a big jake and then blew it while trying to sneak up on a large tom. I had 3 or 4 birds gobbling like crazy late in our season but they would not show.. It was a different area and I wished I had scouted it out better..
Lesson learned not to change shells without first testing them out good. Also try and do better scouting of new areas if I intend to hunt them..

The lone opportunity I had at a good Tom I probably jumped the gun on him too earl and I just sent a couple feathers flying off of him. I should have waited to see if he would have came closer. This would have been my first mature Tom.

tagged out too soon
 

I had an incredible year. Shot a good tom in season 1 and season 4 with a total hunt time of maybe an hour. I am NOT that good, just a lucky year. Hunted in my blind in my favorite location first season and he strutted, gobbled and ran 300 yards across a field to my decoys. Season 4 was in a new place to me. Got there at 2:00 PM and sat down to nap, but struck a gobble quick. Pulled him from 2 hens with my Avian-X breeder hen and limited calling. On my way back to the truck by 2:20. I didn't get much hunting time, but that's fine with me.

My brother and I got on two very vocal toms. We slipped in as close as we dared and squatted down to see where they were. We had gotten much closer than we thought. They were so close that we didn't have time to sit down. I just kind of stretched out facing the way they were coming. Within about 30-45 seconds they were coming over the rise directly in front of us. I couldn't hold my gun up for any amount of time. There was one point where my brother was on the strutter and I had a clear 30 yard shot at the other bird. He was eye balling me so I was afraid to move. I could have counted it off and raised my gun and and shot in one motion but didn't want to mess it up. I kept hoping for them to go behind a tree. At one point I could have taken both in one shot but didn't want to raise, aim, shoot. Looking back I think both birds would have froze long enough to get a good shot off.