In my line of thinking....
If you are hunting 20 acres, you are an opportunist, not a turkey hunter.
You can say you are a turkey 'hunter' on those 20 acres, because a bird might cross them once or twice a season and you kill him by any legal means necessary. That's fine by me, I could care less and congratulations to you! Do it 4 times a season (like TNs past limit for the past 15 years), and you aren't a turkey 'hunter' in my eyes, you're just a selfish prick. No way 20 acres can sustain a 4 bird harvest. Do that a few years in a row and birds disappear and you just go crappie fishing in late March instead.
The real turkey hunter is willing to do whatever it takes to not only manage the resource by self limiting harvests, but also willing to leave those 20 acres for just a chance at a real wild turkey experience.somewjere else. Whether that be a large block of private to run and gun, or a vast expanse of national forest or WMA, just to hike miles in hopes of a single gobble. And repeat that over and over and over.
A real turkey hunter makes sacrifices. Burns vacation days during spring season, works extra shifts in the off season, spends tons of time with his family before season starts, gets his family involved in the adventure... whatever it takes to balance real life with the third most important thing in life (behind God and family).
A real turkey hunter appreciates each sunrise, the sound of the whipporwhill just before dawn, and the sound of every songbird as the spring woods come alive every morning.
The real turkey hunter has a successful day each day they step in the woods whether they hear a bird or not. And it's a great day if they hear a gobble. And it's an epic day if they actually work a bird. And the rare days they actually kill a bird are the days forever etched in their minds that they did battle with the most majestic creatures on earth and they beat them at their own game.
For me, I really don't care what tactics you use, as long as you appreciate how wonderfully made the wild turkey is, and how special it is we are blessed to hint them. But I'm jaded by all the decoy toting, head stomping, 'thunder chicken' calling, FB hero posing with audio blasting idiots that have taken over what is a way of life to the old timers.
Fine if you want to do that... but once you decimate the population with your remote controlled strutter decoys luring in the alpha male tom to your gun barrel so you can body shoot him at 3 yards and post his bloody body on FB, it takes away a potential memory from someone else who appreciates the bird for what he is.
The best thing that may ever happen to turkey season is the near extinction of the turkey. Once we reach that point, perhaps everyone will realize how special they are, instead of the traditional hunters who have been chasing them for 35 or 40 years.
