| DistinctionA while back, we realized we had every year received calls from turkey hunters asking if we offered wild turkey hunting in a manner that implied a different kind of turkey hunting. Every time we received one of those calls we always wondered what the motivation was for those that asked such a question. Our curiosity was entirely based on the only turkey hunts we ever experienced was on wild birds and we simply called it turkey hunting distinguishing only between Kansas, Missouri and Iowa. The answers to what is not a wild turkey hunt educated us that there is other than wild turkey hunts and these hunters were seeking to avoid that type of hunt. Those types included guided hunts to a feeder to sit and wait and another of an outfitter that advertised more than one species for hunt on the same lease. The assumption in the case of the second was that to have more than one species on the same farm meant to have pen-raised birds.
DifferenceIn the case of these other than wild turkey hunt situations it is the nature of the curios mind to ask why anyone would want to participate in these other than wild bird hunts. The answer we concluded was the same as for why some folks go to fenced hunts for deer or exotic animals. An other than wild turkey hunt is for the same reason and that is the collection of the turkey rather than the hunt experience. That distinction has always been what has separated our do it yourself hunters from guide service hunters and that is the hunt itself.
The HuntWe have always offered hunts without any caveats other than on private lease land. We had always assumed all readily understood that our hunts were on wild game. It appears the hunting industry has evolved in that we must be more precise in our language to accommodate all the questions from the varied hunters that seek what kind of hunts we offer. The hunt we offer is the chance for the hunter to hunt his way on natural terrain on natural birds. It is a leisurely hunt as competitive public lands mentality of beating the other guy is nonexistent on our private land. Those two aspects alone make our hunts far more enjoyable for the quality of the hunt regardless of any tags being filled.
We offer only wild turkey hunting and have responded accordingly by adding that term to our turkey section web pages to avoid unnecessary telephone conversations in the future. We, however, refuse to list our deer hunts as “wild” and will leave it simply as deer hunts. We did however discover the term “wild” to have the same effect for our upland bird hunters. Again, the motivation for those asking what “kind” of quail hunting we offered generated the same questions to ensure the hunter would be finding the kind of hunt he really wanted. In this case, avoiding that of a shooting preserve. That had led us to include the phrase "wild” to the upland bird section. What we are not going to do is provide the definition of the term “wild”. We will expect our turkey hunters to have that level of education. If we receive a call from a prospective hunter asking us to define wild turkey hunting, we have simply decided to tell him our membership is full.
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