I think 99% of it is land. I've had some stone cold turkey killers on my place that could limit out in Sumter county in 10 hunts, and they struck out every time....it's not the hunter as much as the land.

It's better property with lots of birds over abilities for sure.

This anyone can kill them if they're there. If my wife can kill one by herself, it ain't always skill that kills them. In fact IMO patience kills more turkeys than skill.

Just cause someone is killing turkeys don't mean they are better. I know some really good hunters that don't kill many cause they don't have the money to hunt decent places. Some others don't have the time due to career and family obligations.

This day in time, money goes a long way on getting a person to the right spots. This isn't true for all, but applies to the majority of situations.

For a person to have opportunity to kill 5 birds, they first of all had to have 5 birds to hunt. Second of all they had to have time to hunt them.

Back when we had turkeys, I knew a feller or two that did it regular. As a matter of fact, it wasn't unusual to limit out in the first two weeks.

Good land with lots of birds = lots of kills.

Kills don't say a thing about how good the Hunter is. If there are hardly any turkeys even the best Hunter can't kill many

I’ve killed limits in Tenn over the years. Never in Bama, I’ve only killed 5-6 in Bama ever. But looking back at it, my best years are when I had time to go. Hard to smash em when you only get to hunt a sat morning here and there.

Access to land with turkeys = 45%
Time to hunt = 45%
Skill of hunter = 10%

As a general rule, I agree with all of that. However, not all turkeys are created equally IMHO. I have been blessed enough to have a bunch of time to hunt turkeys over the first 7 years of my career (and killed a few each of those years) and on a wide variety of land from swamp bottoms, to TN hills, to crop fields with small wood lots, and lots of hunting in the big woods of the Jackson County mountains. All of my experience has shown me that a man who can consistently kill turkeys on Skyline WMA would most likely wreck em on all of those other places I have gotten to hunt. There is not a doubt in my mind that BrentM/t123winters/ridgestalker etc. could murder the same turkeys that many of us kill starting day one, but the reciprocal wouldn't necessarily be true. Again...my humble opinion...which ain't worth much!

I think your breakdown may be a little off. Id say 40% land, 35% time, 25% skill (skill being woodsman ship and turkey knowledge).

This is just all general rule discussion anyway. Be cause we all know guys who are exceptions.

Concur

Pssshhhh don't be talkin ol BrentM too much now...gonna go to his head! lol

Good property,with a fair amount of birds can make most any hunter look like a pro,but the folks that hunt there properties smart,and don't try to kill every bird on it will have birds to hunt every year. I hardly ever kill more than 2 birds on any given property,simply because I want to have birds to hunt there next year if the Lord lets me live. Calling turkeys is not a real big deal,but being where a turkey wants to be is!!!

And it helps to go just about every morning too.

The best turkey hunter can’t kill turkeys IF turkeys are nonexistent on the property he hunts.

The average hunter can kill turkeys on property with a good population and very little hunting pressure.

Anyone can luck up and get on a hot bird and kill it.

To consistently kill gobblers in Alabama you need:
1. Property with turkeys on it.
2. Time to hunt.

Also, those who only hunt public land tend to get to know where the birds like to go and all after years of hunting the same public land, so while they are tough turkeys to hunt/takes a different strategy, I don’t consider them too much different than those who only hunt private land. I don’t think killing a limit says how good a Hunter you are because I know people who are terrible at hunting that kill 3 or so a year because they are overrun with birds. Do I think Alabama hunters who consistently kill birds to be among the best with Mississippi hunters? Absolutely...I also think you can tell who the killers are are the ones who consistently kill the 3 plus year old dominant birds...a lot of the times also they are the ones who have the most respect towards a bird as well as the ones who do the least bragging...there are a lot of guys on here such as some of the ones Jughead mentioned (even BrentM lol) that are stone cold killers, and I appreciate the wisdom they have shared through this forum.

Of course we're better hunters, stupid question.

Next?

Do these stone cold killers that kill all the 3+ year old birds, let the young ones walk? Do you check Spurs like whild Bill? One of the dumber things I've heard on this forum. I can assure you, whether a man kills 5 long spurred birds or 5 two year olds is simply a roll of the dice.

To answer the op's question, yes, I think people who kill a limit every year are better hunters. I'm sure there are some exceptions. Time, land, and skill all play into it, but these guys killing 5-10 even 15 birds year in and year out don't completely luck into it.

I would have to disagree with that.

Beat me to it.