Man this is a good thread.

I think something that makes a turkey hunter really good is to start out for a couple years with alot of turkeys and alot of opportunities but after that a guy needs to go through a period when he isn't getting into near as many birds for whatever reason and he learns to really sit down on and be patient with the few that he does hear.
I was a bad turkey hunter that killed a pretty good many turkeys for the first few years simply because I had so many to work with.......If I was fooling with one and he shut up there would usually be another one gobbling within earshot so I'd just get up and go to another one. No telling how many turkeys I ran off or just walked off and left, but I really didn't have a teacher and I didn't know any better. Most of what I ended up killing at that time were two year old birds also. When our numbers fell off, I had to learn patience and how to sit with a turkey and before long I ended up getting pretty rough on them.

Tom Kelly references a quote from McIlhenny's book pretty early on in Tenth Legion and I think it's the best advice a beginning turkey hunter can ever get. I can't quote it but I can prettymuch paraphrase it....... "If you're working a turkey and he shuts up then the best thing for you to do is to shut up too and assume that you've won the game and he is on his way. Don't worry about how long it takes him because he doesn't have any sense of time to begin with. Just be ready and be listening for him to drum because more often than not that's what you'll hear if you just sit there and be still for a little while" That's pretty simple advice but it's about as time-tested and deadly as anything I've ever tried or heard of in the turkey woods.