First bird

[tracker#1]

My first was a jake on private land in 1983. Was cutting across a swamp when a bird answered my Quaker Boy push-pin. He came in "hot" so I had to sit right down, in a foot of water, very uncomfortable to say the least. Still have his "4" beard.... "swamp chicken", addicted ever since...

[saltysenior]

  First one was at Fisheating Creek,FL....3/24/1974.....Walking (like a fool) thru the dry cypress 1 hr after daylite when all of a sudden Turkeys where goobbling all around me.....tried (like a fool) to cross the creek when one gobbled on my side ..I yellped on my Lynch box and he ansewed me each time..I(like a fool) just leaned againt a tree and when he showed at 30 yrds I shot my L.C. Smith's full barrel loaded with hi brass Reminton #7 1/2s..he jumped 10' and then died.....just like it happens on TV or in the magazines....that was the last time it was so simple.....funny how you recall every detail of your first one..

[sasquatch1]

Killed a gobbler at 7am on my first every attempt on a deer lease that held a small population of turkeys in Louisiana. Just so happened to be my birthday also.

Two came running in and my buddy shot the other


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[ddturkeyhunter]

I shot my first turkey it has been close to maybe thirty years ago now. MN turkey population was still growing and moving north. I had one of the first five permits given for a five day hunting season in south Kandiyohi County. And out of us five hunters, three of us ended up hunting the same 80 acre WMA; not a lot of turkeys yet around at that time. Well I was there long before light and busted my way into the far back SW corner. I was backed up by private land farm field behind me and a small pond in front of me. I was in a small strip of woods running along it. Come around ten o'clock a bird gobbles on the other side of the pond. So I called and he gobbled, gobbled and gobbled. And I just kept calling (now I know if I would have just shut up for a bit he maybe would have come to me sooner) and calling. Well he finally came running but he was out in the private field. But knowing i wasn't a good enough caller for close up calling I stayed quite, not knowing he had my spot pinned already anyway. And like most hunts he did not come around the tree like I had expected him to come. His neck and head popped out from around the tree 13 feet from me. But I was up and waiting and almost took his neck off, so had to take pictures of the other side of him. To this day I did feel sorry for the other two guys hunting that same WMA as me. Not only did they hear the blast of my gun they would have had to hear my hooping and hollering in joy. And now I just give a silent thank you when successful

[Turkeyman]

My first bird was, as luck would have it, the first time I ever turkey hunting...spring of '76 in northern PA. I was in a good spot up on the ridge and come daybreak he was gobbling on the limb fairly close. I made a call or two with my Lynch slate then shut up...afraid to scare him away! Well, he flew down and came right in...full strut and drumming. Naturally, I wondered what that sound was...never heard it mentioned. So, I proceeded to shoot him in full strut disregarding the head and neck. I had to turn into Jesse Owens as he flopped, floundered then sailed down off the ridge. I had somewhat of a fix on where he went and, after descending into the hollow, started casting about looking for him. I found him dead and tucked into a blowdown.

[Muzzy61]

First was a quick but exciting hunt. Friend took me and we set up on the edge of a field. Just after sun down a gobbler roosted  in a tree about 50 yards behind us gobbled, then gobbled about 30 more times in the next 10 minutes. A hen flew down in the field about 30 yards from us. Then the gobbler flew down about twenty yards right in front of me. I shot and killed him and have been hooked ever sense.

As luck would have it he was a big gobbler. Didn't weigh him but over 20 lbs, 11" beard and 1 1/2 spurs.

[Big Jeremy]

I grew up hunting small game and dove, but my dad never had been a big game hunter, so I didn't get after anything other than squirrels, rabbits, and dove til I could drive myself. At that point, I didn't have many friends that hunted turkeys, so I only added deer hunting to the mix, and only infrequently, at that.

After I got out of college, I finally started giving the effort to learn more about deer and turkey hunting. I killed my first deer in the November26, 2006, and my second one the very next day. After deer season closed, I began using any free time I had to watch videos, read articles and books, and came to this site as a guest to read up as much as I could to get some tips on what to do to try and kill a turkey.

When the 2007 spring season kicked off, I found myself on some public land that is about 30 minutes from me, and I didn't hear any gobbles. Not frustrated, though...saw some hens, so I knew there had to be a gobbler around somewhere. I went every opportunity I had, whether morning or afternoon, over the next couple of weeks. I had a few close encounters, but I learned the turkeys some lessons on avoiding hunters just as much as they learned me some lessons on how to hunt them.

Then it finally came together. It was April 16, 2007, my 23rd birthday, and I set up in a cedar clump in the middle of a small opening in some big woods about 200 yards from a creek. Didn't hear anything all morning until, right before I was going to move to try and find a bird, I did a kee kee run. I immediately had two birds gobble in response. At that point, I did some light calling, and one gobbled in return, and it was noticeably closer. I remembered one of the things that I had read before: if you have a bird coming to you, there's no need to keep calling and make it think you are coming the rest of the way to it. So I shut up. About 5 minutes went by before he gobbled again, but I still couldn't see a bird. I stayed quiet. Probably another 5-10 minutes went by, and I let out a few light clucks, which were responded to with the loudest gobble I had ever heard. Immediately after that, a long beard and a Jake stepped out into the clearing, about 50 yards from me. They slowly worked from right in front of me to my left side at about 40 yards. A few steps later, I clucked, the long beard lifted his head, and I pulled the trigger. I was forever done...spring turkeys would from that point be my favorite thing to chase.

He had a 10.5" beard, 1' and 1 1/8" spurs, and tasted fantastic! I ended up killing my limit of 4 birds that year in TN (can we say beginner's luck), and COULD NOT BELIEVE that I hadn't taken turkey hunting seriously before that point.

I can't wait for my 14th turkey season this spring! I've killed my limit 4 times, and been skunked one season since I started...as long as I fall somewhere between those extremes, I'll be happy! Who am I kidding...getting to get after them and enjoy the time in the woods and with my friends and now my daughter is plenty, even if I don't kill a bird.

Enjoyed thinking back to this day! Good post idea, Bowguy!