Moment you were hooked

[Meleagris gallopavo]

I didn't start hunting turkey until late in life as we had no turkeys where I grew up in northeastern NC until the 1990s.  The first turkeys I remember seeing and hearing was around 1996-1997.  I raised a bunch of yard birds (chickens, peacocks, guineas, ducks, turkeys) back then and I would hear wild gobblers reacting to my domestic turkeys.  I also raised some eastern wild turkey poults along with some domestics that were the same age.  The first spring the hen easterns left the house as the call of the wild was stronger than than what I had to offer.

In 1998 I moved to Georgia and folks were turkey hunting down there.  I didn't know anything about it but the folks I knew that turkey hunted sure played it up to be something special.  I hunted deer, hogs, ducks and geese in Georgia but never went turkey hunting. 

I moved back home after 16 years and turkey hunting had caught on here and there was/is a healthy turkey population here now.  My 12 year old son started asking to go turkey hunting so I asked a friend and long time turkey hunter to take us.  I killed my first turkey that year but my son missed twice.  The next year we were planning on going turkey hunting more but my son tore his ACL playing JV football in the spring and we missed the first couple of weeks of turkey season.  One day my son was bored and really couldn't do much in his leg brace, but he wanted to go turkey hunting.  I had heard folks talk about seeing a big turkey on a farm I could hunt so we packed up and went.  My son was still in crutches but we managed to pick a spot and set up where I thought would be a good spot.  I called a little bit and we had decoys out, and after 15 minutes the big Tom and a Jake showed up and my son killed his first turkey which was the big Tom.  Some of my happiest moments are when my son was successful hunting and this was one of the most enjoyable of those moments.  That was what hooked me.


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[eggshell]

Saw my first gobbler in the late 60s on our farm. I had become a avid Ruffed Grouse hunter and kept seeing them grouse hunting. Winter of 1970-71 I decided to try and hunt them. Our tags were on a lottery and our season was 3 days long. I was drawn and allowed to take a buddy. We set up at the end of the field I saw my first bird in at daylight and waited. Then he gobbled. I had talked to an old guy that had hunted turkey in Va. and he gave me a Rhodes snuff box call ( https://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Rhodes-Wooden-Turkey-Original/dp/B008ZFQG0K ). I made some horrible sounds and the gobbler came in silent, but neither of us shot him because the pamphlet from the state said it had to have a beard, and all we could see was head. That was enough.

Yeah, many years ago I let someone talk me out of that box call for like $10.00. Kids aren't the smartest cookies.

[jmart241]

Like many have said when i heard my first gobble 1985

[turkeyfool]

Awesome responses. Pretty thankful that bird gobbled in my face (in December, 0 degrees nonetheless) at 24. Almost all of my time is fishing for striped bass in the salt but I'd probably choose turkey hunting if I had to at this point. Can't wait for the season

[Spurs]

I am a little different that everyone else.  While I have turkey hunted since I was very young and killed my first bird at 13, it really didn't hit me super hard until I was probably 17.  Being from SE Arkansas, duck hunting is what we are bred to do....but duck hunting is now a distant second to me now.  I had a few birds under my belt at the time.  Had a good friend who wanted to go, so I went with him on our opening weekend at his camp that had a ton of birds.  We struck out off the roost, but I was able to call him up his first bird. 

Now we both had guns, but he was in the position for the kill.  It was that day watching it all go down that it hit me like a ton of bricks.  To this day I still reflect on that hunt as the day my focus shifted.