First bird you ever heard

[tha bugman]

I was 5 years old with my dad and the bird was roosted over what we called "The Boy Scout Pond".  I cannot pass that one spot without thinking about that entire morning....its burned in my brain!

[guesswho]

I was also five years old (1965) and with my Dad.  It was in a South Central WMA in Florida on Arbuckle creek.  I still hear that bird in my sleep a lot of nights.

[Gooserbat]

It's been 32 years and I was seven years old.  Dad took me 3 hours away for the weekend because we didn't have birds around home then.  When I close my eyes I can still feel myself that morning in the half light as Dad blew the question on his old PS Olt hooter and in the distance a tom gobbled and then another.  It's safe to say that right then and there I became a turkey hunter.

[WiLL B]

I can't remember the first one I heard. My Daddy started taking me to listen with him on my second birthday. That would have been 1967. I do remember hearing the first one we got close to killing a few years later. He started a lifelong addiction!

[Txag12]

2005 I was 16 years old in Millsap, TX on a hayfield off a small creek. Didn't grow up turkey hunting, was something I thought would be fun to try growing up and fought myself. 28 now and every year I love turkey hunting more and more and find it more enjoyable than other game to hunt

[Greg Massey]

First bird i heard gobble was a Jake and he was just starting to gobble pretty good...At first i couldn't really tell if that was really what i was hearing ....i will just say that was a long long time ago....my first gobbler i killed was a Jake back in those days also....you have to remember back then all my calls were homemade...

[saltysenior]

  Don't remember the 1st I heard, but remember vividly the first I saw....In about 1953 this ''city boy'' was taking short cut thru a wooded portion of a farm close to a house we were building in the mid Jersey countryside......I came across a flock of a dozen noisy big birds in the woods....with my city wildlife education I figured out they were turkeys.....of course  bragged about it to some local boys who said there were no turkeys any where near,even in the state....so we went back to show them and sure enough we found them....A nice flock of Mr. Poole's Guinea Hens....

  The locals were right there were no turkeys any where near........now fast forward 60 yrs.,and google up ''turkey problems in  Marlboro N. J.

[Farmboy27]

Try as I might, I can't remember that first gobble. I remember my first gobbler, but to be honest I don't really remember very many details of that either. But then again I don't even remember what I had for lunch today.

[catman529]

I'm not exactly sure but it could have been the one time I went with a friend to his spot in Dickson County TN in 2010 and they were all around us. Didn't kill one that morning and didn't hunt again that year, got into it solo in 2011 and killed my first bird that year. I still remember scouting the spot that I killed my first turkey. I think it was 2 weeks before season and as I topped a rise I could hear em start to gobble down by the river.

[fallhnt]

I'd be better off remembering the last one.

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[Ozarks Hillbilly]

I really don't remember the first one. I do remember I when I was 6 or 7 Dad started taking me with him scouting. I can remember riding in my dad's old Willys pick up down the old logging roads. I can remember the sounds of the hurricane 6 and the straight cut gears would make as the old truck chuged up the steep hill sides. Once on top of a high ridge dad would stop and shut the old truck off . He would pour himself a cup of coffee from his old thermos bottle step out of the truck set his coffee cup on the hood and light a cigarette while waiting for things to quite down. It was always funny all of the pops and pings the old truck would make in the predawn that I never noticed during the day time. Once dad thought enough time had passed he would hoot with his natural voice. I can remember on many occasions as many as 10 or more gobbler's firing back. Dad would hop back in the truck and on down the road we would go to the next spot. Brings a smile to my face all these years later just thinking about it. It really seems like it was only yesterday not almost 45 years ago. I think I miss him more now than when home to be with the Lord 10 years ago in June. It's crazy how time flys as we get older isn't it. I kinda miss those old day when there was a gobbler behind every tree too

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[Bolandstrutters]

Not sure exactly how old I was, but it was sometime in the mid 90s in Missouri.  We had an insane amount of turkeys at our family farm apparently.  I found an old lynch box call in my grandpas cedar chest and took it out behind the barn and started screaming with it.  A turkey gobbled almost every time I would do that.  No one in my family turkey hunted, but that sparked the addiction. 

[tha bugman]

Thanks for sharing such a good story...almost felt like I was there....time does fly when you get older for sure..make good memories with the young ones because thats what you want them to remember you by.  God bless!

I really don't remember the first one. I do remember I when I was 6 or 7 Dad started taking me with him scouting. I can remember riding in my dad's old Willys pick up down the old logging roads. I can remember the sounds of the hurricane 6 and the straight cut gears would make as the old truck chuged up the steep hill sides. Once on top of a high ridge dad would stop and shut the old truck off . He would pour himself a cup of coffee from his old thermos bottle step out of the truck set his coffee cup on the hood and light a cigarette while waiting for things to quite down. It was always funny all of the pops and pings the old truck would make in the predawn that I never noticed during the day time. Once dad thought enough time had passed he would hoot with his natural voice. I can remember on many occasions as many as 10 or more gobbler's firing back. Dad would hop back in the truck and on down the road we would go to the next spot. Brings a smile to my face all these years later just thinking about it. It really seems like it was only yesterday not almost 45 years ago. I think I miss him more now than when home to be with the Lord 10 years ago in June. It's crazy how time flys as we get older isn't it. I kinda miss those old day when there was a gobbler behind every tree too

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[allaboutshooting]

What a great topic and what wonderful memories expressed so well.

I grew up in a hunting family and my role as a youngster was "dog" many times, when I hunted with my older brothers. I would go into the thickets and brush piles, trying to flush a rabbit or maybe quail. Both were abundant but there were no turkeys or deer back then. Today that same land is full of both.

The first gobble that I heard was with my friend Glynn Shubert in Alexander County, Illinois. It was beautiful music to my ears and as many of you have said, I was hooked from that day forward. I hope there are still a few more turkey hunts in my future.

Thanks,
Clark

[nitro]

Memory fades over time. I have a select few that really stand out. The first Gobbler I killed  in April of 1978 -  Wilkes County, GA . Flew down in a pine plantation road to my weak attempt at yelping. He had barely folded his wings up when I dropped the hammer with Grandpa's old Model 12. A load of 1.5 oz Winchester #6s.. same load we duck hunted with. I still don't know who was more surprised. Me or him.

I do remember marveling at him all resplendent in the early dawn light. The bronze shine of his feathers were a beautiful sight. I can't say I wasn't sad as I watched his blood spill onto the red clay, and the head colors of red, white and blue as they faded in death.

I still have his beard , spurs and fan. Been a fair number since then , but that 2 year old Gobbler is still probably my favorite of all. That bird stoked the flame that still burns hot.