first turkey, called up yourself stories

[Rockhound]

Let's hear em guys,

Mine goes:

I was on our farm one day, hunting arrowheads. It was turkey season so naturally Ihad my camo and gear in the truck.

They were cutting timber on the joining property, and every time I heard a saw fire off or someone shout I heard a racket. I couldn't place it at first (wasn't expecting it) but they cut all their equipment off and went on lunch. He started firing off again and I realized the sound. I ran back to the truck and changed clothes and grabbed my gear.

I setup in a thick creek bottom and worked on him for about 10 min when he popped up about 12 yds in front of me and gobbled. I killed him dead. Ended up bring a Jake but that was probably the most memorable experience in the turkey woods.

[kevin2]

My first season was last spring. I came here, read all the threads, and posted plenty of questions. I got to opening day, my go to stand was taken, so I had to go to my 2nd best guess. I arrived an hour before sun up. I could soon see 2 gobblers in trees not to far off. It was very exciting hearing them gobble in the trees before they flew down.

A crew  of hens were in trees right behind me & they flew down 60-70 yards from me. Cackeling, the hole 9 yards. It was very cool. I called in several hens that first day, but every Gobbler hung up. It was both the most exciting first day of hunting & the most frustrating.

I will say this, on my first called in bird, I thought it was another hunter attempting to call in a turkey at first. This other hunter was pretty close by, say 150-200 yards, he had come over to my blind mid day to chat, so when I heard calling coming from his direction later on in the afternoon & it sounded just like my brand new Spring Creek Turkey Call Long Box, I was like "what the heck is this hunter doing coming so close to me..." and shortly after that it was clear to me that it was a hen coming to my calling NOT the other hunter! Came straight to my blind & the gobbler followed a few minutes later BUT would not come to the opening. Very exciting & really amazed at how close that Spring Creek Turkey Call Long Box sounded like the real thing.

[RutnNStrutn]

My first turkey, a jake, wasn't called up. He was spooked by nearby hunters. Flew into my area, up in a tree. He spotted my dekes and flew down to them. Bang.
My second turkey, which was my first gobbler, I called in. Several friends and I were hunting a WMA. We walked in to a trail, where I dropped off and went to a nearby clearing. They all continued down the trail dropping off at different locations. We were all supposed to meet at the trailhead at 10:00. The morning was uneventful until 09:30.
A fire engine went by out on the main road with it's sirens going. I heard a turkey gobbling to it. Being a firefighter , I said to myself, "This turkey was meant for me!" After the sirens faded, I called to him and gobbled back. His gobbling got closer, and I realized he was walking the trail we came in on. Soon I saw him walking the trail. I called to him, he gobbled, turned and came into the clearing. He strutted back and forth for my dekes. When he turned his fan to me, blocking his view, I raised my gun. He then strutted in to my dekes and I dropped him.
I packed up and went to meet the guys at the trailhead. No one was there. I waited for a while, then went back to the trucks. The guys were all there. I showed them my gobbler and they all broke out laughing. Turns out they were all at the trailhead waiting when I shot. They were afraid they had spooked my gobbler and I missed. So they ran back to the trucks so they could pretend they weren't there if I had missed. 

[redarrow]

4-24-91 It was already getting daylight when we got to the woods and by friend and I took off in different directions.I hit my crow call and a gobbler sounded off a long ways away. Lucky for me I was standing near an old two track that took me in his direction.I hit the crow call again and he answered as well as a bunch of real crows.They kept him located for me till I got close enough to sit down .I pulled out the push pull call that Harold Knight gave me.Hit it and he gobbled real close.I could hear him in the dry leaves but couldn't see him.He must have sen me though cause I kept hearing a pop pop pop sound which I now know was putt putt putt.I was busted.Then he popped out in front of me and I hit him with a load of copper plated 5s or 6s.He hit the ground flopping and I ran up and stepped on his neck and he returned the favor by kicking me square in the boys.I wound up holding his feet with one hand ,my knees pinning his wings and my other hand choking him.Wish I had that on film. It was 63 paces.Pure luck at that distance cause he only had one or 2 pellets in his neck. That's how I became a turkey junkie.

[CASH]

First one I called up myself was my 3rd season. I made a little ground blind out of vegetation, sitting on a travel path between a greenfield and the main club road. Made a few calls and promptly fell asleep in my lounger.

About 20 minutes later a gobble woke me up and he was walking by about 20 yards in front of me. Threw my gun up, he starting running, I clucked once, he hesitated and looked back at me and I smacked him in the face with a 3 1/2 inch Nitro.

[30_06]

I was hunting public land one afternoon my first year turkey hunting three days before the season ended. I had not gotten a single turkey to come into my calling all season, and quite frankly was feeling a bit down. I sat down in a likely place, and let loose with some light calls that I thought sounded pretty good. After about twenty minutes with no response and not seeing anything I got impatient, and decided to get up and head out to a different spot.

As soon as I stood up I could see over a little rise in the land. I had two gobblers coming at a meandering pace in my direction. I immediately set back down, let out a few more light calls, and got ready. The second gobbler had the longest beard so I focused on him, after a little bit of their maneuvering I lined up the sights and shot him!

I was so excited as I watched him flop that I didn't even think about shooting the other bird which was standing around wondering what the loud noise was. In the end I scared him off when I stood up to go retrieve my first bird. It wasn't until I saw that one fly off that I realized I could have taken a double

Learned a little bit about perseverance, and patience that day!

[guesswho]

The first gobbler I called up by myself was on a WMA in Central Florida.  It was either 1969 or 1970.  Using an old PS Olt scratch call of some type.  I really had no idea what I was really doing, but I was faking it pretty good.  I kept hearing what sounded like an old three speed starting off and never getting out of first gear.  I finally turned my head and saw what looked like a Volks Wagon Beatle with it's doors open and it's trunk open.  Took me a second to realize it was a turkey.  Just about pee'd myself.   I somehow managed to get my gun up and pull the trigger.  I'm sure it wasn't a slow process like it is now.  But end result was a longbeard doing cartwheels in front of me.   I wasn't sure what to do so I ran to him and reloaded, then just stood there watching him.   He finally quit flopping.  I whacked him in the head with a big stick just to make sure he was dead.  Then I went back to the Jeep and sarted blowing the horn for my Dad to come.  Luckily there weren't many turkey hunters back then, so chances are I didn't mess up someones hunt, not that it mattered at the time. 

[Deputy 14]

Called in and killed my first bird when I was about 15 or 16 I think. At the time I thought you had to call constantly if a bird would gobble. Anyway, I went and set up and started calling and this bird was hot. Covered several hundred yards in no time but hung up a lot farther than I shoulda shot. I watched the bird strut for about 5 minutes (if I would have shut up he woulda walked right to me), and I started getting nervous so I let a load if 6s fly. Bird dropped and I ran after him, fell several times in the process, only to find the bird more alive than they usually are. We had a short fist fight before I had to shoot him again. To this day and a bunch of birds later he's still the best I've taken. 26  lbs. and 11.25 beard.

[ncturkey]

My first turkey and first called in turkey was the same. It was on 4-14-97. I was hunting a game land near my house. I had been hunting five years before I got my first turkey. I called to me with a mouth call. My first bird was a great bird. I have him mounted flying pose in my hunting room.

[catdaddy]

I can remember my first gobbler very well. I had killed several turkeys as a boy while I was squirrel hunting or deer hunting. Back in those days this was not considered a big deal or necessarily a bad thing. Sometime in the early 80's I made a decision to be a sho nuff, bona fide spring turkey hunter. I was already an accomplished hunter, so the step to turkey hunting was not that high for me. I bought a Preston Pittman single reed mouth call and after a couple of days of effort I began to make I sound pretty good. I then bought Primos True Double and liked it a lot better. The only shotgun I owned was a Smith & Wesson 12 gauge with a 28 inch modified barrel. I applied a roll of vinyl camo tape and I thought it looked so cool! My brother gave me a box of 3 inch #4 lead Winchester shells that he used to duck hunt with. This set up sounds ineffective compared to what most avid turkey hunters use now days--but I'll tell you this---for the next 5 years, the S&W with #4 3 inch duck shells was responsible for the demise of many a gobbler. I took to turkey hunting almost immediately—almost like I was born to do it----maybe I was.

When I was younger, I sowed my wild oats for sure. I am not necessarily proud of it, I just consider it to be part of my life experience. So, it should not be to much a surprise to learn that the night before I killed my first gobbler, I had been up basically all night. I drove down from Memphis TN to Jackson MS to meet up with my best friend George. George was a wild oat farmer too by the way--we were a "happening" waiting to occur. George was a first time turkey as well. His primary sport was duck hunting. To this day, he is the best wing shot I have ever seen. George's turkey gun of choice was a H&R single shot with a 30 inch full choke barrel. While he was in the shower getting ready to go, I took the liberty of putting camo tape on it. Even though I had to use two different kinds of camo tape to finish the job--he beamed when he saw it and exclaimed "Good job Moe"   (His nickname for me was and still is Moe--I am glad it didn't stick with anybody else).

We gathered up our gear and drove south to Hazlehurst MS to George's girlfriend's house. We didn't arrive until 10:00 PM and a party was in full swing. Well, without going into too much detail, lets just say one thing led to another and I was surprised to see my watch telling me it was 2:30 AM. The party by this hour was down to just a few hard core revelers. I had to creep around some of the dark areas of the house straining my eyes to find George so we could go. I found two shadowy figures in a back bedroom and I guessed one of them to be him. I whispered "PSST PSST George?"  I got the reply I was looking for " Moe--is that you??" Yeah man, we need to go, we still have a two hour drive" I whispered.  "Give me 10 more minutes Moe"  George whispered back.  I knew it was fruitless to argue--LOVE IS A POWERFULL THING. Feel free to quote me on that.

We made it to the turkey woods in Franklin County MS, just outside Meadville 20 minutes before day light. It wasn't the best day to turkey hunt. It was overcast, cool and windy. No gobbles met the dawn as the turkey hunting books I had been reading assured me would happen. We hiked to the edge of a little green field in the pines and more to show George my newly acquired calling skills than anything else, I put in the Primos True Double and cranked off a series of yelps. George liked it so much I cranked off another series for good measure. Then, without warning, two gobblers left their roost and sailed into the little field we were standing in. We were "naked" as they say and the gobblers immediately busted us and took off. It all happened in a few seconds, leaving us with mouths agape and eyebrows raised in unison.

The rest of the morning was uneventful, so to change our luck, we got back in my truck and drove to some private ground on the Bayou Pierre River just outside of Port Gibson MS. It was now 2:00 PM and he afternoon had turned off sunny and warm. I decided that we should split up and hunt separately. George is a about 6'2 and way over 200 lbs--there is just nothing dainty about him. That morning I felt like I had a Herford bull with me with all the sticks breaking, plodding footsteps and loud gusts of alcohol tinted breaths during each rest stop. As we split to go our separate ways, George wished me "Good luck". I confidently responded " I ain't coming back without a turkey". That statement turned out to be a self fulfilling prophesy.

I left George sitting under a big oak tree beside a big hay field. He refused to wear a mask and had a very light complexion. I remember as I looked back at him one last time that his face was shining like a new pair of shoes on Easter morning. I had to smile a bit but then tried to "get my mind right"---I had a turkey to kill.

I left the hay field and made my way up a little hardwood draw. I was always a good squirrel hunter so I used those skills to creep quietly with my eyes and ears at full combat alert. I heard what I now know to be a gobbler yelp--at the time--I simply recognized it as a turkey. I immediately sat down by a big pine tree with an old hog wire fence not 5 yards in front to me. I got my gun up on one knee and made some yelps that I had spent the past month so dutifully practicing. The gobbler continued to yelp, but never gobbled. I didn't have the opportunity to get 'Gobbler Fever". He came in quickly with nary a gobble.  I shot him through the fence at 20 yards. WAHOOO!!!  I cut a short piece of sampling, tied his feet to it and carried him out. I had only been gone a little over an hour. I could see that big white face of Georges shining long before I reached the oak tree he was sitting under. "I told you I wasn't coming back without a turkey" I boasted. George put me in a big bear hug and said " Moe--you are something else!"

George is an interesting character. Unless you were close to him, you would not know that he is a very spiritual person. In fact, he is so spiritual we joke that he practices all the religions so as not to leave anything out. He is the only baptistcatholicjewishlutheran person I have ever met. I suppose with me knowing this about him, I wasn't too surprised that he announced that we were going to build a little fire and offer up a sacrifice of turkey entrails to the gods---so that is what we did. The self righteous among us might consider what we did to be a pagonistic act--but to me--it was a special moment with my best friend and my first gobbler.

[M Sharpe]

My first, actually two, was in '84. No one in my family hunted them, nor anyone I knew. I was setting cat lines out in the Canoochee River in Ft. Stewart one spring and while my uncle and I were loading the boat up, some jokers came by and shook a gobble tube at us. That seemed kinda cool to me. So a few days later, I bought me a Roger Lathram Turpin box and a couple of perfection mouthcalls. The next weekend found me in the woods.
I heard 'em gobblin'. I eased my way towards them. Didn't know very much about the way you have to be all camoflaged like you do today, or the cannons it takes to kill one of the tough jokers. So I found me a good place to hide. There I sat in my green Dickie work pants, my kaki shirt and Army BDU jacket (no gloves or face mask), clutching an old Stevens 311 12 guage 30" double barrel with 2 3/4 #4 in her. I hit the box a couple of times and they went crazy. I waited a little bit and hit it again. Man, they were close that time, shaking the ground with their gobbles. Then I start hearing this pfit booom, pfit booom. Then I see them, they are coming right for me. I get my gun up and when they get about 25-30 yds away, my heart is beating so hard, I can't contain myself. I pull the trigger. Yep!! Two birds flopping around on the ground!!! Both had 11 1/2" beards and 1 1/4 spurs. Man you couldn't tell me anything!!! Then I found some audio tapes to listen to. You know the ones on how you suppose to give 'em the mating cackle and the cutting and all the such...........those tapes will ruin a guy!!! Now it's DVD's that are ruining people today!!

[Colt45]

I was 15 when I called in my first bird, I was hunting some big timber in southern Indiana. I was up on a steep ridge at dawn, heard some birds gobbling, called to them for about an hour and then they went silent. I got up to leave and just happened to look over the lip of the ridge and could just see the top of a tail fan, so I sat back down and just yelped a few times and here came two jakes, the strutter was still over the ridge when the jakes came in and I was so excited I was just looking for a red head and a beard so I shot. My dad couldn't believe I had actually called one in, and my grampa had never even seen one up close. I was supprised when my dad offered to take it to a taxidermist and have a fan mount done. Although it wasn't my first turkey, it is a memory I will never forget

[Tail Feathers]

My first turkey was on my second trip out.  I didn't even KNOW anyone who hunted turkeys but they opened up my deer lease to turkey hunting after being stocked about 10 years before.

I got a video, a Lynch Foolproof call and an Old Yeller slatek call and went for it.  On my first trip I called a hen to within 3 yards of me.  That was pretty cool so I went the next day too.  I sat up where I had busted a whole flock of turkeys when leaving the day before.
I called way too loud and way too long on the Foolproof box.  I was waiting about 15 minutes before raising another ruckus when two jakes came up from behind me.  I took the bigger looking of the two at 16 yards.
I don't think my feet hit the ground for 10 minutes.

My first longbeard came on opening day of the next season (1 bird limit here).  No THAT was the kind of hunt that gets you hooked.  Two strutters came in, gobbled together at 15 yards and nearly blew my cap off.  Couldn't get them separated until they got to 8 yards.  Decapitated the near one as he got a step ahead of his buddy.  Strutting, drumming, CLOSE range gobbling...MAN I was forever more hooked then.
It was so good I called my friend up and told him we had to go the next day.  He got one that next morning and now he's totally hooked too.  His first bird was shot with a modified choke fired from a gun with an uncovered nickle plated receiver.  Had to call the bird to 12 yards so he could get a good shot with that choke.  But it worked!

[bigbird]

   I killed my first turkey/called him in by accident? I didn't know what I had done at the time I was only a kid. But I put myself between two birds, playing that jealousy card to a T. I had one bird south of me at a pretty good distance and three birds that were closer but still couple hundred yards away to the north. As I set up on the bird on the farm I have permission on the three birds to the north of me are cut me off and just hammering. I noticed a change in the way the gobble sounded and it was when the birds left the timber and entered the field behind me. I turn around I was set up on a logging road the decoy is still behind me to the south I see these three long beards run across the field competing to get to my hen decoy first! They came across the field, up the hill on the logging road trying to get to my decoy that was behind me to my left. As they came up the road the first tom was maybe 3 yards away, the second wasn't much farther so I bearded down good, don't remember pulling the trigger. But I believe every #6 pellet was in his face and blew his fan all to hell. Lol. He laid there at 6 paces from the tree I was on. When I got it home he had bled all over my pants, bad. My mom thought I had an accident there was so much blood in and on my pants. 22 lbs. 9 inch beard and 3/4" spurs.

[J Hook Max]

 The first turkeys I called in by myself were about 10 or 12 jakes. One nearly ran me over and I shot him in self defense. That was 43 years ago.