What Is The Best Turkey Hunt You've Ever Had?

[TBab]

Give a little description of the best hunt, best kill, or best day in the woods period. Have at it

[Red Clay]

A double with my older brother in the mid 90's.
I guided that hunt. Ending with the double was the ultimate stamp of approval from a guy I look up to.

[guesswho]

I've had many, but my Full Circle hunt is as good as a man can expect.  It was a hunt several years ago with my Dad.  We were on a hard gobbling stubborn bird.  My Dad told me several times during the hunt to leave him and go kill the dang turkey.  He doesn't get around like he once did.   He never once left me as a kid and I sure wasn't going to bail on him.   We sat there talking strategy like we have done hundreds of times before.  I could see his deep breaths caused by excitement, and I could see it in his blue eye's the same as I had for the last forty years.  I finally hit on the right combo and the bird ever so slowly made is way towards us.  I saw the bird first and told my Dad to get his gun up.  He can't put it on his knee anymore so he has to free hand it, which is tough even for a young man.   It was timed about right, he saw the birds head and put him down for good.  After the shot I realized it had been forty years since he helped me kill my first longbeard, and there I was helping him put one on the ground.  I remembered the picture of my first longbeard and got us to pose as close as I could remember without him knowing what I was doing.   Then For Fathers day I had the two pictures put in a fold out frame side by side. 

[chatterbox]

I've had many, but my Full Circle hunt is as good as a man can expect.  It was a hunt several years ago with my Dad.  We were on a hard gobbling stubborn bird.  My Dad told me several times during the hunt to leave him and go kill the dang turkey.  He doesn't get around like he once did.   He never once left me as a kid and I sure wasn't going to bail on him.   We sat there talking strategy like we have done hundreds of times before.  I could see his deep breaths caused by excitement, and I could see it in his blue eye's the same as I had for the last forty years.  I finally hit on the right combo and the bird ever so slowly made is way towards us.  I saw the bird first and told my Dad to get his gun up.  He can't put it on his knee anymore so he has to free hand it, which is tough even for a young man.   It was timed about right, he saw the birds head and put him down for good.  After the shot I realized it had been forty years since he helped me kill my first longbeard, and there I was helping him put one on the ground.  I remembered the picture of my first longbeard and got us to pose as close as I could remember without him knowing what I was doing.   Then For Fathers day I had the two pictures put in a fold out frame side by side. 

There are lots of reasons I hold a deep respect for this man. Most of those reasons have little to do with his hunting prowess, but have everything to do with this story.
Great read, Ronnie.

[redarrow]

2 really stand out for me. 1st was when I called in a gobbler for Kamski. His first bird.My first time calling for someone else. Just like you read in the books. Located him at dusk with an owl hooter. Set up on hime the next morning. Called he gobbled  and the game was afoot .3 hens came in close enough to peck kamskis boots. They finally left  and I called again and here he come a gobblin. Boom time. High fives all around.One I will never forget.
In 2012 I never pulled the trigger but it was without a doubt one of the most exciting seasons ever.Birds everywhere .Gobbling like I ain't never heard. Too many hens though. Had hens at 3 ft. but the closest gobbler was at maybe 50 yds. Still a great season.

[J Hook Max]

My favorite hunt was with my grandson. We had three toms roosted about 60 yards from us. When they flew down,  they landed about thirty yards to the right of us. The woods were very open and Kyle could not turn that way to shoot without the turkeys seeing us. So we sat very still as these toms strutted and gobbed continuously for the next ten minutes.
It was then that about ten hens flew down and gathered about 100 yards ahead of us. The gobblers headed  to them as if they were on a string. I got very aggressive with my calling,  cutting and cackling very loud and fast. The toms went into a gobbling frenzy , then turned and came straight to us. Kyle dropped the largest of the three at about 25 yards. He weighed 19 lbs , had a 10 inch beard and 1 inch spurs.

[Gobble!]

There are few that stick out but the first one I thought of was when I was calling for my buddy and his cousin. My buddy was the one who got me into turkey hunting and it was his cousins first hunt. Bad weather day so I decided to set them up in a field. Got some birds to gobble on the other side of the field probably 500 yards away. I wanted to make a move on them but these guys were feeling lazy. I thought there's no way this bird with come this far. Sure enough 2 birds came in the field. Saw the decoys and ran the entire length. Now I had these guys sit side by side incase there were 2 come in. Birds get to 25 yards and my buddy shoots! Didn't try to count with his cousin. Other bird takes off flying and the cousin shoots it out of the air at 35-40. Looked like a goose hunt.

[owlhoot]

favorite with son, 3 toms on b-mobile, ran to him, water splashing from the wings in the soggy creek bottom, 10 yards. Decoy way to close, i was just learning.  Gobbling and purring the fight was on.
Telling him SHOOT THE BIG ONE ,( i was about to have a stroke) When he finally shot i jumped out the blind and ran to the tom, stepped on his neck and let out a big owl hoot. his first turkey at 7 and couldn't be prouder. 23 1/2 lbs 9 1/2" beard 1 3/8 spurs.

[TURKEYWHACKER]

A handful of years ago my father and I went on a hunt with a friend of his. Opening morning was slow, but around 10:00am a gobbler came in silent. Dad was taking his morning pills and didn't see the bird. I took the gobbler and after showing him to my dad, he says "ok, call me in one now". I kinda looked at him funny and told him it just don't work like that. Dad is pretty stubborn, so I said I would try, just to appease him of course. Sure enough, within 30 minutes another bird came in on a string and dad had his first gobbler on the ground. Next morning I hop in the truck and am informed pops buddy is coming along with us. No sense in arguing. We set up in the exact spot as the prior day and right after legal light I put a bird in the guests lap. I figured what the heck, worked yesterday. Within 10 minutes gobbler #2 is on the ground.
   Jump to the following opener and once again dad and I are sitting in our same palmetto root hide and by 8:00am we double on gobblers that could pass for twins. What really makes these hunts stand out to me is they were on a central Florida WMA that requires no quota permit and the line at the gate looks like the one leading to Disney World. A total of 6 gobblers taken in only 3 mornings over 2 opening weekends. Dad and I have had many successful hunts together since, but I will never forget these.

[Vaturkeyhntr]

Has to be a hunt I had last year.  Hunting during a wounded warrior hunt here in Va at Quantcio Marine Corps Base, myself and a wounded warrior doubled up on 2 big gobblers after I called in 4 longbeards together...it was his first hunt for turkeys.

[CASH]

Killing the Death Valley Bird.

Ttown and I hunted this bird for 2 years on our club. He was the one gobbler that would gobble at anything and everything all day long and always seemed to have hens. If the hunting was dead, we could always count on crow calling from the same spot and hearing him gobble.

The first season we devoted most of the season hunting him both together and separately. He almost always roosted on the adjoining property and would make the same big circle everyday through our club back to the other place.

The first season we could never get him in range, but I managed to call his hens in twice. The last day of the season I had him at 80 yards, but one of us moved and he was gone.

The second year we hunted him the first few weeks and then moved on to other birds. One day we were packing up to leave and Ttown suggested we hit the crow call one more time. The DV bird gobbled and we knew exactly where he was. We maneuvered around in front of him, heard his hen walking through the leaves and here he comes. After 2 seasons of hitting him hard, Ttown was gracious enough to let me take the shot. Rolled him at 42 yards and that was all she wrote.

I was extremely happy to have finally killed him, but we sure missed being able to hear him gobble the rest of the season and the next.

[turkeyfoot]

Number one is no brainer calling in my kids first bird at 10 years old next is calling in my 2 brothers and Bro. in law first birds great excitement in those first kills

[Drthorn]

Hard to pick a favorite..the morning my dad and I both killed turkeys 20 min apart while sitting in the same blind was one to remember. He shot his first and we let it lay out in the field as to not spook other birds..20 min later another tom came running in almost over top of his on the ground...fun hunt for sure

[VA_Birdhunter]

Would have to be my hunt with my dad in 2006.  My dad taught me alot about turkey hunting and got me started in this great adventure!  In my early teens my dad got very sick and was sick for many years and had to give all hunting up.  But in 2006 the Lord blessed us to be able to share one last hunt together.  I was able to call a nice 2 yr old long beard in for him.  I live that hunt over in my mind alot and it was something I wanted to do for my dad for along time...I feel very blessed the Lord gave me the opportunity to do it!

God Bless

[VAHUNTER]

it's really hard to pick the best turkey hunt. i have had some outstanding hunts over the past 33 year.
some of the best hunts i have had is when i left the turkey woods humbled and scratching my head
over the butt whoopin that a old Gobbler just gave me.
one of those hunts that last for several hours with several moves and set ups.
those are the hunts that i remember and learn from. the quick hunt on a red hot bird is nice.
but it does not meen near as much as stepping on the head of a old Tom that has seen and heard it all.