Tell Us About Your First Turkey

[catman529]

Well, I got to start where everything started.

I had been an avid fisherman since 2003 at the age of 11, and loved the outdoors as long as I can remember. Always had a thought in the back of my head about hunting, but never had any interest.

It was Thanksgiving Day of 2009... I was 17. That afternoon, a whole flock of turkeys passed through our backyard. They didn't usually come through there but once in a while. I ran outside and chased them off, watching them run and fly into the trees. It was at that time that I started thinking about how I could trap or kill one and then cook and eat it. The thought of outsmarting a wild critter had intrigued me for a while, and this one instance really sparked the idea. Little did I know all the learning I had to do...

Fast forward to the next spring, 2010... I had done a lot of research on hunting, specifically turkeys, and learned how to make a tube call using an empty spice container. I could make basic calls, and had learned a lot of the regulations as well. A friend of mine who I had fished with for years was also into turkey hunting; he let me come out to a farm in Dickson County, TN to try and call in a gobbler.

I used his Remington 870 with Winchester Supreme shells. We sat in a blind and he set out a strutting decoy. Dawn came and he shook the gobble call, and we were answered by birds all around us. A while after daylight, we finally had a bird working up the opposite hillside to the small field on top of the ridge. I saw the head bobbing, but the bird saw the strutter and got shy. We hunted till about 9:30 that morning with no luck.

Deer season came around that year, and I had just discovered some public land. A buddy who was as clueless as myself went with me twice that season... we saw deer the first time, but I had never even pulled the trigger on his iron sight 30-30, so I elected not to shoot the doe I had in the sights.

Spring of 2011 came around, and I found myself back on the same public land, chasing turkeys with my brand new NEF Pardner 12 gauge, and Winchester Supreme shells. A guy I met at Walmart who owns a local call company had given me a tip on a good place to hunt, so I had scouted it a couple weeks before season and then hunted it opening morning.

Opening day found me with hens and jakes within 10 yards, but being a novice, I got busted both times I had a jake in range. I was in the right spot, but the birds taught me that day.

Three hunts later, on April 9, I was on the same area I had been hunting opening day. I had missed a gobbler I saw in a field the previous hunt - he was too far for me to shoot at anyways. This morning, I had no luck in the field where I had seen so many birds on opening day. However, I kept hearing a very faint gobble around midmorning.

Finally I made my way towards a field that was much closer to the parking area. This is where the gobble had come from, and was where I first spotted the bright red head and full tail fan. I snuck my way through hardwoods and cedars to the edge of the field. I found myself a cedar on the edge of the field to sit under, maybe 70 or 80 yards from a group of birds out in the field.

I had remembered reading something about the cluck and purr... so I tried my attempt on a homemade bamboo tube call. One of the hens heard me and didn't like it at all. She came on a dead run towards me, with two jakes on her tail. She stopped at no more than 5 yards from me, looking for the hen that pissed her off. I saw the bright red heads with her, necks stretched out... I raised my gun, squeezed and watched my first turkey drop dead at 6 yards. I won't ever forget that moment.

It ended up being the only turkey I killed that year, but I learned a lot more that season and continue to learn every year. Oh, and there were gobblers in the group when I shot that jake, but I watched them all fly off when I ran out to get my bird.

I started filming more hunts after 2011, but I did manage a quick video after the kill just to document my first turkey... here it is - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evr8CJEYzhs

Just writing this brings back good memories. I can't wait till the green starts to pop and the longbeards light up the woods with early morning gobbles... it's the best time of year...

[OldSchool]

I'm glad I started this. I'm enjoying the heck out of your stories. I've been right there with 'ya on each hunt.    Thanks for sharing.

Bob

[MK M GOBL]

"My" first turkey wasn't even mine... So back in the day a buddy of mine had said that they had seen these turkeys where they deer hunted. We talked about it a bit and wanted to try this turkey hunting thing out so we headed out late that summer on a trip to scout for birds and knock on some doors. Once we got there and as we were scouting the area where they hunted for whitetail we seen all these scrapes in places that didn't make sense, next thing you know we bust up a flock of turkeys! So after talking with the landowner and getting permission to hunt there the for next spring, we did a little research and applied for our permits. Back at home we raised some of those bronze breasted farm birds, I started watching those birds to see how they interacted with each other, our hens could fly into the trees at night but the old tom didn't get off the ground but about 4ft. I actually learned a lot from those birds and they talked profusely, them hens were my teacher on cadence and rhythm, body language and more. From the time they woke up and did the tree talk to when they were talking to the old tom. I spent countless hours watching and learning from those barnyard birds, as we didn't have wild birds where I lived at that time.
We were as green as anyone could be and no one I knew turkey hunted or had ever been, so out to the local sports shop and I bought the "Truth About Turkey Hunting" Vol #1 it was the first year it was out (I have bought every one out since then too, been kind of a tradition. Year #27 is out for 2016). I watched that video like it was the bible and bought myself a slate call... really wished I would have kept that one, also had a mouth call from Primos that came with the tape then I bought a Red Wolfe's Gobble Shaker.  I practiced my calling with those hens and the old tom tirelessly, learned everything they were saying and when, made my guesses as to what they meant and learned what each sound was called. I got to see all this day to day what they did at different times and that interaction between those birds. So here comes spring and we have our approvals from the DNR, WI has a lottery system. My buddy bought a H.S. Redi Hen decoy with a moveable head, could just twist it to a different position.
We got up there a day early for a five day hunt to scout and talk with the land owner, she tells us about
them birds and how they come out in the back of the field every morning over there... So we go out and look and see sign, tracks, poop and a wing feather. Yup decision is made lets hunt here, this lead to lesson #1 turkeys do have really good eye sight, spooked a bird that first morning... WI season at that time closed at noon, and the rest of the day was uneventful. Day 2 we setup a little different and we are not having any luck, we see some birds and hear them but just not doing things right yet...Here we are on day number four and we have learned where those birds roosted and we are setup and are in sight of those birds, hens are a talking, toms are gobbling and this to me feels like home. I start with my tree talk, birds fly down and a tom breaks from the flock to my calling, must have been better than 20 birds together out there but this guy was liking my calling. We watched him strut and gobble his way in off the field and down a bit of the old logging road we were set up on, decoy was set a bit past us and as him came my buddy put him down! He was froze, white knuckled and speechless he didn't even get up, I jumped up as soon as I could see that bird go down, ran over and put my foot on him like I had seen and kept yelling to my buddy "Shawn we did it, We did it!"
I never did get a bird that first year, didn't matter we had success and a lot of lessons were learned during those early days. As I told my Dad the story of the hunt and it got him to want to try this turkey hunting. More than anything else my dad raised me on hunting and fishing and "Turkey Hunting" was the one thing I got to teach my dad about...called in his first bird for him too, since then Dad has passed on and I have some great memories and how much this has been a part of my life and still is, it's not about the kill... don't get me wrong still like to pull the trigger but it's about family, friends and those I share the hunt with.

Hoped you enjoyed the read

MK M GOBL

[saltysenior]

   on the 3rd day i ever turkey hunted, i was walking (not knowing any better) thru a cypress swamp....I heard a far off gobble.....I yelped and he answered .  every time i yelped, he answers....he came into view at 25yrds, and i shot him......just like on tv or in the magazines..

  all that followed were a much different story...

[turkeywhisperer935]

  It is somewhat embarrassing for me to tell this now as I've learned alot. One of my friends that I grew up with ran in my house when I was 20 years old and asked, have you ever hunted turkey's? I said no, not knowing why he took me behind my house on my old farm and the field was black with birds and he said you're going to start. That spring on opening day he didn't show till about 9 in the morning so I went on at daylight and spooked everything in the woods by shooting a coyote. When he showed we hadn't sat down 5 minutes and we was carrying two dead birds that he shot. I chased birds by myself all that spring till the second to the last weekend of season when I finally killed my first bird. It was a Jake but I was so proud of it cause I called it in even though I had to unload the gun to kill it because I didn't know anything about gun and choke shell combos back then. I've been hooked ever since even getting my best friend hooked on them too. That Jake my first Tom and his first tom is probably my favorite hunts ever. Especially since the student has got much better than the teacher.

[Double B]

Late 90's, went to a pre-scouted public land area that I was sure was far off the beaten path,  down a truck scratching narrow two track to the find 2 trucks in the parking area.   I was last in so didn't go deep.  Along about the same time, nature called and I had to go.   You know what I mean, I had to go!   With a quick pit stop along an old fence row I found relief and decided to try a different spot, across the river.   With vest on,  I drove the 5 minutes.....should have taken more but I was in a hurry!   They were already on the ground!    Around and through the old iron bridge to my second choice I went, to a little postage stamp size piece of public ground that I now call the Old Man spot because it is so easy access. 

When I opened the door of my old Jeep Wagoneer, I heard a loud gobble on the shelf of the ridge below me. Adrenaline hit and I went into stealth mode, seeking the location of the gobbler.   I only walked in about 60 yards when I found a nice blow down for cover.  He came into view a few minutes later, maybe 50 yards down the hillside on the shelf.  He would stop and gobble facing across the river, away from me.  I could hear hens or the other hunters I had just left, across the river calling loudly and this gobbler, maybe 300 yards away from them and across a small river was strutting and gobbling his head off and generally heading my way.  I just sat there mesmerized with pulse rate off the chart.  At about 35 yards I hit him with a load of #5's out of my brand new 835.  He flopped and flopped as I watched and eventually flopped his way over the edge of the shelf and started sliding down the steep hillside through rock outcrops and attracted  a small group of crows that swooped in and started dive bombing,  cawing loudly and generally trying to pick on MY Gobbler!    I ran down the hill and collected my bird, a dandy 2 yr old gobbler.   Etched in my memory and I was hooked. 

[allchokedup]

I was raised around the swamplands of S.Florida, where the Osceola's where so abundant back then.
I didn't have much money and had an old Harrington and Richardson Long Tom shotgun. You shot it once, go to break the barrel for another round and the forend and barrel would fall off. Hunted with # 4's and couldn't afford fancy hunting cloths either, usually a pair of jeans, tree bark camo tee shirt and tennis shoes. My Dad made me a turkey call from a turkey wing bone and taught me how to call on it ...man...I was ready!
I walked from swamp to swamp yelping with my wing bone and then ...gobble, gobble,  just on the other side of this coco plum bush, out he struts and BOOM !
Shot my first long beard no further than 10 yrds away. After I shot, I picked up my shotgun parts, barrel and forend , grabbed my gobbler and ran home to show Dad.
Then this Alabama turkey killer named, Ben Rogers Lee, came out with these mouth calls , DANG... this is awesome!
Even though back then, I didn't have much money to buy all these great things I have today...I wouldn't trade those days for nothing.

[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 sound pretty good. I then bought Primos True Double and liked it a lot better. The only shotgun I owned at the time was a Smith & Wesson 12 gauge pump 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 hunter 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 12 guage 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 George. 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 has 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

[born2hunt]

^^ You tell a pretty  good story...

[drenalinld]

Catdaddy bringing the ink! Good to hear from you. Great read as usual.

[101st501]

     I think I was 29 when I killed my first bird.  I have the luxury of only being able to hunt WMA's, and was very familiar with a small one near home.  I left work that morning and drove to the property arriving at about 8:30.  When I drove out of the woods into the first field, I say three birds out in the open.  I backed up, parked my truck in the bushes, and changed clothes.  I could already picture the grease getting hot.  I moved to the edge of the field, hid in some bushes, and proceeded to blow the sweetest tune ever on my Primos Sonic Dome.  Were these birds deaf?  Do they not hear the beautiful sounds coming from the edge of the field?  To my amazement, the birds simply walked away to the other side of the field.  After they were out of sight, I started to skirt the field on a road way in the complete wide open.  After walking several minutes, I get a phone call from my college advisor and registered for classes right then and there.  I continued to walk around the edge of the field when I came to a small terrace.  Just on the other side, I saw those three birds again.  I hunkered down in three inch high grass with no sort of cover except for the terrace.  I proceeded my sweet melody again and the birds still fed away from me!  I sat up just a little and really let that call have it.  I must have hit the right note because all three of those birds hit the brakes and came straight at me full tilt.  I ducked back down in the prone position and three heads popped up on the other side.  The first bird I saw that had a beard got a face full of number #5's from my 20 gauge.  I think I was on my feet before the bird was off of his.  Eleven paces later, I had my hands on my first bird.  When I got home, I had to YouTube a video on how to clean a turkey.  It was so much fun, and every year I get the fever.  My wife told me I cannot talk about turkey hunting until the season is about two weeks away.  She just doesn't get it.

[jblackburn]

It was 1998 and I was 14 or so.  Growing up on a farm in central MO I had always seen turkeys growing up, but no one in my family except for a cousin really hunted them.  I taught myself how to call by listening to the tame turkeys on the farm, my only turkey call was an HS Strut Raspy old hen that I could yelp and cluck on.  I went out the first Saturday and found a bird gobbling on the roost, he was HOT!

I put out a couple decoys (because I thought I HAD to have them) and called. I was hunting a pasture edge and he was in the adjacent woodlot.  I guess the cows were extra nosy because when he came across the pasture towards me in full strut, they whole herd trotted at him. He went back in the woods and continued to gobble. I ran the cows off only for them to come right back and begin smelling and spinning my decoys around.

A shot rang off down the holler and they cows ran back to the field and began feeding, bored with the decoy spinning, I guess.  The bird was still gobbling so I sat my decoys back up and started calling again.  He came back and probably would have walked up in my lap, but I rolled him at 40 yards because I was so nervous/excited that I could not help it.

A nice 2 year old first turkey.

[Double B]

Cool pic, thanks for sharing!   Love to hear the old stories.   

[TrackeySauresRex]

[OldSchool]

It looks like this thread may have played itself out, so I just wanted to say thanks again to everybody that responded. I've really enjoyed all the stories, the pictures and the video. Thanks for sharing.

Bob