Most memorable/favorite turkey hunt

[blake_08]

I know it'd be hard to pick, but i like reading everyone's hunting stories on here. What is your most memorable or your most favorite turkey hunt you've been on in your turkey hunting career? Pictures with the story are always welcome. I'm just trying to pass some time while we wait on season to come in 

[OldSwamper]

The two times me and my dad have doubled.  The first time I was first to shoot and dad had to shoot his bird on the wing as he took flight. The second time dad shot first and bird #2 took off running, took me 4 shots to end it (one reload).  Lot of laughs and good memories there....

[SteelerFan]

Last day we could hunt for the season (couple years ago). Hunting with my son - I was caller, he was shooter. Worked bird(s) all morning, but couldn't get separation from hens. Started down the mountain to head out... 11:30 cut & cackle gets a response from above us. We scramble and get set up, and a pair of jakes start coming to us. My son decides fair game - last chance!

He smacks the lead bird at 30 yds, 2nd one runs. I start cutting hard, 2nd bird stops and turns back. Comes back in to thrash his downed compadre. As 2nd jake is beating up the downed bird, my son slowly hands me the gun and says "kill him". I did.

Just a pair of jakes - but a memory that will last forever. Sometimes, the "trophy" is in the details...

[MK M GOBL]

This is just one of those hunts that stands out

So after a tough few days I was headed back to the house and mow my lawn which seriously needed it. My buddy says you can always mow lawn in 2 weeks when turkey seasons over... I took his advice and went back out behind the farm, got the DSD's my Cody and BIG PUFFY out. Once I was setup and  I sat down this guy gobbles at my hen talk and 11 minutes into it and he's down at 15 yards! This is the one I was after and he was lonely today.

Been chasing this bird for a few years, would always gobble but never come to the call and he stayed on another property most of the time but he would venture on the farm occasionally, he always came from the same area and I tried him a bunch of times in the timber & in the field, tried tag team hunts and never could get him to do anything. He had 7 hens with him this year and I had set on him a couple of times early season trying to bring him along with the hens. Decided to give a break and month later I gave him another, I went to the field with the DSD's and he couldn't resist the "Cody" and earned his name HooK!!

MK M GOBL

[renegade19]

Too many to tell including several doubles with my buddy but I'd say it's a tie between the first bird I ever saw strutting (didn't kill him) that looked like a Volkswagon Beetle and a public land bird that I called in from a loooonnnnng way off on private ground.  He was also the first bird I ever heard drum and came with just a few minutes left before the 1pm cutoff in Illinois.

[Bowguy]

I'll say I've had many memorable hunts but I'll tell a story bout a pretty cool day. It was a week or so before the youth turkey season when my youngest,who just weeks ago reached legal age, asked me if her older sis had taken a gobbler yet. I said no she'd only gone once or twice last year so little sis says she's going n gonna get the first gobbler, hmmm.
The night before I couldn't get a bird to roost, it was down pouring but the birds had been in the area for weeks so we went ahead n tried.
It was still raining n we put on rain gear n used blinds/dekes. Skye was 10, Autumn 13.
We got set up n come daylight birds started gobbling. I got a few it sounded to come right to us. No arguing over who shoots so Autumn shoots left, Skye right. Didn't roost em so I didn't know exactly where they were.
Anyway as the birds are coming Skye gets ready to shoot, Autumn is hunkered down so the birds don't see us. I look up n two birds are on Autumns side. I tell her to get ready to shoot. She aims n waffles a decoy, thought it was the bird. Not a great start but her gun self loads n I tell her bird on right is bigger. She takes him and has her bird. After the high fiving, hugging, phone calls we start hunting again.
Standing right next to the dead bird I cutt on a mouth call n the birds behind us gobble. I can't believe it.
Make a long story short I use a couple calls n I hear the birds get closer. Skye sees them n being they're 10 yards I tell her to shoot but she's aiming behind the birds, . I thought. Apparently there were 8 in a line n she was aiming at the easiest one for her.
I tell her to remove the safety once she's ready. She looks at me nervously, we did practice, I remove safety. She puts it on, I take it off, she puts it on, ugh. I tell her to stop w a hand signal, remove the safety n she wiffs.
She is using Autumns auto since Autumn is done, gun self loads. Now Skye is tiny n rests the gun on the window. 
The blind starts to collapse, thank God these were jakes, all 8 at about 10 yards stare at blind as the window sinks towards the ground. Finally it stops n she's rested on the taunt nylon. She shoots n her bird goes down.
All told not a classic hunt n not the biggest birds but time well spent w my daughters and I'd trade that day for nothing.

[tha bugman]

Every one is memorable to me.  Some stick out more than others...probably the most memorable was the first one I killed right after my best friend (daddy) who introduced me to the obsession sticks out in my mind.

[g8rvet]

One of my favorite hunts is completely unconventional.  It also ended my season with my second bird. 

It was late in the morning and my brother and I would need to leave within about an hour to make some appointment (what escapes me).  So I walk down a dim dead end road and blow the crow call.  We hear a bird gobble behind us from the direction we had just come.  He was a long way off and we cut the distance and I crow call again.  He is about the same distance away as the first time??   So I cut it in half again and same result, but now I know where he is and what he is doing.  He is walking down the main road, heading away from us.  There is an old railroad tram that parallels this road and they usually either head straight down the one he is on to get in to the swamp or they cut over on a little trail that connects the two.  We decide to double time to the connecting road.  Not an all out run, but as fast as we can.  It is a good half mile to that spot and as we arrive, I pick a spot to sit and turn to sit down, and hear comes 2 gobblers walking down the road, about 30 steps away, right at me in a crouched position. It takes me a split second as we look at each other to realize my gun is nearly in position and I raise and shoot.  Down goes Frazier!  My only bird I have ever killed using just a crow call.  Some may call that bushwhacking, but I killed him because I knew what the birds like to do there and beat him to the spot.  If I had made it there 3 minutes earlier and called once, the result would have been the same.

[beakbuster10]

Worked a bird for the better part of an hour that we had intentionally left alone for the last few days of the season. He was alone, below us, and in a thicket but just didn't want to commit. After the bird gobbled his head off for the better part of an hour he suddenly crossed a swamp and proceeded to gobble in one spot for 30 minutes straight.
My buddy and I decided we had to get across and get on the side of the swamp he was on. As we were crossing the bird gobbled again and he was about 50 yards. My buddy and I were up to our knees in mud and had briars to our chest. There was a small opening directly in front of us. When I say small, I'm talking pick up truck sized. The bird gobbled again and was so close I could almost smell his breath. We both "hid" as best we could standing in the jungle we were in and I purred a few times. He immediately cut me off. He was strutting in that opening within seconds. I shot him at 7 yards after he gobbled one last time. By far the craziest hunt I've ever been on. And to boot he had the longest spurs of any gobbler I've ever killed.



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[VA Gobble Addict]

My first year I decided to try turkeys I didn't start until about halfway through the season. I headed off to a farm down the street I have permission to hunt. At daybreak I heard one gobble and started walking down the power line. A hundred yards or so down I bust a turkey off the roost and thought it was over. Luckily, that was a different bird than was gobbling so I kept on moving closer until I came to a "4 way intersection"  of power line and grassy road. The bird is gobbling down the path to my right which leads to someone's yard that's in a subdivision. The bird is basically roosted right in their yard. I set the decoys and wait a few minutes while I enjoy the sound of his gobbles. After a few minutes I decide to hit the call and he cuts me off. Me being inexperienced just kept calling and calling to him, but he cut me off every time. Finally I get tired of calling and stop for a few minutes. Keeping my eyes on the path I notice him rounding the turn in full strut heading my way. I'm not sure I've ever seen a more beautiful sight than that turkey strutting down that green grass road with the sun coming up. I raised my gun and let him close the rest of the 40 yards to the dekes. Once he saw my jake decoy he dropped from strut and got that angry posture they get and got face to face with jake. I didn't let him do too much more after that. I shot both him and my decoy with that one. Never took a picture of me and my first gobbler and I regret it.

[Will]

My most memorable and favorite was my first. I was around 12-13 years old and was told by my father I could deer hunt this year if I drew a doe permit for Western Maryland. That being said I was told I displayed sound safety skills as a squirrel hunter and was going to be cut loose on my own and would be put to the test on a fall turkey hunt. I couldn't believe it I was going to be on my own. Not knowing a thing about turkey hunting my dad lets me carry an old Stevens side by side with the directions of "aim for the head".
So here I am in the hills of Green Ridge State Forest thinking how hard could this be. The morning I thought was good with a bunch of deer sightings all morning keeping me busy but to no avail not a turkey seen. Now mind you I was thrilled to be hunting but started thinking maybe this is harder than I thought. We break for lunch at a local mom and pop sit in diner on Orleans Road and on the way back come across a guy along fifteen mile creek road carrying a bird. We decide to hunt an area familiar to me because it is where I started squirrel hunting. We make the trek up a hollow and I part ways with my dad. I sit on the side of a hill totally exposed unaware of how to hunt a turkey and then the rain sets in. Pouring for only a few minutes the woods get very calm and quiet once it stopped. All of the sudden I hear what I think is a dog barking. I still remember thinking this is crapped up, trying to turkey hunt, see deer all morning and now get rained on. The slow cadence of a what I thought was a dog barking was getting closer coming down the hill. Trying to see the dog I set my eyes on a nice gobbler. All I remember is tunnel vision setting my sights on this bird walking down the hill. Not knowing I had two hens less than 20 yards below me I let that Stevens sing. That bird was every bit of 60 yards but I wasn't thinking. I was so mesmerized by seeing my first turkey in the wild I didn't even realize those hens were so close. I'll never forget after the shot I stood up and watched in aww as the one hen flew within a few feet over my head. Talk about shock and aww! Remember like it was yesterday. Although I didn't harvest one I always remember it from time to time. There's something about the fall woods, the smell of those damp leaves, the cool air and colorful trees.
From that point on I can't explain why but I've been hooked and intrigued by these wild birds. The following summer I spent my grass cutting money on a Lynch fool proof one sided from Clydes Sports Shop. Been obsessed ever since and it's probably been thirty years!

[C.Kimzey95]

I think very possibly my favorite hunt ever in my short 7 years experience wi th turkeys has gotta be calling up two turkeys and  filming my best friend and his dad double up on them on one of the farms that they hunt. It's not that great of a video but that's one of the most fun hunts I think I've ever been on.

[catman529]

My first turkey (jake/2011) and first longbeard (2012) might be near the top for obvious reasons.

Other than that I have a handful and it's hard to choose just one. So I will post this video from last year that definitely ranks up there. This hunt will be hard to top, and I'm not gonna write it all out here. It took all day and involved another bird getting shot out from in front of us.

http://youtu.be/zgqA1Vso4AE


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[Tail Feathers]

One of the all time best would have to be last spring when my oldest grandson got his first longbeard.
Four came in and he took a double bearded, 1 1/2" spurred stud.  Couldn't wipe the grin off his face for days.

[wvmntnhick]

I've got a few that stand out. First gobbler, first with grandfather and first with my dad. Bird with dad had to be the best though. We'd hunted some of the club and some state ground I'd been listening to birds on in the mornings while preparing to home school a young man. Got dad out one morning, after hearing 5 the day before, and heard nothing at all. We covered some ground listening for a gobble but nothing. Stopped to listen from the road on one spot but got no reply on the public land. Getting ready to leave and a bird gobbled on the private ground across the road. We went down the road a ways to the neighboring property dad had access to and called the bird back the other way. Turns out it was 2 jakes but I didn't care. First bird I'd called alone and had dad with me. He missed his but I got mine. Made the walk back to the truck way more fun getting to rib him all the way.