Remember the first bird you called in ?

[greencop01]

My first bird had a rattle at the end of his gobble. He was in his strut zone and I must have called to him for a couple of hours. I stopped calling and he showed up after about 20 minutes. He gobbled at about 30 yds and I almost dropped my gun. I pulled the trigger and I must have lifted my head at the same time. Never touched him. Took me 10 min or so to get composed and get back to normal. He was so big I told my friend he was Tomzilla. I was hooked for life!

[gergg]

I remember it well...it was my first one by myself, I was 17 years old hunting on a WMA in North Florida. I had just learned how to call on a diaphragm, was using a triple reed(brown) Perfection mouth call(killed a bunch with this call)....Sat down against a tree and started calling at daylight, no gobbles early, I started kee-keeing and yelping, the Tom just freaked out, gobbling like mad and ran as fast as he could from about 400 yards right to me....shot and killed him at 20 yards and was hooked for life. I have since used the kee-kee-yelp run to kill a bunch of Spring toms.

[allaboutshooting]

It was pouring down rain with lightning and thunder, it was crazy to even be out there. I was soaking wet and cold. I saw him in an open spot and immediately went into a low-crawl position, the things we do when we're young. I crawled up to a tree and managed to get myself up against it, wet, muddy and shivering.

I tried to call but the sound that came out was more of a squawk. Finally, I was able to make a decent call. I put my gun up on my knee and about that time I saw a hen, maybe 30 yards in front of me. I was still shaking hard. She started walking to my right and it was then that I noticed the gobbler. More shaking as he started walking behind a large tree. I made an adjustment to my muzzle and when he stepped from behind the tree, I shot him. It was the most exciting hunting experience I'd ever had and probably still is.

Thanks,
Clark

[Yoder409]

Yes...............and no.  Because there were two of them and I don't remember which one was in front.

It was the first time I ever tried to call one in.  Was using a tube call I had hacked out of a 35mm film can with a surgical glove reed and black tape holding it all together. 

I got a pair of jakes wound up and they stopped to fight it out just beyond where I could see, then came waltzing in like two kings of the hill.  I doused one of them at about 25 yards with a 2 3/4" magnum Federal #2 shot from a Winchester 1200. 

1981 - 82-ish maybe.

[ilbucksndux]

I can close my eyes and see it like it was yesterday. He was gobbling on the roost and I got as close as I dared. I could hear him fly down and I thought he was long gone. A few soft calls and he came running . I needed to move my gun some and was afraid he would see me. A little adjustment and there he was 20 yards he stopped, gobbled and BOOM !

[Meadow Valley Man]

It was April 19th, 1984. Dad and I broke ice as we crossed a low spot on the way to a small oak ridge. It was the first turkey hunt for both of us. We sat 100 yards apart, and much to my surprise, a gobbler opened up less than 100 yards to my left. After about fifteen minutes of me calling way too much on my Quaker Boy Kee-Kee, the gobbler walked into my life and changed me forever. It was dumb luck, but I sure am thankful for it.

[Greg Massey]

It took me 3 years to kill my first one on Timber Co. land. You had to buy a permit. This bird keep gobbling and circle around me headed to his strut zone. After he got to that location he just kept gobbling so i eases his way slipping along until i just could see over the rise of the hill and he was like a stone statue standing and i raised my old Browning A5 full choke 32 inch barrel and pulled the trigger he hit the ground. I jumped and ran and put my foot on his head. He was A Jake with 5 inch beard. Still have that beard and shell in my gun safe. I was one proud hunter. I guess from that day forward i felt like a turkey hunter for the first time....Still have that old Browning A5 also in the safe....killed several turkeys with it thru the years until these choke guns came out....This was almost 35 years ago...lol....  The call i used was a homemade snuff tin can cut with a have moon on the lid and a piece of condom rubber. My wife always looked funny at me for having those condoms in the truck and vest...i wonder why....those were the days and i still have those 2 old snuff can calls.

[Fisher62]

My first was the first time I went turkey hunting. A good friend had invited me to go many times but I never had any interest in turkey hunting. Well we go hear a few birds but can't close the deal. My friend had to go to work but I had rest of day off so he suggested I go hunt the swamp below his house. So off I go to the swamp with my Lohman pump call. I hit the pump call and one gobbled and he was close. Some how I was able to call this turkey in and boom turkey down. So I called my friend to let him know I got one. He didn't believe me. Asked how big it was I told him over 10 inch beard and Spurs were over inch. Again he thought I was lying. So I loaded up the turkey and took it to him to prove I wasn't lying. My first gobbler on my first turkey hunt had an 11 1/4 inch beard and 1 1/4 Spurs. Friend was blown away I had called in and killed that turkey and I became an addict. Can't wait for March 15th to get here!!


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[Ozarks Hillbilly]

First one a called and killed on my own I was 13. I had bought my first dedicated turkey gun the fall before. It was a Stevens model 94 Long Tom single shot 36" barrel. With it in hand a couple Remington 3" "Nitro" #4's and my little cedar box call my father had made me. I broke day on ridge pasture with river bottom running along the west side and swing around to the south and a wooded holler running along the east side. Standing there in the dark shivering not sure if it was more from excitement or my dew soaked wet paint legs and crisp predawn air. As the Whipoorwills fell silent and  Eastern sky started to give way to a new day I heard a distance gobble to the south. I stood my ground and waited to see if there was a bird roosted closer. It wasn't long until a bird fired off roosted across the holler to the east maybe 400 to 500 yards away.I started off toward him and he gobble pretty steady on the roost as I made my way across the field. I had made it to the field edge and the barbwire fence it sounded like he was already on the ground and heading in my general direction. I took out my call and with shaking hand I scratched out 3 yelps and he cut me off before the third yelp reached my ears and he was close. There was a lighten struck tree about twenty yards out into the field from the fence line. The lightning had left he tree trunk stand about 10 to 12 feet high and the top and broken off and was hanging down a long side the tree trunk. I plopped down in front of tree top and wiggled back into it just a bit. I was able to scratch out a three more nervous yelps and he cut those off as well and had cut the distance in half of the last time he gobbled. I set my little call on the ground beside me and propped my gun on my knee and cocked the hammer as he had to be just under the break of the hill headed for the field. It seemed like a life time but couldn't have been a minute or two I saw a white head coming up the hill toward me. As he made his way up to the fence I could see he had a nice beard. He reached the fence and I bared down on him with the barrel of my gun drawing figure 8's around him. As he stepped through the fence and stretched his head up to look for the funny sounding hen that should be feeding there in front of him I pulled the trigger. I didn't see the impact of the shot to the turkey as the recoil of the gun and me setting flat on my butt tipped me over backwards into the tree top. Not knowing if I had killed the gobbler or if he had flown or ran off I gathered my self together and crawled out of that tree top. As I stood up I was able to see him lying there on the fence line. I was so overjoyed I whooped and hollered as loud as I could.That will be 35 years ago this spring I can relive that hunt along with the first bird my father called in for me at the age of 8. I missed him and he had the longest bearded I have see on a bird to this day at about 12 yards with a little Stevens 311 SxS .410. but that's another story for another day.

[oldturk]

yep may 2nd 1970,did'nt have much of a clue what i was doing.learned what little i knew from listening to a well worn out cassette tape put out by dick kirby.i bought a quaker boy old turk mouth call.that's where i took my online name from.i called that tom from across a 400 yard field.he came across that field so fast i'm all pumped up guessing this turkey hunting easy.wrong the bird hooks off to my left goes up a logging that winds the woods and up a hill.oh shoot know what do i do.as soon as he  is out of sight i take off to my right to circle the hill to get above him,i wasn't there but 10 min.out of breath from running my 250 pound butt up the hill.i make one yelp he comes about 20 yrds.from me i dropped the hammer on him,down the hill he flopped almost to the same spot i started from.bird had a13 in. beard and 1 in. spurs needless to say i was elated.first and only bird i had mounted.still remember like it happened yesterday.

[snapper1982]

Called in 3. I shot the first to give me a clear shot which would be the second bird i saw. He was a beautiful 2 year old and he will forever be etched in my mind. 14 years old and did it all by myself. I had no mentor or coach. I am very proud of it.

[turkaholic]

Like it was yesterday, 1986 called him up a mountain. I wore a one piece military suit with a boonie hat. Looked like Gilligan in camo. Shot him shaking like a leaf with a 2 3/4" Remington 1100. Called him in with the first and only call I owned, a Lynch Fool Proof box # 101 still have it and the gun. Hooked me like nothing else I've ever done.

[Fullfan]

I could take you to the spot, well probably get close. 1976 there were not many birds around or hunters. It was a jake that came running to his death. Shot him with an old single barrel 10ga with #4 buck shot, had no clue what I was doing.  But turkey hunting got it's claws into me deep.  40 years have gone past, I have chased them in 10 states and made thousands of memories since. 

[aaron]

1998, eastern Ohio.  My buddy and I were as clueless as could be.  After a quiet first couple hours we had heard zero gobbles.  It was a beautiful 70 degree day but the woods were dead.   We stood up to ponder our next move and I decided to blow a crow call.  6 birds hammered back to it about 50-60 yards away just around a curve in a the logging road we were on.  Butts hit the ground and within a minute or so we had a double on the ground!

[fallhnt]

Not really