Evolution of a turkey hunter

[Cut N Run]

I started hunting squirrels with a .22 and doves with a borrowed 16 gauge. I moved on to pass shooting wood ducks in swamps, sloughs, & rivers.  I moved on to diving ducks, then hunting mallards, pintails, & black ducks.

My grandfather taught me how to shoot a bow when I was 9 years old.  He was very good at golf and he tried his best to get me hooked on golf.  When it became obvious that golf wasn't much in me, he'd smuggle my bow & arrows in his golf bag, then he challenged me to play the course with the bow & arrow.  Each shot I took was a stroke and I had to learn trajectory, how to play the wind, and how to stay out of the woods & water.  I had to get within one arrow's length of the hole for it to count. We could only play first thing on Tuesday mornings when nobody else was on the course. As far as I know he invented bow & arrow golf.  It was a blast. You certainly couldn't get away with it these days.

One Tuesday morning on the course we saw a gobbler strutting for a couple of hens up ahead of us that scrambled when we moved closer.  He told me that the wild turkey was the king of the woods and any man who could consistently kill grown gobblers was as good a hunter as there could be. 

Right then, I made it a mission to become that hunter.  I'd tell him about any turkey I saw when I was or wasn't hunting. I started hunting deer, but always kept an eye out for turkeys. I lost track of how many deer I've killed, but it has been a lot. One day turkey hunting I worked a Jake, but got busted. My grandfather told me it was just as well, that killing a jake was cheating, and I was just stealing mature gobblers from my own future. It was better to let him grow, so the hunt was more of a challenge. That idea never left me.

I learned a lot of hard lessons in the turkey woods and made tons of mistakes, plus I got pretty good at hunting deer along the way.  These days I don't hunt deer very often, or much of anything besides turkeys.  I've been on a crappie fishing from a kayak kick the past few years, because it's only legal to hunt turkeys in Spring. In the kayak it is easier to see & hear turkeys too.  Turkeys have a serious hold on me and they squeeze a little tighter every year. I still circle Opening Day of Turkey Season on my calendar & in my mind the first day its announced.

Jim

[quavers59]

Great post Time4Turks!!! I started out at age 14 in 1974 hunting pheasants,ruffed grouse, and woodcock. There were no wild turkeys in my area of Orange County,New York when, I started. I saw my first turkey tracks in the snow while pheasant hunting around 1985. Read a mag in Shoprite about Spring Turkey Hunting in 1989. Not much of a deer hunter here ever and today- it is mostly just pheasant hunting from Oct-Feb and Spring and Fall Turkey Hunting in New York and New Jersey. Can't afford PA anymore- but have taken some fine toms out there. Took 2 flights to public ground in TENN and nailed a jake near Columbia,TN.
   I am a year-long hiker as well and saw a SUPER GOBBLER with a swinging 12" beard at least at 35 yards while on a wood road. At least 20 or more turkeys were with him!! Need to keep quiet about where as there are a number of NJ Turkey hunters on this site.   I go for Bass in June after turkey season. I am 58 now and Spring and Fall turkey hunting is king!!

[crow]

Well between this thread and the thread on leasing 455 acres in Mo. it got me thinking back on my childhood.

We were poor and could never afford to buy one those bridges that people are always trying to sell, but  we were able to lease one for a couple of years, it was the best pigeon hunting I ever got to be a part of.

When hunting them for sport I made a little yelper out of a pigeon wing, with some practice it would make the best 2 note coo cooing noise and worked great to calm them down after shooting a few. Also with practice you could make the shrill scream of a peregrine falcon, which would get them to lift their heads up from behind the steel beams for a clean shot.

Having more squab on hand than we could eat, I started selling it to some of the local restaurants (at some of the finer restaurants not all of the meat you think is cat in the chow mien is really cat) demand was high, I leased bridges up and down the East coast and became a Market hunter. I would put a long line of corn on the steel girders, wait for a mess of them to feed and could fill a bushel basket with one shot.

After 911 security around bridges got too restrictive so I gave up the bridge leases and the market hunting business. I started checking out turkey hunting and because of the similarities found it was an easy transition to switch over (especially the long lines of corn)

[Hooksfan]

I grew up hunting everything,  but turkey has always been number one for me.  If we would have had quail and pheasant like others here have, I might have become obsessed with those as well.
I called up my first bird when I was 10, almost 40 years ago. When I was 15, I took second place in a local calling contest against adult callers, and I was thrilled with that result.   After the contest, the most legendary turkey hunter in our area approached me and told me he thought I should have won.   That gave me a huge boost of confidence to pursue that side of the sport as well.

I have slowed down a little since then, but still chase them pretty hard. Most of my local hunts are taking other folks nowadays, but my retirement plan is,to take a much more relaxed approach and travel with the wife and hunt new places.
A lot has changed since then and I wouldn't even recognize the names of the top callers today, although the bottom tier of those guys are better than the best callers 25 years ago. Pretty amazing what I hear them do; and yes,  they are way better than I ever was.

[3bailey3]

I had a hard time killing them a long time ago and still do but I still love it!

[Gooserbat]

 I was seven years old when I first went with Dad. Heard my first gobbler on the roost that morning. Something happened when Dad blew that old PS Olt owl hooter and those two birds responded. My eyes widened an right then and there a seven year old boy became a turkey hunter.

[MK M GOBL]

So here in WI we never had wild turkeys when I was a kid, I started out hunting and fishing with dad. WI began opening seasons in areas around the state in areas of reintroduction, the spring I was 21 I started turkey hunting, I just seen the other side of 50 this year . It has always been way more of a spring thing for me than fall, the fall is a different hunt... So I concentrate on different game in the fall, but my spring is 10 weeks of ALL TURKEY for me.

MK M GOBL

[time4turks]

Great post Time4Turks!!! I started out at age 14 in 1974 hunting pheasants,ruffed grouse, and woodcock. There were no wild turkeys in my area of Orange County,New York when, I started. I saw my first turkey tracks in the snow while pheasant hunting around 1985. Read a mag in Shoprite about Spring Turkey Hunting in 1989. Not much of a deer hunter here ever and today- it is mostly just pheasant hunting from Oct-Feb and Spring and Fall Turkey Hunting in New York and New Jersey. Can't afford PA anymore- but have taken some fine toms out there. Took 2 flights to public ground in TENN and nailed a jake near Columbia,TN.
   I am a year-long hiker as well and saw a SUPER GOBBLER with a swinging 12" beard at least at 35 yards while on a wood road. At least 20 or more turkeys were with him!! Need to keep quiet about where as there are a number of NJ Turkey hunters on this site.   I go for Bass in June after turkey season. I am 58 now and Spring and Fall turkey hunting is king!!

Sounds like we have taken similar paths - I grew up in NY, hiked all 46 peaks in the Adirondacks, then moved to TN. Nothing better than chasing gobblers in TN.

[WildTigerTrout]

Started hunting here in Pa. in 1972 at age 12.  Squirrels were my favorite game at the time.  I hunted them with an old 20ga. single and a  lightweight .22 with the cheapest 3/4" scope they made at the time! LOL I enjoy hunting them to this day although exclusively with my Super Duper Heavy Barrel Squirrel Sniper .22 bolt gun with match ammo. I killed my first deer in 1974 and became a very avid deer hunter for many years and killed a bunch of them including my best buck in 2010. I also hunted turkeys when younger and bagged a few here and there mostly by luck.  I started hunting them seriously nearly 20 years ago and they have become my favorite quarry.  I have had many good days afield chasing them and prefer them to deer.  I will be content to hunt turkeys and squirrels for years to come.  I also enjoy flyfishing for trout but that's another story! LOL

[greencop01]

I started out with bunnies and beagles back in 67. I was blessed with good dogs and had the best wing-shooting on running game. Got in the military and got out and started a family and bird hunting with a dog, a golden retriever, and again blessed with a good dog. Family and work monopolized my time (game warden) and put my nose to the grinding stone. In 95 I was hunting grouse in upstate New York with my golden and she put up 5 hen turkeys, and I shot the nearest one on the wing and I was hooked. Found out the game is calling them in and was hooked ever since. When I shot the second and and then more, to use a phrase from Tom Kelly, each time I'm glad I lived to see it one mote time!

[Oldillini]

Started getting my first bunny with a BB gun in mid-60s. Although I was born into a non-hunting family, parents bought me a 20 ga single shot that I carried while chasing those bunnies and some quail hunting, neither with the aid of dogs. While in my early teens we moved off the farm and into the "city" and hunting was replaced by cars, sports and girls. Then it was my family and career. Fast forward until 5 years ago when a young couple moved next door and he invited me to go deer hunting with him. All those memories swept back into my mind and heart. I now hunt deer, turkey, rabbit, squirrel ... all with a passion. I also have been on 2 elk hunts, the last being this past fall where I was 25+ years older than my tent mates. I love all of the hunts!

[perrytrails]

Started hunting squirrel with my dad, we had coon hounds and I loved to hear the dogs run.

Beagles was a passion for me for many years, I was blessed with several who could push a bunny all day. Remember many hunts with family and friends.

Did a lot of fishing, bass, crappie and saugeye, big river flat heads.

Deer became a passion, bow and gun, my kids were all raised on venison and love to hunt deer too.

I've always said if I had to choose one and only one...
I'd be standing on a big hardwood ridge before daylight, waiting for that Gobbler to sound off. I've played chess with quite a few old birds. It burns into your sole...

[tree-rat sniper]

As the name implies, squirrels are my critter of choice, has been for 35 years. Used handguns on them exclusively for several years.  The eyes aren't what they used to be so I went back to a scoped .22 about 3-4 years ago.. I've Hunted deer for 30+ years but it doesn't excite me like it used to. I also hunt waterfowl, varmints & predators. Done a few antelope hunts in WY & a few exotics at game ranches... I Started getting more serious about spring turkeys about 1/2 a dozen years ago, guess it has surpassed deer hunting for me now.

[BottomLand54]

I am 30 years old so most of y'all were taking wild game 30 years before I was born. However I have been hunting since I was 10 years old. I didn't care what it was if I had a ride and a weapon to the legal season I was going hunting. I have mainly been a deer hunter and the last 10 years a trophy deer hunter. However 5 years ago the first turkeys showed up at my home land I grew up on, I tried to teach my self the first year and ran every turkey 6 states away. Finally a older man took me on my hunting land and I shot my first bird which was a Jake. Now I could careless if I ever shot Another deer. I did shoot a big doe for meat this year and an 8 pointer but nothing I mean nothing compares to a mature Tom that's vocal and strutting. I turkey hunt 365 days a year. I am always hunting for another deal on a call or ammo or dreaming of building another gun for the next season. I have so much money invested that it's really crazy. It's my hobby, it's my passion, it's what I do. I am a turkey hunter. Yes I sill deer hunt but it's just to pass time until spring.

I believe turkey hunting to be a die hard has to be something that gets in your blood. You will know if it's you because if it is you will count minutes until opening day. You will be calling turkeys in July in your spare bedroom. It's a passion.

Just my young rookie .02


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[mtns2hunt]

Like reading about others experiences. I too started out hunting squirrels and rabbits as we had very few deer at the time. Last time I came back from Europe things had changed and the deer population had exploded. Don't even remember hearing anything about turkey hunting. That all changed when a relative told me a cousin had busted up a flock the night before. A bit of tree talk and I was carrying my turkey back to the truck. I was hooked.

However, turkey hunting for me is a spring endeavor, not Fall, so there is plenty of time to hunt deer (white and mule), antelope, mountain lion, bear even wolf and coyote. Why limit oneself? Having said that I am about to hopefully complete my Grand Slam on Turkeys. Only need that Florida bird and hope to get a crack at some hogs at the same time this March. It's a great time we live in. The only sport that suffers is fishing for me.