your first solo spring bird

[JMalin]

How old were you and what's the story behind it?

[chbarnha]

my first solo spring bird would of been in 2006, I had just gotten my drivers license and my parents were on a cruise. Turkey season was coming in the day before they would come back. I had never really been interested in turkeys other than killing a few with my dad who still isn't a big turkey hunter. my parents didn't know it but that 4wheel drive 84 Toyota was gonna make a drive to southhampton to the hunt club 1.5hours away. I hunted most of the morning and finally set up in a spot I thought there should be some birds. I sat there for a good long while with a lone hen decoy out and a cheap hs strut slate. Finally I heard a bird gobble. I looked up and there were two birds on the far end of the field. I probably over called them, but they slowly made their way over to my location. id be lying if I said I wasn't excited. I whiffed on the first shot and anchored him on the second as he turned to run away from me. One of the other guys from the club heard me shoot from the adjoining property and came over to see what happened. When he pulled up and saw it was me he was very surprised and asked where dad was. when I told him dad was on a cruise he knew that he had no idea I was there. He just laughed and said " well I guess you know you got some explaining to do now...." yeah I did, but to my surprise my dad said he figured that I would do something like that that weekend. I didn't get in a lick of trouble. IT was a good day, still remember it like yesterday. Wish I had a picture of that bird, but my photographer was on a cruise ship and i was debating on just trying to keep it quiet.

[zelmo1]

May 3, 2001 in NH. I had never been before> I had camo, my gun and ammo, a featherflex hen decoy(that I still use today) an HS Strut triple glass and a Quaker Boy push pin. Bird gobbled at 0440, hit the ground at 0530. Gobbled nonstop for almost 2 hours. Hung up over a small hill. I walked away from my decoy calling as I did, bird came running. I doubled back and shot him. 18 pound super jake, lol. Nobody was ever prouder of a Jake, until my son and daughter got their first one, jakes too. My wife is hunting for the first time this year, she is the last Baker to have a chance to shoot a mature tom for her first bird. She is stubborn enough to break our streak and upgrade our wall of fame 

[Happy]

2002, I was 21. All I had was my mossy 835 with remington hevi shot 3.5" #6's, a mad aluminator and hs strut split v lll mouth call. I really stretched the performance of my gun on that one. I think the shot was about 13 steps if my memory is correct. I think since then I have killed exactly 2 turkeys in the presence of others. Typically if someone is with me then they are the shooter.

[eggshell]

Oh gosh I can't remember the year, but I'm guessing 1974-75.

I had actually missed a bird the year before and was getting frustrated that I had never got another shot, but back then our season was only 3-5 days long and if you found one or two birds gobbling that was your lot. I had no mentors in my community I was one of two guys who turkey hunted. Finally the last day I went to a new spot on a State Forest and heard a gobble. He was across a valley, but I did not know I should be on the same side as him. So I set up and called to him (way to much I'm sure) for hours. The only call I had was a Rhoads snuff box. Finally I saw him walk down the other side and he ended up popping up right in front of me at 15 yards. That was probably good since I only hunted with a 20 ga then and standard 2 3/4 #6 shot shells. But I put him down and he was a nice long beard. I was really proud when I found out that less than 50 gobblers were killed statewide that spring. That was many years and probably 150 birds ago from 8 states, but it still ranks #1 in my memory! I have never killed a bird that I did not call to myself since. I have been blessed to have called many people's first bird and always tell them you have to do the next one solo.

[guesswho]

1968 in South Central Florida.  Sitting about a hundred yards from my Dad by myself under an old live oak by the Kissimmee river with a PS Olt scratch box.  Basically a kid with a turkey call making some racket.  I heard a noise I had no idea what it was.  Looked to my left and there was a longbeard at 20 yards in full strut spitting and drumming.   After the shot he went to flopping and me in him got in a tussle, which I won.   That was the last day I ever saw that call.  During the excitement and the tussle I never thought anything about it and must have left it there somewhere.   We looked the next weekend but couldn't find it.   I guess what's left of it is still there by the Kissimmee river.   I'd like to know how many gobbles have been within ear shot of it since that day. 

[TauntoHawk]

18yrs old me and father had chased birds on his brother's land since I was 12 but we had no idea what we were doing and never connected on the 1 or 2 days we went . After the first time I had a bird in range and failed to pull the trigger because 3 gobblers were too close to each other off the roost we split up and after hours of silence i took a nap. I woke up with a bird gobbling behind me in an old brush lot field i didn't really know how to run any calls so I just did some cluck and purrs on a knight and hale ceramic and they moved my way a little but I still couldn't see them with the brush and rise in the field. I crawled in a ditch until I could see his tail fan and then just rose up and found his head. He went down for a few seconds but just as I got to my flopping prize he jumped up and took the the wing and that was the only bird Ive ever shot out of the air he was maybe 7 feet from me.

I was hooked and determined to get better, found a mentor the next year and it's been an ever growing passion ever since and I've never gone without a spring bird since.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[wade]

41 years old in 2003. There had been turkey in my area only for a few years. Had 2 birds gobbling at daylight but they wouldn't come. I walked the farm from 1 end to the other calling with my Lynch box call and all 3 of the diaphragm calls in my Penn Woods 3 pack. Not knowing what else to try I decided to head for the pickup. Out of nowhere a Pilliated Woodpecker sounded off followed by a gobble. I slipped to the corner of the woods and peeped around to see a longbeard strutting in a little field. Using pruning shears I cut me a tunnel through the vines and briers and crawled to the edge of the field. He answered my rookie yelps and clucks but wouldn't come any closer. Then a hen appeared and the tom made a beeline for her. After they both went into the swamp I belly crawled out and placed my hen decoy where he could see her if he came back. 45 minutes later he did and made a beeline for my hen. I killed him from about 20 yards with my Mossberg 500 and some Winchester 3" copper plated #6s. That bird is on my living room wall. 10" beard and 1" spurs.

[HookedonHooks]

Killed my first turkey when I was 12 in 2008 in NW Missouri. It was a big ol 3 year old, and I should've doubled that day, with my father, but as they did their dance on the way in I got mixed up who was shooting which bird, and of course he was going off my shot. Fast forward through 8 toms, including a 30lb monster, 3 jakes, and whole bunch of stories all from the same property there in Missouri.

Where the next stop is  to Sprig 2015, I'm in 19, a college athlete, living in the dorms at a school in Eastern KS. I had a great deal of interest in turkey hunting at this time by myself out here in Kansas, but my father was apprehensive as he always called, we did a lot of blind hunting, and the biggest issue was I would be hunting public land, and we always hunted private. That was what scared my father half to death, but I assured him I'd use due diligence in not actively doing things to get myself shot. I had scouted and found a public piece that was small enough only one guy can effectively hunt the property, and you'd be able to know if anyone was on the property with you, and that made him much more comfortable. So opening day I went out, packed in a pop up blind, a jake and hen decoys, a small hunting chair, my 12 ga, and a backpack full of everything necessary to hunt. This was always how we hunted to start the morning on private, so I did the same. The first day with some action, but no avail, I returned the third day of season, as I couldn't the second with early morning classes. I set up exactly the same as the first morning, and had some action but drifted off in my chair. I was kind of kicked back in it, and it gave out from under me. This woke me in a panic, I looked through the half open door panel at the ground level and there stood three jakes putting at me, just off the left of my decoys, wondering what the heck was going on in that strange camo "box". Instinctively I grabbed my gun and shot one right through the door hole, stood up and immediately realized I had severely twisted/mangled my ankle in the fall. The adrenaline hit me so hard, I didn't feel it, still in excitement I ran out there in shear pain every step of the way, and stood on this jakes head. I grabbed my bird, gun, and chair and limped off to the truck. I pulled my truck up as far as I could to the gate closest the fields edge, and went back in for blind, backpack, and decoys. This second walk out was tremendously difficult, but none the less I returned to campus with a dead turkey.

Thank goodness for being an athlete and having an incredible sports medicine staff that were there to assist with me what can be chalked up as a "football injury". I had a minor fracture, and it took a good two weeks before I could even practice again, which my coach wasn't pleased about, but hey, I killed my first solo turkey. That hunt was one I know I'll never forget or regret, but since then I have greatly adapted my ways of hunting into a much more manageable load, especially for in the instance an injury does happen in the field again, also it's a whole lot more fun to hunt without a blind.

[oldturk]

1969 first in south eastern ny.i had got an old turk mouth call made by quaker boy.called him in from across a open corn lot bout a mile away,he came in on run,said to my youthful self what's so hard bout turkey hunting,well bout 100 yrds. or so he shot up a logging rd .i had to circle around to the top of a ravine as i knew that's where the logging rd.let out a couple of calls as soon as i got my breath back,he came in bout 20 yrds.i shot got em he flopped all the back down the ravine that i jst had jogged up.nice size bird.

[SD_smith]

1968 in South Central Florida.  Sitting about a hundred yards from my Dad by myself under an old live oak by the Kissimmee river with a PS Olt scratch box.  Basically a kid with a turkey call making some racket.  I heard a noise I had no idea what it was.  Looked to my left and there was a longbeard at 20 yards in full strut spitting and drumming.   After the shot he went to flopping and me in him got in a tussle, which I won.   That was the last day I ever saw that call.  During the excitement and the tussle I never thought anything about it and must have left it there somewhere.   We looked the next weekend but couldn't find it.   I guess what's left of it is still there by the Kissimmee river.   I'd like to know how many gobbles have been within ear shot of it since that day.

Small world! But just a few years after yours!    11 years old in 2005 on the Kissimmee River. This was after the state took the river corridor back for public land. The only way to travel to 95% of the river is by boat from only a few boat ramps. We got to a spot we had hunted for a few years and killed a bunch of birds then my dad points way down the hammock towards what is now called the "pie" and said go check that out. By the way it was just shy of 2 miles one way. At that point the only call I was good at was a Tom Gaskins Call given to me by the grandson, Tom Gaskins III, (father's best friend) so I got down there right at daylight and one was gobbling like crazy and some hunters came off the back side of the hammock and bumped him down the fence towards me. He stopped on the edge of the marsh about 150 yards away then started strutting and I attempted a yelp. He immediately stood up and shut up then eased into the thick marsh grass and myrtle bushes. So I crawled on my hands and knees to the edge of the myrtles then stood up and started easing through them and eventually found him feeding in a dried up river bed from when the marsh floods annually. I dropped down and belly crawled to the edge of where it drops down and shot him. He was probably 50 yards and definitely the farthest I've ever shot a turkey, but apparently enough pellets hit his body that he couldn't get away. Had to ring his neck after one of his spurs sliced my hand up. Only had a 9 inch beard, but those Kissimmee River birds on average have the biggest spurs in Florida hands down and he sported a 2 inch and a 1 3/4 inch spur.

[BrowningGuy88]

So textbook it's almost comical.

Roosted a bird in a creek bottom on the back edge of a grass patch we plant for the deer. Set up at the back edge of the patch closest to the turkey. He gobbled like crazy and I called WAY TOO MUCH! He flew down in the patch and I dusted him at about 15 steps with a load of Winchester #5's out of my 870 Youth 20 gauge. Bird had a 10" beard and 1-3/8" spurs. One of my best to date.

[SteelerFan]

Freshman year of college... circa 1983 / 84. two or three diaphragm calls and Roger Latham box. I bought a county topo map (hahaha) that had public ground shaded in green. Checked them all. Found some birds.

Owl hoot... gobble. Owl hoot again (because he gobbled the first time)... gobble. Wait for daylight... gobble. Yelp, yelp, yelp... gobble! Yelp, yelp, yelp, yelp, yelp, yelp, yelp... gobble - gobble. Thankfully he closed the 150 yard gap and I killed him with 2 ounces of copper plated #6 federals.

"Guided" three other friends to birds that season. I was hooked.

[guesswho]

1968 in South Central Florida.  Sitting about a hundred yards from my Dad by myself under an old live oak by the Kissimmee river with a PS Olt scratch box.  Basically a kid with a turkey call making some racket.  I heard a noise I had no idea what it was.  Looked to my left and there was a longbeard at 20 yards in full strut spitting and drumming.   After the shot he went to flopping and me in him got in a tussle, which I won.   That was the last day I ever saw that call.  During the excitement and the tussle I never thought anything about it and must have left it there somewhere.   We looked the next weekend but couldn't find it.   I guess what's left of it is still there by the Kissimmee river.   I'd like to know how many gobbles have been within ear shot of it since that day.

Small world! But just a few years after yours!    11 years old in 2005 on the Kissimmee River. This was after the state took the river corridor back for public land. The only way to travel to 95% of the river is by boat from only a few boat ramps. We got to a spot we had hunted for a few years and killed a bunch of birds then my dad points way down the hammock towards what is now called the "pie" and said go check that out. By the way it was just shy of 2 miles one way. At that point the only call I was good at was a Tom Gaskins Call given to me by the grandson, Tom Gaskins III, (father's best friend) so I got down there right at daylight and one was gobbling like crazy and some hunters came off the back side of the hammock and bumped him down the fence towards me. He stopped on the edge of the marsh about 150 yards away then started strutting and I attempted a yelp. He immediately stood up and shut up then eased into the thick marsh grass and myrtle bushes. So I crawled on my hands and knees to the edge of the myrtles then stood up and started easing through them and eventually found him feeding in a dried up river bed from when the marsh floods annually. I dropped down and belly crawled to the edge of where it drops down and shot him. He was probably 50 yards and definitely the farthest I've ever shot a turkey, but apparently enough pellets hit his body that he couldn't get away. Had to ring his neck after one of his spurs sliced my hand up. Only had a 9 inch beard, but those Kissimmee River birds on average have the biggest spurs in Florida hands down and he sported a 2 inch and a 1 3/4 inch spur.

You didn't by chance find an old P.S. Olt turkey call did you?

[SD_smith]

[/quote]
You didn't by chance find an old P.S. Olt turkey call did you?
[/quote]

I wish! I miss that river. I practically grew up on it. Know how to run it in the dark with a gheenoe, no spotlight and still not hit a stump! Now I'm in the wild west chasing windy birds.