Who taught you?

[bigbird]

I taught myself for the most part. I watched each and every video from Primos, Knight and Hale and Drury. And the good old trial by fire. Nobody I knew turkey hunted or hadn't been doing it long.

[surehuntsalot]

all self taught, read every article and watched every video I could fine, been doing it for over 40 yrs

[THattaway]

Dad and I learned together, a man with one deaf ear and a kid who moved way too much. Started in '80. Fumbled aplenty and toms were like ghosts and haints for a good many years. Have been blessed to have known some good men and some who were hunters over the years so I try to pass on what I can, pay it forward.

[shaman]

Who taught me?  Nobody.

I can tell you exactly how I learned.

I got interested in turkey hunting, because I was learning to deer hunt. The farmer that gave me permission to hunt his land said he'd wish I'd come in the spring and get rid of his turkeys.

I had the 1942 Outdoor Life 'Cyclopedia to guide me. It was the only book I had that anything related to turkey hunting.

I went to the sporting goods store in Sharonville, Ohio and asked for some help.  It just so happens that a fellow that I later found out was Dick Kirby pressed a Quaker Boy box call into my hands along with some Ben Lee cassettes and told me the rest was up to me.

My first turkey hunt

[tracker#1]

Takeaim 1st, I know the feeling brother....thanks for serving our country, thank you ALL that served.  I started hunting turkeys in 1983. I joined a local NWTF chapter which at the time, had more members than the state level chapter. The only two chapters then in the whole state of NY. Now, they trip over each other. Being really "green" a couple of members graciously invited me to go pre season scouting with them. First day out, they delivered a "angry" old boss hen right in my lap and after that I was hooked. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I then proceeded to be on my own and made a lot of "rookie' mistakes like we all have. I have now passed the tradition down to my kids. I can't imagine what is any better then to call a bird into the gun of your child....priceless.

[dahosack]

My dad - we learned together really - had no idea what we were doing, must have been around 1977, northwestern PA, heard a turkey gobble on some land we hunted and said, we ought to hunt 'em - a lot of mistakes between then and now...

[Spitten and drummen]

I started in 1981 at twelve years old. Self taught. My dad was in the oilfield and worked as a pumper. He had to make daily rounds all over southwest Ms checking the wells and doing reports. He would drop me off at a place I would want to go and designate a time to meet me back there while he made rounds in the area. I cut my teeth in the Homochitto National forest. I roamed the hills and hollars hunting and enjoying myself. Everything from squrrels to deer to turkey. Whatever season that was in. You cant do that with a kid now the way the world is. Man I was a kid at a good time.

[Sir-diealot]

Books, magazines, early Primos hunting videos and you guys are still teaching me.

[Vaughnrp2]

A good friend about 20 years ago. We still make out to hunt together a couple times a year.

[roverboy]

I pretty much learned all by myself. It was tough and I learned a lot of stuff the hard way. The people I hunted with early on didn't know any more than me and sometimes way less.

[ssramage]

My dad taught me about hunting and the outdoors. At the time when I started, I think he had 7 or 8 birds under his belt so we sort of learned and are still learning together.

I also had an older gentleman and his son take me under their wing for one spring back in college. I learned a lot that year.

Most of it has been learned through trial and error on my own, reading various books, and being on several forums.

[jrinny]

Like so many others have said... mostly self taught. I have a brother that is a year and a half younger than me.... we kinda learned together. We compared notes when we hunted on our own....and as years went on we both had friends to talk turkey with

[tha bugman]

my daddy, my uncle, and the man that I refer to as my mentor.....all have passed on so I am on my own and trying to teach others now.

[Fireengine70]

My grandpa and Dad instilled the deer hunting bug in me from a young age. I picked up turkey hunting after my grandpa gave me an old Ben Lee box call that he had and it was all game over after that.

[ddturkeyhunter]

Turkey hunting was 100 percent self taught by me along with ducks and anything else hunt able except deer. My Dad introduced us to deer hunting because we had to wait till age 16, his rules. But I took the MN gun safty class in mid sixties, that was my only introduction to hunting. Everything else was self taught, but mother nature is a great teacher. It took a lot of years before there was a hunt able turkey population in central MN. So I was a late starter to turkey hunting, but I am working hard to make up for lost time. Tomorrow I fly to Florida to continue working on that lost time, enjoying seeing and hearing mother nature beautiful world.