Story of my first turkey

[Farm_Boy]

I seen where somebody posted s story of one of their hunts and I figured I ought to post mine. It s fancy because I used it for a school report to. Enjoy.

My First Turkey

By: Kyle Smith

This is the story of my first turkey. It was April 28th 2004; I just turned 14 and was in 8th grade. I talked my dad into letting me skip a day of school because I thought the spring turkey season ended sooner than it did. My mom had just got out of the hospital from bringing my little sister into this world and I took my first bird out (My little sister is nicknamed "Bird" after that). I remember my grandma was staying over home because my mom and dad were at the hospital so I had to get up at 4:30 get packed up myself and head up on the hill. I had been turkey hunting with my pap for 2 years and only went a total of about 4 times and could never get a bird called in. This was my first time hunting alone with two Gobblers Choice Mouth Calls and a Gobblers Choice Butternut and Walnut box call. I started out in a place I had gone before with my pap because I had made a few little blinds there. I could see the sun start to come up over the hill and everything was coming alive. I love that feeling of a spring morning when everything I getting stared for a new day. I used my only locator call I had back then which was a hoot owl sound I can make with my hands and I got one to gobble. I called and called for a few hours and then he just stopped at about 9:30. I stared back to my fourwheeler to head back down but decide to go out on a point and call for the heck of it to kill some time before I went back to school. It was about 10:45 at this time and I called and had a bird gobble about 4 or 5 hundred yards across a hollow and up the hill a little bit from me. I hurried and set up without any cover in front of me at all and got ready. I put a mouth call in my cheek and called him with the box call. I called him and let him respond about 4 times; the last time about 200 yards from me then I quit so I didn"™t over call him. I waited about a minute and then hit the box again. He responded about 60 yards over the bank from me and I almost dropped dead, he was running fast toward me! The hair stood up on my neck and my heart was pounding more that it ever did, I could hardly breath. I hurried up and set the box call down and got my mouth call positioned. And I seen him about 40 yards from me and he was running through the trees and then stopped on the fourwheeler trail and strutted and I noticed that I couldn"™t shoot him! I was facing the wrong way big time. He was completely to my right. So I waited for him to get behind a tree and I hurried up and spun around. He stopped instantly and looked I called a little bit so he would think it was the hen. Finely he started coming again he was about 35 yards and hopped up on a downed tree. He was walking out the tree and I thought to myself, if I don"™t take him now I am not going to get another chance to spin around farther. I didn"™t have a clear shot by any means, there was a pile of grape (monkey) vines about 10 yards in front of me that a fallen branch had brought down, so there was a little bushy branch from a tree mixed in the mess, along with little Poplar saplings. So my heart was pounding and I could not breath so I shot! He went down as I was standing up. I stood up and started to catch my breath and started to run toward him. He got up and started running away!!! The Mossberg 500 12 gauge with 3 inch Federals couldn"™t cut a 35 yard shot through a huge pile of brush but I kind of expected that. I was surprised it put him down in the first place but anyway I started running after him, just what I wanted my first bird wounded and running away from me, luckily I carried my gun over to the bird with me. So I was running after him and I was right on him. He went about 10 yards and stopped and I almost tripped over him. Now I was relieved he wasn"™t going to get away. So I stepped back about 10 yards and shot him in the head. He flopped around like the normally do and died. I sat my gun down this time knowing he wasn"™t going anywhere and literally ran around jumping and yelling while I was gathering up my decoys that he didn"™t even look at. I carried him to my fourwheeler and loaded everything up and strapped him down on the back rack. And headed off the hill. By this time it was 11:25 and I wasn"™t to worried about school at this point, all I wanted to do was show my bird off. I got down to the house, made my landowner tag up and went to show everybody and call mom and dad and my pap that took me hunting before. They were all on their way to come see it. My pap made it first and we took it and got it tagged in. 23 pounds, 1 ¼ inch spurs and a 9-½ inch beard. What a first turkey and then being just turned 14 and getting to tell everyone I called it in myself. After we tagged it in and a million pictures were taken, my pap and me skinned him out. We cooked it and boy was it tough meat, he was an old bird. Well that"™s how my first turkey hunting alone, first time calling the whole time and first time getting a turkey was made.

The End

[huntnma]

that is awesome , thanks for sharing

[turk2di]

I give u an A+ for that report

[countrymudder]

i guess im not the only one after all that likes to share their stories on here. I plan on sharing more when i bag my birds this year also. That story was great.

[Antler Eater]

Great story!!!

Your hunting experience isa memoryyou will carry with you for the rest of your life and tell your children's children when you become a "Pap".

Congratulations!

[Posted]

Thanks for the story. Always fun to read about hunts.

[turkeyhunter1590]

great story farm boy i hope you kill another one this year. i plan on killin one too

[DougMD]

Awesome story! Thanks for sharing.

[Tree climber]

congrats. on a fine bird and a great story.

"You Done Did Good"