Do you remember your first turkey?
 

How many of you shot a turkey the first time you ever went turkey hunting and thought " man, this is a peice of cake" . I shot my first on an afternoon hunt. I had bought some supplies, (decoys, box call etc.) the year before but never went out.
On this afternoon, I set up on a 20 acre field and set the decoys out about 15 yards from me. I clucked and yelped every 15 minutes for 2 hours when all of a sudden this gobbler came running in from my right side and slammed on the brakes before running over my jake decoy. I shot him and thought, " this is just too easy" .:) It took me two more years to get another bird.[:-]

RE: Do you remember your first turkey?
 

My first year hunting I called in 3 longbeards with a quaker boy push button. I had never been this close to a turkey and had never really seen one gobble. I had heard them but never saw one do it. I had a buddy with me. We had rode our bikes(14yrs old) to a nearby woodlot outside city limits in my small hometown. Two of the gobblers were behind some brush and the other ' big' one was right in front of me at the decoy. My buddy was whispering " don' t shoot until the other ones come out because I want to shoot one too." About that time this big ugly head stretched out and gggoooobbbblllle. I couldn' t take it. I busted up laughing and didn' t even get a shot. Actually was laughing so hard I almost pi$$ed my pants. I still hear about that every year.

2 days later, I called in a jake and smoked him. He was out in a cornfield and on my first call that jake turned around so fast to come my way he tripped on the corn stubble and almost fell down. Doesn' t feel like 13 years ago. That was the 1st and last jake I will shot. I love the ' show' a big gobbler puts on.

RE: Do you remember your first turkey?
 

I prob remember my first better than my last. I will never forget that day. 17lb Jake 35 yards with my NEF 10 Fed #4' s. He snuck in quite and kinda cought me of gaurd. Shot that bird my second spring that i hunted...

RE: Do you remember your first turkey?
 

Mine was a 17# jake with a 4" beard that came in silent with his brother to a Harn cedar scratch box call about 9am. I had a narrow shooting lane, but had a bead on him as he stepped into the open and shot him at about 25 yards with an old H&R 12ga with a 28" fixed full choke bbl.

I had called a nice 3 year old off the roost earlier at sunrise that sailed in to about 50 yards right in front of me, but moved to my left instead of coming in more to my right. I shoot left handed and any attempt to make a switch would have busted me, so I watched him walk away. LOL. He put on a good show, though. :)

RE: Do you remember your first turkey?
 

It was my first year(1990), my second hunt.After sitting thru 3 hours of light rain, i decieded to get up and stretch(i was deer hunting turkeys). Walked a few steps, looked to my left and lord almighty, there, at 50yds was a gobbler pecking at various things on the ground. He hadn' t noticed me walk up, so after he went behing a tree, i hit the ground.Five minutes later he walked up and Bang!Easy kill. Nothin to it!Man was i a greenhorn that first season. Killed my second bird a week later in another lucky string of events that as i look back on them now, is both hilarious and amazing.

RE: Do you remember your first turkey?
 

Nope, don' t remember my first because I haven' t shot one yet. I have called in a hen but that is it. There are tons of turkeys around here but I can' t seem to call one in. My relatives are too selfish to bring me out with them. This will be my fourth year hunting turkey and my last if I don' t call one in. I have spent hundreds if not a thousand plus dollars on turkey hunting stuff that could of easily been spent on deer hunting equipment, I have even offered a ' friend' $100 to call a turkey in yet he still says no. Yea, I know you are saying it' s all about the experience, no it' s not about the experience when it is the worst hunting experience you have ever had. Going out for 8 or so hours a day for 2 weeks (not to mention scouting time) straight is a waste (you know it is) if you don' t even call a turkey in. My suggestion to all new turkey hunters is to poach (don' t take this serious) all you can, buy a two dollar call and make sure you don' t do any research on turkey hunting because those people are the ones that seem to get the turkeys around here. I do like how you can interact (call) with the turkeys but there is only so much time/money someone can waste on stuff which has no reward (physical or mental). Sorry about that, had to vent.:D

RE: Do you remember your first turkey?
 

purep....I would look into adopting some new relatives.

Also go to some sporting good stores. Not everyone will shun someone WANTING to gain knowledge.

I feel real sorry for you not having someone that would share the experience.

If you were closer to IA I sure as heck would take you.

RE: Do you remember your first turkey?
 

Who doesn' t remember their first.

I went to taxidermy school a few years ago and at this time I had never been turkey hunting. I did a lot of duck and deer hunting but mostly fishing. In fact that' s why I had never been turkey hunting because I was too busy fishing during the spring. So when it came time for turkey class it was during turkey season and my taxidermy teacher was also a guide. So to make a long story short I killed my first turkey on my first hunt (by 10:00 AM) and the first turkey I ever mounted in taxidermy school was also the first turkey I ever killed.

Needless to say I don' t have much time to fish during the spring (because I am too busy turkey hunting) and it was 3 years later when I took my next turkey.(wasn' t as easy as I first thought:D)

RE: Do you remember your first turkey?
 

i dont remeber bucause i never got one before, i missed a chance on a jake last year. who_else

RE: Do you remember your first turkey?
 

I remember, it was the biggest, hardest gobbling bird that ever walked the hills of Northumberland County. He gobbled every step of the way in and when it was all over I slung him over my shoulder and carried that jake home with a grin from ear to ear. He got the hooks into me good because I`ve been chasing those birds every spring since and can`t imagine spring without the sound of turkeys announcing the rising sun.

RE: Do you remember your first turkey?
 

My first turkey came in my first year out on the third morning. I was walking and calling intermittently on a Lohman push button call and got one to gobble. I got closer and put out a Carry Lite hard plastic body decoy and got into position behind a fallen log. That tom gobbled every time I hit the call. He came in strutting and gobbling all the way to about 15 yds. and I rolled him with a 3" load of #4' s. He weighted 23 lbs. and had a 10" beard. The next week on the fifth morning out, I called in and shot a 24 lb. tom with 1 1/4" spurs using the same Lohman call. Not bad for my first year! ;) Therefore is the reason I am hopelessly hooked on turkey hunting. I give credit to my early success for making me stick with the sport of spring turkey hunting and loving it so much for all these years! :)

RE: Do you remember your first turkey?
 

Purep-get a box call and ask around for a spot sure to have turkeys. Work the roads just at dark stopping and working your box call until you hear a gobble. Mark the spot and get there at least a half hour before first light and set up with good camo. Just before light let out a few low volume calls then stop and listen for answers. We gotta' get you on a bird! My first was the same day my best buddy got a big gobbler(his first). I got back to camp and he was holding up a nice bird with a 9 inch beard. He went to town to call about how to take care of the bird and I sat down in camp and drank a beer. Looked up the meadow to the tree line and saw a black dot about 500 yards up. Grabbed my gun and ran throught the trees to where I thought it was. Made two scratches on my box call and a big dude walked out from behind a tree in full strut 20 yards away. He is in full strut on my wall now. 9 3/4 inch beard. My buddy about choked when he got back to camp.

RE: Do you remember your first turkey?
 

Purep, you might want to rethink what hunting means to you,if it is killing a bird or actually getting one,Safeway is cheaper. Trust me I know how you feel,up here in WA.St. the eastern' s are few and very hard to find in the thick brush we have. It took me 3yrs to finally see a hen, and 5yrs to finally take a 11lb Jake.So if you like it stick w/it and stay positive(thats a major factor) and if not ,well its not for everyone.

RE: Do you remember your first turkey?
 

Okay, here' s my " first turkey" story. Seven years ago my 12 year old son and I were both drawn for permits, southeastern Minnesota. We started at one area, where we " had no clue" (that is, no roosted bird from the prior night), and sat there until about 10:30 in the morning. I tried locator calls up and down the woods, no response. We sat with decoys and called with no response, no gobblers heard anywhere. At 10:30 we opted to move to another site about 5 miles away. (Another site where we had no clue, but it was clear there were no birds at site #1.) Went in the woods and called a bit, no response. My son went exploring and I took a short nap. He came back and said he thought he' d seen a bird in a picked cornfield on the edge of the woods. I yelped on my box call and we got a response gobble from a different direction. I yelped again to confirm what we' d heard and we got another response gobble. We both nearly had heart attacks. We quickly set up a decoy and put some camo cloth on stakes by a tree and after we were set up behind the blind, I called again. Immediate response, and definitely closer!! Soon we could see not one, but two gobblers heading our way!! We only had one gun between the two of us, and my son had it, as I was working the call. My heart was racing, as I thought to myself, " This might really work!!" I switched from the box call to a push button call, softer sound, and the two of them immediately responded with thundering gobbles. By now I was about ready to faint, and my son whispered to me, " Dad, should I shoot?" I could see they were still coming our way, and were about 40 yards away, so I said " No, not yet." They slowly kept getting closer and closer, stopping to display now and then. It seemed like forever, and I though that they could surely hear my heart thumping as I sat and tried to not move a muscle. Finally, when they were about 25 yards away, I whispered to my son to go ahead and shoot the bigger one. He carefully aimed and fired, and wound up KILLING THEM BOTH WITH ONE SHOT!!! The big one was 25 1/2 lbs, the littler one was 17 lbs. Afterwards, he told me he never realized the smaller bird was behind the bigger one, all he could focus on was the big one. He told me that he never even thought to shoot at #2, if he got #1. He was pretty proud, and so was I. Of course, that filled my tag, too, so I never got to shoot my " first turkey" , but I wouldn' t trade that memory for anything!! Naturally, the experience has hooked me for good on turkey hunting, and now I am an absolute fanatic. I have had extraordinarily good success in the years since then, and have now started to hunt turkeys in several states each spring. Still, the memory of my son with that double on our first successful turkey hunt, will be with me forever, as my #1 turkey hunting story/memory.