determined

mine i think was my first,a 4 day hunt and with a few hours left in the pouring rain i never gave up and with my knees shaking i dropped a 25 lb with a 10 1/2 inch beard.i was all alone and in all my hunting and fishing days i was never so proud and excited.i knew then i would always be a turkey hunter.do you guys have a short story of your most memorable bird?

ShootStuff88

hm, my first was pretty memorable, but last years was just AWESOME.
Called in 4 longbeards about 35 minutes after flydown. I had a hen behind me who was eating and softly clucking for a good hour, and her calls plus mine, really had those toms coming in strong. They even crossed a little dry creek bed to get to me. All 4 came in right in front of me, and i took what looked to be the biggest one. Ended up about 22Lb with an 11" beard, and inch spurs, not the biggest one ive killed, but, MAN what a hunt

Mat

Pat_Ely

I posted this before but it is my most memorable.
Someone said it made them think about
not always taking things for Granted.
It all started when My wife gave birth to my son on March 13th.
Unfortunately he didn't survive. We had to make a decision whether to
cremate or bury him. We decided to have him cremated. Well, anyway I told
him as he passed in my arms that I would take him hunting. (sorry if this
offends anyone).
So here we go: It's 3am in the morning as the alarm clock goes off, it's been
a long week of hunting and it's the second Saturday of the Spring season. I
had been guiding all week and had called in many birds for my clients but
today was my day to hunt. I got dressed and put the canister with my son in
it in my breast pocket close to my heart. I woke up my brother law and told
him it was time to go. He got up and got dressed all the while we discussed
what bird we were going go to after. We decided on a bird that was out close
to an intersection of an old logging road. We put on our turkey vests and
started the long dark walk out to the spot.
Upon arriving at the spot I wanted to set up at, I put out my hen decoy,
picked a nice blow down to tuck into and a tree for him to lean against. It
was a beautifully quiet and calm morning. As the sun started to rise it just
made the walk all the worth while. About 15 minutes after the light broke I
heard him gobble on his own about 100 yards in front of us to the south. I
waited for him to gobble again and started my soft tree calls. As soon as I
started, he gobbled back at me and a hen started calling back about 60
yards to the west of me. ( you know that feeling you get when you know
you're where you're supposed to be :-) ) Well he gobbled for awhile and I just
hushed up. The hen got more and more excited as he gobbled. At about
6am I saw the hen fly down and heard the gobbler fly down. The hen started
calling to him pretty excitedly so I started mimicking her but getting a little
more excited than her. I could hear him coming towards her and saw her
walk out onto the logging road and just stand there as if to say here I am. I
stopped calling for about 15 minutes and just listened to him gobble at her. I
then could tell that he too had stepped out onto the logging road but was
just on the other side of a hill in the road. I watched as she perked up. I
started calling to him excitedly again and he responded with double and
triple gobbles. He then shut up but I could here the famous pfffffftttttt
drummmmmmmmmmm. I could hear him coming closer. I touched my
breast pocket and said to my boy it just doesn't get any better than this.
The First thing I saw was the Awesome fan coming up over the hill. Then he
stepped up over to show me his impressive beard and body size. He was
brilliantly colored with all the bronzes, reds, whites, and of course blues. I
watched him walk up to the hen and just strut like he was the king. I started
shaking with (I don't care who you are; you shake at a sight like that)
excitement. I kept calling to him and he kept strutting for me. He got with in
25 yards of me and hopped up on the bank of the road. I watched him for
awhile til I could get a clean shot at him. I took that special bird with one
clean shot. I walked over to that majestic bird and gave him thanks for being
there and giving his life for me and my son. I looked skyward and thanked
God for giving me such a gift. I spread some of my Son's ashes there where
the turkey laid since it was my son's bird and not mine.
I just wanted to share this with all of the turkey hunters, and I hope that
nobody is offended by my story, if you are I apologize to you. Thanks, Pat

jrbsr

Mine would be my first time turkey hunting.

I didn't get any thing.

But what makes it so special is I only learned to use a diaphragm call

Two days before I went and I got turkeys close to me.

I didn't have all camo and I moved around ( because of my back )

And I made the mistake of makeing the Putt Putt sound LoL

I really learned from that one the hard way LoL

Soooooooo maybe I will do it right this time.

I can't wait for my first Turkey.

When and if I ever do you will probbly hear me in here LoL

To hear a turkey gobble back when you call is such a thrill.

Any way that is my favorite for now ( Untile I get One )

jalvja

Pat,My friend,I still appreciate that story.Thanks for sharin it again.As for me.I just don't think I could pick just one.But I'm pretty sure it would be one where someone else did the shootin.

slicendice

Pat, as someone who had a son stillborn, that story really hit home and I thank you very much for sharing with us.

My favorite hunt didn't result in a bird. It didn't even result in a bird being within 50 yards, but it's one I'll never forget never-the-less. Two years ago, I took my 5 year old son along with me for his first hunt. He was not going to be the shooter, but I wanted very much for him to go along and share my time in the outdoors with me. So for weeks, I prepared for opening day to make sure his hunt would be memorable. I finally decided on a large corn field that the birds tended to come to shortly after flydown. I went out the day before the hunt and put up my blind in a fence row directly facing the ridge where the birds would be roosting.

The morning of the hunt, I was surprised to find my son already awake at 3:30 when I went into his bedroom to get him. After a quick breakfast and helping him into his camo, we hurried out the door, not sure what lay in store for us. As we arrived at the spot, I found my blind had been knocked over in a thunderstorm the night before. Hurriedly, I fixed the blind and put some branches on the blind to break us up. Just as the sun began peaking over the mountain behind us, we settled into the Doghouse blind and prepared. It was a fairly cool morning (high 30's), and the birds didn't gobble until a full 45 minutes after first light, but my son remained patient. Finally, I heard a bird sound off well to the left of our position. I asked my son if he heard it, but he hadn't. Suddenly, a bird ripped off a gobble directly accross the field from us. I turned to ask John if he'd heard the gobble, but I could tell immediately that he had heard it. His eyes were the size of quarters as he exclaimed "He's right on top of us!!!" I could tell right then that he was hooked!!! Soon, 5 different birds were screaming back and forth to each other and everything looked good. I made a few calls and hoped the dekes I had layed out would bring the birds into us. After 15 minutes of hollering, the birds quited down and I knew they were coming. Sure enough, one by one, 7 different birds soared into the field (4 gobblers and 3 hens). Again, I looked over to see if John saw the birds, but he was already counting..."One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven turkeys, daddy!!" The birds were about 75 yards away and generally moving in our direction. I didn't know who was more excited, John or me. Things were coming together like they rarely do when turkey hunting when the hens began to turn and feed slowly to the ridge that they had came from. Try as I might, I couldn't lure one of the toms to my set up and I couldn't turn the hens and within 20 minutes, all of the birds were safely back in the woods. We stayed for a while, but couldn't get any birds to answer us and my son soon began to get cold, so we headed to a local restaurant for some breakfast. I couldn't have been prouder than when the waitress, seeing my son in full camo asked if he had been hunting. His reply still rings in my ears to this day..."Yeah!! I'm a turkey hunter, just like my daddy!!!"

I think that day just proves that it's not the kills that drags us out in the woods at ungodly hours, it's the stories and the memories that will live in us until we breath our last breath.

Sorry this was so long, fellas!!

Slice

Pat_Ely

Thanks Jal.
Slice that sounds like a GREAT hunt. i could see how proud you were in the words. Pat

DHF:KYLEN

Best hunt, all of them. But the one that will stick with me the most would be my first ever.
Didn't know anything, I mean anything about turkey hunting, but my father invited me to go. He had been hunting turkys for 5 years with out any luck.

I found this site, and the south board and started reading everything I could.

Get out to the site and set up. Here my first ever fly down cackel, sounded like a pack up monkeys to me. The field in front of me comes alive with little periscopes all in it.

From my left a hen walks by at about 15 yards. I'm looking hard at her to somehow turn her into a tom, with no luck.

Then, sneaky peet, steps in. Stops at 15 yards behind a palm tree. Have the gun on the trunk of the tree waiting for him to go forward or back. He steps back and then it's over.

I scream like a Klingon at my first ever turkey. Now I've got a problem. What do I do now.

Walk back to my fathers spot. Tell him I sorry for ruining his hunt but I got a bird and didn't now what to do next. He just sits there shaking his head and laughing.

buckhunter14

Every hunt is soo memorible to me, I always learn something new about hunting whether it be deer, turkey, small game, waterfowl, or pradator hunting. So I think I have yet to have my most memorable until I will be able to use all of these things to get a very special animal!

rybohunter

Touching story Pat.


Mine was back in college, probably the first real time I went out. I had a buddy who was a good caller/hunter. We set up trying to give me the shot. I am right handed, had the decoys well to my right, expecting the birds to come up the hollow from the left. There was a 4" tree tight in front of me so I could only swing so far left. Didn't he call in 2 nice birds to about 5 yds. They came in and put on a show, full strutting, gobbling, you could hear them when they puffed up. They walked straight in and straight out in such a lane that stupid little tree never allowed me to get a shot, and neither could my buddy. Not 30 minutes later, 2 more HUGE birds came in and my buddy missed a tough 30 ish yard shot. It was a pretty wild time.

I hunted another time or 2 with him and then didn't set foot back into the turkey woods until just a few years ago. I don't know why I took such a long break.