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Event That First Got You Fired Up About Turkey Hunting

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Mike Belt

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That first step in turkey hunting...what got you hooked?

I began my turkey hunting at LBL. On my first morning there I sat off the side of a ridge facing a long ridge that sort of half mooned around my position. I was waiting on sunrise. Within minutes afterward the birds began gobbling and I answered back a few times. They were getting closer with each gobble but they were coming in from 3 different directions. I didn't know which way to prepare for a shot. The one directly in front of me got closer and I was ready. He backed off somewhat and the bird to my left appeared to be the one closest so I had to shift positions. I got ready for him when he detoured and I was back to the one in front of me again. Then the bird to my right was almost there so I had to shift again. This went on for 30-45 minutes with me playing "musical chairs" as they each would get closer then back off until finally they all approached shooting range about the same time and from all 3 directions. I was in a tizzy about which one to concentrate on and their constant hammering, although music to my ears, was about to push me over the adrenaline edge. I finally made my mind up to take the center bird and BOOM! My first turkey was flopping on the ground and I was hooked.
 
that I wasnt freezing my nuts off hahah. just something about spring time and how everything sounds and smells to me that is just so different then any other season.
 
Where I grew up deer hunting, we didn't have any turkeys, so I didn't do any turkey hunting until I was probably over 20.

What got me most "fired up" about going turkey hunting, well, it actually happened while I was deer hunting,
but it happened repeatedly, trip after trip, day after day (Southern Stewart Co. near Houston County Line).

At that time, there was no open spring turkey season in Southern Stewart County.
But one year, this huge old gobbler just appeared, and it was like he enjoyed keeping track of me while I was deer hunting.

To this day, I don't believe I've ever seen an old Tom with a longer beard than this one,
as it literally did drag on the ground it was so long.

But what got me "fired up" most, and most determined to kill one,
was almost every day, this old bird would see me on a deer stand, and often walk right up to my tree,
then gobble very loud, then walk off.

Was like he was enjoying playing some kind of game with me.
And, yes, he was doing this during the fall/winter deer season --- gobbling every time he would see me.
He didn't appear one bit afraid of me, as so unlike the birds I would later hunt, all this one would do upon seeing my movement was, he would gobble loudly, sometimes even walk towards me, right under my stand, AFTER he had seen me!

It was that spring following this, I started turkey hunting, but wasn't able to hunt in that area until turkey season opened there a few years later. I saw the old LONGGGbeard for two years, and he was dragging his long beard on the ground the first time I saw him. No idea what happened to him, but those experiences with him are what most got me interested into going turkey hunting.

I had a very long "learning curve" when it came to effectively hunting turkeys.
Believe I hunted 3 years before I killed my first one.

As an aside, among my first 4 longbeards, 3 were taken with 3 different 16 gauge shotguns.
I did kill my first one with a 12ga "goose" gun, but it was a pain to carry, so I started hunting with my regular old "bird" guns.

My 2nd longbeard was taken with a Fox side-by-side 16 guage;
3rd was taken with a Stevens side-by-side 16 gauge; and
the 4th was taken with a Browning Sweet 16.

At least two of those were taken with what you would today call "dove" loads,
as I was just using whatever shells I had. The others were taken with "squirrel" shells.

Interestingly, I killed the first dozen or so turkeys I shot at, regardless what gun & load I was shooting.

We really don't "need" near what we think in terms of specialized loads and guns to kill turkeys.
Just make your turkey hunting "up close & personal" and you will always be "fired up" about turkey hunting :)
 
I have no idea what got me hooked. I think it was me more enjoying time hunting with my dad than actually hunting turkeys, I'd beg him to take me any kind of hunting. It just happened that turkey was his favorite so I guess it grew on me as well.

I now am completely consumed by it, and get worse addiction every year.

I think about it throughout the year, always trying to improve my personal farm for better turkey nesting, always looking for turkeys, always googling my phone and computer about biological research.

I am completely turkey crazy.

Helluva lot more fun than a dang deer.


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I got fired up when on the first chance I had to shoot one.. the shell didn't go off.. I had a o/u browning and had to jump up, smack the stock to chocolate chip cookie the second trigger and shot him running away..
 
I had one of the first game cameras out which was a cam tracker and cost about $500 but it was like Christmas when we got the pictures back from that 36 roll of film. On this one food plot post deer season I got all these turkeys. We never saw any during deer season. So when turkey season rolled around, me and a buddy sat in the middle of that food plot opening morning and yelped on a push call. Took about 30 minutes until we were surrounded by turkeys. Rolled my first gobbler. It got much more difficult from there but I was hooked.
 
I went once with my dad when I was probably 14-15. We saw turkeys but heard no gobbles. He was ecstatic. I was not impressed, not knowing just how rare that was at that time in our area.

Then at about 21-22, I went again. We got on a hard gobbling bird that was higher up the ridge. I literally melted. Even though I had a facemask, I was worried that the sun would cause a glare on my glasses, so I tried to shield my face. I was shaking and its a wonder that bird didn't see my heart beating. Dad continued to play hard to get and that joker finally broke after an hour or so and came marching in, and dad rolled him.

After that, I was determined that I was going to learn to do that, and the fuse was lit!
 
My Dad took me on many unsuccessful hunts where we really didn't hear or even see a turkey. Finally we got a place to go with a few birds. We got started working one that was gobbling hard but wouldn't budge. Unbeknownst to me, a silent bird was working his way in behind us. I couldn't see behind me because I had foolishly set up with a large rock at my back. That silent bird got maybe 5 yards behind me and blew my ear drum out with a gobble. I about jumped out of my pants because I had no idea it was there. My dad was sitting off to the side of me so he was able
To swing and shoot the bird. I was hooked ever since.


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I got into turkey hunting by a couple "accomplished " turkey hunters who made it look easy. The first year i didnt even carry a gun. Just sat back watched and learned. I been after them hard ever since that year. I was hooked to say the least watching these hunters was like watching live tv hunting shows.
 
I'll make an addition to my above post....
My first experience with turkey hunting was at Anderson Tully. I had read about and looked at bookoos of pictures of turkeys and had decided I wanted to try it. I put in and was drawn for a hunt. It was the second of three or four hunts to be had there. A week prior to the first hunt a friend who was drawn along with me went to do some scouting with my brand new box call. Neither of us knew much about what we were doing but we headed down an old dry slew and took a seat while waiting on sunup. The birds began talking and never shut up. We had stumbled onto a roost sight the likes I haven't seen since. If there was one there were 200 birds roosted in the cypress trees along the creek. We took a seat between 3 cypress trees and I broke out the box. In a matter of minutes we had turkeys standing within feet of us. Hey, this was alright and I just knew we had a turkey come hunt time. We backed out and left and I was itching to get back. We went back and didn't kill a thing. I don't think we even saw a bird. I did find evidence of hunters on the first hunt having shot that area up pretty good. That was my first experience with turkey related humility and it drove me to finally kill my first bird at LBL.
 
My start came from just seeing them on a farm i deer hunted for several years. Birds just showed up one fall. I decided the following spring I was gonna Hunt them but I had no ideal what I was doing and I also realized that those birds left that farm before season. Someone told me that a nearby WMA had birds so I headed there. I'll never forget the amount of trucks that was parked everywhere. I also found it interesting that when I talked to some hunters none of them were hearing or seeing turkeys. Yeah, it didnt take me long to figure out that you dont ask those questions to turkey hunters. Lol anyway I met a guy that i guess felt sorry for me and gave me some good tips on some out of the way places on the WMA to find birds. At least now I found birds to mess with. After 2yrs of no success I was ready to quit and a guy told me to find some private land to hunt. Well I talked to my dad, who didn't hunt, he told me our cousin had mentioned to him about seeing birds on his place. So I went and asked permission and sure enough he told me to go ahead. Killed my first bird on my first hunt on his place. I have always just loved to be in the outdoors and this just gave me another opportunity to be outside. It was a rough few years in the beginning and I consider myself self-taught although Knight & Hale guys gave me lots of tips over the years. I have helped several of my closest friends kill their first birds and some of their kids as well. I have guided many soldiers on fort Campbell over the years some of which have became close friends. I joined an online turkey hunting team one year on Old Gobbler after being invited by Grizzly Johnson and developed many friendships with guys on tndeer including Whiskey, who I consider one of my closest friends now.
 
I cant swim, couldn't afford a boat, and it was something to hunt in the springtime! That was 1984 and Catoosa was the closest place that had turkeys. I remember like it was yesterday, standing on that ridge just before dark on the eve before opening day and owl hooting for the first time ever in the woods and having TWO longbeards gobble at me just off the point! Id say I was hooked right then! No, I didn't kill one the next morning. In fact it took me 4 long years to kill my first one. Ive pulled the trigger on somewhere around 200 since then but those first few years were what cemented me as a turkey hunter.
 
I didn't grow up turkey hunting. I was deer hunting in Macon County while in college and had a turkey come through with this "thing" hanging off it's chest. Had no idea what it was so told some buddies that turkey hunted and found out it was a gobbler. LOL. Looking back later I realized he was looking for the hen making that yelping sound. There had been two trees rubbing each other when the wind blew and it made a sound like a hen yelp. Went a couple of times with them but my great grandparents had a farm in Perry county so I headed down there with tndeer's own Coker. I knew nothing about calling so we hunted behind my great uncles house and when done he said one had been gobbling his head off all morning across the road in front of his house. We headed over and ended up roosting that bird. The next morning we got in and Coker started calling. That bird came in on a string and I killed him within 10 minutes of hitting the ground. Been hooked ever since.
 
I started in 2010 and ambushed a bunch, and it was fun and I was probably hooked then, but what really sealed the deal was in 2015. The second bird I called in, that season, came in strutting and gobbling the whole way. I shot him at 20 yds or so. There were 2 of them and I shot the first one for fear of messing it up, but that was it after that. I will not say I won't ambush one again, but i really have no desire to do it that way, after calling them in.
 
A friend talked me into going with him after a couple of seasons of asking! First time out he called in a bird and we watched it strut and spit and drum doing figure 8s at 30 yards behind a little brush, from that moment on I have been ate up with it ! Bought some calls that summer and started practicing a lot ! I forgot to add the bird I had just mentioned finally stepped into an opening and i shot him! Would not have made a difference though I would have been hooked regardless! I have a deep passion for hunting turkeys!
 
I was 14 and helping a local farmer who had given me permission to hunt for a couple of hours before we got started for the day.

I was set up alone on a small oak flat leading to the pasture and at day break had birds hammering. I'd never been turkey hunting before but the desire to kill one was strong.
Somehow I managed to squeek out some sounds on my Old Boss hen diaphragm. Not sure now If they were actually turkey sounding or not but a hen must have been curious to them because she came working through the flat heading towards me. When she got about 30 yards out, she stopped to scratch and pick at something in the leaves. Suddenly and from no where and I mean no where, a gobbler appeared and let loose the loudest rolling gobble that was ever sounded in this area of Middle Tennessee. If turkeys descended from dinosaurs then this one had T-Rex blood in him. For the next several minutes he put on the finest show of strutting, spitting, drumming and gobbling while prancing around that old bitty of a hen. With my nerves completely shot and bordering on a certain panic attack I turned loose a load of copperplated #4's that if at best were only a threat to the squirrels in the trees.
Yes' it was a miss and one of the most glorious kind.
To this day I still can't tell you if I was actually shooting at the turkey's head or just in his general direction and by general direction I mean the entire area encompassing Southern Dickson, Northern Hickman and in all likelihood a good portion of Humphreys county too.

Looking back, I now realize how prime of a farm this was especially for 1980 something.
What I wouldn't give to be able to go back there again on some cool damp early April morning and just sit in those same hardwoods on that flat leading into that pasture just leaned back against a stump and listening. If only for one morning just to see if the birds are still there and if they still roost on those same hardwood ridges and if they still pitch down into the flats and draws and work their way into the pasture to spend their day strutting and putting on shows for the hens and maybe a trainwrecked teenage boy with a Mossberg shotgun.
 
I didn't start turkey hunting until 10 years ago. I deer hunted in the mid 1980's, but we didn't have turkeys around when I was a kid. We moved back to Tennessee in 2007 and I met an older fellow that invited me turkey hunting. I missed one the first year, but I was hooked on the gobble. Didn't kill one the first two years, but didn't hunt too hard either. The 3rd year I made friends with a neighbor that introduced me to running and gunning and taught me a few more things. I killed my first gobbler that year. By year 4 we leased a farm that was covered in birds. Got my daughter her first bird, I killed a couple more and the ball was rolling. It was probably 5 years ago when I first hunted with Roost1. He ruined any hope of me not getting eat up with it. We've had a lot of good adventures in the past few years, times that make friends look back and laugh for years. I can't wait for season to open now.


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14 years old riding around on a Honda Trail 70. Took a road to a crop field back in the woods and saw a couple of turkeys run into the woods from the field. It was 11:00, so I rode home, got my gun, and went back. I crawled into a honeysuckle patch situated about 10 yards to the right of where the turkeys ran in. At 1:00, both turkeys came out of the trail and walked into the field in front of me. Now this was Mississippi in the late 70s and there were few turkeys. They had just started restocking efforts a year or two before, so I'd never even seen or heard a turkey before. I really didn't know what I was doing, and I figured that gobblers gobbled, so that was how I would know they were gobblers. They had tiny beards that you could hardly see, but I was paranoid about shooting a hen (came from an ultra conservative family, "if any can go wrong It will" mentality, don't shoot a hen or you will go to jail, etc, etc.) , so I needed to hear a "gobble." So I yelped on a box call my brother had. I'd never used it before, so I just drug the lid across the box a bunch of times. And I yelped and yelped and yelped. Those turkeys just looked at me like I was crazy. But I was so well hidden, they couldn't see me. Finally, the one closest to me (about15 yards) let out a gobble, then turned away. My grandfather's 16 gauge double loaded with 6 shot did the deal, and I had my first turkey. I'm sure it was funny seeing me wobbling out of the field on a Trail 70 while balancing a gun across my lap, a turkey over my shoulder, and one hand on the handlebars. Later that day as my brother drove me around town, we found one of the local "experts" who insisted it was a Jake, and Jakes just don't gobble. Obviously not true. I definitely was the talk of the town for a little while.

I rarely hunted after that as turkeys were so rare in that part of the county. I picked it up again in 2013 when I retired from the military and was in one place long enough to learn a few things about turkey hunting. Now in North Central TN and hunt every day I can. I am hooked and enjoy it more than deer hunting. Can't wait until the 31st.
 
huvrman":16184i4m said:
I'm sure it was funny seeing me wobbling out of the field on a Trail 70 while balancing a gun across my lap, a turkey over my shoulder, and one hand on the handlebars.
Click to expand...

Shoot, it's funny envisioning it now :D !

Great story!
 

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