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Lets Hear About Your First Bird

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bvoss

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Mine was in '98. I was 17. I was hunting a wooded hollow that funneled into a hay field. There were birds gobbling on the opposite ridge across the hay bottom from me, but I didnt know any better so I just sat up in the hollow opposite from them since my dad had killed his first bird there a week before.
I had my decoy in the bottom of the hollow and I was sitting on the side of the hill looking back toward my decoy.
I would squawk back at the gobbling birds everytime they opened their mouths. I'm not sure if the hens came to them or they were just so curious about this "new" hen that was across from them, but they finally shut up.
After sitting there for what seemed like hours i decided to squawk a few more yelps out on my mouth call. I let her rip and a tom about blew my hat off just over the hill less than 20 yds away.
I could here him walking in the dry leaves as he made his way toward this hen that sounded as if she had a sore throat. When he poked his head up over the rise I let the old 870 bark. He flopped and rolled right by me all the way down the steep hill to my decoy. As he was rolling I could see he was a jake, but I didnt care. When I got down there to him I put my foot on his head and turned to look back where I was sitting. Within a few yards of my tree was a huge longbeard that had evidently let his buddy step out first. I didnt care though. I was now officially a turkey hunter :D
 
I was 10. Dad set me in a good field spot and told me if I would just stay right there I would kill a longbeard. Multiple gobblers started gobbling down in the holler below me. I set there about an hour waiting and got tired of it, they were still down there gobbling their heads off. So I took off after them, when I got there, they gobbled a few times and went silent. I gave up and went back to the field. When I got there there were 2 longbeards standing 20 yards in front of where Dad put me :D
So I let them leave the field, I knew they were heading to the upper field so I just fell in behind them. I snuck up under a big cedar and could see the 2 longbeards about 100 yards ahead. Then another longbeard came running out of the woods to my left. All 3 gobblers started fighting and thrashing each other. I made one yelp on a slate call, and one of them broke from the fight and came running in as fast as he could. Shot him at about 20 yards, Ill never forget that hunt.
 
mine was more of a had to be there but it is something i will never forget. I took a buddy down to my land in BAMA....I was so excited i could not stand it and all the way down there he was filling me in on the what to do and when. We ended up getting set up in 2 gobbling birds around 7am...we set up on a firelane that had a 90degree turn so the birds had to come around the turn to see where the calling was coming from. Well sure enough they did and both birds were 10-12 yds from me. Problem was my buddy who was doing the calling was 8-10yds from me and the birds were so close i we could not communicate to know when to shoot and when to wait. I was set and had the barrel pointing at the head like he told me too. On the way down there he kept telling me to not shoot if they were in strut but he would try and cut and when the bird stuck his head up pull the trigger. Well sure enough they were both in a HARD strut so i just was waiting on 1 to stick his head out....he cut and the lead bird stuck his head out to gobble, not knowing any better i thought that was what he meant when he said "come out of strut and stick there head out" so he didnt get half the gobble out before i let the beretta go hahahahah. the bird didnt stand a chance at that close but we laughed pretty hard about it. even to this day he keeps saying how he has never seen someone actually shoot one in mid gobble lol....the next day we set up on one in the roost and called 3x before the bird flew down and came running it. it happened so fast it was still pretty much dark when he shot hit. It was without a doubt one of the most fun hunts i can remember, and it was not just the hunting but the whole trip just spending time with a good friend out in the woods. I have been hooked like crack ever since.
 
My first one was on April 2, 2011. Wait, that hasn't happened yet. Don't worry...I'll get one this spring. hopefully all 4 if I can manage.
 
Missouri 1984 13YO
Called in a jake and cut down on him with a old single shot H and R with a modified barrel. The shot broke his wing and he runs off. I headed in the direction I last saw him and found him hiding in a brush pile still alive. One more shot and a good ring of his neck and he was mine. I look back on that day and I cant believe how times have changed. Too funny
 
I had no idea what i was doing with only a year of turkey hunting under my belt..

I got on a hot bird first thing still on the roost.. I called every time that bird gobbled..lol somehow through thirty min of calling non stop i still managed to not spook him and he came in with 2 hens...

He hung up at 58 yds and against my better judgement i took a shot. At the shot he flew directly over my head and i pumped another shell in and shot. He fell almost close enough i could reach out and touch him. Pure luck, but a very memorable hunt.
 
Had no idea what I was doing. Set up on a field edge with decoys. 2 long beards flew down into field and started strutting about 100 yds away. looked like they were heading my way when 5 hens flew down. well they forgot about me. after about 10 mins the toms started looking to the other side of the field and started heading that way. Well I grabed my decoys and took off thru the woods. had to run about 300 yds in the hope of cutting them off. went up a ditch on the side of the field and tried to crawl out to put my decoy out but caught movement coming to me. I crawled back to a tree and got ready. well it was 5 jakes. I let 4 of them walk by me at 20 yds. The fifth was a little slower. My thought was that the toms were behind them. the 5th jake came by. Then I thought what am I doing letting them walk by me then BOOM. whole thought process was maybe 2 seconds. Jake was down. I bet those 2 toms were running off the jakes and maybe they were behind that last jake but for my first bird on my 2nd day of trying to turkey hunt I was pretty excited.
 
My first hunt was a doozie to say the least...I will never forget it. 12 years ago when I was 8 years old my parent bought me my first ATV, man did I ride the wheels off that thing. Anyways, one mornin dad had asked me to load all the firewood that was left up at the house and put it up in the barn for next winter. So I am ridin down the road goin to get the trailer from the barn and low and behold there stood 12 turkeys 100 yards from the barn next to the creek, 3 of em strutin. I knew daddy had killed his share of longbeards over the years in that very spot where they were pickin around in. So I eased into the barn, ran up the stairs to the hay loft and grabbed the 22mag out of the tool closet. I knew dad kept it in there for shootin the coyotes but at the time I didn think it to be a big deal if I shot a turkey. I thought I'd make him proud ya know? I loaded that bad boy up, took aim on a haybale, and fired upon. The bird I shot went to floppin and beatin around and the hens flew off along with 1 other gobbler. The other one felt differently and tried to fight/hump the one I had shot....Sooo I cut loose on him too. After all was said and done I hitched the little trailer and went and put my prize in the back. As I made my way home guess who was headed to the barn cause they heard gunshots. Wouldn you know it was dad, I expected him to be so proud of me but what I got in return was good beatin and a lesson in hunting ethics/laws 101. I will tell you one thing, it was the funniest most memorable things to ever happen to me when I look back on it.
 
No way, we never let meat waste lol.

Yeah the other thing I forgot to mention is I also learned how to clean a turkey that day. Lord knows I hated every minute of it too lol. As for dad, he did what he still does....eat, fart, sleep, repeat.
 
1975, I was 17 yr old and hunting in the bluffs north of Shelby Forest. Three seperate gobblers answered me from the roost that morning. One flew to the ridge in front of me, one to the ridge behind me. Don't know where the other one went. I was focused on the one behind me when I turned around and the one in front was coming straight toward me. He caught me in the wide open so I couldn't move and he was coming straight at me. When he was 5 yards away and walking from my right to my left, I brought my gun up. He saw me of course and started to run. I fired once and missed, he started to fly. I fired the second time and missed. Then when he was almost tree top high, I fired the third time and nailed him. You ain't had fun until you watch a ~ 20lb gobbler fall from that height and hit the ground. Killed him with my old Browning Automatic 5 with a 30" full choke barrel. Still use the same gun and it still gets the job done.
 
Mine was 2007, I was 18. We had a baseball tournament in monterey, that started at 11 am, I knew it would take me an hour to get there so I decided to try a morning hunt. Opening morning of the season and I am set up in a deep holler 100 yds or so of where I thought the bird was. He gobbled his head off and stayed roosted till bout 9 am. At this time I knew I had to go and change into my uniform on the way haha. So, the very next morning I hunting a different spot and didnt hear a bird, so I decided to pack up and head back to the spot I was the previous morning and low and behold there he was out in the field, by himself, strutting like crazy. So, I drove on passed about three hundred yards or so and parked. Now, this is the unbelievable part! I eased out of the truck and quietly eased through thewoods, with the help of wet leaves, since it had been drizzling rain, I got about forty yards from the field edge, looking hard for the bird, and I spotted that big red head about the same time he spotted me. I quickly raised my gun, snapped the safety off and fired. I almost had a heart attack when I seen him flopping. I had only been turkey hunting for three years at that point and was estatic. Embarrassing as it may be, I'll go ahead and tell yall that I shot it a second time, after he was down bc I didnt know what else to do, as it was flopping. Hope yall enjoyed reading my first bird story as much as I have yalls.
 
In the spring of 1980 Humphreys County had its first modern turkey season.My mentor and lifelong friend,Wayne Martin was friends with a TWRA officer that knew how to turkey hunt.Jimmy had taken Wayne on a successful hunt in April and he was hooked.
I played hooky from school the first Thursday in May to go turkey hunting with Wayne.I had never seen or heard a wild turkey but Wayne had already learned to use a diaphram.We had permission to hunt a place adjacent to the TNWR on Duck River.Wayne owled at daylight and a turkey shock gobbled close to the river.He was at least a good quarter mile to our west.We made no attempt to improve our position and sat down facing the bird.The turkey answered every call Wayne made,four or five.I was shocked that the bird could hear us,and even more surprised that he was answering and COMING!Over the course of an hour,Wayne called about every 15-20 minutes.Only to be cut off during mid yelp EVERY time.I really did'nt get nervous until I heard them walking in the leaves and without a doubt heading right at us.Two three year old gobblers marched sraight up the hill and miraculously I shot one in the head as I had been told.This experience was the most awesome sight I had ever witnessed in the wild.That turkey probably rode 100 miles in my truck,until anyone that might be remotely interested had seen the bird and heard the story.A passion ever since.
 
Spring 98, last week of season. I had hunted with a buddy of mine the entire season to learn the ropes.We locate a bird that is on fire mid morning. It takes us forever to get to him but no problem because he is double triple, gobbling. We get pretty close, my buddy is behind me I get my gun up he makes one little yep. The gobbler comes running in . He almost gets by me. I blast him clipping his legs out from under him. Now I look back and realize the gobbler was more than likely hearing our foot steps in the leaves, he was coming, we just luckly got sat down in a nick of time. I have been hooked ever since. My heart rate gets up just reading these stories.lol
 

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