Your first bird

[megalomaniac]

I started turkey hunting back in 1989 when the first sections of Dickson County were opened up for spring season as a senior in high school. Never heard a bird gobble, cut a track, or even found scratching, but I got the bug. Over the next several springs, I heard one or two far away, but didn't have a real encounter. My parents saw I was pretty interested, and I suppose they felt bad about my poor luck, so they started asking around looking for a property that actually held birds.

In 1993, they found a property our local TWRC representative had hunted along with several others that held birds. He took me to the property, and showed me around the cattle farm with a large portion of woods between Charlotte and Clarksville. I came back the next week to hunt early filled with anticipation of hearing a bird on the limb. After an hour after sunrise of nothing but silence, I began to work my way through the timber to a steep bluff that dropped down to the river below. I swore I heard a faint gobble a half mile off the property across the river in an open ag field. I called back to him with my Quaker boy slate and the darn bird answered me! I knew there was no way he could get to me, much less cross the river, but after actually having a bird respond to ME, I was going to have as much fun making him gobble back as I could. I dropped off the timbered hills down into the ag land on the farm on my side of the river. This field was about 40 acres, wide open with no cover except for a few briers just as the field dropped off to the river. I tucked in them and kept calling to the tom hundreds of yards away. Over the next 15 minutes, his gobbles kept getting closer, and closer, and closer. Another 15 minutes, and I see him standing on a gravel bar on the opposite side of the river. Holy crap! I've called him in! He's pacing back and forth on the gravel bar 20 yards away, gobbling and strutting and I catch movement behind him... It's a jake… and another, and another, and another. Must have been 8 or 9 jakes that joined him on the gravel bar. After a couple more minutes, he moves up the gravel bar to the high point, then flies across the river to my side!

I carefully peek out from my hide in the briers, and he's in full strut 35 yards away, just out of my comfort range. He isn't budging an inch to me, so I give him some more of my cheap slate treatment. He gobbles again without breaking strut, and I hear wings flapping behind me. The entire jake gang comes across the river and lands around the tom. And of course, here comes the jake gang single file right down the edge of the field and the strip of briers I was in. I eased back to hide my movement, got my gun up and at the ready without being able to see any of the birds coming. I really wanted that longbeard, but I wasn't going to be picky. When the first jake popped into view, he was about 4 feet from me, maybe 2.5 feet from the end of my barrel. I let him have it, and he went down instantly and flopped nearly headlessly almost into my lap. What an experience, and I didn't know how lucky I was at the time to have even hit him. I have since missed more birds under 10 yards than I have killed!

I've killed at least 1 bird every year in TN since that first one except for 2004 (I went to Argentina red stag hunting for 2 weeks early April and didn't have vacation time to turkey hunt that year). I've had a ton of incredible experiences, but it's going to be hard to ever top my first!

 

[jag1]

That's a great story MM. Nothing like my first bird.

 

[th88]

Great story!

It was 2004, I was 15. The first year my county had a turkey season. Our hunting club was a goldmine, decent turkey population that had never been legally hunted. There were plenty of members out turkey hunting, but most were newbies like us. A couple ag fields the club had leased were being hit heavily by the birds. After two failed stalking attempts, I quickly realized how well those turkey could see! One evening there was a strutter, two jakes, and about 15 hens using a field. Since I'd been busted trying to sneak in while on two legs, I figured I'd try crawling. The flock went behind a behind in the field, giving me my chance to belly crawl out and wait on their return. It worked. EXCEPT, the strutter was way out of range. I didn't know what to do, so I scratched on my box a few times. It caught the interest of the jakes and they walked right up to me, me laying flat in the field. They knew something was wrong but didn't really spook. The strutter got jealous and proceeded to follow the paths the jakes took. I got impatient and started launching 2 3/4" high brass #4s at him once he hit the 40-45 yard mark. I broke a wing and the gobbler took off running across the field, me in hot pursuit. He finally went into a death flop a few yards into the woods at the edge of the field. My most vivid memory is seeing his blood red head and actually thinking for a few seconds "How'd he run with such a bloody head?!" I then shot him again at dang near point blank to 'finish' him off.

Still one of my biggest birds to date. 24lbs on unofficial scales (a whopper for Mississippi), 1 5/16" and 1 1/4" THICK spurs.

 

[REN]

Ill keep mine short but the first bird I ever killed actually turkey hunting them vs deer hunting them when I was younger. I was hunting with my buddy that taught me most of what I know now but at the time I had very little idea. He told me that if we get one coming in he would "cut" to get him to stick his head up and thats when I would shoot. We sat about 15yds apart so I couldnt hear him but we had a bird come in on a string down a fire break. Sure enough he cut and the bird gobbled. I blasted him mid gobble hahaha I figured thats what he meant by "make him stick his head out" hahahah


after I shot him my buddy looked over at me and just laughed and said "well not what I meant but that will do haha"

 

[Boll Weevil]

1986. Roosted the evening before but ummmm...took 1 step too many in the pre-dawn darkness the next morning and turkeys scattered everywhere. In all my wisdom figured, "Sit right here since I'm right in the thick of'em." Brilliant:rolleyes:. As it turned out it was all his hens that had scattered and he was still down the hill a piece. Offered a few feeble calls, he gobbled like crazy thinking it was one his girls, and marched right up my gun barrel.

Blind luck...totally stumbled into my first bird

 

[rem270]

2007. I wasn't a big turkey hunter but would go with Big 8's on here some. Decided to get into it that year and opening day was a big rainstorm. We set up that afternoon and had 3 jakes come in silent. We doubled up that day. I didn't hunt much after that year til about 2010 and him and I doubled up on Jakes again.

Finally got into it big in 2016 and have loved it ever since. Killed my first longbeard opening day that year. Roosted them the night before and snuck in super early and set up. At fly down I had 2 longbeards, several jakes and hens all around me, probably 20 birds total. One longbeard came into the decoys almost immediately and shot him at about 10 steps

 

[Gravey]

First one was 1994 or 95 (94 I think). Didn't grow up hunting them but while deer hunting in college had one come through and it intrigued me. Had some buddies that did it so went a couple times with them. My great grandparents had a farm in Perry county so tndeer's own Coker went with me to do the calling as I didn't know a thing. We hunted all morning and got back to my great uncle's house only to be told one had been hammering all morning across the road. We went up there and roosted him that afternoon. Arrived early the next morning and got set up. He gobbled on the roost and once he hit the ground Coker called him right into our lap in no time. From the sound of that first gobble I was hooked.

 

[catman529]

2010 I hunted with a buddy in Dickson county one time, birds gobbling all around, he called a gobbler up the hill to the strutter decoy but it was a satellite bird and went back down the hill without giving a shot.

2011 I went on my own to a piece of public property and had word of mouth directions to an area from a local call maker. Wasn't sure if I had the right spot, but I scouted it 2 weeks before season and heard a lot of birds on the roost.

Opening day I was the first one there, but two trucks came in and turned around right after I got there. I set up near where I thought they'd be roosted, and had jakes fly down in shotgun range but didn't have my gun ready.

Later that morning, I was walking around and came across a decoy spread with a blind, and two other hunters walking around.

Fast forward to day 3, April 9, 2011, I had no luck off the roost. Later in the morning, I had been hearing gobbling in the distance back toward the truck. I eventually made my way over there, creeped out near field edge, and saw a whole flock of birds, with 2 or 3 strutting toms. I crawled my way to the very edge of the field and sat under an eastern red cedar in some poison ivy.

I had a homemade tube call, and did my best attempt at a cluck n purr. What I thought was a calm feeding call apparently sounded like a fighting purr, cause one of the hens got mad and came running straight to me. 3 jakes followed her, and I shot one of the jakes at 6 yards. I can still see that moment in my memory, it was just the start of a lifelong obsession.

The area I hunted had been burned before season, and the jake smelled like charcoal and turkey $h*t. That particular burned grass smell still brings me back to my early days of turkey hunting on the rare occasion I come across a burned field like that.

 

[younggun308]

Lincoln County opening day 2007. Set up in blinds on a private corn field. Had a big flock of birds 200 yards away with 3 gorgeous Longbeards, but they didn't want to leave their ladies, despite gobbling their heads off every time we called. I still remember their white faces shining across the expanse.

While glassing the Toms, buddy in the blind to my left says there's a gobbler right in front of him—I can't see it, so he takes the shot. While the Tom is flopping, my buddy says he sees a Jake making a B line for the flopping Tom. I get my gun up and see his bobbing head come into view 30 yards away. I even say "he won't stay still!" To which my uncle replies "he's not going to," so I did the best I could, and next thing I know my first turkey is flopping.

 

[Spurhunter]

I was on a draw hunt at Shelby Forest equipped with a Quaker Boy World Champ mouth call. I had practiced enough to make a yelp that sounded like a hen caught in a leghold trap. I was on the wrong side of the road and could hear a bird gobbling on the other side. I crossed the road, got 50 yards in the woods and squawked on that mouth call and 2 birds gobbled 60 yards to my left. I didn't even know they were there, as the bird I had been hearing was much further off the road. I sat down and squawked again and they gobbled closer. The next thing I see is 2 jakes coming right to me. They stop and both gobble again then one runs up and jumps on a log to look for the hen caught in the leghold trap. When he craned his head up I let him have it. I wouldn't have been any prouder if it had been a longbeard with 2" spurs. The funny thing is I have never heard or seen jakes gobble like that since. I checked him in with 2 super nice TWRA officers. Once they heard that it was my first turkey they humored me and wanted to hear the whole story. I probably sounded like Colonel Tom Kelly laying out the events that led to the great bird's demise. My Dad helped me pluck and deep fry the bird that afternoon. To this day that's the best tasting wild turkey I've ever eaten.

 

[clwg97]

Missouri decided to open a youth season and I had just started getting old enough to actually carry a gun. My dad had brought home a few turkeys over the years and loved turkey hunting. Grandpas old 12 gauge 870 had a super full turkey barrel that was ordered from a mail order catalog and shot super tight. We went and dad had one fired up on the roost and he was coming in double gobbling the whole way. Dad told me he was right there but I couldn't see him. When I finally saw him this gobbler was the size of an ostrich. He was standing straight up looking for the hen that had been calling to him. Once I could finally see him I knew i would have to swing my gun to the right to shoot him and there was a sapling in the way. I tried to lift the barrel up and over the sapling and that turkey saw and high tailed it out of there. To this day I still think that is the biggest bird I have ever seen. About an hour later we had circled around and were on the ridge above where that bird had went and we had a bird fired up and gobbling his head off. He gets closer and closer and eventually I see a read head stick up over a brush pile. Then another and another. Dad had called in a group of jakes. I picked out the closest one and rolled him. This was back when Missouri had check stations and every deer or turkey had to be checked in. I was so proud when we rolled up and I had a bird to be checked. He weighed 16lbs 2 oz, but was a monster gobbler to me. I killed a lot of animals with that old 870 and ended up getting my senior pictures done with that gun. Its in my grandmas safe but everyone knows it is mine whenever I decide to carry it hunting.

 

[jag1]

The 1st turkey hunt I ever went on was w/my uncle in Benton County on some ridges. Had one gobbling and sounded like thunder going off in those ridges. Never saw him but thought this is pretty cool.
Next opportunity was some 10 years later in Fayette County. We had some birds on our lease & I decided I'd give it a go. Uncle gave me an old Lynch's Fool-Proof Box Call & bought me a Knight & Hale Silver Queen scratch call. The birds were safe that season.
I'd never chased turkeys much as opportunity and time never presented. I had a lawn business and about the time I got to going good w/that I just didn't have time to go after turkeys. Truth be told, I was also worn down from a long duck season every year.
As some have mentioned on here about Covid bringing out new turkey hunters, I was one of them. Literally, sitting around the house when I realize, it's turkey season...you have no excuse now. So I dug out my old calls, vest and shells from years before.
1st day I went, I set up and soon saw several hens come right by me. A little while later I hear wings thru the air but don't move. I see him fly by and around the corner of trees never to see him again.
After several unsuccessful morning hunts, I'm having a hard time getting motivated to go sit and see/hear nothing, The plots of land I had access to were VERY small so no chasing after them in the cards. I'd never heard anybody speak of afternoon hunting but decided I'd give it a go. I went to my spot where I deer hunt and as I'm walking to the woods, look on my phone How to Hunt Afternoon Turkeys. Article said don't call much and don't call loud. They probably won't answer. So I enter the woods, climb my deer stand to finish the article then go hunt. I hit the box call a few times, read the article and say I'm going to wait 15 minutes before I leave. I look back through the woods before I get down and here comes a dad gum longboard...I couldn't believe it. I'd touch that box and he'd just puff up and come closer, never once gobbled. Once he got in range, I flopped him. Not like the purists do it but it was exciting for me.

 

[Remington700]

My first bird was in Hardeman county in 1996. I was 16 and just started driving. Dad didn't Turkey hunt so I was on my own. I got permission to hunt a piece of property that I didn't even know if turkeys were on. Dad was going up to deer camp to do some maintenance for the day. This property was about 35 minutes away. We left mid morning in separate rides about 10:30 from Shelby county. Got there about noon, I went to just scout. When I left the truck it was hot. I had overalls on with no shirt (I tied one around my waist). Decided to travel light and grabbed my shotgun and a mouth call. Walked about 200 yards from the road to the back of a field. Hit the call with low expectations. One fired off not too far away. I put my shirt and face mask on. Them went straight in the woods in that direction. I did not know what I was walking into because I had never been there before. Hit a big ditch and jumped in and climbed a straight up side. There was about 40 yards of woods and another field. I eased up to the field crawling through the high grass on the side. See him about 70 yards down to my right. I hit the mouth call again and he turns and starts walking down the field. I roll back and sit up pointing my shotgun in his direction. Boom he drops and I go grab him and figure out looking down the field the 2 connect and have an easy walk back to the truck. All happened in about 20 minutes. This bird was BIG 10.5 inch beard, 2 inch spurs. I take off and meet dad at deer camp to show him off. Great day!

 

[RoyalPrudent]

2000, South Florida. Late December. On a big farm that my wife's family had access to. Tomatoes, oranges, watermelon, peppers and cattle. I'd never hunted in Florida before so I was bit edgy about snakes, etc. Before light we head across a big pasture and like to get run over by the half wild cattle. Nothing at the first spot. Birds weren't gobbling yet. At the time I wasn't privy to any turkey hunting strategy at all, but most of the morning nothing we tried worked. We walked four or five miles. Saw a longbeard dusting from 70 yards away. No shot. Finally, close to noon, we spooked a flock out of some thick pines next to a cypress head. Birds went everywhere. Hens and jakes mainly. My BIL started with the Kee Kee and within two minutes the younguns were headed back. That first bird weighed about 11 pounds and had a 1.5 inch beard.

Great memory and definitely gave me the bug.

 

[TN-Hunter]

I believe the year was 2000. I was a thirteen year old fella who had killed a fare share of sparrows with my red rider BB gun and thought I could translate my skills into bagging a big ole Tom. Tools for the job would be my Dad's old 870 designed for duck hunting (long barrel and full choke), Remington #4 shot in 2 3/4 inch shells, a cheap diaphragm mouth call, and camo that was pretty ragged and too big. I was ready!

Dad and I knew birds always seemed to roost on top of this certain hill in Lincoln county. He took one side and I was on the other. I started off with a few feeble yelping sequences and nothing. Then I just kicked back to wait for the day to mature. Roughly an hour before dark I began to hear some leaves rustling down the hill. Initially the sounds were written off as squirrels but nonetheless kept me interested. Slowly my curiosity won and I eased up to my knees peering over a fallen down, half rotted log. Sure enough there was a turkey head bobbing up the hill my way, probably 50 yards out. I eased back down and got my gun up. Game time! Heart started to pound!

That was the longest wait. It probably took all of 15 minutes but what played out remains one of the coolest memories in the turkey woods. The closer the rustling got to my location the louder it got. Eventually I realized a whole flock of 30 birds were working over the hillside filling their crops up before bedtime, and Lord behold I was between them and their roost. Turkey heads started popping up all around me as I slowly slid down in fear of getting busted. All the turkey heads looked the same! Which bird was I going to shoot? Are their any gobblers? I needed to wait to see a beard, so I thought. That evening I had birds walk right by me within five yards and somehow never got busted! That old half rotten log must have been pretty good cover. Also I think that log acted as a funnel pushing birds to either side of me, keeping me from getting raked over by all the hens that had to pass by.

Eventually I saw the most colorful head pop up on the other side of that log but only for a split second. I swear that head was the size of a freaking softball! I knew that had to be a Tom, safety clicked off and gun up and ready now. Head bobs back up and BOOM! Head disappears! The following few seconds was unreal as birds took off flying in every direction. Honestly, I was quite disoriented thinking I missed that bird! Darn head must have bobbed back down right before I let the 870 bark? Limbs, leaves, dirt, and old forest floor debris was flying around everywhere and I soon realized that was not from birds flying off, that was from old Tom on the other side of that log doing his death flop! I jumped up and shot that big softball head again at a mere couple steps. Ole Tom was sure enough done now.

I picked that big ole Tom up and toted him around the hillside to my dad as proud as I could. I truly believe that was the biggest bird I have ever taken! Maybe the size of that ole Tom was skewed by my pure excitement. Who knows?That kill was one hundred and ten percent luck. I often sit in the woods, especially during dry spells, and hope for that same luck although it rarely comes. Blessed memory for sure.

 

[scn]

You ALWAYS remember your firsts in a lot of things....

Mine came in 1988. I had hunted some up in the mountains of ETN and a trip or two to LBL. I had messed up some opportunities and hadn't come close to pulling the trigger on one.

In 1988, I was talked into a promotion from my WO job in Cocke Co to a training supervisor position in the Nashville office. Without an immediate place to move to, I lived out in the Cheatham WMA checking station for about a month. I would be in the office M-F, and then head back home to my wife to resume some of the packing up.

In early May, I looked and saw that the following day was the last day of the non-quota hunts at LBL. I got a hall pass from the Chief, and headed up there that morning. I arrived around daylight, and didn't hear a thing on my first several listening stops. By that time, things were pretty slow after the normal LBL pressure.

I slowly made my way north up to the KY line. Finally, around 8:15 I heard a gobble and eased in. I made my first call at 8:30 and got a response. But, he wasn't very fired up. I'd call sporadically, and he might answer 30 seconds later. I had made the decision to go low and slow because I didn't have any other realistic options. I could also hear a hen and a jake in the same hollow with him.

Around 10:30, the jake and hen fed down the ridge to me. They came to about 10 ft. I could have shot the jake, but had just heard the big bird again, so, I didn't pull the trigger. They finally fed back down into the hollow.

At 11am, I saw the gobbler with his beard dragging the ground easing up the far side of the hollow getting ready to walk out of my life. I was not confident with the mouth call, but knew I didn't have much choice. A couple of soft yelps and a cluck made him stop and look around. He then started easing back, taking those big, exaggerated steps, looking hard. When he went behind a big oak at about 50 yds, I got my gun up. Since I had killed geese that far, I shot when he stepped out.

He went down without a flop. I ran down there, and there he lay. I kneeled down to give a little prayer because it was such a blessing to me. In mid-prayer and out of the corner of my eye, I saw his head come up. I reached and grabbed him around the neck, and the flogging started. I finally stomped him in the head to finish the deal. I later found one pellet in his head which must have knocked him out.

His wing feathers were broomed off and a lot of his chest feathers were gone, so he had ruled the roost for a while that spring. He only weighed 20 lbs. But, he had a 11.5 inch beard, and his longest spur was 1 5/8". I had no idea what that meant at the time. Fortunately, my supervisor back home knew what a stud he was and had me dry out his feet/spurs. They sit behind me on the bookcase right now. I have never killed a longer spurred bird in the 32 years since then. And, I have never killed another bird that meant so much to me.

 

[Bone Collector]

My first turkey was a Hen in Fall season of 2009, but my first attempt to hunt turkeys in spring was really 2010. Thanks to the area I was hunting having a bunch of birds I had lots of opportunities despite the fact that I had 0 turkey hunting knowledge or skill. I could however sneak up on stuff pretty well. I was hunting an area one afternoon and basically just walking around checking fields to see if I could locate birds, and couldn't find any. I went to get back in my truck to decide if I wanted to go somewhere else and as I am walking up I look across the road to another field and there are 2 strutters out there. I drop over the a hill and go under the overpass and sneak down the side of the field in the woods. When I get passed the field I cut over and get to the side of a gravel farm road that the filed is on and belly crawl up to the edge. Birds are still there. 35 yds, bang... he takes off running but can't fly. I was sick. I started looking for him and I was in a cedar thicket about to give up when I walked up on him and he flew down and crashed in front of me. I shot him again and thanked God i had found him.
That seems like eons ago. I limited our pretty much every year sneaking up on them until 2015.

in 2015 I started learning to call. I bought some cheap calls. I had 0 luck and the calls sucked, and so I ended up just sneaking up on them. Then i got my first custom made call (Crystal Mistress) and started working at calling. In 2016 I called in a bunch of hens on opening morning with 2 long beards in tow. I shot one. Next day called in 2 2 year old birds gobbling and strutting the whole way in and got bird #2. That season got me addicted and changed the way I hunt them from that day on. now I have more calls than I need, most of my purchases have been instigated right here on this forum.

 

[Granddaddy]

Had duck hunted Shelby Forest for several years & had seen turkeys during that time. Don't recall if there were quota hunts at that time or not but killed my first turkey there sometime in the early 70s off Island 40 Rd near Round Pond. It was a nice mature gobbler with 10"+ beard & hooks for spurs. Returned to that area annually to successfully harvest a turkey each season over the next 4-5 yrs. Never saw another hunter during that time before turkey hunting got popular across the state, although I do seen to recall having to have a 3-day permit, probably from a mail-in draw. During that same period I helped TWRA trap turkeys in Shelby Forest to stock other areas of the state. Probably trapped 25-100 birds each summer during the next 5 yrs (& despite what the biologists said it did hurt the turkey population in Shelby Forest). Have fond memories of duck, deer & turkey hunting Shelby Forest in the 60s-70s before mismanagement attempting to make more opportunities available with less work, which actually decreased the hunting opportunities for everyone that hunted there.

 

[bvoss]

My dad and I started out wanting to turkey hunt so we bought a vhs tape, " So You Want to Be a Turkey Hunter". We played that thing over and over and over. This was in 1997. Our first morning out, we both started at opposite ends of a 75 acre property to try to cover more ground. This tom was roosted between us and we both called so much to him that he stayed on the limb long after he should have and just walked away gobbling. But I was absolutely hooked after that.

Screwed up many hunts that year ( still seem to every now and then). Even walked up on a big struttin tom and thought, "Thats got to be some kind of fake turkey!" Then the next thing I know he tucked tail and flew off.

I hunted every weekend and a lot of days after school ( I was 17) and finally near the end of the season I had some luck. I was so tired from hunting so hard that I kept dozing off on this particular morning. Id call for a bit and then fall asleep, call and fall asleep. ( Not realizing this was probably making my calling more realistic. Ha!).

After one of my wakeups, I squawked on the mouth call and two gobblers blew my hat off at about 50 yards away over the rise. After waiting what seemed like forever, I saw a red head finally stick up over the rise at about 15 yards and I hammered him. It was just a jake but I was absolutely stoked. I was so excited that I drove off and left my flambeau decoy sitting in the woods.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

1989, I went and sat in the woods and started calling around 1:00 in the afternoon. Absolutely no idea what I was doing. I heard rustling in the woods and two Jake's popped up over the ridge, 25 yards away. The first one got the 4 shot. I thought , " there's nothing to this turkey hunting stuff". Lol.

 

[Levee Jumper]

1997, I was 11 years old on public ground near the Mississippi River. I was on one side of a ditch dump and the gobbler was on the other side at about 3 yards. I could just see the top of his head and my father said wait, I didn't and let his old 30" full Wingmaster eat. Fortunately the turkey went to flopping. I'm not sure we ever found a pellet in the turkeys head.... he may have died from shock.

 

[wkyhunter]

1980... TN portion of LBL, I was 17. The KY side had been restocked and only hunting was by draw for area below 68. I had botched a lot of opportunities with my Dad calling for me starting when I was 10. Dad had killed his on the KY side that year and was hunting with my granddaddy.
I was hunting by myself walking and calling. Got him gobbling in a hollow way up in the morning. He came on up and popped that red head over the ridge. It was a jake, but I wouldn't have been any prouder.
Tom Kelly has it right .... It's an Sickness and only we understand!!