What is your best turkey hunting story?

[turkeyhunter91]

mine was probebly a couple years ago me and my dad was hunting and i had already killed one bird so i was not in no hurry to kill another so i put him on the side where he would be able to shoot when they came in the feild and they were flying down every where and this big ol gobler was strutting and drumming on the ridge and dad kept waiting for him to come down in the field but i finally told him to let him have it and i was ready for a big boom but all i heard was clink and i thought o shoot this bird is going to get a way and he pulled the bolt back on his semi auto shot gun and let it go and the turkey threw his head up and was getting ready to fly but right then ol mr turkey got to see what 2 onces of #5 shot felt like so i got to see my dad kill his first gobbler, he killed his first turkey the previous fall before a young jake, so i got to pay him back for all the times he took me and watched me kill turkeys he never even carryed a gun till i got him into carrying a gun he just whent along to help me learn to turkey hunt i might add he has tagged out before me the last two years one day before i did but he always gave me the chance to shoot but i let him shoot them this was probebly my best turkey hunt because i got to see the person who introduced me to the great outdoors shoot his first big gobbler it was bigger than the one i had already shot so he gave me a hard time about that but it was worth it getting to see my dad shoot his first big ol gobbler i wouldnt take any thing for all the memorys i have made in the great outdoors:D

[kybowhunter64]

If all goes well hopefully mine will be this weekend:rolleyes:

[notimlmit]

I set up on a bird before light which was already gobbling about 75 yds away. Heard him fly down so I started calling softly and he answered, after 5 minutes or so I called again and he answered. This only lasted for 20 minutes with me doing a soft call every 5 minutes. I had gave up, so to speak, and called every 30 minutes with no answer. So by 9 I pulled my net back and started eating a fruit cup snack. Was turning the cup up to drink the juice when I spot this bird 60 yds out coming full strut towards me. I slowly lowered my net but my gun was pointed left and the bird has now changed to my right. With no cover between us I let him get to 20 yds grab my gun quickly and shoot with my left arm. No way I should of killed this bird, guess he mistook my movement for a hen. It is my largest 27 1/2 lbs, 11" beard with 1 1/4" spurs. I'll take luck over skill anyday.

[bcdh1]

Well, i had never killed a turkey before and i went with one of my good friends to his uncles farm. I sat in a barn on the edge of a field and saw some good birds but none came close enough. At about 11 my friend met me in the bard and then we called again. He was sitting facing my side and i was acing out the barn. A jake showed up and literally tried coming in the barn. He figured out that he needed to go around and my friend said when he gets about 15 yards shoot him because you will probably miss if he gets too close. Well, the jake started coming down the side of the barn and i got my gun ready It got 15 yards and i said im going to shoot. He couldn't see the bird and insisted that i wait. Well, 10 yards, wait, 8, wait. Well, it got about 4 yards away and he saw it out of the corner of his eye. He said in a quiet voice "shoot, shoot" Well, i blasted that jake and the thing just dropped. Never flapped one wing, just had a hole in his head. He thought it was histerical and looking back that was one of the funniest and most memorable hunts i have ever experience.

[beards-n-bones]

The best is when my best friend killled his first long beard. It was the last day of season, I had been tagged out for a while and my buddy had killed his fist jake opening weekend. We were hunting my farm and birds were on fire that day. I was calling for him and we had several birds working but nothing worked out right. It was @ noon and we were walking the skirts of a hayfeild calling as we were moving(run & gun baby!!) when all of a sudden a gobbler lets out about 150 yards from us. After 10 minutes would could see him strutting in the feild 60 yards from us. I was calling a few yards back from my friend hoping the bird would come in a littel closer when all of a sudden I see myfriend start low crawling through the feild. I got nervous and stopped calling trying not to draw the bird into my friend who is on his belly. Well,my friend pulled it off. Got within 40 yards of the bird and made a good clean shot on him. He was so proud and excited he was beside himself. I was glad to be able to be a part of the hunt and see him take his first long beard.

[Tha' Hat]

I've had more good and humerous experiences than I can count when it comes to turkeys. One of the most recent was last fall. I had killed my first bird on the opening day of the October season, and was actually walking our farm at midday, tacking up a few posted signs. I had a mouth call in my pocket and my shotgun with me, but I wasn't really hunting per se.

Well, I walked right up on a flock of birds in the hardwoods. I was probably close enough for a shot, but I was positioned perfectly for a good scatter. I ran at them like a wild man, screaming and cussing, and the birds flew in seemingly every direction. I found a good tree near the scatter point, took a seat and popped in my mouth call.

Within 10 minutes, I had turkeys yelping and kee-keeing in every direction. One boisterous jake approached, not by walking, but by flying limb to limb. I watched him perch in a pine about 60 yards away, and continued with my calling.

Suddenly, I heard two loud wing beats and the jake dropped out of the trees, sort of like a totally committed duck to decoys and landed, no lie, three feet from the toe of my boot. He almost got bug-eyed as he picked me out and turned to leave. My gun was already on my shoulder, and he was just beginning a full run. I pulled the trigger at a range of about 2 yards. The turkey's upturned tail was the next thing I saw. One large, jagged hole took the place of the back of his head. Instantly humane, to say the least. And that little dude was some kind of tasty.

[bucksnducks]

three years ago was the first timeturkey hunting and i went with a buddy about 10:00 finaly got on to one he was hotter than a match we set up on him and after about 10 min off calling dead beard but icouldnt get a shot on him we went and ate at subway went to another spot and within 30 min i shot my first bird after that i was addicted dont want to make this story longer i havent killed on sence that day i hope this i can hopefully tag out

[mcdenney]

I have several but one that comes to mind was when I was hunting with my father-in law in Georgia. He called in and killed a big-gun that morning while I was having zero luck. He was rumbing it in pretty good, tellin me how he did it,etc.. He decides in order to have something to do he would just go along with me that afternoon. We get back in the area I thought might be good and we setup. After about 10 minutes or so I scratch out a few calls. I look over and he is sound asleep, out like a light. I said oh well, anyway. I look back out in front of me and about 100 yards out are 4 long beards coming on a dead run with beards swinging. I could literally hear them running in the leaves. He is about 15 yards away to my right and I am like "pssttt", "hey", whistle, throwing sticks everything at him....nothing, still out of it. Anyway, I get ready for the shot and they just keep coming and coming. The get real close to him, kinda at an angle between us. They get so close that they wake him up with his gun laying across his lap. He raises his head and is staring eye to eye with a big ole gobbler. The gobblers freeze and he freezes. Needless to say the jig was up. Lucky for me that three of them were to his left, closer to me. They were all three kinda close together with only a clear shot on two of them. I knew it was gonna be over soon so I let the hammer down and turkeys started floppin everywhere. The only clear shot I had was on the two in the open and needless to say laid them both out. If he would have been awake I am sure we could have killed at least one more. What a day!!!!:D Tagged out with my third bird early the next morning. Two days and three long beards!

[turk2di]

It was @ Peabody in 2000. I heard a bird sound off at the head of a pine thicket, so i decided to circle around him by traveling the ridge running paralell to his. As i stepped into this pine thicket across the hollow from his, i heard tree clucking break out nearly overhead. I froze, eased down against a pine & sat down. Long story short, the hens began pitching into the hollow between except for one that alighted with 30yds of me on my ridge. I kept her there by cutting at her as she would cutt back. Well, the ole gobbler was a tearin it up each time me & the hen argued. After about 15 minutes of this nonsense, he had enuf. Here he come up the hill, madder than the dickens at the two of us. He was hammerin out that old throaty, ground thumpin gobble. Just really annoyed at me for holdin up the show. He walked up & stood behind the only skeleton pine along the ground in that thicket!! Never stepped that 2 more feet i needed. Oh for a decoy out at that point. I think he got suspicious at not seeing this hen(i shut-up when he neared the top). He promptly turned, stomped back down the hill, gobblin all the way & he and his group left. I was a shakin mess, but quite exilarated! It was a draw. I beat him, yet he lived! Hindsight being what it is, i coulda done some things different, such as simply busted the hens off roost, hopefully gettin a good scatter. Anyway, my top episode.

[Ky Deer Slayer]

My first ever turkey hunt was with my brother on the youth turkey hunt. We were hunting a field were he had seen a good gobbler the day before. So we set up in a good spot to where we thought he would come into at least 30 yards, but as hunting goes with every animal he came in the exact opposite and worst part he could have come from, and to make matters worse he was all henned up. But my brother was dead set on getting me this bird so he nearly killed himself with all the calling and hitting his hat on the ground to simulate a turkey flapping its wings. But the old tom stayed farther out than we would have liked him to be, but my brother said that he knew that his mossberg could hit that bird at that range and told me to shoot whenever I thought I could take him. Then with one hail mary of a shot he dropped like a ton of bricks. It was a my first bird and it was 21 lbs. 8 in. beard and 3/4 in. spurs. But what I love to tell people is that is was a 63 yard shot. Believe it son.

[big300mag]

I've had a lot of great experiences over the last 15-20 years, but one of the most memorable hunts happened to be the one when I killed my best bird to date. I located this tom on the roost in a pine thicket at the base of a small ridge. I was able to work my way above and behind the gobbling bird and snuck to within 60 yards of where the ridge dropped off toward the creek bottom where he was roosted. I began with some soft tree yelps at which he responded with double and triple gobbles. Then I gave him a fly-down cackle and heard him pitch from his roost. He gobble a couple more times before making his way to the end of my ridge; 60 yards out. This old bird new what he was doing. He refused to get any closer. He strutted back and forth, drumming like crazy with very little gobbling. I've never heard a tom drum as much as he did. He would strut back and forth, gobbling every 10-15 minutes but drumming the rest of the time. This tom made his appearance around 7 a.m. and at 8:30 he decided it was about time to go find a more accommodating "hen". He began walking back down into the hollow where he roosted, but the direction he was traveling was going to bring him to within 50 yards. I knew it was now or never! I prefer to get the birds within 30 yards, but after working this bird for an hour and a half, I wasn't about to let him get away! I put a load of #5's in him at 49 steps. He ended up weighing in at 25 lbs. with a 10" beard and 1 3/8 spurs. He was a great bird and put on a show for the ages.

[shaman]

Me and Mister Natural (http://www.blackholecoffeehouse.com/turkey.htm)

[OUTBACK]

Last year I killed my first gobbler after about 6-7 years of turkey hunting. I've killed 3 jakes, but the past 2 years I decided that it was time to either take a big boy or no turkey at all.

I had spent the morning of the 2nd day of the 06 season at the farm that I do most of my hunting. I had worked a bird for about 3 hours and he got within about 70 yards and wouldn't come in any closer. After watching him strut his way out of sight I decided it was time to head back to the house and grab a bite to eat before heading back out again. When I was fixing to pull into the driveway of my house I looked into the field in our bottoms and saw 2 little black dots in the distance. I knew that they were turkeys and I parked my truck at the bottom of my driveway and headed up a woodline that seperated the field from another one. Walking as fast as I could (never run with a firearm) I finally got to the end of the field and set up just a few feet off of a new trail I had cut through the wood line during the 05 deer season.
I got my decoys set up and rested myself under a tree and began a couple of soft yelps. Before I could even finish my series of yelps "GOBBBLLLEEEEEE" And he was close. My heart began pounding. I sat silent for a minute or two and started yelping again and dejavu "GOBBBLLLLEEEE" and it felt like he was right on top of me. I searched with my eyes and finally spotted movement and it was a hen and she was coming fast. She came up and went past me at 5 feet and kept on towards my decoys. Then I spotted the tom. He was steadily working his way towards my position. When he was within 10 feet I could feel his eyes searching the terrain but I remained still except for the beat of my heart as it was pounding so loud I was afraid I would scare him off. When he finally turned his head he was at 5 FEET!!! Boom!!!!

The sun was shineing and the breeze felt good on my face. I sat in a daze as I stared at my first tom and his magnicifent shiney feathers. His beard ended up being 11 in. , 1.5 spurs and weighed 24 lbs.

Now I'm just waiting for sat. . . .