How’d you get your start?

How’d you get into turkey hunting?
Age when you killed your first?

I was 8 and my teacher and her husband took me. Been after them ever since. I still ain't near as good as north40r

Weve been doing it a couple years now but I cant see any end to it. If deer would hollar back at you from 200yds away, I might not ever make it to work in the winter.

The first time hunter advice thread that is pinned at the top of the turkey forum is a great start. I also have learned a lot by many folks on here. It does help to go with an experienced turkey hunter. I was fortunate to learn to turkey hunt from a couple of turkey killers, but you truly never quit learning. I started at 15 and killed my first Jake by myself at 15. Killed my first mature gobbler at 16 and it had two bears and 1 3/8 spurs and is still my biggest to date.

My grandfather got me into it, but he was not a run and gun type hunter. He would put 2 hens and a Jake decoy in a field and wait. Once I started hunted with my first turkey hunting mentor who was a “run and gun” type hunter, it changed everything. My grandfather killed many just sitting on a green field but I love the chase. I’ve been bitten by the bug ever since and am 25 now. I’ve killed a few birds but I’m nowhere near as good as many of the other well known turkey killers on this site.

30ish. No mentor or friends who hunted turkeys so all my learning was by error and more error. Lol I still learn something every time I step into the woods to hunt them. I killed one my first season and have steadily grown to love turkey hunting more than deer. My job doesn’t allow me a ton of time to chase them but I try every chance I get. Good luck on your journey, if it bites you spring time will never be the same.

I allways made fun of a buddy for hunting turkeys, I was bored and he said come go with me I was already up st the club so I agreed. After a few attempts we finally struck a birds 30
Mins later I had 2 long beards hammering it at the end of the gun barrel!! 2 came in strutting and smoked one of them. I can replay that in my mind like it was yesterday and from then on out I’ve been addicted and I thank my friend every open morning for that great morning I’ll never forget.i believe I was around 23 then

Youth pastor took me when i was 14. Killed one on my first hunt. Hooked ever since.

Pretty young. Fall hunted with my Dad and Spring Hunted with my Uncle, his brother. Killed my first in 1976. I was 12 .

I started just to see what all the fuss was about, took me 2 years to get one but I learned a lot by making stupid decisions. After that first one I was hooked!

Was in my early 20s. Killed my first turkey in the Old River Swamp WMA in south Mississippi with one of my good friends

11 years old. Eddie Salter guided and called for me. Fosters Loop Road

True story

Been down hill ever since

Started about a decade ago right out of college with my then girlfriend's dad. I hunted 4 years without a bird. Not because he didn't put me on them, but because I kept screwing up opportunities. After that first one, it's been game on ever since!

You can put the pom poms up for now son! I ain't even close to tagged out!

I went once or twice in high school just not many birds around on my families land...i killed 1st when i was 30 or 31 a few miles from me I'm 35 now...i saw 1st turkey around my house 4 years ago and I've lived close by my whole life except 5 years...so far my total is 2 birds...deer is much different story i hope the turkeys can grow here and I might change my mind on favorite game but for now deer rules

Grew up in the country with an old 20ga shotgun and plenty of land to hunt. Didn’t take long to make 2+2=4. We were blessed spoiled back then from the early-80’s thru mid-2000’s with ridiculous #’s of turkeys. Over the last 10-15yrs there has been a serious decline in population but that just makes the chase more rewarding when everything goes right.

I took my uncle and cousin on a lease I had in Wayne County TN when it was absolutely covered in turkeys. I let them shoot all the ones they called up and never lifted my gun even when I had an easy opportunity to double with my uncle. I just didn't get it because there were so many birds it just seemed too easy. Fast forward 5 or 6 years and I went with my brother on a place we had permission on in Alabama. . I'd been practicing with a mouth call all off season and decided I was going to give it another try. We heard a few birds but most were too far off the property but I struck one about 7:30 in a deep creek bottom that I thought we could get to. We walked down in the bottom and he answered me several times but I told my brother he was on the other side of a big creek. I started cutting hard at him and I heard wings flap and we dove for cover. He came in on a full run from about 150 yards and stopped at 50 yards and was gobbling his head off. I was shooting a 20 gauge and needed him to come 10 more yards but he got nervous when he couldn't see a hen and skirted us by using a blow down for cover and walked by us at 15 yards gobbling as he left. I looked at my brother and told him I was hunting every damn day until i killed one. I was mad at em like nothing else and I finally killed one on the last hunt that year. I've loved it ever since.

My dad got me started. Killed 2 when I was 5 years old. He was a Luke warm turkey hunter, but he would get me on a couple every year. When I could drive, I really went head over heels for a gobble. I’d say my addiction has steadily gotten worse since.

We saw a few deer hunting when I was a kid and that got me interested. Started reading everything I could get my hands on about them.
We hunted my dad’s family farm in Virginia every Thanksgiving. They had a pretty long fall season in those days. And first one I ever killed was in the fall. Few years later, AMB and I started getting after them pretty good and I got my first spring bird on his family’s farm in Brewton. Places have come and gone but I still go a little every year. It’s a tad difficult when there aren’t many turkeys where you live. I haven’t kilt one in a hot minute. Maybe this year.

My daddy an grandaddy were turkey hunters. My older brother and daddy started takin me when i was 5 or 6. I started shootin atem when i was bout 9...i missed probly 5 or 6 before i finally killed one when i was about 14. It was a jake, i killed my first longbeard when i was 19....an i been wakinem ever since. I have learned alot since i started...but the hardest thing for me was actually killin the turkey...i went through some dark times..but i finally partially finished my turkey education and am refining my craft.

my brother got me started in the 90’s - was late 20’s when i killed my first one

my dad was a dove/quail hunter - but he had a friend in the heating & cooling business that was eat up with turkey hunting & he taught me a lot

Give a buddy a compliment and he just punches you in the face.

Started tagging along early on. Dad let me carry a gun for turkey at 12. Shot 1st bird that year and most years after though baseball limited my hunting in highschool. Our season only allowed 1 bird a week over a 2 week season. So better hope weather was good on Sunday. After the first year I mostly hunted alone or took a friend. My dad figured he took me for several training years and helped me with my 1st, so I was on my own. Luckily we had lots of birds so I could screw up and still have more opportunities.

What a lot of people do not know about North40R is just how hard it works for them. He and I have been friends for years. He eat, sleeps and breathes all things turkey!

I have seen firsthand how hard he works for them. Also told some people the other day he should go to Nashville and enter the calling competition because the man can flat put run a Turkey call.

I was 38 back in 98. Killed my 1st on my 1st hunt. Granted it was a Jake. The hunt lasted all of 15 minutes. I was fortunate to have a great place to hunt with no pressure. I killed a ton of birds the first 10 years. The last 10 is a different story though.

I guess I'm the old man of the bunch. I just killed my first one this week at 49.y.o.. I've been at it casually for the last three years and it's, yet, another way I can get
out into God's creation.

Congratulations

I started kinda late, in my late 30s. I picked it up pretty quick. We leased some property on the Pike/Coffee line in peanut country. That place and all around was covered up in turkeys, deer not so much. Those peanut farmers hated deer and killed every one they could to save damage on their peanut fields, but loved their turkeys

My father carried us dove hunting from the time I could walk, but he didn't deer or turkey hunt. I pretty much read everything I could about both, started turkey hunting when I got 16 and a way to get to the woods. Pretty much self taught on my own, lots of steep learning curves included. Killed my first gobbler when I was 16 in Sumpter Co, have killed at least one every year since then. Honed skills on Hollins Mgt Area, then Wilcox Co birds with David Gaston and other turkey killers there. Been killing em for 50+ years.

My dad,missed several before I killed my first one in 1989,I was 9 years old,Called up my first one by myself at 13 and been hard at it ever since.

I started turkey hunting 3 years ago at 32 years old. First year I only heard them, last year I was in the game twice on public land and missed one, this year we shall see.

I can remember sitting between my dads legs and watching a few hunts. When I was 10 it was finally my turn to tote a gun. I killed my first bird that year and it was a good one(1 1/4 spurs & double beard). I believe it was the last year you couldn’t use decoys in Alabama too. The hunt is on video too. I’ll see if I can’t get it uploaded to YouTube. I am 26 now, and I’ve always been ate up with it. I’ve been fortunate enough to learn from some of the best. I enjoy hunting anything out there because it helps pass the time until the spring. I videoed my wife kill her second bird on opening day, and today I killed my third of the season. I make it a point to learn something new or take something from every day that I get to go chase these birds. I sat on the banks of the Chattahootchee this morning after an awesome hardwoods hunt just feeling blessed. It was social distancing at its finest. I’m going to tote the camera in the morning hoping to put one in my dads lap.

Bout 30 years ago lumber salesman ask if I'd like to go. Still hold that against him.

When I was in my early 20s I just got a hankerin to try it. My 3rd cousin is Jerry gardner of heart of Dixie game calls. I would go hang out at his shop and just listen to him and the other guys that hung around. Jerry was kind enough to give me a couple calls to get me started and off I went. Turkey hunted for 4 season's and we lost the Chelsea game preserve so I bought a boat and started fishing. Didn't Turkey hunt for 10 years and started back last year.

I think I started at 14 or 15. My dad didn't turkey hunt at all so I had to learn on my own using trial and error and some of the Drurys vhs tapes on calling. First call I ever got is one that I talked dad into buying for me at the buckmasters expo. It was a MAAD Super Aluminator and it's still riding around in my vest today. First turkey I ever killed was a bearded hen that I belly crawled on and mistook for a gobbler when I was 15. A year after that I finally got one one hot off the limb and called him to me across the pasture. I thought I was going to just fall apart before he got close enough for me to shoot him. But he finally did and I let him have it with my uncles high gloss 870 wingmaster with a poly choke and 2 3/4" shells. I've been like a freaking crackhead for it ever since. I've learned a lot in the 14 yrs that I've been chasing them but I'll never even get close to knowing it all.

Y'all meet my two sweethearts, pumpkin (RTH) and cupcake (Clark8907)! Lol!

Thanks for the compliments guys!

Jansen you've been around a weekend or two when we were taking it easy brother. I wouldn't hesitate to say that RTH and I have walked hundreds of miles together.

I was 7/8 when my mom took me to the turkey show in Bham...saw Ben Lee's son there who my mom grew up with his sister and he gave me a diaphragm and a Ben Lee cassette tape. Literally listened to that tape and another and learned to call and hunt on my own all thanks to my dad (who wasn't a turkey hunter) who took me to the camp to hunt.

I was 10-11, took me several years to kill one because I kept messing up. Once I figured it out, I found out I still don't have it figured out. These birds keep teaching me something new, it's been 45 years or so now.

Yea...I have heard plenty of stories though. Haven't been there firsthand but a couple of times though.