Just curious....what number of springs is this for you in the turkey woods ?
This year will be my 40th spring. I started with my Dad when I was 8. He was a deer hunter and knew little about a turkey. There were only a few spots in our mountains that held birds. I had a friend in school whose family seriously hunted them in SC, I wanted to be like my buddy so Dad accommodated me and we tried to get after them ourselves, without much success.
My how times have changed...no thermacells, no dekes, no pop up tents. A single shot and a few 2.75" number 4's. Didn't get any camo until I was about 16, usually woodland, but you were super cool if you could find some tiger stripe at the surplus store. No mouth calls around my area, hardly any pot calls and a nice box call was my only true treasure.
Its about this time each year that I look back and long for simpler times...it's been a long time...40 years. Wow, hard to admit sometimes that you aren't a kid anymore and the world is changing quickly.
How many springs will this be for you ??
This madness all started for me back in 1976, something like 41 years WOW ...
Things have come so far it is almost crazy
Quote from: Fullfan on February 15, 2017, 07:52:32 PM
This madness all started for me back in 1976, something like 41 years WOW ...
Things have come so far it is almost crazy I did not even have a drivers license.
And at that time there not many places in PA where you could kill a spring gobbler.
Hunted with my fathers single barrel 10 ga
24 for me
I'm just a young buck...............
I believe this will make the 38th spring season for me.
I believe this will be 31 for me. Killed my first bird in blue jeans. Only had a mouth call, box calls were expensive, at least for me compared to a mouth call. I had a piece of camo cloth I cut holes in and tried sewing around the frame of some old busted sunglasses I come up with.
One call in my vest probably cost more than I spent in my first 6 or 7 years of turkey hunting. I didn't even grow up in turkey country. Flat ground cleared for miles, cotton and rice country. Mom and Dad would take me to grandpas on Fridays after school and he would take me turkey hunting on Saturday. He didn't believe in hunting on Sundays. When I got a little older I got to skip one day of school a year to go turkey hunting.
My how times have changed! Not always sure it's for the better though.
Quote from: Fullfan on February 15, 2017, 07:55:46 PM
Quote from: Fullfan on February 15, 2017, 07:52:32 PM
This madness all started for me back in 1976, something like 41 years WOW ...
Things have come so far it is almost crazy I did not even have a drivers license.
And at that time there not many places in PA where you could kill a spring gobbler.
Hunted with my fathers single barrel 10 ga
Yep.
I was several years from a driver's license too.
I hunted the first gobbling bird that was in our area in modern times. There were always a few turkeys 8 or 10 miles from our house in the big "crick hills". But NEVER any anywhere near the house in my dad's memory.
I started in woodland camo............ Trebark, Mossy Oak and Realtree were still several years from existing................carrying a Winchester 1200 2 3/4" gun with a factory Extra Full Winchoke tube and loaded with Federal magnum #2 shot. I had a Smith's diaphragm call I couldn't use and a tube call I hade made that I could use.
Killed my 1st turkey in the fall of '78. So, it's been a couple... :o
Depends on how you want to look at it. Going on 22 years wandering around the woods squawking on a turkey call. 15 years of wandering around woods that actually held turkeys, squawking on a turkey call and killing them.
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Should add that I was self taught. Started trying to kill turkeys with a full choked new englander 20 guage and a lohman turkey tracer call.
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This will be my 26th spring hunting turkeys.
41-Lord willing
I'm the rookie so far. Started in 2007, when the turkey population in Eastern NC made a comeback. Killed my first gobbler on April 24th 2009 and haven't looked back. I've been Blessed to have my Slam already and enjoy this sport so much. I try to make at least one trip out of state each year. I also have been self taught as well. Killed my first bird with a Remmy 1100 with 2 3/4 inch, 1 1/2 oz load of #5's, now my go to is a 835 with 3 1/2 inch Hevi 7's.
I think I went out for the first about 20 years ago but didn't get serious about it until the last 10 years.
32 years , this spring and i have enjoy every year ...God Bless ....I still have my old Browning plane barrel, that i started with...
Somewhat of a young gun on here, this will be my 28th spring!
Here in WI we never had wild turkeys when I was a kid... so my first season I was 22.
MK M GOBL
Well...I first picked a call up in 1982. A buddy of mine wanted to try it so we sort of partnered up and attacked the woods near a local lake. I was working a week on and a week off at the time. And most of the days I did work were afternoons so I probably missed 3 or 4 days of the 30 or so it was open. Then I changed jobs and other stuff came up so I did not turkey hunt again for 30 years. Yes..I said 30. In fact; I for awhile actually despised them. Called them feathered rats. We can bait deer here and they kept eating my corn. At least I could do something about hogs but turkeys were safe. Then a funny thing happened. A guy that worked for me invited me to go with him. He called up a bird and I was able to shoot him. That lit a fire inside me that I pray never dies out again.
Killed my first turkey, a hen in the fall of 1965 in Florida sitting between my Dads legs listening to him tell me when to shoot. Our first spring was 1966 and we haven't missed a spring since. So this will be #51. I hope you don't mind but here's a picture of my first turkey ever from so many years ago. This was before we realized you needed camo to turkey hunt. I think the first turkeys we killed while wearing camo was around 1970.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v395/olesixbeards/image_zpshhvers0u.jpeg)
I got serious about turkey hunting after I got through being serious about softball playing. That was 22 years ago. I have hunted close to 25 springs
38 years
A single shot 12 , a lynch jet and a penn woods mouth call to start .
A Leroy Braungart 33 album for instruction and inspiration.
Going on 28 for me. Wow!
25 springs for me, I was 10. First time was with my grandpa in Woodville, Ms. He was old school, born Leap year, Feb 29 1920. Yelp and get a answer, then SHUT UP! Always said that BS on Tv was just people trying to sell ya stuff. He grew up hunting the old breed that was in the Florida Parish's of Louisiana before the 2nd World War. I inherited a call from him that his daddy made with his pocket knife, looks similar to a Lynch Jet Slate. Calls 75-100 years old and will go back to Woodville, Ms on March 15 this year....
Quote from: owlhoot on February 15, 2017, 09:03:54 PMA Leroy Braungart 33 album for instruction and inspiration.
Wow, there's a name from the past !!
Quote from: guesswho on February 15, 2017, 08:46:46 PM
Killed my first turkey, a hen in the fall of 1965 in Florida sitting between my Dads legs listening to him tell me when to shoot. Our first spring was 1966 and we haven't missed a spring since. So this will be #51. I hope you don't mind but here's a picture of my first turkey ever from so many years ago. This was before we realized you needed camo to turkey hunt. I think the first turkeys we killed while wearing camo was around 1970.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v395/olesixbeards/image_zpshhvers0u.jpeg)
:icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:
I'm old but I got a late start. April of 2008 was my first hunt. Saw my first gobbler strutting, about messed my pants! Didn't get him but later on that day I killed one that had just got the butt whoopin of a lifetime from another gobbler. He came running in to find the hen that was talking nice to him. He had no spurs but did have a good beard. I've been hooked ever since that day!
38 for me I got my first bird with no camo and my fall hen with no camo my spring gobbler I was in camo.
It will be 40 yrs this spring
:turkey2:
I harvested my first turkey in the fall of 1969, so this will be my 47th spring hunting wild turkeys. I don't care to run and gun anymore, but the passion is stronger than ever.
#25 for me. Started when I was 10 with my dad. Turkeys were just starting a comeback here in WV. Pretty cool looking back both of us learning as newcomers over the same time period.
Started when I was 9 killing my first longbeard. I'll be 32 in April so it's 23 years for me.
Quote from: owlhoot on February 15, 2017, 09:03:54 PM
A Leroy Braungart 33 album for instruction and inspiration.
By the watch?
45
Amazed at all the years of turkey hunting knowledge on here. This will be my 7th spring. I just hope I get to hunt as many as some of you guys have already hunted! :icon_thumright:
32
33 and it's amazing, I'm apparently one of the new guys. God bless ya all n now it's obvious why guys are so knowledgeable on this forum
36 years for me,hope for a few more.
25 and counting.
Technically, it's my 21st. Started going after them with my grandfather when I was about 14 or so. Didn't really get into it real hard in the beginning. It was something to do. Gained more interest when I turned 17 and that interest continued to grow. Can't say it really went full tilt until a few years ago though. Last year being the worst. Got bit by the turkey bug harder last spring than ever before and it was a tough pill to swallow not connecting with a bird. Very enjoyable but they certainly handed it to me last year. This spring will be different though. Glad it's coming up soon.
Bowbender, from NC. Yep, I had been hunting mt. gobblers for 20 years in the north GA. mountains when you first started. I killed my first gobbler in 1958; the second gobbler I had encountered that same day. All the things you guys relate to, I too have been there. That's 60 turkey season for me last season; 1956---2016.
50 years for me counting going with my dad, I killed my first bird by myself in 1977.....wow, so long ago, time flies, better enjoy them while we can.
Killed my first longbeard in Wilkes County, GA in April of 1978. Remember it like it happened this morning. I still don't know who was more surprised - me or him :TooFunny:
Like someone wrote earlier in the thread, the fire still burns hot. Reality is that I have fewer years ahead than behind me.. I still enjoy hunting, and killing turkeys.
I started hunting turkeys in 1982 without much of a clue or many birds to hunt. So, it will be 35 years for me this Spring. Back in the day, I had some military surplus woodland camo and those mesh green camo gloves that seemed like they were made to attract mosquitoes more than anything else. I bought a Lynch box call from a buddy that he never could get to run right. It seemed to work well enough for me once I got the hang of it. I wish I still had access to some of the land I used to hunt. It is covered up by a subdivision these days. It was great while it lasted.
Jim
Quote from: Happy on February 15, 2017, 08:08:36 PM
Should add that I was self taught. Started trying to kill turkeys with a full choked new englander 20 guage and a lohman turkey tracer call.
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I too had the old lohman turkey tracer.
Gotta Respect how long some of you guys have been chasing these silly birds around and still have that fire
This will be my 17th season of hunting age but the first 7 years my turkey hunting career consisted of 1 single day of hunting at my Uncles just getting out there not knowing what the heck I was doing. Once I stumbled into a bird and killed my first one at 19 I knew I wanted to get more serious and I've been chasing them as much as possible since.
This will be my 21st spring. I didn't discover turkey hunting until my college years. My dad lived to deer hunt but never took an interest in turkey hunting.
14 springs! I went a few times when I was younger but didn't get into it till my early twenties. I killed my first turkey a jake in 2004 in a place called red dirt. A old man who was known as a turkey guru told me if you can kill a bird there you can kill one anywhere. That has stuck with me till this day and has served me well as a confidence booster many times when times got tough. I still talk to that old man at the dump sometimes. He'll actually talk turkey with me now! lol
This will be my 42nd spring. From what I remember we didn't have a spring season in my area prior to my USAF time which ended Dec. 74. I ambushed one in the spring of 1975. I was fishing on Sunday morning (day before opening of season) and a bird was gobbling his head off on the ridge behind me. I had some kind of box call and went after him on opening day and he'd gobble each time I made a noise. He walked past me at 25 yds. And I had not seen a wild turkey before and wasn't sure it was a turkey. He dropped off the top toward the river and then gobbled, not knowing better I sneaked over to kill him. He saw me and took off running and at about 50 yds. I shot and he rolled backwards flopping. I ran down to him and shot him in the head with the .22 barrel. The gun then was a Revelations 20ga/.22. I could not have been more excited. Fresher in my mind than most recent birds. 42 years later and a lot of changes in equipment and tactics/knowledge. About 2 months until my neighboring state of VA opening day.
This will be spring #19 for me. I started when I was 8 with dad and some good family friends. Was hooked almost immediately. At least as hooked as an 8 YO can be. I couldn't sit still very long and if birds weren't cooperating I would want to talk and joke with dad. Those early years were and are still some of my best memories with dad. I now have my first little one on the way and hope she has at least some interest in spending time with dad in the woods. I wouldn't trade any of the memories made with dad in the woods for anything. I was fortunate to get to learn and spend time at camp with some great men and great turkey hunters. It is amazing to me just how much has changed even since I first started 19 years ago, I can't imagine what it was like 40 years ago.
This is year 20 for me. First went in 1997, never actually saw a bird but had one gobbling to me with dad's old Roger Latham box call, killed number one the next year.
This will be my 42nd spring to chase the Thunder Chickens. :turkey2:
I killed my first gobbler on April 19th, 1984, the first day I hunted turkeys. It was Wisconsin's second turkey season. I hadn't applied for the first season, because I didn't know a thing about turkeys or really care. My Dad asked me if I wanted to try it, and I told him, yeah, I'll give it a try. We drew for the first of three four day seasons, and I remember scouting and hearing my first gobble on March 30th, 1984. I can't remember the movie my wife and I watched last week, but I remember EVERYTHING about that first hunt with my Dad. That hunt changed my hunting life. On the second day of the season my 66 year old Dad killed a gobbler, and ours were 2 of the 300 plus turkeys killed that spring.
We didn't draw in 1985, and it drove me nuts. So, Dad and I started our annual Missouri hunt in 1986 because we HAD to hunt turkeys. I'll be there for my 32nd spring this year. Now I'm almost as old as Dad was when he killed his first gobbler, and the fire burns just as bright.
Turkey hunting changed more than just my hunting life. I got into it so much, that I started competing in calling contests. I was successful in winning the Wisconsin open twice in the 1990's. I called in the Grand Nationals in 1992. Calling in front of audience, and later, running turkey hunter education clinics for the Wisconsin Chapter of NWTF and the WDNR helped cure me of being extremely nervous when speaking to groups. It helped me in my working life.
But the most important thing turkey hunting did for me was the impact it had on the relationship I had with my Dad. We grew so close because of turkey hunting, and I am forever grateful for that. Every time I kneel beside a downed longbeard, I think of my Dad, and I wonder if he knows how thankful I am that he asked me to try turkey hunting.
30th coming up
This will be my 8th. I didn't start turkey hunting until my late 20's.
This will be year 43. Would have been more if the turkey relocation had started earlier in Michigan. As someone mentioned earlier, and seriously got my attention, got more years behind me than are ahead of me. Be safe fellers!
next door neighbor took me turkey hunting my first time when was 13. I will be 75 in june. we hunted in the mountains of south east tn. turkeys were few and far between. did not kill one for several years after that. with raising a family military service and what have you (job) did not hunt on a regular basic until I was somewhere around 35 but I am still going ever day the season is open.
36 springs hunting turkeys. I hope the good lord gives me at least that many more. I know when my time here is done , my family , friends , dogs and turkey hunting is about all I will hate saying goodbye to.
Love this thread! A ton of experienced hunters here from all walks of life yet it seems like a lot of us came up similar. Thanks for starting this one!
This will be my 23rd spring
36
Started hunting the fall of 1972 at age 12 and killed my first turkey in 1975. If I count right that's about 45 years!
Wow......
48th spring.......No wonder, my wife gave me a camo'ed walker for Christmas..... :o
20 this year.
32 this spring .
I hadn't seen a wild turkey until I was approximately 16 years old while riding a dirt bike down a forest trail, and I didn't know anyone that turkey hunted until I was 18. The first turkey hunter I met was a coworker from Missouri. He didn't hunt too much but his dad talked about it a lot when I went to visit. Then at 19 I had a classmate in a college literature class. He knew I hunted whitetails because I talked about it too much (I'm sure my literature teacher was impressed). I can still remember his eyes lighting up when he talked about turkey hunting and told me I had to try it. I don't remember his name and can barely picture his face. I don't recall ever meeting him again other than during that semester. I applied for a tag the following spring, so this will be my 28th spring.
30 years for me
This will be number 49 God willing.
Hard to believe that it will soon be 40 years and 41 seasons for me. I'm looking forward to the 41st as much as any before. Still some of the most fun I've ever had with my clothes on.
:blob10:
31 and going strong. Started with a one piece woodland camo suit and a 2 3/4" gun with a military boonie hat. What a green horn. One thing that is still the same, I still shake like a rattler every single encounter I have. " Ain't nothin else that gives me this thrill"
My first turkey season was in 1981 and haven't missed a spring season yet!
This will be my 15th spring. Started my junior year of high school, wish id started earlier. Looking forward to my next 30 years!
I started going with my dad when I was a little boy around the age of 5, she a few birds die with my dads full choke auto Ithaca, I killed my first bird at the age of 10 and haven't stopped since and I can remember my dad dropping me off at our small camp on my spring break during school and hunting by myself all day, learned a lot hunting by myself!! I'm 38 now man how time flys
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This will be my 8th if you include the one time I went with a friend in 2010. But solo hunting it would be my 7th spring coming up.
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49!
damn I'm old!
Regards
Turk :OGani:
Greetings, gentlemen.
First post since joining the forum.
50 springs behind me and looking forward to at least another decade chasing longbeards.
Quote from: Strutr on February 19, 2017, 09:19:29 PM
Greetings, gentlemen.
First post since joining the forum.
50 springs behind me and looking forward to at least another decade chasing longbeards.
Welcome and congrats on 50 springs
Thanks, Greg.
Dave
A long time ago.....
In the woods........
Far........
Far........
Away...
:funnyturkey:
33
41st spring season, coming up too fast. & it'll be over too damned quick...
:camohat: 22 Springs, still consider myself a novice, more behind me than in front of me, but who's counting. As Tom Kelly said '....I'm glad I lived to see it one more time.' We only have so many springs, let 'em in close, enjoy the gobbler comin in, huntin for the hen ! May you all hear the rattle.....
Quote from: Strutr on February 19, 2017, 09:19:29 PM
Greetings, gentlemen.
First post since joining the forum.
50 springs behind me and looking forward to at least another decade chasing longbeards.
Congrats are in order, sir. God willing and the creek don't rise, I'll be there in a couple of years!!
Gman
18 years ago we bought our house on 11 acres. I'd never lived anywhere there were turkeys before and didn't know that there were any here, but the spring season had stated so I borrowed a plastic push-pin call and figured it was a good reason to just go sit in the woods. The owner of the call taught me how to make a yelp. At daybreak, one sounded off a couple hundred yards away on the neighbor's property. That was the first gobble I'd ever heard. Moved to the property line and started calling. He answered every time I called, but after what seemed like an hour, he shut up. Little bit later I heard a sharp cluck from somewhere over my shoulder followed by the sound of something running away. Did not get turned around fast enough to see, but later learned that was called an alarm putt.
Have still never hunted with anyone else, so the learning curve has been slow. It has been a blast and I know I've still got lots I can learn - that's where this forum comes in, many thanks to all who're willing to share their knowledge!
Quote from: Strutr on February 19, 2017, 09:19:29 PM
Greetings, gentlemen.
First post since joining the forum.
50 springs behind me and looking forward to at least another decade chasing longbeards.
Welcome n congrats on your 50 years
I've been "trying" to kill a turkey since around 2007 or so. But only having 2 or 3 chances to go a year in a place with exceptionally few turkeys works against you lol last year I finally gained access to a few acres with a ton of birds around it but hard to get them to leave the big ag fields. Hopefully I get on one this year but I won't be holding my breath ????so I guess this will be 8 springs
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This will be my 21st season.
We have some experienced turkey slayers here!
I started in 1999 or 2000, can't recall exactly. Heck, I didn't even know anyone who had hunted turkeys when I started. We had some birds where I hunted and it looked fun on TV so I bought a Lynch Foolproof box and some Winchester turkey shells and gave it a try.
Been hooked since day one. :funnyturkey:
This will be my 23rd
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My 9th can't believe it's been that many. I'm not quite 21 yet.
Hi, fellow turkey hunters. I began turkey hunting in the North Georgia Mountains 60 years ago; 1956 was that year. Killed my first turkey in 1958. This was a originial native turkey that has always lived in the mountains there; on the Blue Ridge WMA.Thankfully I have never missed a season hunting there. In the year of 2012, I wrote and published a book titled; "Native Turkeys and a Georgia Mountain Turkey Hunter", which contains 295 pages of my turkey hunting life. Looking forward to my sixty-one turkey season; in the turkey woods this Spring.
If my math is correct, this will be #29.
Quote from: Herb McClure on February 20, 2017, 01:49:04 PM
Hi, fellow turkey hunters. I began turkey hunting in the North Georgia Mountains 60 years ago; 1956 was that year. Killed my first turkey in 1958. This was a originial native turkey that has always lived in the mountains there; on the Blue Ridge WMA.Thankfully I have never missed a season hunting there. In the year of 2012, I wrote and published a book titled; "Native Turkeys and a Georgia Mountain Turkey Hunter", which contains 295 pages of my turkey hunting life. Looking forward to my sixty-one turkey season; in the turkey woods this Spring.
God bless you n welcome!
Killed my first bird during an Ohio youth season when I was 15, addicted ever since. I will never forget it my Dad was on the hunt with me. it was the first turkey hunt he was on and he videoed the whole hunt. That was about ten years ago this spring. So I am still a young pup!
Quote from: Bowguy on February 20, 2017, 04:45:32 PM
Quote from: Herb McClure on February 20, 2017, 01:49:04 PM
Hi, fellow turkey hunters. I began turkey hunting in the North Georgia Mountains 60 years ago; 1956 was that year. Killed my first turkey in 1958. This was a originial native turkey that has always lived in the mountains there; on the Blue Ridge WMA.Thankfully I have never missed a season hunting there. In the year of 2012, I wrote and published a book titled; "Native Turkeys and a Georgia Mountain Turkey Hunter", which contains 295 pages of my turkey hunting life. Looking forward to my sixty-one turkey season; in the turkey woods this Spring.
God bless you n welcome!
X2
Hope I am able to have that many years in turkey hunting.
MK M GOBL
Been at it for 25 years now. Killed my first bird when I was 12 and killed at least 1 bird every year after that, until last spring! Still stings a little. Lol
Jeeze first hunt was 40 years ago this spring...hard to believe..forever grateful to my daddy for taking the time to share with me and mess up my hopes at becoming a crappie fishing pro....forever :TooFunny: RIP my father and friend!
Quote from: Farmboy27 on February 20, 2017, 08:03:39 PM
Been at it for 25 years now. Killed my first bird when I was 12 and killed at least 1 bird every year after that, until last spring! Still stings a little. Lol
Thats a good run though! It took me three years unitil things started to click. Ive killed at least one bird every year since although it hasnt been easy!