What gun did you start turkey hunting with?Calls? Shells?Vests?

[jblackburn]

I had a Mossberg 835, used a HS Strut Raspy Old hen to call him in.  I had some old leather workbooks that soaked my feet, Old Advantage camp from walmart, and no vest. 

[Red Clay]

I had a Remington special purpose 12 gauge. No vest. I used a fanny pack. The camo was regular green camo with these pin-on leaves that Dad bought. My first calls were an "old boss hen" diaphragm and a Neil cost box dad bought for me from Greenwood Supply. I carried that box for years in the rain and sunshine. Then one day I went to a nwtf banquet and a similar box call auctioned off for over $1,000. I had no idea I had been carrying around a nice box call. All this was in the 80's.

[101st501]

3 1/2 number 4s out of a Mossberg 835, I thought bigger was better

[jblackburn]

I had a Mossberg 835, used a HS Strut Raspy Old hen to call him in.  I had some old leather workbooks that soaked my feet, Old Advantage camp from walmart, and no vest.

I got to thinking about this, and this set up is what I called in and killed my first bird with.

I actually started the year before with my great uncle's Iver Johnson single shot 12 gauge with a full choke. No idea about shells, probably something high brass we had, likely 4s.  Camo was probably the same, and the call was dad's old Roger Latham box call.  I had a bird gobble at me using it and that hooked me for life!

[Chuck1443]

The first year there was a turkey
season on my property 95' non             camo 835 that I put a camo sock on ( couldn't even cycle another shell )  I can't remember the name of the shells but they were 3" with a 3.5" load ( all the local shop had over 2.75 ) the ugliest knit camo outfit ever made and a hs strut double slate over glass that I learned to work sitting there with the instructions out laying on my leg , called in and shot a jake ( first turkey I ever seen ) 


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[T-town]

I started with a Rem 870 Wingmaster, 28 in modified  vent rib. #6 high brass squirrel loads. Lynch box. Woodland camo pattern. Face paint. Screwed up and killed a bird first trip out. Ruint for life!

[natman]

Gun: Mossberg 500 12 ga 3" with 28" barrel and Mossberg X-full choke. After a couple of years dragging the long barrel through the woods I switched to a 20" barrel. Did a camo job with CamoClad stickers and used it like that for nearly 20 years.

I needed another Mossberg for a slug gun project and while I was shopping for it I ran across this:



Short, light, powerful, fiber optic sights. Pretty much the same gun, but with factory camo. Perfect for the way I hunt.

Shells: I took my first turkey with a Remington turkey shell, but shortly thereafter I found some 3" 2oz lead #4 winchester turkey loads. I've since taken 27 turkeys in a row with one shot each. I suppose that if I used HTL and some load development I could come up with a load that would shoot farther, but within 40 yards this load is as deadly as anything else.

Clothing: I started out with surplus Woodland camo and a butt pad, but I soon got a full set of Realtree Xtra Brown, including a generic Cabelas vest. RTXB is an excellent pattern, and while there have been some improvements in photorealism over the years, I've had a hen walk around me close enough for me to kick and once had a squirrel jump onto my hat. I've decided the old camo is adequate to the task.

[eddie234]

My winchester 1300, which i still use. Primos power crystal and a lynch fool proof box call.

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[cphill]

H&r 12 ga it was a 3 1/2 in gun and I shot 2 of them in it then give the rest of the box away and bought some 3 in Winchester that I could handle....hunted everyday I could my first season and finally killed a long beard on the last day still one of the best birds I have killed and that was 14 years ago..call hs slate call and still use it from time to time

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[Pressured Gobbler]

NEF 10ga with factory Mossy Oak Bottomland camo pattern... Fed #4 turkey loads... Mossy Oak Longbeard turkey vest and a Grahms Mountainside combo call... and a chapman lowboy turkey seat

[hobbes]

My first season was spent wandering around in the rain with a Weatherby 12 ga. that I had applied camo tap to.  I don't remember what calls I used and I'm sure I used whatever camo I had for duck and deer hunting.  I don't remember what ammo I carried.  The most exciting event happened before season on a scouting trip.  I had never seen wild turkeys other than when I had run up on them while trail riding a dirt bike, so it was that area that I started looking in.  My first time out in early March resulted in a big tom strutting by me with five or six hens.  I was hooked from that point on.
Before the next season I purchased a full outfit of the original Realtree, an All Purpose Realtree vest, a plain Remington 12 ga. 870 Turkey Special w/ 21" barrel that would shoot 3" shells instead of just 2 ¾", a couple boxes of 3" Winchester XX Mag #5 turkey loads (in the grey Trebark box), and several calls that I still have.  I had a Lynch Jet Slate, a Ray Eye single sided box call, an HS slate call, a couple diaphragm mouth calls that I know included an HS Cutt'n 2.5, a Quaker Boy crow call, and a K&H owl call.  I lost the K&H owl hooter not too many years ago.  I also listened to a cassette tape over and over by HS that I believe was call Eye On The Wild Turkey that included Ray Eye and Walter Parrott giving instruction on how to call a bird in (wish I still had that) since my father or I neither one had any experience hunting turkeys. 
On the second or third day I could hunt that season I was using the Lynch Jet Slate when a jake slipped in behind me without making a sound.  I was more than happy to swing around and let him have it with a load of #5's.  I can still picture that first sight of that jake when I peeked around behind me.  My first tom came the following year using the same equipment but the HS slate instead of the Lynch.

[WildSpur]

I started with a Mossberg 500 shooting 3/2/4 Remington premier and Federal loads.

My camo was either my father's old army camo or I had a 10x coverall on the original realtree brown leaf.

I don't think I had a vest until I was in high school.

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[Hooks' n' Beards']

i started with a Winchester 1300 and still have 2 of them,i don't carry them in the turkey woods anymore but they are still my favorite slug guns for deer hunting and make great backup turkey rigs....             

[FL-Boss]

I started sometime in the late 80's. ...around 12 yr old.  But I didn't have a clue to what I was doing until about 10 years later.    Even then I only would hunt each spring maybe 2-4 times.   I actually killed my first gobber while deer hunting on new years eve with #1 buckshot when I was about 17 yr old.

Then about 6 years ago I stared to get super serious about spring turkey hunting....  hunt 3-4 days each week during spring season now.

Started with a Stevens single barrel 20ga, probably #4 ... Lohman slate call.

[nitro]

Wilkes County, GA April, 1978.  Vietnam surplus Tigger Stripe camo..

Grandpa's old Model 12 Heavy Duck model. WW Super X 1.5 oz #6s.....Same shells we duck hunted with.

Lynch Fool Proof. Still have it. Lots of notches on her...

I don't know who was more surprised.. Me or him. Either way, we both rode home in the 'Cuda..