|
Post by jirvin on Apr 14, 2005 15:10:07 GMT -5
I was talking to Bill on another thread and I was just wondering if most people got their first bird with help or on their own?
Personally I would like to be able to accomplish this by myself.I guess you could call it a pride thing or whatever,but I don't like it when the game gets the best of me,be it Deer,Turkey,etc.
Are my expectations to high to be able to get my first on my own ?I know Turkey hunting can be a team effort so I don't know about this one.
|
|
|
Post by freedomrules3 on Apr 14, 2005 21:45:16 GMT -5
well I'm not sure if i was lucky or i just watched so many turkey hunting videos it stuck lol. my very first call i ever made hunting got a gobble. next thing i know i had a tom strutting 35 or maybe 40 yards out in front of me. i honestly thought it was too far at this distance so i never took the shot. After calling my friend about it, he just laughed at me and said if it was 35 yards i should have shot it. so a lesson was learned.
The next day i went to the same spot at the same time, it was around 9 am, well the same scenerio played out except the tom wouldnt come in, it would gobble and gobble but would be off in the distance. i couldnt even see it but it was sounding off. at 11:30 i decided to make a small move towards where i thought it was since noon was the deadline. i moved maybe 20 yards to a tree and called again. that was all it took for this gobbler, he thought she was finally on the move i guess. saw him strutting, closer, closer and wham down he went. 20 lb bird with a 9.5 inch beard with 5/8 inch spurs. it was on my birthday 2 years ago. i have taken all my birds alone and personally think you have a better shot at one alone. less movement and all, but i do find it fun to go with other hunters though. I'm not an expert by FAR but must be doing something right, tagged out 2 years in a row now. Rick
|
|
|
Post by eshoremd on Apr 15, 2005 3:15:39 GMT -5
ahhhh! my first bird. those were the good days. i must be slipping upstairs if ya know what i mean, i just cant seem to recall my first bird? or second? or third?........... wait a minute!
|
|
|
Post by SCtrkyhntr on Apr 18, 2005 12:21:25 GMT -5
I got my first tom about 10 years ago in the company of another hunter. He just wanted to take me hunting because he knew my property waas full of birds and he had tags to fill. He did not explain one thing to me but called in three longbeards that died on the count of three. Since then I was in the woods every spring by myself and have learned alot. This year I have been in the woods with one of the best turkey hunters in our area and have sure learned alot from him.
|
|
|
Post by WVHunter129 on Apr 18, 2005 12:31:57 GMT -5
I haven't gotten one yet. I hunted for years by myself and never had any luck. This past year my youngest son got into turkey hunting, so now we go and I call for him and let him have the first one. Then he can call for me and let me take one.
Last year I called in a jake, but my son didn't know that it was a jake. He was looking for the red and blue head, never thought about looking for a beard. I didn't know it was a jake until it got to the air after spotting me and then I saw what looked like about a 2 or 3 inch beard.
This year we are better equipped, we purchased some decoys and been doing some more practicing with the calls.
In a previous post I have here on the board, on April 9th we went scouting and called in a big ole gobbler. Well big to us, he looked to have about a 9 inch or 10 inch beard. After calling him in we left once he walked off. We have already planned our strategy for Monday next week.
|
|
|
Post by BillCartwright on Apr 19, 2005 14:00:04 GMT -5
Jeff, As we discussed I understand you wanting to call your first bird in and the pride that goes along with it. We'd all like to experience that bird flying in off roost, gobble and go into strutt and boom, but it rarely happens that way. Don't beat yourself up. If a bird wants to fly down and go the other way, the best caller in the world will have a hard time turning him. And it is extremely difficult to get a bird away from hens or even coax a hen to you and with a gobbler in tow. It took me a couple years and many mistakes before I dropped my first bird. With that first bird will come a lot of confidence.
Get down this way the last weekend and as long as we don't have crappy weather, you'll have the opportunity to work some birds. If you want to do it yourself, I'll simply tell you what the gobbling bird is likely to do based on my scouting and you can get after them.
|
|
|
Post by DaveHawk on Apr 21, 2005 7:13:53 GMT -5
Jeff, my 1st was under the dirrection of Hatrick, last season and then this year I have missed one, a nice swamp bird in SC and I took my 1st on my own this season.
|
|