My 8-year-old shot a Nice turkey on saturday it was his first hunt. I hope he is'nt spoiled. It took me many days for my first bird and i was 24!
Dont fret the rain forecast-use it to your advantage!
Happy and safe hunting.

my son took his first bird last year at the age of 6, he is now hooked for life. i've been taking him to the woods since he was four and he has learned so much. probably has more patience than i do. just remember freedy's point that safety is always the first priority.

I shot my first (only) turkey last year just before my 23rd birthday, AND I AM HOOKED FOREVER!!!!! It was so similar to loosing my virginity, I didn't really know what to do beyond the basics (point and shoot), but I put what little knowledge I had to good use, and even though I had never done it before, I knew that when it happended I was really going to like it, and when it finally did, it was over way too quick, I saw my target, locked on, and before I even knew it, BOOM. When it was all over, I was shaking uncontrollably, and breathing so hard I thought I would pass out. I wipped the sweat from my brow, and smiled at what I had just experienced, knowing deep though my sole that this ritual would serve me with exhileration, joy, and primal contentment for the rest of my life, and even while the adrenaline stilled ran thick in my blood, I was already looking foreward eagerly to my next opportunity to remake this magic.
So far in my limited experiences on this earth, there are only the two aforementioned indulgences (yes, indulgences) which have brought feelings this strong, undeniable, unforgettable, and endlessly desireable. And that, in my book, makes a strong argument for how wonderful these experiences are.
Now, as to which of these ranks above the other, I'l leave you to draw your own conclusions!

Robert.

haha never heard that one before Robert. Hopefully I'll get my first turkey this season and experience it the same way that you described.

Turkey Crazed (or any others with $.02 to give)- As you read in my previous post, I am fairly new and innocent in the tactics of this game, however I am striving for knowledge and advantages whenever and wherever possible. And, with that in mind, you mentioned to make the moisture work for you, have you any suggestions to help with that task? (now, now, just to be CRYSTAL CLEAR, I am referring exclusively to turkey hunting, all OTHER advise should be properly labled as to it's intent, cause if not- the consequences in the turkey woods are surely to work out as less than favorable!)

I was 11 years old and by myself... it was a hen in the fall. I ran with that turkey all the way home! I killed my first spring turkey the following spring at 12 years old and hunted him for 11 days before finally killing him.

I didn't start hunting turkey until I was 15 years old. I shot my first spring bird when I was 16. It was a bearded hen with a 8.25 inch beard. After I shot it I had no idea what the heck it was, I figured it was a "slow learner". When I field dressed it I found a string of yolks and 3 eggs inside. This freaked me out. So in a "EGGSHELL" that was my first bird I believe a true trophy. I shot my first Gobbler the next spring. I have never shot a bird in the fall..

These are some great stories keep them up.

Tom

I was 11 years old and shook so bad I really don't know how my .410's shot found that jake's head... but it did.

I was hooked long before that though... I had several close encounters while tagging along with my older brother and my grandad. They began taking me when I was around 7 or 8 years old. When I was in school I couldn't wait for the end of the week to come so I could go turkey huntin' with them each Saturday.

I was 21. baseball kept me out of the spring woods until 1983.
Hunter was 9.

I shot my first turkey in the spring when I was 16, hunting with a fella in King George County, VA- he taught me a great deal about hunting in general. I am very grateful to this day.

Tburt

27 and shot it in the spring.....just four years ago

I was 13...was a fall hen...i scattered a flock..scooted off aways and called in a couple with a wing bone ....my dad said they must have been the dumbest turkeys in the country...I used a double barrel 12 ga with 2 3/4 #6's...I was one proud dude....

Took me awhile to get turkey fever. Was wasting too much time on deer, girls and the military. Shot two fall hens in the winter of 96 when I was home on leave, I was 25 and they were my first turkeys. I was discharged a couple of days before th 97' spring gobbler season and missed a big gobbler on opening day. On the second day I shot my first gobbler. Was still 25 at the time and the only time I have ever used all my turkey tags

If you went by the first turkey I ever remember shooting, it would probably be in the early 80's when I shot a fall hen in national forest (Va of course). I had been in our cabin and heard a flock on the ultra steep hillside way above the cabin. It was deer season, but I grabbed my shotgun (with buckshot) and headed up the hill (almost killing myself just by the effort I was expending). Well, for whatever reason, those birds proceeded to start flushing off the side of the hillside in all directions. I looked up to see turkeys running beside me headed to a large rock outcropping. The first turkey (a hen) proceeded to launch off that rock outcropping, sailing down the valley. I pointed the shotgun at the rock outcropping and pulled the trigger just as the next hen prepared to launch herself off in the air. Drilled her right smack in the head with one buckshot. That was number one.

If you count real spring call them up turkeys, that would have been in 1995 while in Texas. Large 22 pound rio fell to a 1100. Even that one wasn't perfect as I didn't realize that turkey was coming in until I stood up and there he was coming in silent about 30 yards away. Rolled him on the run. The second bird was much more fun as he came in gobbling and I knocked him flat in a field of Texas bluebonnets. Time flies, as that was 11years ago now. Added a few more since then.

Killed my first bird in the early 90's while in my mid twenties. Was a spring bird that I called up to 15 paces and laid a serious smackdown on him. I've been addicted to turkey hunting since my late teens but just didn't get serious about killing a bird until my 20's. Most regulars here have heard the story of my first called in bird at age 17 that I thought was a crow and let walk. As you can see my learning curve was pretty darn STEEP!