JitsuGuy

Today in my part of Oklahoma was opening day for Turkeys. My uncle and I went to our favorite spot where we' ve seen them before and we saw one tom about 80 yards out in an open field. We cut through the woods around him then lost sight of him as there was a point in the field that had just a bunch of trees and we knew he was probably on the other side of it. So, we drop any stuff that' s unnecessary for the stalk and start to stalk on our hands and knees... We pause, look ahead, and now we see 3 turkeys!!! We stay still as one is keeping watch our way, so we wait for him to continue on when he does, we start stalking again, except this time, commando style, you know knees to elbows. We had to stay low! We get up there, and check this out! There are 15 birds! We don' t know how many were toms, but I crawled up to a robust tree, stood up behind it, brought the shotgun around and examined the birds and my shot... Just as I thought, wow, this is going to be a tough shot, another tom comes strutting around the corner from my right 10 yards closer! I slowly swung the gun his direction, then fired... BOOM!!!! He went down!!! The other birds jumped, and me, in my excitement just started running out after my bird, so the rest flew away! Hehe. It appears to be a 2 year old bird... The beard is 3 inches and he weighed 20 pounds before we dressed him. Would it be a tom or a jake?

Thanks for listening, I will definitely always remember today as my first sucessful turkey hunt!

Can' t wait till next weekend!
Jits

tiggeer

weight sounds like a tom but the beard sounds like a jake, maybe something happend to the rest of its beard, Congrats

stuckinthereeds

Great story. I am going out for my first one next weekend!!! Makes me hopefull.

mauser06

congrats! sounds like an exciting hunt!! i agree with tiggeer...how long were the spurs?? did it have a full fan with all the feathers the same legnth or were the middle ones longer than the rest?? if the middle is longer than the rest it is a jake...congrats either way...i cant wait to get out! this is my 5th year...maybe i will bag my first bird! 20 days till i get to hunt!! congrats!!

Tree climber

congrats. on your first bird.

" You Done Did Good"

bogobble

congrats on your first turkey. that' s extra heavy for a jake, but the 3" beard sounds like a jake. the spur length will tell the tell. 1/2" or less it' s a jake.
over 1/2" is at least a 2 year old turkey.

Antler Eater

Congratulations on your first!

yankeehunter

Great job!! I don' t know what I would do if I saw 15 at the same time. Good job!!

Deerslayer_37

congrats!!!

slaya

turk2di

Congrats on the bird. Would need 2 know the spur length to give a better age guestimation.