First Bird!

[fjp971]

Lucky for me i got the opportunity to go on my second ever turkey hunt with a veteran hunter who makes his own box calls. He already had his birds for the season but loves going out and helping others.  I'm a serious rookie so this was gold.

We left out of Spokane and headed into Idaho a little before 0800.  We pulled over into a little turnout a few miles short of our planned destination to relieve ourselves of some processed coffee and call a bit. Within 30 seconds my new best friend has a gobbler calling out. No time to pee, we gotta move!  We suit up and walk uphill for a few hundred feet. Another call and we hear another gobble but farther away. We try for a while longer while inching forward but no luck. He's gone.

We jump back in the truck and move on. As soon as we arrive at our next spot the turkey whisperer I'm hanging out with steps out and immediately gets a gobbler to give up his general location. Suit up and ninja walk up a steep little ATV path about 200 yards. A couple of more calls and a couple more gobbles that are getting closer. We get into position and now it's getting real for me.

Sound can play tricks in the woods and we were at a crossroads with two likely directions Tom can arrive from. I'm hearing a left approach. New best friend says he's probably coming from the path straight in front of me that leads downhill straight to me. He's right of course. We start hearing a deep thump and I'm thinking my heart just exploded from excitement but no, it's Tom and he's looking for love in all the right places. A few light purrs and clucks draw Tomás from around the corner and I let one go. Bird down!

It was an amazing experience and to top it off he guided me through the cleaning process and mounted the cape for me!  There's no turning back now.

[Dan-o]

You are now ruined for life.

Congrats.     

[fjp971]

Dang pic is upside down. Here's another.

[kevinlisa06]

Nicely done!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PA BEN]

 

[scooby]

Good looking bird! 

[HuntinCrazy]

  great looking bird.Congrats

[Yelper Guy]

Congrats fjp, well done.
 An experienced turkey hunter can pass on a lot of useful information in a short amount of time.
Try putting some borax on the skin side of your cape, it helps dry it out.
As it's drying, you can keep the fan spread out using panel nails punched through the cardboard.

[Machias]

Nice job, congrats and welcome to the addiction! 

[tgomez]

Congratulations on a nice tom. Your hooked for life now.

[dan11011]

Congrats! It doesn't get much better!

Good job doing the cape, I've never actually gone to the trouble (if anything I just do the fan), but it's cool to do, especially for your first bird! 

[huntnfmly]

Congrats nice bird thanks for sharing

[ShaneTyTrey]

Congrats, enjoy the new addiction!

[fjp971]

Thanks everyone.  It was a great experience.  Now I need to keep practicing my slate and mouth calls so I can do it on my own.  Cape was mounted by Dan, the turkey whisperer, and there is definitely Borax on the skin side.  Now I'm focusing on deer education to see if I can complete two firsts in one year!  Any guidance would be appreciated.  Jason

[WaltAlpine]

Awesome!

[pianoman9701]

Boy, that's a pretty bird. 

[hunterednate]

Nicely done! Congrats.

[Birdguy]

Great bird! Very cool story, and what a help!!! Great job to all involved.

[linxx77]

That is a great looking bird! Nice work.