First Hunt - First Bird !

[Sooner44]

Hello !!

Just wanted to drop in and brag a little on my first turkey. This is my first year turkey hunting and I had a blast (even though I hunt alone). I hunted Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning, taking the bird Sun Morn.

I took the turkey at 34 yards through knee high brush, only the head and neck showing above the brush. Considering the head and neck was the only part of the bird visable, I took the shot. Turns out is was an older Jake with a 5" beard and approxoamtely 1/2" spurs. I thought I had a nice Tom at first.
I started out setting decoys in their fly down area, only to find out they roosted in another area overnight. After a few hours, I stashed the decoys and started stalking, listening and trailing the flock. I spotted them in a brushy field about 150 yards out, made my way through the field hiding behind evergreen trees until I got to about 100 yards from them. I set up inside an evergreen (cedar tree) and hit my Power Crystal call softly, I waited about 10 minutes and a tom (Jake) came walking by about 35 yards out, tree limbs were in the way and I didn't have a clear shot. The Jake finally moved into the clear, but was walking a pretty fast pace, I made a clicking noise with my mouth, he heard me, raised his head & turned to look, and I let him have it. Dropped him in his tracks at 34 yards shooting a Rem 870 3" 21" barrel with Win HV 1.75 #5.
 
Although the bird turned out to be a nice sized jake, and not a real trophy long beard, I was still excited to harvest a nice bird on my first hunt.

My first turkey hunt ended well ! I'm ready for #2 this weekend !!
 

Sooner

[dluders]

Congratulations on your first Wild Turkey!  I know how WINDY it can be in Oklahoma -- I was stationed at Tinker AFB in the early 1980s and enjoyed Channel Cat fishing at Lake Overholser.
 
I too am going to do my first-ever hunt over the next 6 weeks here in the Spokane, Washington area.  If I see an older Jake like the one you got, I'll probably harvest him too.
 
It's interesting that you're using the exact same setup that I'm going to use -- a Remington 870 with Winchester Supreme #5 shot.  I patterned my 870 Wingmaster, and the Winchester shot did better than the Remington Wingmaster HD "hevi-shot"-type #6 load and the Remington Nitro-Turkey #5 load.

[Sooner44]

I found the same while patterning mine. I tried the Hevi-13, Win XRHD, and the Win 3" HV #5 patterned better than both in my set-up. I'm using the Indian Creek .665 choke, I'm very happy with the performance of the Win #5's

[dluders]

Just for clarification, I patterned my Remington 870 Wingmaster 12-gauge shotgun (with 28" barrel) with a 0.665 Carlson's Turkey Choke.  I used 3" shells.

Out of curiosity, are the turkeys in Oklahoma Rio Grande subspecies?  I read that they just have two "speeds" -- "STOP" and "RUN"!

[Sooner44]

Oklahoma has mainly Rio's, with decent populations of Easterns in the eastern part of the state. Out west you will find the Merriam (sp) subspecies.
So we have all three in Oklahoma.
 
I havent noticed that the Rio's stop & Run, but then again, I'm new to turkey hunting. I was able to stalk mine, hide close by and call him in without spooking them.

[tnstrutseeker]

ORIGINAL: Sooner44

I found the same while patterning mine. I tried the Hevi-13, Win XRHD, and the Win 3" HV #5 patterned better than both in my set-up. I'm using the Indian Creek .665 choke, I'm very happy with the performance of the Win #5's

Sooner44 - I have found that the Hevi-13 prefers less constriction.  I use a .695 jellyhead in my mossberg 535 tactical.  I tried a tighter constriction (.665 as well) and found the pattern to really open up.  After talking with some folks who say they know, I abandoned the .665 for the .695, and voila, a thumper of a pattern. 

That being said, the win 3" seemed to like the tighter constriction pretty well, as you found, but I really like the performance of the 13/jellyhead combo.

RB

[Fan Club]

Congrats, Sooner!
 
Yep.....another one hooked.
 
Jeff

[Gobblernut]

Congrats sooner!!! Now gather your composure..Gotta love it...

[jpb]

Congrats on youre 1st bird

[Sooner44]

Thanks Guy's !!
 
Your right ! I'm hooked !!