Craziest Turkey Stories

I have not seen this brought up in awhile and have enjoyed reading the one on the deer hunting forum. Plus the smelling the lies post got me curious. What is the craziest thing that has happened to you while hunting. Ex. Kill, hunt in general, found, scared, etc.

The craziest thing that has ever happened to me was about 3 years ago. I went with a buddy who had never killed a turkey before. He had told me his property had a lot of birds he just did not know where to start. The property he was on had a big creek that ran between and hardwood ridges and hay fields on the other side. We of course started out on the wrong side, so once we figure out the birds are gobbling on the other side of the fields we get across the creek and setup on the side of one of these fields. Well turns out it was two birds. They slowly made their way across the field and as they are coming I whisper to shoot the one on the left on 3. Well on 3 we shoot and his bird flops mine just looks confused (must have flinched when he shot ) I shoot again and there are 2 birds flopping. We are celebrating and grab our birds. On our way back to the creek I realize I dropped a call in the madness, so we drop our birds and head back to look. This is when the fun begins. We look for the call to no avail and finally decide to head out. When we get back to the turkeys there is only one laying there. I am so confused and then my buddy says look. My turkey was standing in the middle of the creek up staring at me. (hindsight should have just shot him again) I decide to go get him and if he tries to run or fly I will shoot (shells are expensive) Well I get right up to him and he is dazed, but makes it to the deepest hole in the creek and I don't have boots that high. The whole time my buddy is laughing his head off watching me chase a turkey through the creek. I have put my gun down and finally got tired of waiting, so I went into the creek past the knee and grabbed hold of him and wrung his neck. Well finally think it is over and start up the hill with him in my pack. You guessed it he starts flopping 5 minutes later. I finally near about cut his head off. That thing was possessed or robo turkey one. By far the craziest thing that ever happened to me turkey wise. I might have hit him first shot because obviously he was stronger than your average bird.

Also just before killing largest turkey to date had a chip munk almost run up my pants leg out of nowhere. Startled me to say the least.

Sorry for the long post. Look forward to some stories.

would have loved to have seen that, matt! no crazy stories for me so far but my dad has shared a few with me over the years.

he and his buddy were in the woods one morning setting up before daylight. they had a turkey roosted about 100 yards in front of them and a couple hen decoys set up about 15 yards. it is still kinda dark and my dad said he heard something creeping around. he looks towards his buddy who is a tree or two over from him and he is asleep! then dad catches movement from the corner of his eye....a bobcat....stalking the decoys. my dad sits dead still watching the cat slowly walk around the other side of the decoys....then he turns back to his buddy's tree to try and wake him and he is already wide awake with the shotgun pointed right at the cat! they said they didnt shoot because they didnt want to spook the turkey and the bobcat eventually left.

meter shower a few years back during muzzleloader season..My dad an I were were on top of a mt and in the pitch black except for the stars when it started around 4:30 am..the woods were flashing like a lightning storm..That was one of those "hunts to remember" Talked to some friends a few hours away that shared the same experience that morning..

did I tell ya about the time I killed a turkey with my bare hands???

Short version is I called up a gobbler in the edge of a thick honeysuckle tangle. He came in on my right shoulder, I'm right handed, maybe 8-10 steps . I was shooting a Navy Arms 12 ga double muzzloader and the morning was foggy.

As the gobbler passed behind a small tree I shifted hands and shot him left handed. SMOKE went everywhere...couldn't see a thing...just the bird flopping like crazy. I jumped up and ran to the bird..it was tangled in the vines and flopping like mad. I just jumped on the bird, vines and all, and got hold of his neck. I twisted it around prolly ten times till he quit flopping. I drug him out and walked back to the camp.

As a couple of buddies and I were admiring the bird one of them asked just where did I shoot it...neck, I said...funny, no HOLES in neck..or head...or anywhere!!!

We skinned the whole bird, body...neck...head...NO SHOT HOLES ANYWHERE>I missed the bird...it panicked and got tangled in the honeysuckle vines...where I choked it to death.....

true story

troy

you da man troy!!! when you comin over to ga and hunting with us?

dtala said:

did I tell ya about the time I killed a turkey with my bare hands???

Short version is I called up a gobbler in the edge of a thick honeysuckle tangle. He came in on my right shoulder, I'm right handed, maybe 8-10 steps . I was shooting a Navy Arms 12 ga double muzzloader and the morning was foggy.

As the gobbler passed behind a small tree I shifted hands and shot him left handed. SMOKE went everywhere...couldn't see a thing...just the bird flopping like crazy. I jumped up and ran to the bird..it was tangled in the vines and flopping like mad. I just jumped on the bird, vines and all, and got hold of his neck. I twisted it around prolly ten times till he quit flopping. I drug him out and walked back to the camp.

As a couple of buddies and I were admiring the bird one of them asked just where did I shoot it...neck, I said...funny, no HOLES in neck..or head...or anywhere!!!

We skinned the whole bird, body...neck...head...NO SHOT HOLES ANYWHERE>I missed the bird...it panicked and got tangled in the honeysuckle vines...where I choked it to death.....

true story

troy

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That's a good story. I hit mine, so I didn't get have a hand only kill.

Year before last, I think it was the third weekend of the season on that Sunday, I killed a gobbler on the side of a very steep ridge. It was a great exciting hunt and I finally got them to come in (there were two gobblers) on my 4th (maybe 5th) set up. When I got to the bird he was lying dead still so I reached down to grab his legs above his 3 year old spurs. When I touched him he kicked and spurred me on the shin... I still have the scar! He went to kicking and flopping like crazy and started sliding/rolling/flopping down the steep ridge that he had come up. At that point I lost my footing because the ground was damp. I ended up face planted on top of the bird in a ditch at the bottom of the ridge! My leg was bleeding from the spurring but miraculously no broken bones or dislocated parts. I know I rolled head over heels at least two times and went airborn on the way down. Limping out with the bird over my shoulder I remembered it was Sunday. I started thinking back and remembering several other times when crazy stuff happened and most all have been on Sundays when I skipped church to turkey hunt. I made a promise to the good Lord not to skip church to turkey hunt again. It was a promise I knew I would probably never keep... And I haven't been able to.

hoppie, yer just a better shot than I am...

242, I lived in LaGrange for several years late 70's. I killed a good Troup Co buck, but didn't turkey hunt there. Maybe soon...

troy

Any of you fellers remember huntin in 97 I think it was with that comet in the sky !!! I had some great hunts that year.

Ive got several good stories but lets start with this one. Opening morning about 20 years ago, Management area right outside of Tallahassee, I call in 2 good birds. I shoot the 1 that gave me the best shot. For the next 3 weekends I would mess with the remaining bird. He would come to 60-80 yards and hang up. Now comes the story....The fourth weekend he is hammering down like so many mornings before. I get set up in a hardwood bottom with my feet resting in a shallow sandy 6' wide creek. Low profile, head and shoulders resting on a large water oak thats root mass jutted out into the creek causing the creek to narrow to about 2'. Cluck a few times at flydown time. Bird sails down and proceeds to strut up to 60 yds and back out of sight. This continues for about an hour and then I start hearing this FWUUUU(air being released) sound behind me in the creek. About every 10 minutes this sound gets closer and all the while the turkey is strutting in and out of site. The little creek Im sitting in feeds into Lake Talquin about 200 yds. below me. Im thinking it is a bull gator and it gets closer and closer. The blowing sounds finally get within a few feet of me behind the tree Im propped on and my mind is racing but the fan and white crowned head are still 60 yards and visible. The blowing continues every 10 minutes but isnt coming around the root ball jutting into the creek that Im hid in. The bird finally drifts off. After 30 minutes of not seeing the bird, I stand up and stick my head around the tree. The biggest alligator snapping turtle Ive ever seen or heard about has wedged herself between the root ball and the creek bank and cant get any farther up the creek!!! What an awesome animal this creature was. Shell was about 3' long by 2' wide with a head nearly as big as mine. I really wanted to get the shell and head for a keepsake but couldnt bring myself to dispatch such an old warrior.What an intense 2 hours!!! The next morning I was back with the camera but the turtle was gone.

Well, I reckon the "craziest" thing that ever happened to me was on my first longbeard in Georgia. I'd chased a particular bird all morning from the roost as he serviced his bevy of hens, this after the previous night partakin' in wild game from parts unknown ( some yankees cooked ). That and turkey in a bottle had my innards somewhat upset and it musta been the third 'er fourth time I'd hugged a pine tree that morn. Well, I wuz purty much a rookie then and I didn't have 'nuff soft stuff to cover four squats in one morn...

'Bout the time I wuz comtemplatin' cuttin' drawers, the tom I'd been chasing let out a big ol' gobble just down the loggin' road I wuz near. I can tell ya right now I did not think twice 'bout pullin' up britches and givin' chase.

I walked down a good half mile 'er more of this road I heard him on, callin' ever now and then. By the time I turned back, I wuz walkin' like I'd ridden a horse all day, if ya get my drift.

I got back to near where I'd started this chase off and just sat down, cleared some leaves out to sit upon and boomyall, a gobble and a half lit out not far away.

I quickly pulled out a Lynch Jet Black slate and put down a few yelps and purrs and couldn't get it out of my hands quick enough before this ol' longbeard came runnin' in on me.

I put the bead on, did the dead bird rodeo, yahoo'd to the good Lord above and then promptly rid myself of some dirty drawers.

Named dat bird the "No Wipe Gobbler."

dtala said:

We skinned the whole bird, body...neck...head...NO SHOT HOLES ANYWHERE>I missed the bird...it panicked and got tangled in the honeysuckle vines...where I choked it to death.....

true story

troy

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Now that's something!

It reminds me of my first (and only) merriams. This was in 2000, hunting on a gorgeous mountain in UT. We were set up on some interesting terrace like meadows, stair-stepping up the mountain, one above the turkeys that we were working. When the turkeys got close, I had to stand up to see them and get a shot. I stood up and shot at one of the two gobblers, and he fell over, got up, and ran off under a big spruce nearby. So, we both jumped up and ran over to the spruce. I had the gun in one hand, and as soon as my brother got over there, the turkey tore out from under the spruce, running right by me. So, I reached out and grabbed him by the neck with my free hand as he ran by. The turkey started to flapping and clawing and spurring, and I commenced to hollering for my brother to grab my gun so I could get a hold of him with both hands. After he tore a couple holes in my glove, my brother grabbed the gun and I finally got my other hand on him where I could bear hug him and gain control before he did much damage to flesh.

Hal, a buddy of mine got cut pretty bad like that. Gobblers spur got caught in the mesh gloves he was wearing and cut...cut...cut...cut his palm pretty good.

troy

We left our decoys in a field overnight once and the coyotes came and carried them to the edge of the field before figuring out what they had. Must have been some disappointed coyotes!

RoosterTodd said:

We left our decoys in a field overnight once and the coyotes came and carried them to the edge of the field before figuring out what they had. Must have been some disappointed coyotes!

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Thats a trick right there.. I bet they WERE MAD..

dtala said:

Hal, a buddy of mine got cut pretty bad like that. Gobblers spur got caught in the mesh gloves he was wearing and cut...cut...cut...cut his palm pretty good.

troy

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Luckily, my bird was 2 year old with fairly blunt spurs...

Opening morning, mountains of Virginia 1999. Myself and my two buddies go out to try and roost a bird before the morning hunt. We hit the owl call and get a response from just over the ridge. The next morning we hoof it back up the mountain and set up our dekes and wait for daylight. As the day breaks the old boy cranks down on a loud gobble...I'm positioned to the left of the setup my buddies to the right...I hit some tree calls and he pitches right down...a few more soft clucks in which he and to our suprise two more gobblers behind him answers back. After a little more coaxing he comes in right at me. I pull the trigger on him and he commences the death flop...we rush up to grab him and in the meantime I hit the crow call to see if the other birds are still around..sure enough the other birds answer back...I grab my bird, me and my buddies sit back down and eventually call in the other two gobblers...they both shoot at the same time and down both birds that were coming in side by side....what a morning that was....then to top it off we went trout fishing and all limited out....must have had a horseshoe in my pocket on that trip.

Technically I killed my first turkey over in Alabama with a Datsun pick up truck which I realize does not compete with Mr Troys barehanded effort.... I didn't aim though if that means anything...

The first turkey I killed with a gun was a fluke (another story to come) and he just died like I thought they should when I shot him.

The second turkey I killed was an adventure.

I hunted in a river swamp on the Flint and I shot him at 30 yards as he was standing in ankle deep water.

He laid perfectly still right up until the moment I touched him at which point he came back alive. Understand that I didn't know what to do with a flopping turkey because I was doing all this on my own and it was all new to me.

I grabbed him by his neck and picked him up which looking back was not the right thing to do. I still had my gun in my left hand because I was standing in water as this thing started trying to flog me to death. I tried squeezing & choking him with no results and then he knocked my hat off and my mask slid down over my eyes. I then instintively tried to fling him and snap his neck like I did pheasants which only jambed my index finger and I came close to breaking my thumb.

Gobblers are slghtly heavier than pheassants

By this time all this flogging crap was starting to hurt and I realized somewhere in this mix might be some spurs which I started waiting to connect with. I was not about to let him go because for all I knew he would fly off. He seemed to be getting farther away from being dead and I started to feel like I was getting closer.

As I realized I was getting my clock cleaned I just slammed him down as hard as I could which resulted in a huge water splash and started trying to stomp on his head which he made challenging because he would not be still.

I was stomping and splashing all around until I finally I got him under my foot and set down on him. I'm not sure if he drowned or I choked him to death but he finaly got still. I stayed on him for another minute or two in case it was a trick but finally stood up.

I was absolutely covered in muddy water, had mud in my gun barrel, in my eyes, and honestly if I'd swam across the water I would not have been wetter. My index finger was sore for 2 weeks

He was trashed and wet and muddy and looked like he'd been killed with a flame thrower

Not likely good video material unles it was for AFV which looking back might have won me $10,000.

boparks said:

I stayed on him for another minute or two in case it was a trick

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I have had many crazy things happen in 22 years of turkey hunting. From being spurred a few times and many many snake encounters to having a turkey that i shot with my bow stand up after i carried him over my shoulder all the way home and left him in my yard to go in and get a camera. Had to run jump on him and choke him again..... Last year i was guiding and filming a friend on some of my lease land that i had burned a few weeks before turkey season.It was mid-day and we were sneaking up on a ol tom that was standing in a large food plot. I was leading the way as we crept though the woods to try and set up close to him. There was a big pine log laying in the path and i eased over it. My buddy was about 15ft behind me. All of a sudden i hear O MY GOD you are so lucky.I knew it must be a snake.I had just stepped over a Timber Rattler coiled ready to strike under the log and it never made a sound. My friend was done turkey hunting when he seen that snake. He said there was no way he was leaving that snake alive. So i pulled it out with a limb and killed it. It was 52in long and 5in wide in the middle of its body.I dont usually kill snakes but i have to say i would have hated to set on her before daylight.