WABS Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 Well last Friday, after 53 years, I finally went on my first turkey hunt and at 1000 connected with my first ever turkey. Kind of raining on us and he came in behind us VERY quiet. Took my shot at 35 yards and he was mine. Thought it was a Jake initially because his beard was only about 4 inches short, but when I went to pick him up he had 1 1/8 inch spurs digging into my hand. Something must of caused his beard to break off. It won't be my last turkey hunt I can tell you that!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PotashRLS Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 My Dad LOVES turkey hunting. We've only been hunting them in this part of Wisconsin for 15 years or so and he says he would have a hard time picking turkey hunting or deer hunting if he were ever forced to choose. It is a lot of fun. Congrats on your bird and I'd love to see some pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbeck Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 congrats on the first bird, keep after them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 1st turkey hunt & 1st gobbler...yep...you're hooked. Congrats...nice hooks! Just so you'll know, broken or discolored beards are usually caused due to lack of melanin. Melanin is the pigment that makes turkey beards black. When a beard has a lack of melanin, the structural integrity is affected causing it to become brittle and susceptible to breaking off. If it hasn't completely broken off, there may be a strip of orange or amber across the beard strands or if it has broken off, at the end of the beard. I've killed 2 gobblers like this before. One was completely broken off at 8" and carried 1 1/4" spurs. The other was a 2 year old that had ~3/4 of the beard broken off at 4" with the remaining strands measuring 8 1/2". Both had the amber color at the beard end where it's broken off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsharp01 Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 Congrats and glad to see your hooked. If you had a cold winter with lots of snow it may have frozen and broke off. That happens up here is NY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WABS Posted April 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 The beard on this gobbler was real thick and grey in color, just 4 inches long and almost straight across the bottom like it had been cut with a scissors. http://www.realtree.com/forums/members/wabs-albums-wabs-hunting-fishing-picture3511-daves-first-turkey-me-left-my-turkey-master-buddy-garrett-right.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WHISKEYSWAMP Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 sweet deal... congrats on your 1st! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flintlock1776 Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 Congrats! Welcome to the Tom Taker Fraternity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbHunterNY Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 better later than never. congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archerjg Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 Congratulations on the nice turkey. archerjg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethan Givan Posted April 29, 2011 Report Share Posted April 29, 2011 Congrats on your first bird! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dartonman Posted April 29, 2011 Report Share Posted April 29, 2011 Congrads....makes me smile reading success stories like this...........al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruttinbuc Posted April 30, 2011 Report Share Posted April 30, 2011 congratulations on your first gobbler, WABS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VermontHunter Posted April 30, 2011 Report Share Posted April 30, 2011 Congrats on a GREAT first gobbler ... ... here's to many, many more ... :cool2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pruts Posted May 1, 2011 Report Share Posted May 1, 2011 Congratulations on your first Turkey. Good luck on your future hunts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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