I'd like to hear more about that first turkey with the 20ga Win model 37. I'm trying to wring as much out of the experiences I'm having because I started late. I have heard the drumsticks are often not used just the breast and I admit that they are on the tough side. I saw a youtube video by a group that calls themselves The Hunting Public, and they slow cook the legs for 24 hours and claim it was very good. This will be part of this year's experience if I'm lucky.
The story of the model 37 might seem unusual today, but at the time it was the sort of thing that happened with most boys who grew up in rural AL. I got the gun in 1964 at age 9, and mainly hunted squirrels with it. My dad bought it used for $20. My family wasn't starving, but we did count on game and fish for a large part of our meat diet, and I understood that the primary purpose of hunting was to feed the family.
I was very lucky to get a deer with the gun in 1965, but had been unable to get a gobbler. My father called one up for me in the spring of 65, but the turkey saw me before I could shoot and I missed as he was running off. He tried to call for me some other times, but he said I wasn't still enough and started letting me hunt alone.
He put me out on a big pasture before daylight with instructions on where I could go, and he went on down the road away from me. I remember that I heard 4 different gobblers and decided to set up between a couple of them. I did my calling with a homemade box that he made for me, and was careful to not overdo the calling. I was facing one of the gobblers that was still gobbling in the woods in front of me, when a gobbler clucked behind me and walked up to within 15 yards. I was hid well and able to shoot him before he saw me. It was only a jake, but I couldn't have been happier!
