Team 4=SPUR COLLECTORS

[DonBo]

Oh yea, we believe that.....

[harvey lee]

Thats a very nice mount.

[Nightcrawler]

South Dakota, a great time was had by all/. 3 turkeys for 5 hunters. I was not one if them. seen a ton of turkeys, behind me , behind the bushes, in front of me,to far ,one hen in the face- (two feet), all kinds of fun action.

one morning saw two cougers going across a ridge, thought that was cool to see( brain---watch back). around noon a trolling grobbler goes behind me,give him 80yd head start. then spent 3 hrs trying to put the moves on him.he heads up this mountion, ha ,( brain- go up rock face beat him to top). 15 ft from top, stick head over ledge and see a this den,(brain- couger den-babys?)a noisey 15 ft i was on top of the ridge . goobler was 80 yds away moving out east and ME moving out south.

in all was a great hunt and a good time with Son,daughter-in-law and friends and other brain dead stories.

[Gordie]

sounds like a great time along with the couger sighting. That would be cool.

Are you all done hunting or do you have a tag in Minn.

[sticknstring]

Sounds like you had a great hunt 'crawler. Everything but squeezing the trigger. My cousin dropped a nice 25 lb'er this morning on the same farm I'll be hunting in 3 weeks. It's going to be a looong wait.

[rundrave]

this has to be longest day of work ever. I am swamped but getting anxious for my first turkey hunt ever! I cant wait anymore, we were going to leave early early tommorrow morning but figured I wouldnt sleep tonight anyway so were just going to roll in tonight and salvage any sleep we can at the cabin.

We are heading west to Gregory county and will be hunting near the river and hopefully fill both my tags. We plan on being there until Sunday. I am not sure if I get the chance to shoot 2 birds right away if I will. If I do I will spend the rest of the time fishing.

Wish me luck!

[Nightcrawler]

Rundrave good luck and have a great trip.

I have the black hills lic.good for the whole season but is a 12 hr trip from here to go back. still have Mn. H season, was good for me last year.

deicded to pass the NY.trip

this year so gives the iron knees a rest till the H season, .

go get them.

[Gordie]

this has to be longest day of work ever. I am swamped but getting anxious for my first turkey hunt ever! I cant wait anymore, we were going to leave early early tommorrow morning but figured I wouldnt sleep tonight anyway so were just going to roll in tonight and salvage any sleep we can at the cabin.

We are heading west to Gregory county and will be hunting near the river and hopefully fill both my tags. We plan on being there until Sunday. I am not sure if I get the chance to shoot 2 birds right away if I will. If I do I will spend the rest of the time fishing.

Wish me luck!

Sleepless nights long days with your back up agaisnt a tree man I love turkey hunting Good luck rundrave

[sticknstring]

Good luck rundrave! I can't take it anymore - I just bought my permit and leaving for Nebraska! Have to be back for Sunday's Twin's game so it'll be a quick trip. Weather looked good and a baby in May could keep me out of the woods in for MN season. I need to get in the woods. Wish me luck boys!

[DonBo]

Good luck Stick! I happen to know how easy it is to get rid of those Twins tickets if you want to stay a bit longer.

[Gordie]

GOOD LUCK stick put one on the board

[Nightcrawler]

aaaaaah, the cost of turkey fever.

if stick left last nite he should be going to bed tonite with the turkeys.

[sticknstring]

Well boys, I'm back and happy to report I had an exciting and successful hunt in Nebraska! Forgot my camera this morning - report and pictures to follow. Spur Collectors unofficially on the board!

[DonBo]

Way to go Stick! Looking fwd to hearing the story.

[mrklean]

nice job stick way to put us on the board

[Gordie]

Can I get a BIG WOO HOO for sticknstring

way go stick congrats on the bird cant wait to see the pics

[rundrave]

Well I hate to say but after 3 hard days of hunting I am still birdless and with my schedule will more than likely not make it out again this year.

Here is a recap from my first ever experience hunting the almighty turkey. Just to set the setting, we were hunting on some public land along the Missouri river in Gregory county South Dakota.

Friday morning we started hunting around 5:45am, we walked no more than 100yds from the parking lot and made our first call. We had a tom respond to us immediately! We made our way through the dark in attempt to get as close as we could without him knowing we were there. We hid in some trees about 50 yards away from this bird. As daylight emerged we could see the turkey in full strut all fanned out and he was responding to every call we made. (I think this is when I first realized how fun this could be) This bird was slowly making his way closer to us. With my partner calling to hopefully distract the bird, I attempted to sneak around another ridge hoping to be able to pop over the top and have a shot at him. I could hear him still talking so I knew exactly where I needed to come back over the ridge. As I was getting ready to come over the top, I just happened to sneak up on a deer and she bolted on a run and in doing so alerted the turkey who opted to make a run for cover as well.

That hour of events turned out to be the only real action the rest of Friday. As we were calling in a bird later that afternoon I had a hen come with in 10 yards but I opted to pass on her, in hopes of shooting a tom. We saw several birds later that day but just couldn’t get them close enough for a shot. I did attempt a really long shot that day, but after counting how many paces it was after I shot, the bird had been well out of range. I don’t even want to know how many miles we walked but we hunted non stop from sun up to sun down. We were literally out there all day, and I was exhausted. However I was able to take a few naps out on a couple hills sides, and man that was great!

Saturday we started at the same time, same place in the dark. Made a call and got a Tom to respond right away again. We learned our mistake from the first day, and the guy I was with opted to go a different path than I did. I stayed and kept calling and watched as he got closer and closer to us. I wasn’t sure exactly where the other guy set up but I was able to call that bird with in 10yds of him and he blasted him. Finally a bird in the bag, what a great way to start the day and I as a rookie was able to contribute to a successful downed bird.

Well funny story is we didn’t want to carry the bird the rest of the day or go back to the truck so we decided to hide it in tree and keep hunting. Well long story short we hunted the rest of the morning and never saw or heard a bird. We hunted up to around 11am then made our way back to the tree which we thought was easy enough to pick out. Well we had a heck of a time finding that very same tree again, but after a while we eventually found the tree and the bird. I can only imagine how foolish we looked during the searching.

We went back out that afternoon and hunted again until dark and never saw or heard a bird. It was very windy that day, so I don’t think they were able to hear our calls, and we were not able to hear theirs. The wind also would have made it easier to sneak up on them, but we never located any way. After all the excitement we had right way both days started to make for some long days and I was beginning to get frustrated. I still had hope knowing we could start Sunday (our last day out) and hoped we would have the same success as the previous 2 mornings.

So Sunday we set out with the same plan as the previous 2 days, only that spot didn’t hold any birds (just my luck) so we set off in search of some others. The 2 of us decided to split up and meet at the top of the next ridge over in a couple hours. We both set foot in different paths hoping to be able to meet up on the next ridge. I hiked North to the bottom between the 2 ridges and kept calling as I went while he went south. Finally I was able to get a tom to respond and he was really close! I immediately located a spot that would provide plenty of cover, but leave me several shooting lanes. For over an hour I called this bird and the longer I called the closer and more vocal he became. Then I began to hear a hen call, and each time that hen called I could tell the tom was moving closer to that call, and then come back to me when I called.

Ironically I had to send a txt(is that cheating?) to the other guy I was hunting with, as I had a sneaky suspicion it was him. It turns out it was, and for the next hour we probably sent each other 50 txt msg’s trying to locate where each of us were, and if either of us could see the bird. The tom pretty much stopped talking so we decided that one of us should try to stalk and get closer to the bird. I made my way along as slowly and quietly as I could to where I believed the bird was. At one point I called and got him to respond and I was very very close. All it was merely 20ft that separated me and this bird. I could hear him snorting, and moving around and beating his wings. Unfortunately the brush and trees were just too thick for me to get a visual on him so I just stayed still. After a while I tried to call and I no longer heard anything. He was gone and after meeting up with my partner he told me that he had spotted bird but it didn’t stick around after I made that last call so he must have been onto us. We hunted a few more hours unable to find or locate any more birds and we both were exausted so we called it a day.

So that’s how my first turkey hunting expedition went. Of our group of 7 guys, 9 birds were taken, 5 were shot on private land (paid to hunt $$$$) and 4 were taken on public. Of the 4 taken on public 2 of them hens were basically shot not far from the road which I neglected to do. In all honesty I feel that the guys who put the least amount of effort in had the most succuss. But I am gonna take what I learned from this weekend and apply it all next year. So hopefully next year will yield better luck, but I definitely learned a lot and had a great time.

Hope you enjoyed and sorry I didn’t put any points on the board.

[sticknstring]

Great stories rundrave - sounds like you had an exciting hunt. That's turkey hunting - some times it can be easy and others, they'll make a fool of even the best of us and can be darn right frustrating. Sounds like it wasn't from lack of effort! Hopefully you gained some useful knowledge and were infected with the turkey bug. My first trip out to the black hills a few springs ago was much of the same, plenty of action, lots of effort, but in the end - we came home birdless. A memorable hunt, nonetheless. Thanks for sharing!

[dukhnt]

Thanks for getting us on the board stick. Congrats! I am getting the itch.

[Gordie]

Great story and sounds like you had a ton of fun rundrave hope you can get out another time but if you dont well theres next year.

[sticknstring]

Alright, we're officially on the board now. Here's a quick summary of my hunt. A little long-winded, you've been warned. I arrived in Nebraska Thursday night around 9:45 or so. Found a place to pitch my tent but in the midst of my 20 minute spontaneous pack job, I'd forgotten the tent poles. No problem, setup the T2 & Thermarest and hit the hay around 11. Friday morning found me in a place I've hunted in the past but all the gobbling was a good mile to the west of me. Decided to tough it out anyways and called in a hen around 8:00am. I decided a move was in order and I headed for the truck around 10am. Went and checked out some new public land close to where I heard all the gobbling. I saw some birds back in a pasture and decided to try to circle around them and call them in. Wasn't able to get where I wanted due to terrain but setup on a oak flat above the birds and gave it an hour. Heard birds around me but they didn't want to check me out. Saw a coyote cruising unsuspectingly at about 25 yds looking for a hen turkey for lunch. Right as I was about to release, his 6th sense kicked in and he ran off. I decided to break for lunch and come up with a new gameplan for afternoon.

I drove a few miles east and got permission from a farmer to hunt a 40 acre field where I'd seen plenty of birds in previous years. I was setup by 12:15 and started to see birds around 1:30. Called in some hens close but no toms. Just before 3, I spied 2 red heads about 40 yds away closing in. They came in behind the blind & I couldnt' see anything. All of sudden I hear drag marks & drumming 5 feet from the blind and a strutter pops under the barbwire and struts out to my decoy at 7-8 yds. I rushed and never really picked a spot, Put my pin on the middle of the bird and squeezed the trigger. It happened so fast. Bird ran off and I held tight for nearly 2 hours, unsure of the hit. Got out, looked at my arrow, passthrough but didn't look good. I started looking in the cedars for my bird for about 25 minutes but didn't turn up anything. If any of you have hunted down there, you'll know how thick it is. If you don't hit 'em just right, they run off, and it can be a very difficult recovery. Well, I decided to take one more pass and sure enough, I spied my bird laying under a cedar tree still with his head up. I grabbed an arrow, nocked it, and right as I was about to draw, he gets up and takes off. Insert expletive here! I tried to run after him but nearly got knocked out by a branch. He was gone. It's happened in the past and I'm sure it'll happen again. If you bowhunt turkeys long enough, it'll happen. It's not fun and it kills me to lose a bird but you have to move on.

By now, it's approaching 6pm and I'm pretty beat. Decided to go back to that public land I hunted midmorning and scout for Saturday. I left the blind in the truck and just took the decoy, calls, and bow along. I worked the tops of the draws and mainly just listened. By now the wind had subsided and I knew it was going to be a beautiful morning. Ran into a few deer as the sun set and figurd out the plan of attack for morning. When I got back to camp, I could hear birds sounding off across the hills. Tomorrow was going to be a better day.

I was right. Aside from the 31 degree temps, it was perfect morning. Clear and calm as could be. I got up plenty early as I wanted to get to my spot with plenty of time since it was opening day of shotgun season. I figured there would be some guys around. Grabbed the blind, bow, pack, 2 dekes, left the video camera in the truck and off I went into the darkness. Walked in about a half mile and some birds started sounding off. I had roosts with vocal birds on both sides of me & decided to setup. Popped up the blind, put out the decoys, and smiled as the turkeys woke up all around me. Can it get any better than this? I called in 4 lonely hens right away just yelping away, best decoy there is. I figured it was just a matter of time now. I heard drumming behind me but never saw the bird... he did gobble pretty close and I figured he'd come in but didn't. I'm sure he was henned up. 10 minutes later, a flock of 10 birds with 2 jakes appeared down the valley but the hens lead them off the other way. I don't think I went more than 15 minutes without seeing a bird, it was one of those perfect mornings. I figured it wouldn't be long until some of hens snuck off to their nests and those toms would come back to check me out. At 8:20 I heard a gobble about a 1/4 mile toward the truck. 5 minutes later... 1/8 mile away. He was closing in. Next time I looked out the porthole, there he was, red head periscoped about a 125 yds away. This was it. All alone, no hens to mess this up And no video camera. He hit strut and drummed the whole way into the decoys. What a pretty sight. This time, I was calm and took my time. I let him get to about 12-13 yds and settled my pin where I wanted it and touched off the release. He made it 10 yds. Emotions flooded over me. I said a prayer and walked out to claim my prize. He was no trophy beard/spur-wise but it didn't matter. After what happened yesterday and how similar recent hunts in MN have gone, this was my redemption bird. I setup the self-timer and snapped a few photos and made my way back to the truck. As I neared a the truck, I heard a distant gobble. A fitting end to a wonderful hunt. The smile lasted the whole drive home.

[DonBo]

And a beautifull Merriam's in the bag! Good job Stick.

And sadly, I do know about bowhunting turkeys.

[Gordie]

great story and what a bird good job stick

[tweedlap]

You It.

tweed

[sticknstring]

So who's still left to hunt? Nightcrawler, rundrave, & myself have hunted. That leaves Elwood, mrklean, & dukhnt right? I think we're going to need to go 3-3 or for sure 2-3 to have a shot at this thing. Pressure's on boys - DonBo just missed the the big one this morning so we've got some breathing room!

[lindy rig]

Great story and pics Stick. I am hoping to say a similar prayer this year. I have turkey hunted 4 years now and have yet to bag a bird. Two years ago I missed a shot. Like a dummby I did not pattern my gun beforehand and I missed high. Been waiting for redemption ever since. Stories like yours keep me going!

[engfish]

Lindy Rig, I've down that trail, and wish you the best of luck. Just hope you don't have a wife that has taunted you for the past four years like mine did. Got her back, though, when I put that full strut mount in the bedroom this past spring. That scream will keep me alive for at least another twenty seasons of turkey hunting.

[sticknstring]

Quote:

Got her back, though, when I put that full strut mount in the bedroom this past spring. That scream will keep me alive for at least another twenty seasons of turkey hunting.

That made my day! lol

[Nightcrawler]

Congrats, Stickstring for getting us on the board.

Rundrave ,aaah them hills,them hills love them.

[Nightcrawler]

PS. stick, still have Minn. left H season.