2014 Turkey season

[huntnfish]

This was my first spring back in MN and having seen a few flocks with decent toms last fall, I wanted to give them a try in the spring. I've gone turkey hunting a couple times 6-8 years ago but it was with a friend in ND and he pretty much did all the work so it was like a guided hunt. I enjoyed it and learned a lot but I after getting a nice tom I didn't have that satisfied feeling you get when you earn it yourself. I picked up a few more diaphram calls and a slate call and practiced whenever I was in a vehicle by myself. I don't know how many hours I spent listening to the CD and calling but I should probably have been much better at calling than I am for the amount of time I put in.

I had one spot near my in-laws that was my slam dunk guarentee turkey but I forgot to take into account that I still had to gain permission to hunt the land. When I found the land owner, to my shock I was denied. So, onto plan B. A friend mentioned that there were a bunch of turkeys where he deer hunts so I did some scouting. I scouted the weekend before and found 15-20 birds in a field. The birds were there the 2 days I drove by and there almost all day. I got permission and planned to hunt the following weekend.

I got my blind setup in the dark and settled in for what I figured would be a short morning.I picked up a Funky Chicken decoy and figured I might as well give it a try. I also have a hen and another jake. I put the hen and FC out but my hen is a cheapo. I plan to get something better next year.

This was the view I had as the sun came up. There were pheasants crowing all around me when I'd call which was pretty cool. To my amazement no turkeys showed up all morning. When I'd scouted they were in this field pretty much all day. Now nothing. I'm not sure why they changed their pattern but they did. I went back to the pickup around noon to get something to eat and decide if I wanted to call it for the day or stick it out. That's when I got a call from the same friend that pointed me to this area suggested a different spot. It was on some other land that I had gotten permission from. I had something to eat a drove over to the area to formulate a game plan.

I headed for my spot around 3:30. I had driven around the area in the field and found a spot I liked. The spot I wanted to be in was a low area between 2 wooded ridges. The problem was that while walking to the spot I got about 50 yards away from where I wanted to be I looked over and spotted some turkey's scurrying away. I setup on the sidehill and got my decoys set out. I figured I was close enough and with my amazing turkey calling skills the birds would flock in if they were in earshot. Have I mentioned that I really have no clue about turkey's? For the next couple hours I watched turkeys file past the spot I wanted to be in. In all there were probably 20 or so that went past including a couple toms. They went up the ridge and I saw them pop out the other end a few hundred. That's when 3 other tom's came over to let them know they weren't welcome.

The 3 toms chased the newcomers across the hill out of sight. It was at this point I'd had enough and moved my blind to where I wanted to be initially. I pulled up the stakes and walked it down to where I wanted to be. I got my decoys setup and settled in.

I was watching the weather to make sure my pickup, which was parked about a half mile into a plowed field, wouldn't need to be drug out with the dark clouds passing by. There were a few sprinkles but nothing to worry about.

I was yelping on and off when turkeys started filing past heading back towards their roost. Only this time they had moved over a ridge and were well out of range and wanted nothing to do with my homely Funky chicken and hen. I was occasionally hearing some gobbles in the area over the ridge of the previous picture but had all but written off the possibilty that I had a chance. I'd call to them and get them to gobble but they sounded a long ways away. This went on for a while. I'd yelp at them and get them to gobble a few times and then let them sit for 5 minutes or so. I was mainly doing it to keep me from getting to discouraged. They finally quit responding and the radar was showing some rain moving in. I was about to the point of calling it a day when they popped out on the ridge closest to me. I was shocked. I let out a couple of the worst sounding clucks you've ever heard but they stuck around. I got my stuff together and did some purrs and clucks and they came in on a string. I got drawn and when the lead turkey of the 3 got to my hen the arrow released. I honestly don't recall letting the arrow go but once I get to that point its all concentration. I made a good hit and he only went about 10 yards and went down.

I've heard people talk about situations like this but always thought it was a fluke but the other 2 proceeded to beat the snot out of my dead turkey.

[huntnfish]

I clucked a little during the beat down and got the one to come to about 5 yards. Keep in mind that he did this while I had me head out the window of the blind with my phone in hand taking pictures.

When I finally had enough of the show and started to get worried with the increasing rain I got out of the blind and started walking to my bird. The 2 remaining tom's let me get to about 15 yards before the started on their way. There was also an unseen bald eagle circling that started shrieking when I was walking out. This is what I walked up to:

He was pretty much a turkey pancake stomped into the dirt. When I got him home and skinned he had a bunch of tears in his skin from them.

He ended up having a beard just under 11 inches and spurs about 1 1/4".

This was the first "real time" I've hunted turkeys and I can see why its so addicting! I do wish I would've gotten some better pics and some of me and the bird but I didn't have time to wait 45 minutes for someone to get to where I was at. I plan to give it another whirl next year. It's definitely more challenging with a bow but that much more rewarding.

[NoWiser]

Congrats and thanks for the story!! Is that an Elite I see? How do you like it?

[monstermoose78]

Great job!!

[huntnfish]

That is an Elite. It's a 2011 Pure. I like it a lot and shoot it very well. I've shot all kinds of bows in the last few years and for hunting I prefer this one and that says a lot. I had a Hoyt Carbon Matrix for a while and decided on this one.

Thanks and I almost feel like I need to apologize to Scoot for giving him a hard time about delaying his stories. It takes a lot of time and I kept going back and editing along the way. Its more work than I imagined that's for sure! It is fun to relive all the details though.

[hugonian1]

Very nice.

Congrats on a great hunt and bird.

[Borch]

Congrats on a great hunt and welcome to the club.

[paceman]

Awesome! Congrats!

[NoWiser]

That is an Elite. It's a 2011 Pure. I like it a lot and shoot it very well. I've shot all kinds of bows in the last few years and for hunting I prefer this one and that says a lot. I had a Hoyt Carbon Matrix for a while and decided on this one.

I felt the same way when I bought a bow 2 years ago. I shot all the popular brands but didn't want to put down the Elite. It was a tough decision between the Answer and Pure but I ended up finding a great deal on an Answer and went with it. I love that bow!

[1eyeReD]

Awesome hunt! Turkey pancake LOL!! Love it!

[sticknstring]

That's an outstanding bird - congrats! I think your calling was plenty good!

[Scoot]

WTG Nate! Thanks for sharing the story and pictures- great job! What a stud of a bird!!!

[pumper317]

Awesome story! Thanks for sharing! Congrats on what sounds like a really nice bird.