Spring '04 - Stories From the Hunt

[HateHumminbird]

And so it's upon us again....turkey season in MN is a beautiful thing. How'd it sneak up on us so fast?

I'm sure many of us are green with envy of you guys heading out in the morning, I know I am. I'd like to invite everybody who heads out to post a little story of their hunt, successful or not. If it is successful, pictures would be most welcome! Include all or any info. you think may be helpful for other hunters hunting later seasons. Thanks in advance.

Weather seems good....get out there early as the sun will be bright in a hurry. Hopefully the birds will be gobbling hard. Good luck, and here's to a safe and fun spring!

Joel

[TomBow]

Got word yesterday that a son of some internet friends of mine bagged a Jake at 6:35AM opening morning. Now that's what I call a short season. No details yet but sounds like it'll be a "short story"!

Also, heard from a guy in Nebraska who bagged a bow-gobbler on his 5th shot. Guess he wanted to save his best arrow for last, only had 5 arrows in the quiver. He called 3 gobblers in 3 times. He also had his buddy's 6-yr old in the blind with him to witness the action. Take a kid hunting! More details to follow once I get the story from him.

[Ben1022]

Another second hand report from a neighbor. My neighor and his boy were hunting up near Wyoming for this 2nd season. They pulled up last night w/about a 2-3 yr old gobbler. It was the kids first turkey tag and first hunt and he bagged it on the 1st day of the hunt!
Said they saw birds moving around all day but not much for talking. Said they heard the hens purring a little bit.
Three hens made their way to the decoys and one started to fight the decoy. It got two gobblers excited and they headed in to see what was going on and the 1st gobbler got shot. They said they never called the whole day. just stayed put. Patience paid off for the 1st timer!!!

[HateHumminbird]

Ben:

Thanks for the re-post. Great story. I've never heard more gobbling than when two hens fight near gobblers. What luck to have that experience be part of your 1st hunt. He's hooked for life I'm sure!

Joel

[sheepheadslayer]

Went out on Friday for the first time and heard alot of birds right away. Once it got light they shut right up. No luck until about 10;30 when i moved to a new location. Got set up and in about 15 min had 6 toms headed right to me. Pick off the lead bird and it was a beutiful old tom. 23lbs 9 1/2" beard and 1 1/2" spurrs. Great day. Dad got one on sunday also.

[buckkiller183]

hey guys i shot one of the biggest birds ive seen inb a long time. at 7:30 in the mourning a huge tom made his way into the decoy and i put the bead on him and down he went. it was a 26 pound gobbler with a 10 inch beard and 1 1-4 spurs.

good luck

[Borch]

Now that's one very nice bird! I'll take that in 9 days.

Congrats!

[HateHumminbird]

Great birds! Those are some nice limb-hangers at 1 1/2", and the other bird at 26lbs is a pig. Anybody have any pics they can post?

Joel

[This message has been edited by jnelson (edited 04-21-2004).]

[CornPirateKiller]

Well folks, my hunt in Southern Iowa lasted about an hour. I set up with my two friends at about 5:15 am. We were in a portable blind on the edge of an alfalfa field with timber 100 yards across the field in front of us. Two hen decoys at 15 yards out. At 5:35, we heard our first gobble, echoed by a second. Two gobblers in the timber straight across from us. We listened to gobbles and hens yelping as the sun came up and at 6:05, the first bird flew down. Six hens were followed by a big tom and then a second tom. The first tom challenged the second and they fought briefly before the second one moved off to the left. The hens led the first one angling towards the right. I had a brief opportunity as they moved by, but couldn't get positioned. Meanwhile, the second tom had moved out about 60 yards to our left and was strutting around trying to lure the hens to him. The first tom and the hens moved on, though. I was afraid that the tom to our left would lose interest and head off, but after a few yearning yelps from my buddy's slate, he slowly edged his way closer. As my other friend filmed with the video camera, we lured him in to a perfect shot and a load of #6's took him down at 20 yards at 6:20 am. What a thrill! 22 lbs with 1 1/4" spurs. Unfortunately, my shot was a little low and it blew the beard right off him. I found strands in the grass and the few strands that stayed intact were 8", but I know the majority had been longer. Oh well, another fan for the wall. 2 weeks more before my Minnesota hunt. Hope I'm as lucky then.

------------------
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati (When all else fails, play dead)

[Borch]

Well yesterday was a bust. Not a peep heard. Did see a few hens though. Today was a different story. Walked into one of my spots that we hadn't hunted yet this year. There wasn't much for sign there the past few weeks.

I got there a little later than I would have liked as the sky was lightening up. So I scanned each of the likely roosting trees on the way in as the bird like to roost in the stretch we have to walk through on the way to our spots. I get to the first spot that I have setup in and see a tom in a tree about 60 yards in front of me. I freeze and decide what I should do. I'm on the edge of a ridge so backing up wasn't much of an option. I decide to setup on the tree I'm standing next to. I don't like to setup this close but that's the way it worked out. It's an oak ridge so doing it quietly was impossible with it being so dry and no wind to cover up anything. But this just seemed to fire him up with the leaf crunching. I managed to get setup without him seeing me and he continues to gobble with another one now joining in about 75 yards in front of me and to my left. I let things settle down a bit and do a couple of soft tree yelps. He doesn't gobble but looks in my direction and struts on the limb. The other bird gobbles though and he sounds off. After another 5 minutes I do another tree yelp with some clucks and purrs tossed in. Then I simulate the wing beat of a hen flying down and crunch some leafs. This pushes them over the edge. Lots of gobbling and strutting on the linb. I do some leaf scratching and get gobbling from both birds. I set down the call and shut up.

After about 3-4 minutes I hear the bird to my left fly down. The tom in from of me continues to do his thing on the limb. After about a minute he stretches his wings and flies down too hitting the ground about 45 yards away but out of sight. I finally get an chance to get my gun up and ready as both birds are out of sight. I can hear both birds strutting and walking around. The bird from the left shows up first and is given a lethal does of #5 shot at 32 yards. Time on my watch 6:50 am. The other bird sticks around putting and clucking. When I walk up to get my bird after picking up my stuff the other gobbler closes the distance(to about 20 yards). Must have thought I was the hen walking his way. He eventually sees me and leaves putting.

Not the biggest gobbler in the world but a nice two year old bird on the last morning of my season. Just wish one of the kids could have been there for a potential double.

Stats:

16.5 lbs
9.75" beard
1.0 & .875" spurs

Taking the kids to school this morning I saw 6 different gobblers in the fields. Not a hen in sight. Looks good for those hunting this next season.

Now I head off to SD tomorrow night. Catch you later.

[This message has been edited by Borch (edited 05-03-2004).]

[HateHumminbird]

My brother and his buddy took a bird over the weekend. Gobbling began at 5:30AM, and the bird was down about 5:45AM. They took the bird strutting at about 6AM, which made for a short hunt. The bird was a bit smaller, but there was another one lurking......said he kept hearing a "phhhhhhhhhhhhhhit" noise in back of him.....thought it was a possum. Then a vibrating noise..... I explained that it was a spitting and drumming gobbler, which he said was about 10 yards behind him!

STATS -
Tom
16lbs.
3/4" & 7/8" spurs
8 inch beard

Joel

[HateHumminbird]

I head out in the morning, with no tag, hopefully to observe my cousin take a bird. We have some good land lined up, and I'm seeing more birds than we have in the earlier seasons.

Glad to hear of the success everyone has been having....there's been some nice birds taken. Hope the luck continues!

Joel

[HateHumminbird]

Great bird and a great pic labs! Glad to hear your hunt was so successful.

This morning, we had a bird fly down within the first few minutes as well, but it was a hen that plopped down almost inside the dekes. Two more hens were brought into our field, with no gobblers in tow. All the racket the cross-talk was creating didn't bring in a tom either. Hard early gobbling gave way to day-long silence within minutes of fly-down.....must've been with a good load of hens.

Mid morning had us prospecting towards another property where all the birds were gobbling earlier. At least two were interested, but not willing to come on over.....at least until we left for greener pastures. Our new setup (300 yards further than the old one) brought probably the same birds up to us. The hens they were with did their job and kept their men to themselves though. The two loooooonnnnngbeards got no closer than 80 yards.

A suspected bust had us scampering for a last ditch effort, which turned into a bona fide bust. Might've been able to pull off a shot had I been lucky enough to draw a tag. I'm just along for the ride. Tommorrow we'll be smarter.

Joel

[TomBow]

I spoke with a guy that lives on close to 300 acres and claims his hunts last "a few hours at the most". Well, apparently he's good to his word, his season was 4/29-5/3, didn't hunt until Saturday morning and was back home with his bird by 7 AM Saturday. He called in 3 hens and 5 gobblers right into his decoys and shot the biggest one when they decided to leave. We've got rain forecasted for every day of my wife's hunt (5/9-13) but hopefully the birds will be out and about in the fields and we get one close enough for a clean shot. Best of Luck to all. Keep the stories comin'! You just about got me whipped into a frenzy!!

[LABS4ME]

Well for me my Minnesota season was awefully short. From the time I sat down, till the time I slapped the trigger was exactly 4 minutes! Guess that makes up for the 4 days it took 2 years ago, and the 5 days it took last year.

Got set-up a little later than I wanted, and when I sat down at 5:40, they had just started gobbling on the roost a few minutes earlier, a little soft yelping right away when I sat down and 3 minutes later they come flying down off the roost... 2 hens and 3 Toms. They landed 50 yrds. away from me in a little hollow, one good hard cutt and yelp, followed by a little soft purring pulled them right up to me and 1 minute later a load of copper 6's found it's mark! 5:44 am, 21#'s, 9.5" beard, 1" spurs. Not the most exciting story to re-tell, but as usual a thrill to be out there. I was home before the wife got up to get the kids off to school and was even to work on time! Bummer!

Now to get ready for next week in Wisconsin! Might be my 1st 2 turkey year!

Good luck to those still out there running and gunning! The big boys are starting to get lonely! I think they should really start to come to the calls from here on out.

And here is the star of the show! (hope this works)

[SCCO9803]

We got to our spot around 515 yesterday and set up our dekes. We sat down and saw two hens roosted across a ridge. We started hearing gobbling in every direction around us. The hens flew down a valley away from us and, a Tom and two Jakes flew down into the edge of the field we were set up in. The Tom was strutting around at about 40 yards but wouldn't come in. The two Jakes walked right between us and our decoys. We passed on our opportunity at these seeing as it was 5:45 opening morning, and we had a Tom at 40 yards. Well the jakes spooked at about 10 yards, one flew and the other ran right by me. The Tom also walked away, still struting, into the woods.
We were a little bummed and thought that our opprtunity had passed. We were wrong.
At 6:30 we had two gobbles just down a valley behind us. My dad used his push button call, and I called on my diaphram. They answered us. We waited a while and called again, they responded and were getting closer. Each time it was only two gobbles. We figured that two Toms would come up over the corner of the field and right infront of us. My dad was on the left hand side of the tree and the birds were coming from our left, so he slid around a little to see better. Not two minutes later I heard him say, "here he comes." Well "here he comes" turned into here comes five. Five full grown Toms single file came over the hill. The only problem was they stayed behind us. I peeked throught the tree and saw one at 10 yards. We knew it was now or never, so I told my dad to shoot. He got him.
22lbs., 10 1/2" beard, 1" spurs
Unfortunately I have to work, but I'll be back out Saturday.

[Mark Christianson]

Birds are tagged.
Dad and I both got our birds the first morning of our hunt.
Not a traditional method. We were scoping a field at about 8am, and there was a tom strutting along a fenceline.
Long story really short, we snuck up the woodline/fenceline, got within range, and I shot the Tom while strutting. We ran up, and turkeys were flying and running everywhere.
A jake flew by us at 15 yds, and Dad got it.

All done.
I love turkey hunting.
Actually, that is quite a short version, but in the end it is what transpired.
Exciting as heck sneaking up to a bunch of turkeys without them sensing you.

[bklimek]

This was my second time out turkey hunting. The first was unsuccessful. I thought it would be a great idea to bring my buddy along who is going this weekend and video tape our hunt. Friday morning came early, we were out on the field around 515 am. The turkeys started gobbling around 6 and shut up at 630. Seven o'clock rolls around and we had a nice big tom come from behind us and walk right past us ignoring my purrs, whistles, and decoys. I think he was spooked for some reason. He stayed out 60 yards and never seem interested. Nine o'clock came and we decided to move to a different area where we heard the magority of the gobbling. We sat there for 30 minutes, it was getting windy and it didn't look good. We decided to hunt another piece of land I had permission. Before we did my buddy walked up over the hill to check it out on the other side. Her heard a couple gobbles and we quickly set up. By this time it is 10. I would yelp and he would gobble. You could tell he was on the move because he would gobble in 5/10 minute intervals and each gobble was getting closer. Eleven comes and we haven't heard our gobble in a while so we figured give it until noon and then go in for lunch. It was sunny, warm, and we were out of the wind. Well my buddy and I both end up taking a cat nap for 15-20 minutes. When we awoke there he was just strutting into our decoy spread. Talk about a surreal feeling seeing him all fanned out coming in. He strutted up to the 2 hen decoys and ruffled his feathers and then strutted to the jake and really showed his colors. He had his back to me which allowed me to rub the dust out of my eyes and get into postion to shoot. I was looking back to make sure the camera was rolling. The first chance he gave me I took. A nice 21 pound tom!!! We never got the kill shot filmed cleanly. He came in from the backside and there were 2 trees in the way. All you saw was the hustle and bustle of trying to hit record and get set up and then BOOM!!!! We were able to get 17 minutes of some okay footage. Just goes to show how much work and perfection it takes for these shows we watch to have good footage. Pretty lucky for my first turkey.

Butch

[Bryce]

Ain't computers something? That guy looks just like you Ken.

[Borch]

Well we made it back home after 3 1/2 days of chasing Merriams in the Black Hills. We went a bit later this year so that most of the breeding would be done and the toms wouldn't be as henned up.

Well the best plans often fall apart. Someone forgot to tell the turkeys what schedule they should be on. The birds were seriously flocked up. Toms would often be running with 4-15 hens. One group of birds we were working had 5 toms and 14 hens. Another flock we worked at midday had 2 toms and 10 hens. Just didn't make any sense. Starting to wonder if the hens are going to bother nesting this spring in the Black Hills.

At any rate I ended up taking a jake on the last day after passing on a few earlier in the hunt. It had a 4 1/2" beard and weighed 13 1/2 lbs. Had several opportunities for bigger birds but something always seemed to happen so that a good shot was impossible.

We had a great time though. Saw lots of elk, whitetails, antelope and a few mulies too.

Hard to beat that!

Borch

[Uncle Grump]

I hunted last Tues (5-4) thru Sat (5-8). I got skunked. The closest I came to getting a bird was on Weds. I started walking around about 8.30, as I got cold and had to move. I checked a spot where I've seen turkey in past seasons, and sure enough, there were two out there. A quick peek on the binocs told me there was a Tom and hen. They were on a water way (grassy ditch), in a worked field, with woods to the W,N and E sides. Also on the E side was a small patch of just sprouted oats.

I hunkered down next to a small cedar, and proceded to try to figure out what they were going to do - I was hoping the hen would go nest, but nothing doing. They slowy came up the water way, to the E. woods edge. Then they stopped and milled around, as turkey do.

All I could do was watch and wait, and slowly it became apparent I might get a shot, if they stayed in the oats and followed the oats along the edge of the woods. I watched those birds for 1.25-1.5 hours, and finally, they were coming, the
hen in the lead. I got behind the cedar some more, had the gun up, safety off. The hen had to go about another 10 yds so as to put the Tom in the spot I needed him to be in order to shoot, and then she was going to be a widow.

'Twas not to be. I don't know what happened, but the hen made a left turn, toward the field, away from me - and took MY Tom with her. Never had a shot at him, as there was still lots of brush between him and me, as well as the range being further due to the angle. The hen didn't run, she didn't putt.
Just wandered away and let go with a long string of soft clucks.

I never got a good look at him, until he was way out in the field. Odd thing was he had a small wispy beard like a jake, yet his tail was full - it wasn't segmented at all.

Saw lots of hens - either singletons, or they had Tom's with them. No single Tom's were spotted by me. I had expected to see the Toms all alone, but someone forgot to tell the turkeys that.

UG

[Ruttin' Buck]

You gents are all killing me....I'm leaving on thurs for the G season. My anxiety level is maxed out so I still have a couple days to wait.

Been fun reading the stories from this year already. Congrats to those who were successful, keep your head up to those who weren't as you've learned more than you know in not being successful.

Tombow...how'd the wife do? Did you hunt yet with the bow or weren't you picked? If so arrow any? I've been doing construction on my house and did not practice up for the bow...toting the 12GA.

If anything we should hit the morel season!

[Borch]

Good Luck Buckblaster!

Borch

[Captain B.R.K]

Was hunting Sunday and Monday morning of this past session and was skunked. Saturday night before all the storms, it was thundering every 5 minutes and the gobblers sounded off. That was cool to hear! Sunday morning brought fog and wind, not ideal for turkey hunting. Anyway, set-up where we had heard some gobblers the night before and had scouted some turkeys from a week before. NOTHING. Had lunch and went to another piece of land that we thought might be alright.
Got over there and set-up my DEC's in partial clearing in the woods and just like that a gobbler sounded off on my yelping hen call. SWEET. The only problem was: a revine between me and the gobbler. The rest of the day was unproductive.
Monday morning woke up to overcast and light drizzle. Got set-up by the last gobble we heard from Sunday and sure enough, he was belarran from my owl call. This guy was going nuts. Got set-up real fast and he was on the move. Every time I called, he gobbled.
Saw a head come up over the hill and he stared at my direction/dec's direction and then continued to walk on. Didn't even come up into the decoy's.

WHAT HAPPENED?

It was planned perfectly except for the gobbler didn't come in to investigate and strut his stuff?

That's my story...maybe next year.
Any clues as to what happened here?

[HateHumminbird]

Decoys can hurt you at times. Later in the season especially, the jakes and smaller toms have had it handed to them all season, and it's getting a bit old. The guys I go hunting with have used dekes with mixed results this year. On at least a handful of occassions, the gobbler has acted as if there was nothing there. Other times it has only piqued slight interest. Personally, there's only been a couple of times I've taken birds and felt that decoys made all the difference. Maybe its a function of the way I hunt, or maybe just because I tire of carrying the things around all day. I would guess the gobbler you were working has been around the block a time or two.

Joel

[This message has been edited by jnelson (edited 05-11-2004).]

[TomBow]

Well, lemmebreakidownforya,

Oh beautiful wife-o-mine season started Sunday, May 9. We have close to 300 acres of prime land to hunt and set-up near a narrow portion of a larger pasture and an adjacent smaller pasture. Long story short, Sunday--1 bird, sees dekes, goes back down in the ravine. Hardly any gobbling in the morning, she talked to one bird but it never came in. 87 degrees, we leave about 3: 30 and sit in the motel room and watch the wicked weather roll through.
Monday--We start in the pasture, no activity. Move to a long slender crop field, bordered by woods on all sides and a steep hill on the back side. One bird gobbles at 1:30, he comes in, peeks through the brush and sees the gun moving. Gone. We leave the blind to try the end-around but no deal! We go the opposite direction, past our blind and call until shooting hours are almost up. Then we hear him. 4:55 PM. Sounds like he's by the blind, that we don't happen to be sitting in at the time! We sneak out to the edge of the brush and peek to see him standing out there 50 yards from the blind. We checked his tracks and he walked right by the blind. But my wife called a hen within 15 ft.! It sure like the sound of the slate! Wouldn't shut up for 5 minutes!

I went to work on Tuesday to catch up and do some of my wife's work. (I know....you're saying "Angel. Straight from heav'n.")

My wife had a pleasant surprise she got me with last night when she got home. Her FIRST BIRD! 20# (after field dressing, 1-1/8" spurs and a 10-1/4" beard, a nice 3 yr old! We've both been grinning from ear to ear! I have gotten into the habit of coming home from a successful hunt and acting like I didn't get anything, then in a few minutes I ask her to help me unload the truck or ask her what got on one of my arrows, then she catches on that I have bagged a deer. I say that she surprised me with the bird because we have a large blue plastic cargo container that I put in the back bed of my pickup and we keep our hunting stuff in it. She put the turkey in there and closed the lid before she got home, then had me take the container out of the truck. I lifted it out of the truck and carried it to the garage, I didn't think anything of the weight, figuring that our hunting pack was in there. Later, my wife's mom, who had gone with my wife on the hunt, (mom-in-law’s first turkey hunting adventure), said something about there being a bottle of pop that she wanted in the container so I volunteered to go get it. I took the lid off the container and glanced at the contents, then did a quick double-take and the hootin' an hollerin' began! That image of the bird in the container was instantly stamped on my mind’s eye, I can see it right now! We had heard a bird gobbling by the blind right before the end of shooting hours on Monday (5 PM), she got this bird, which was traveling with another gobbler, at 4:55 PM. Just the right amount of soft calling brought the bird across the field and my wife was ready. This is her second season turkey hunting, we were darn close last year and almost had a bird on Monday but she took advantage of the opportunity yesterday and got her bird!
This is her first game animal and she got to finally experience that awesome rush that us hunters feel when we make a good shot and know we've got our quarry. It is very cool, she is not from a hunting family so I am teaching her what I can and giving her the opportunity to hunt if she wants and just show her what hunting is all about, not just the harvest but all the sights and sounds of the woods.
Guess I might be struttin' like a boss gobbler today!
And she is grinning with that successful hunter smile! That’s so cool!!

[TomBow]

Mr.Blaster,
Thank you, I will extend the congrats to my wife from you.

Oh yes, my brother, I am hittin' it Friday through Thursday, same as you!

And most turkey hunters will tell you that the main requirement for preperatin' yerself fer the season is watching all the footage, reading all the articles and thusly WHIPPING thyself into a FRENZY until you are near foaming at the mouth and your "caregivers" wish to chain you up in the backyard until the frenzy subsides (don't tell them it never does, it's like a river, may be tricklin' in the winter but it'll be a raging torrent in the spring). I wouldn't have it any other way.

Best of Luck to you! Call 'em right and shoot straight. now, get me outta this (straight) jacket, I think I hear a gobbler!

[Borch]

Congrats to the wife Tombow.

Now it's your turn.

Good Luck!

Borch

[Ruttin' Buck]

That's great Tombow! Give a congrats to your little lady, I bet she's hooked now huh?!

Always seems like those gobblers like to show up at 4:45 while you frantically ponder what you need to do in the next 14 minutes and 55 seconds to get that bird in range!

Man I'm whipped up. I already packed the truck last night and I don't leave until tomorrow after work...uhg. I swear I've watched all the tapes I have on turkey hunting 3 times including the film of the one I shot last year. I think I'm intensifying my own anxiety at this point.

You didn't get drawn this year Tombow?

[Ruttin' Buck]

Alright Tombow, see ya back here in a week to trade stories. I've slept about 7 hours total the last 2 nights...I've got it bad.

I watched my film again from last year. I had about 2 hours of film! Most were turkeys, some deer, raccoons, 2 coyotes under 30 yards, and of course footage of a bluff hike that yielded morels 2X taller than a can of soda (or beer if you prefer).

Boy...that was not a good idea to watch that...again. Good luck Tombow and fellow hunters!