Team 4=SPUR COLLECTORS

[mrklean]

i shot the bow last night and got it sighted in again she was shooting a litte high and to the left

[sticknstring]

You taking the bow to Kansas?

I went out for a few hours before work this morning. Not much gobbling but I did have a jake sounding off on the farm I had permission on so I decided to setup nearby. As I was popping the blind up, a few birds lit up on the adjacent farm so at least there's still a few birds around yet. I never did see that jaker but at 6:10 a tom gobbled about a 100 yds out and I saw him working down the field to me but just prior to that I had a deer out in the field doing head bobs at me. Not sure if that buggered that bird or what but he wouldn't come in. He skirted me at 60 yds and wanted nothing to do with me. He couldn't see the decoy and all I threw out were some soft clucks and purrs so who knows. I've never hunted this property this late - I know they've been hunted quite a bit already so it might be a long 5 days. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

[dukhnt]

A few minutes after six this morning I had 18 birds in the field including 6 long beards. They were chasing each other around, strutting and gobbling. All 18 birds were in the field for about 45 minutes. The only two that came into my dekes were hens. It was still a riot watching them. I won't be back after them till friday due to work commitments. But I will hit em hard friday and saturday.

[mrklean]

yep my buddy and i are both going with the bows should be a good challenge

[sticknstring]

Awesome - bring a full quiver and plenty of broadheads!

Sounds like you have a honey-hole dukhnt. Best of luck this weekend.

[dukhnt]

Just to let you guys know, I harvested a jake yesterday. It was my last day so I decided to take whatever would come in rather than eat tag soup. Story and pictures to follow when time allows in the next day or two.

[Gordie]

bird in the bag is better than no bird at all. congrats on the bird

[DonBo]

No shame in taking a jake. Congrats!

[mrklean]

got my fiirst tom ever last night, 10 in beard maybe a little more, story and pics tomorrow. Got one more chane for another

[Gordie]

Congrats on the tom mrklean

[mknolls]

Sounds like you spur collectors are doing pretty good. Can't wait to see that 10 inch beard on some pic's. For a first turkey that has got to be feel pretty darn good. Did you jump up and down screaming ya ho? I know I would. Way to go. And yes a jake is better then tag soup. My soup was a little waxy tasting and left a me with a blue tong for some reason.

Mrklean how far was your shoot with your bow? And did he run far after the hit or did you drop him in his tracks? Can I ask what type of broad head did you use? Good luck with the next one.

[Borch]

Congrats MrKleen!

What an awsome bird for your first!

[sticknstring]

Nick work guys... 2 more birds to add up! Lets hear some stories and see some pics!

I finished up my MN hunt Saturday night at 7:45pm. It was a new experience for me. I didn't make it out every day but put in one full day, one half day in the rain, and a few hours on the others. Thursday was beautiful but that was about it - pretty lousy weather-wise. I hunted with the bow to start with but never had any opportunities. There were birds around but mostly on adjacent properties. If you touched the call, they'd go the other way. If they saw your decoy, they'd go the other way. Definitely not what I've experienced in the past during the first two time periods. I did have 3 hens and a strutter come in Thurs morning. The hens came in to about 15 yds and I thought the tom would follow but once I peaked out the porthole, he was a good 40-45 yds out. A little longer than I'm comforable shooting the bow at turks. That was it. Nothing else was even close. Quite a few single hens roaming around though. I was about ready to call it quits. I had early Mother's day obligations Saturday (last day) that kept me busy until 2pm. I decided to go back out for a few hours that afternoon and get payback if I got the chance. I took nothing but my mouthcall and my uncle's shotgun. He's got a turkey choke on it and it's been deadly. Worked birds most of the afternoon suprisingly but they mostly hung-up at 100 yds. They were fired up though. They'd walk back and forth at 100 yds gobbling their fool heads off waiting for me and eventually just leave. That happened twice from 3-6pm. I'm not used to the run & gun tactic. Finally in the distance, I spotted two toms. I gave them one short series of yelps, saw them turn my direction and I went silent. 5 minutes goes by... no birds. I scratch some leaves. Nothing. 5 more long minutes and I catch movement - they're coming. 2 longbeards making a very wary approach. At this point they were 80 yds. I was hunkered along a big oak with the gun up. They'd go 10 yds and stop and look for 2 minutes. 10 more yds and look. Finally the lead bird was in the clear within range and I squeezed the trigger. BOOOM - Bird flapping on the ground! That's the first bird I've killed with the shotgun since my first turkey - 10 years ago, but it sure was a lot of fun. After sitting in the blind the majority of previous 4 days, it was nice to get out and move around a bit. I'm pretty patient when it comes to hunting turkeys, but after awhile I get claustrophobic so that was a neat experience. It turned out to be a pretty nice bird... a hair under 22LBS, 9 1/2" beard, and 1 1/8" spurs.

[DonBo]

Good job Stick! Took me a while too to figure out the shotgun can actually be fun, and the payback after all that frustration is sweet!

[Hoyt4]

Nice bird stick.I also love taking them with a cheater pipe.I love to use the bow but sure is nice to get a little gun smoke in the air.Since I've started hunting with a bow 10 years ago, I still hunt them like I have a shotgun.I do not get myself tied down.If you like to move around you can still do that with a bow.All our birds shot in NE this year for the archery season all shot outside of the blind running and gunning.

[sticknstring]

It's great to run and gun in Nebraska where you have a lot more room to work and cedar trees for cover but when you're restricted to one smaller farm in MN, every time you step out of that blind and start walking, you're going to educate birds. After a few days of that, a tough hunt becomes extremely difficult. I hear what you're saying though and I'm going to start doing it more down there for sure. When you're not toting around a blind and video equipment, you can become much more mobile.

Quote:

Good job Stick! Took me a while too to figure out the shotgun can actually be fun, and the payback after all that frustration is sweet!

I tell you what, it sure beats coming home without a bird at the end of the week because you're too stubborn!

[Gordie]

way to go stick, nice bird

[sticknstring]

Thanks elwood. You start Saturday right? DonBo put the pressure on, the Spur Collectors are counting on you for a bird!

[Borch]

Congrats!

[Nightcrawler]

Congrat, dukhut,mrkleen and stickstring on your turkeys.

El wood is out now aaa. showing Donbo how its done. I start the 20 th for the sunny'st week of the season.

[dukhnt]

Here is my story

Tuesday morning I had 18 birds in the field for about 45 minutes. Six of them were longbeards. They were gobbling, strutting, chasing each other around. It was sure fun to watch but frustrating as well because they would not come into range.

Friday morning was sure fun. Six hours of sitting in the rain. The new rain gear worked like it should. Unfortunatly the old hunting boots did not. My feet were soaked before I even got to the hunting spot. Six birds showed up in the field, two were long beards. Again, they were not interested in the decoys.

Friday night I talked a buddy into coming out with me. I was sick of heading out of town at 3:50am by myself. He wanted to see what this turkey hunting was all about anyways. I told him that it was the last day, so I was going to take any legal bird that came in. As it started to get light out, we had gobbling going off in every direction. We heard at least six different gobblers. About a hour into the hunt he spots some turkeys behind us in another field. They took about 10 minutes to get to the field I was in. Once they saw the decoys, they headed straight for them. Got about five yards from them, stopped, and looked right at us. I don't know how they spotted us, but they did. There were six jakes. If I would have shot at that point, there would have probably been five birds flopping on the ground. Their heads were that close together. Finally they split up a little and I was able to pick one out. A bird in the bag and we were heading home. My buddy thought it was a pretty cool experience.

[sticknstring]

Way to be persistent dukhnt - congrats on a nice bird.

[mrklean]

Ok ill start out the story got down to Claflin kansas about 3 in the afternoon to a nice breezy 30 mph winds we met our guide unpacked and jumped into the truck to head to the blinds before we even get to the blind we see a few turks. Get into the blind and 5 minutes later i have a few visitors

i guess they dont have a lot of roosters down there but all the ones i saw had real nice tail feathers on them. I had 1 hen and 2 small jakes come by and a few more deer and that was my day. My buddy Luke had much better luck they had between 30-40 birds in the field with at least 10 toms strutting, he had a chance on one but was to slow to draw, then a bobcat scared all the birds away. Day 2-- Morning started out with more gobblers then i have ever heard in my life pretty sweet when you have 30+ gobblers roosting right behind you gobbling away. Had one decent Tom come down right infront of use by to far of a shot, he walked right down the field to where luke was sitting, the guide watched my buddy miss the bird then another 15 came into the field but all stayed 100 yards out, once again they walked there way right down the field to where luke was sitting, we were joking saying all he has to do is shoot at one in the group and he should be able to hit at least one, nope we watched him miss again then the birds were gone. Went back to the house had some breakfast took a nap then luke figured he should shoot his bow a few times to make sure he was sighted in, well he shoots fingers and he was trying a release for the first time he was all over missing, the guide was nice enough to let him use his Elite bow. We went back out at about 4:30, moved the blinds and set up, luke was where i was that morning and we moved his blind back to where they enter the field, well right away i had 5 jakes comeing in, but they didnt want to take the same way they always do and circle around into the field, about an hour later i see 5 jakes racing past my blind and a text to follow from luke asking if i saw 5 jakes and if one was dead or not, he hit one but didnt die, i saw a few more toms and hens but where to far to the left behind trees, then i find out luke missed another bearded hen so hes 0 for 4 right now on shots with me not getting a single shot. The stress is starting to build at this point. Saturday was the one nice day we had no wind chilly morning but 60 in the afternoon, sunday was wind and more wind again. the guide and myself moved the blind again down the field more and luke sat in the same blind again. Thinking they were gonna enter the say way they did the day before i should get a shot, NOPE, about 15 birds entered from the neighbors field and almost walked right to lukes blind again but they stayed out in the middle of the field then they left. The guide said we should move quick to where i sat friday because they tend to go past there before they move to another field, we had to walk far so we didnt bring anything with. We get to the next blind and make some box calls, we hear some gobblers way off in the distance so he keeps calling and calling. They walk within 45 yard see no hen and change direction and leave. So he called the birds in from almost half a mile away and the change direction right at the last second were both at a loss for words. He said he had one spot that was either feast or famine, a camera crew filmed over 160 birds there early that year. Luke went back to the same blind and we set the decoys at the new spot, it was very narrow area so the birds would pretty much just pop out of no where.. We werent there for 5 minutes when a nice tom popped out then left right away, Rich the guide didnt think he liked the decoys so he ran out and grabbed them quick, then he popped back again a few minutes later and was looking for the decoys so we set one back out, turns out the tom circle back around, he was next to us behind a big spruce tree, so we switched spots in the blind quick so i could have a shot, instead of walking toward the decoy he walked back then around so i took a shot at 32 yards and he was walking away, shot low. If we would have switched spots i would have had about a 20-25 yard shot. Im happy i got a shot but mad because i missed. not 10 minutes later i see a text from luke he had shot a jake, then 2 minutes later another, so now he has gotten 6 shots to my one so the stress keeps on growing. Then about another hour later i get another text asking if he can shot a tom and use my tag so now im really mad but tell him sure i still have one tag, luckey i waited on that response and the birds had left his blind . at about 7 we had 2 more nice toms pop out see the decoy and leave they circled right around us and were walking down the exact trail the blind was on, we couuld see them 10 yards behind us but no way to shot though the back of the blind. At this point i had seen more birds that i will ever see in my life and none of them wanted to come close enough for a shot so im pretty bummed out and starting to zone out. Early that evening rich said some bird is just gonna show up out of know where and thats gonna be your bird. well im starting to zone out and rich says get your bow ready big tom, and i didnt believe him and he said it again, im ready now, there was a big tom looking right at the decoy sturtting, he said if i can get on my knees and switch spots i could have a shot so were trying to move all the stuff in the blind when this bird is 15 yards out and looking right at us, well i finally get into position and the tom is right behind a branch waits a few minutes which seemed like hours and takes two steps to the right looks right at my and i let loose drilled him right in the chest, he flies up out of sight rich runs out to the hill looks behind the tree and there he was. We took a few pics quick and went back to the truck and went to pick up luke. Turns out he missed another jake before he got his to. So he was 2 for 7 on his shots and i was 1 for 2, something i wont let him forget anytime soon

Had a 9.5 in beard, 1 in spurs and weighed 24 pounds, not bad for my first bird.

This is use with all three birds that night.

We went back out the next morning to try and fill my last tag but no luck. I saw in lukes blind saw 30 birds walk by with some huge toms, but they didnt want anything to do with that blind anymore. We probably saw between the 2 of use 200 birds from friday to monday, for sure we will be going back there.

[Gordie]

Great storys guys and I hope that I can bag a bird my season starts friday but wont be out until saturday. A friend and I will be be hunting seveal spots in hopes of a monster turkey. He said that he has been seeing a lot of birds in our areas. He has been out with his GF's son and they have been seeing birds but they wont commit. I'll do my best to bring home the bacon or I mean bird cant wait and this is the longest week ever..

[sticknstring]

Great story mrklean - sounds like you guys had a great hunt. It's not always easy taking a bird w/ an arrow but it sure is sweet when you connect. Good thing you're buddy took my advice and brought a quiver full. Congrats!

elwood - Looks like you'll have a nice weekend for chasing birds around. They'll be good and fired up after this week of rain.