My MN Season F re-cap!

[bmc]

I really enjoy reading people's day to day hunting stories, so I'm gonna try my hand at it. I'll wrap it up in a few days, but will leave readers hanging here and there!

First off a little background history. This was my 4th season of turkey hunting and 1st MN season. It was also going to be my dad's 1st time turkey hunting. We didn't get drawn in the 1st go round, but picked up tags on the 1st come, 1st serve draw. Our Season was May 9-13 and zone 243 (Wadena County).

My dad picked me up around 4:00 pm on Saturday May 8th and we made our 2 hour trip to our base camp on the Crow Wing River, north of Nimrod, MN. Our host's are friend's of my parents and they let us use their 5th wheel camper on their property. We had a great view of the ducks, geese/goslings, and swans cruising the river.

We both had a restless sleep Saturday night, in anticipation of the upcoming hunt.

May 9th we were up at 4:30 and walked out to our pre-determined spot at 5:00am. We set up on the east side of a THICK stand of Norway Pine trees. An ATV trail went through the middle of this stand, running east to west. We put out a jake decoy, a hen decoy in the breeding position, and a standing hen. Here's a pic of our set up.

Our host had been seeing a HUGE tom (aka Da' Boss), sporting a beard that was almost dragging on the ground, in the immediate area. He figured he was roosting in a swamp to the east of us, along the west shore of the river. Anticipation was running high to say the least.

Our hopes were soon knocked down a peg when after some calling, listening, and watching; there was not a turkey to be seen or heard. We stayed put till about 8:00am and decided to do a little "run and gun" through the unfamiliar 80 acres we had to hunt, mainly to scout. After 2 more sets and no action what so ever, we headed back to camp.

We had some lunch and looked at some of the Google Earth maps I had printed off. A friend of a friend had also given me the names of 2 farmers in the area who would let us hunt their property as well. She has hunted both farms in the past and has always seen turkeys there.

After a couple of calls, we headed south and met the farmer at Farm 1. He was a great guy and took us for a ride around his 160 acres. There was a perfect funnel with a roosting area to the north, green field to the west, corn fields to the south and pasture w/ cows to the east. He said to have at it and good luck. We thanked him and headed to Farm 2, which was only a couple of miles to the west.

We met the owner of Farm 2, who, as most farmers are IMHO, a great guy as well. He explained the layout of his property and wished us luck. We took a drive "out back" to his 240 acres. 90% of Farm 2 was field that ranged from dirt to CRP grass. My dad and I discussed and headed back to Farm 1 to set up a blind in the funnel.

After getting set up and our trio of decoys out, it was about 3:30, and game on! I made some calls here and there with no responses what so ever. It was reassuring to know that my connection "always" sees birds on this farm.

At 5:45, my dad, who is to my left, looks to the right and points. I lean forward and see a red head about 10-12 yards away. All of a sudden, 1 red head, turns into 4! These 4 jakes were so tight together, it looked like a 60 lb turkey with 4 heads. They march right into the decoy spread, but won't break up. I come to full draw and my dad pulls up his shot gun. The jakes start to head back the way they came and 1 started to lag behind. BOOM! 2 go right, the one my dad missed flies up and into a clump of brush wondering what the heck happend? The 4th starts on a dead run, straight away from us and catched a 3" load of 6 shot in the back of the head at 35 yds. He's down for the count!!! The 1 in the brush steps out in the clearing by the "flopper". I put my 20 yd pin on his neck and let my Bullhead tipped arrow fly and it lands way short. Wrong pin!!! The 3 jakes scatter and leave their buddy on the ground.

My dad starts apologizing because I was supposed to shoot first, but I tell him don't worry about it, your 1st bird is out there!! We shake hands and wait a half hour, in case anything else comes back. Finally, we can't stand it anymore and I run out and retrieve my dad's bird. It weight 17 lbs, 4" beard, and little bumps for spurs. We took a bunch of photos and headed back up to the farm. Success on the 1st day!!!

The farmer is very happy for us and he invited us in for a celebratory beer. After a great B.S. session, we get the bird registered and return to camp, not knowing the excitement tomorrow morning would bring!

Stay tuned!

Brian

[mws4dux]

great story, nice pic

[Borch]

Great story bmc. You're getting me fired up for my hunt tomorrow morning!

Congrats to your dad for his first bird!

[Archerysniper]

Come on way to leave us hanging, like borch I am awaiting what tomorrow will bring the blind is set the birds are there and the broadheads are tucked in the quiver with care.

[bmc]

And so 4:30 a.m. Day 2 begins.....

My dad and I walked out to the 1st property where we hunted yesterday morning. Yesterday before lunch we put out a blind to the SE of where we sat yesterday morning. There was an ATV trail there and fresh turkey tracks.

I put out the 3 decoys and we settled in. It was a beautiful morning with sunshine and birds singing. How great is it to see and hear the spring woods wake up?!!!

Around 6:00 a.m. we here faint yelping to the SW of our location. From what I've read, it's best to mimic the hen, so I try to copy her sound for sound. After all what better bait for "Da' Boss" then the real deal? My dad got some nice video of the hen in our decoys and yelping her little heart out. It was very cool!

About ten minutes later we hear faint gobbling to the NW and see a black blob with a white head running west to east about 60-70 yards in front of us, through the pines. He comes out to our right on the ATV trail about 50 yards and proceeds to put on an awesoem show for about 10 minutes. It was too bad my dad forgot to turn on the video camera. DOH!

I've got my bow in my hand and the hen is about 20 yds out in front of us in some knee to waist high brush. She starts to move off to the right and here comes "Da' Boss".

I come to full draw and see he's in full strut. As he walks through an opening in the brush, I send a Muzzy 100 grain 3 blade on it's way! I see feathers fly and he runs to the left. My dad says you missed! I grab the shotgun and take 2 quick shots as he's running out of my dreams and down the ATV trail. I then sat there dumbfounded. The only thing we can come up with is that he must have been walking faster than I thought. I was just crushed, that's the only way I can explain it.

We sat in the blind and never said a word to eachother. There was an eerie silence in the air for about 20 minutes. Then we heard a gobble off to the left. A few minutes later we see "Da' Boss" coming back our way. This time he circles out in front of us and goes to where he had been strutting before I missed. He struts for 5 minutes or so and then heads north. We watched him for the next 2-3 hours, strutting, gobbling, and chasing hens through the open stand of pines.

Around 10:00 a.m. we decide to move the blind to where he had spent alot of time strutting in a little grassy area in the pine stand. This second set was about 100 yards to the NW of our 1st set. We then picked up feathers, my 2 shotgun shells, and got my arrow out of the pine it stuck into.

We then headed back to camp for some lunch and relaxation. The walk back was quiet as I tried to collect my thoughts on what I could have done differently. I still don't have an answer to that question.

Around 4:00 p.m. we head back to the scene of the crime from this morning. I put out a hen and jake decoy and we settle in over watching the "grassy knoll". This time I left the bow in camp, time to get some vengance with the shotgun!

We are facing South East and around 6:00 p.m. we hear gobbling to the North. Sure enough, here comes "Da' Boss". He never gets closer than 50-60 yards. He doesn't spend alot of time here as a light rain is falling and he continues to the South East to roost. We head back to camp around 7:00, scratching our heads, wondering what tomorrow morning will bring.

Stay tuned!