Team 5 - THE BEARDED HENS

[bety0108]

well my hunt is over and i have nothing to show. I heard a ton of birds all week and even had my chance at a tom on opening day. i was hunting in backwaters and swamps and it just seemed they would be on the other side of the river or swamp no matter what i did. This morning a few toms were gobbling and came my direction, had to be within 100yds, never saw them though. They did not respond to calls, gobble at crows/loud noises or anything. Sorry team! time to get the food plots in!

[fishermusk]

That is why I like turkeys so much. Of all the things I have hunted before nothing has made me scratch my head like turkeys. I will be hunting next Tuesday thru Saturday and am looking forward to the challenge.

[sticknstring]

I start Tuesday as well. For some reason with all this crappy weather, I've got a good feeling about the timing of the late-season this year. Hopefully we'll do well!

Paintbrush - I missed your post up above. Good luck on your SD hunt - all we need is one of those 4 tags filled! Hopefully you had better weather than we had here.

[Borch]

Looks like birds are regrouping with this weather.

Lots of flocks of 12 birds or more all of a sudden on the properties I've been watching.

I'd agree that it'll just keep getting better. Hens still appear to not be ready...

[sticknstring]

I hope you're right Borch - what a crazy spring!

and...

Happy Birthday!!!

[Borch]

Thanks

[sticknstring]

Well, the dreaded wait is nearly over. I'll be headed out tomorrow morning for my first day of E season. Supposed to be a gorgeous day - hopefully the birds will cooperate and I can make the best of it!

[DonBo]

Good luck Stick, we'll be looking fwd to updates.

[sticknstring]

Update from the blind: 5 turkeys seen, 2 toms everything well out of range. 6 deer, 1 piebald doe! Pictures to come. Going to get aggressive and make something happen!

[Borch]

Good luck!

The doe sounds cool.

[sticknstring]

9+ hrs in the blind & counting... Only 1 hen since the last update. Bird numbers appear down significantly. At least the weather's nice. Hope you guys are having better luck than I. Anyone know who's got butterballs on sale?

[bluehat28]

Well I am off to Wisonney to try to fill tag #2. I should be there today but stupid things got in the way(work)And hey look its suppose to rain.Oh well thats hunting. Hey String how did you do? blue.

[sticknstring]

Pretty quiet - only 2 birds seen today. Looks like I'll be trading the bow for the shotgun I'm afraid. I did find a 6 pt shed though. Wish I could figure out how to post pics from my phone.

[sticknstring]

Had a bird at 50 yds yesterday but he slipped away. Letting them rest today and will be hard after it again tomorrow with both the bow AND shotgun. There will be no slipping away this time!

Here's that piebald deer I saw on my hunt Tuesday morning. Upon closer inspection, what I thought was doe is actually a buck. You can just make out the velvet nubs. Upon first sight, is that an antelope???

Here's that shed antler I found. Would've been a good one if it hadn't been chomped on.

[fishermusk]

My first glance at that deer, I thought it was an antelope. I finally got my tom today. I'll post a photo and tell the story in a few minutes.

[fishermusk]

The first three days of my 2011 turkey expedition were rather uneventful. I called in a few hens, one had a tom with her but she spooked and went back into the woods and the tom never appeared. I thought I saw a couple other toms heading away from me as I was walking through the woods the first day after noon. Very few toms spotted or heard.

By the third day I was committed to getting this one tom that was roosting on private property but would occasionally strut and tend hens on Carlos Avery land adjacent to it. I had a close encounter with him Thursday around noon, but he seen a slight movement I made and he took off back on private property. I was disappointed but I figured I would set things up for today's hunt. So I cleared a few branches by the tree I would be sitting at and figured where to set up a decoy and left for the day.

I arrived this mourning at 5:25 am and as I was walking in I heard him gobble but he was on Carlos Avery property. I had figured he would be on the private property like the previous three days. This was not good I thought, he was suppose to be over there not here, now what? Well I decided to go sit at the tree I had cleared the day before and hope for the best. As I was making my way over there I spotted a hen in a tree along the same patch of woods he was in.

That tom gobbled for an hour and I would call to him sporadically. I was thinking I blew it, the dad gum thing was strutting in a green field I had walked buy as I came in. About 6:50 am I heard a hen put about 5 times and then yelp a few times so I tried to copy her sounds and see if she would come in and bring that tom with, a few more minutes go by and I let out with another series of calls the tom wasn't answering so I settled in and figured it would be a long wait. About five minutes later he appeared about 12 yards away, it took me by surprise I hadn't heard him at all. We both seen each other at the same time, I didn't move and he finally started towards my decoy getting even closer to me with each step, as he moved I eased up the my shotgun that was resting on shooting sticks, he seen that slight movement and turned around to split but it was to late I had a good rest and a good bead on him, one shot and I dropped him in his tracks at fifteen yards.

I was very happy to get a bird this year, from all the reports I have seeing it has been a tough one. This tom is 21# 7 oz with a 9 7/8' beard.

[Archerysniper]

Congrats on the public area tom Dave and I cant help but see those huge spurs he has very nice bird.

[sticknstring]

Congrats on the bird Dave! He's a good one. We sure had some nice weather to hunt during E, didn't we?

I came up empty this year. I had a few encounters and my best opportunity came Friday at 11am. I just traded in the bow/blind for the shotgun and was sitting against a big deadfall. I had been sitting probably 20 minutes and let out a few series of yelps. I was starting to doze off when I heard footfalls in the dry leaves. Instantly I was alert and a gobble soon erupted about 60 yds away. He was behind a tree where I couldn't see him. I scratched some leaves and slowly got the gun up. He gobbled again. All I needed was a few more steps out of him. Instead, he turned and paralelled me just below a ridge out of sight. I could hear him walking though and I followed him with the gun. Any second I figured he would pop out and he would be done. He was probably only 35-40 yds. The way I was positioned, I was nearing the far end of my range. I scratched some leaves and he gobbled again. This bird was fired up. As most of my turkey hunts go, Murphy showed up and I could sense what was about to happen. A few seconds later, out pops this tom at about 30 yds walking up the hill, beard just swaying. In a fugile attempt to reposition, the dreaded alarm putt was heard and it was all over. That's just the way my MN hunts go. I think I'm cursed!

Good luck to the rest of you guys still hunting!