My 1st Turkey Season

[Scoot]

This was my first time in 41 years of life to ever hunt turkeys. The season to this point has been a very fun and frustrating experience and it's really been great to get out in the woods and get a little more precious time in the wild. Lots of fun so far this season. I'll start writing up a little story about this year's hunt, but I'll warn you up front that my season isn't over yet. There's still a tag to be filled, but I've had enough fun and taken enough pics to make it worthwhile, IMO, to start sharing some of them with you folks.

1st day of "hunting"

Our first day of turkey hunting started with our family heading up to North Fargo to my son's last basketball game of the year. Once it was done Jake, his son Logan, Gabe (a fellow turkey tag holder), Ryan, and I headed out to hunt turkeys on some private land SW of Fargo about 40 miles.

With the motly crew we had going and our very late start, we knew it'd likely be more of a scouting mission than a hunting trip. However, it was the turkey opener and we were going to get out there!

There were clearly birds around.

We showed the kids some turkey sign and talked about what the tracks meant, what direction they were headed, etc.

Then we headed for the blind.

Everyone settled in to the blind and got comfy.

Jake and Logan

Gabe (our shooter for the day)

Unfortunately, with only this to look at:

the kids got bored before long and we left Gabe and went for a walk. We were scouting 3/4 of a mile from Gabe's location and didn't see too much for sign. Eventually we spotted some good looking areas, but never did lay eyes on a bird that day. In total, the day went a lot like we figured it would- a late start, no pre-scouting, a couple kids under the age of 10. Still, we had fun and found some good looking spots to try the next day.

[Scoot]

The next day I hunted with my buddy Ross.

Again we had a fine view of the decoys, but not much else.

However, at 9:25 I heard my first gobble of the season. The gobbles came from NE of us about 200 yards. The birds sounded like they were working from East to West, but they were staying North of us. Eventually they faded away. Mid-morning we decided to leave and right after we got out of our blind Ross spotted the birds- they were West of us about 250 yards. There was little we could do about it- they wouldn't come to us and we couldn't get near them without being heard or seen. The turkeys eventually won the stalemate and we headed home.

[Scoot]

A week later I hunted again, but I screwed up this time before I ever got to the field. I always need to call and let the landownever know that I'm headed out to hunt, so he knows who's out there and where they're at. However, I'd forgotten to call the day before, so we drove around and killed time until about 8:00, when I finally called and made sure it was ok for us to come down. On the way in we were encouraged to still see birds roosting right off the gravel road.

There were lots of cool things to see this morning and the moon was shining bright for quite a while.

My hunting partner was excited to be out chasing turkeys again.

There were tons of geese flying this morning.

Although we heard plenty of snow geese, Canadian geese, swans, eagles, and even some turkeys, we couldn't get any thunderchickens close to us. In the end, it was just too much excitement for Ryan.

[sticknstring]

That's a great recap Scoot. I really enjoy seeing pics of the younsters in tow absorbing woodmanship and skills that'll last a lifetime! You still a week or so left to try and fill your tag - correct? I hope you get a bird to respond and give you the show all us turkey nuts can't get enough of - that's what it's all about - good luck!

[Scoot]

The season ends on the 19th, so there's still some time left to fill a tag. I've got a few more pics to share, but I won't get to them until tomorrow.

[DonBo]

Scoot, you tease....

Always enjoy your recaps. Can't wait to read the rest.

[Scoot]

We got our very early the next time we hunted and Ross and I set up in an area we'd seen a tom gobbling his fool head off the day before. Gabe set up about 250 yards away right where another gobbler and hen spent a lot of the morning. Between the two spots we figured it was a lock that we'd have a bird come pretty close to us.

The moon was bright and it was a quiet, cool morning.

We had a beautiful view of the things as the woods woke up and came alive before our eyes.

Besides woods to our West, we had a nice view of a lot of pasture and field to our East and Northeast.

We looked and listened...

...and that was it! Nothing at all!!! I'm convinced we bumped birds out of the area on the way in. I didn't hear or see anything to tell me that, but given all the activity in that area the morning before, and the general number of turkeys we'd been seeing in that area prior to this morning, that's my guess. Ross didn't think that was the case because we'd been very quiet on the way in. Who knows. All I know is that despite being a beautiful morning, we didn't see a bird.

[Scoot]

Our next time out we ended up going to an entirely different area, about 30 miles furter West. My brother's buddy's friend (how's that for a close connection?) mentioned that we were welcome to come out to his place and try find a turkey. He said there were a lot of birds out there and that we should give it a try. So, we did.

We had Gabe set up near the end of a tree row and we headed further East, not knowing exactly what we'd find. We ended up setting up on the East end of his property, right next to the fence that seperates his land from the neighbor's land. Here's a pic of the morning, as the sun began to think about making an appearance.

My brother joined me in the blind this day.

Our deeks set up as we usually had them.

After a short sit we started seeing and hearing signs of life. We heard two differnt groups of turkeys gobbling to our East and Southeast and we started seeing lots of deer.

Before long we were treated with a spetacular view of the sunrise as the ol' haymaker made it's way up into the previously dark sky.

Lots of deer out there.

After hearing gobbling for over 45 minutes, we finally spotted this tom as he crested a ridge about 250 yards to our East.

Soon ten birds were on the ridge- two toms and eight hens.

While we watched the turkeys this doe slipped by at about 40 yards.

[Scoot]

We lost sight of the flock for a while, but after about 15 minutes they made their way onto a ridge about 100 yards closer to us.

Soon we spotted two new birds making their way out of the brushy bottom below the ridge. It was two jakes who wanted to get up close with the ladies on the ridge.

They worked their way up the ridge, cautiously getting closer to the hens.

As soon as the closest tom saw then he headed for them and tried to run them off.

He kept them away for a total of ten seconds. The were constantly trying to move in close to the gals.

Soon the birds headed West down the ridgeline and made their way to the North of us. They weren't coming directly at us, but they were getting closer.

Before long the two jakes popped up over the hill and were headed right for us.

Soon after, the tom's fan showed up as he crested the same hill. The tom appeared to be headed right for our decoys.

The jakes came our way at a trot.

The hens followed.

[NoWiser]

Love it!

[DonBo]

Looks like a great start to the morning.

[Scoot]

Before long the lead hen made her way right for us.

The big tom was doing his thing!

As the hens looked for the best place to cross the fence the two jakes came into our spread at a distance of 8 yards. However, they were across the fenceline and on the neighbor's property. Soon, the hens had decided there was no good place to cross and they headed North along the fenceline, taking the toms with them. As soon as the jakes saw the gals headed North, they high-tailed it after them.

Before we left we managed catch a few trout at the little pond on the property. That was pretty fun!

[harvey lee]

Great story, sooner or later one has to get close enough.

[Scoot]

A few days later we headed back to our old haunts. I gave Gabe first dibs on any location he wanted to go to on the Ranch. He picked East of where we'd been hunting and I decided I'd give to the far West a try. We hadn't been out to the West at that point because we didn't want to rut up the roads. However, things had dried out remarkably fast and we figured we could get out there through the pasture without making a mess of the trails that went that way.

Getting up at 4:00 AM is tough on me. I'm generally an early riser, but 4:00 in the morning each weekend day for most of the weekends takes a little tole on me. However, the effects were much more noticable on my eight year old son, Ryan. Ryan was a trooper and really, really wanted to be there when I shot a bird. I suggested he stay home the next Saturday to catch up on some sleep. "No way" was his response. "I really want to be there when you get one, Dad." How could I say no?

Ryan crashed about 15 minutes after we got in the blind.

We had the usual deeks out in front of us.

Before long I spotted a flock of birds and woke him up to see them. There was about a dozen of them, but they weren't in a good spot for any decent pictures. We called and watched, but nothing seemed very interested in us (a recurring theme for us!) After about two hours in the blind I noticed movement to the left of where most of the birds had been. I put the binocs up and spotted a bird about 100 yards away that seemed interested in us.

I lightly called and he came in to about 50 yards. He seemed hung up there for a while, but I clucked and purred a little and he came in on a string.

I wasn't sure if he was a jake or a smaller bearded tom (he didn't have a cigar butt type beard, but it wasn't a particularly long one either). However, with Ryan there by my side the choice to try and take this bird was an easy one.

I took this pic just before he crossed a blind spot in the blind.

While he did so I traded my camera for my bow. Just as I was picking up my bow I saw Ryan jump, startled by something he'd seen. I smiled as I was pretty sure what had happened. I slowly leaned out a little just in time to see the bird aggressively peck at our jake decoy a second time. Ryan again startled at this. The tom backed up and took a couple aggressive steps at the decoy and lifted his feet up and clawed at the decoy. Ryan got a huge smile and tried hard to fight off giggling at the turkey's behavior.

I looked at Ryan and nodded my head. He smiled and nodded back. We had a plan for what to do next and I hoped Ryan would follow through. As the bird was again pecking at the decoy I drew my bow. I got to full draw and anchored. I put my pin on the bird and relaxed. Right on cue, Ryan pressed the friction call I'd given him three times. "Riiiiiiicccchhht riiiiiicccchhhht riiicccchhht". The tom held his head up high and posed, just like we hoped he would. I put my pin on his neck and squeezed the trigger on my release. My pin was on the right edge of the birds neck when my release went off (I can still see it in my mind's eye!). There was a large puff of feathers and the bird took off to the East. I reached for another arrow as Ryan said "Shoot him again!" Just as I was about to grab an arrow I looked out and saw the bird's straight line run become more of an "S" pattern. He wobbled left, right, left, right and then flopped about 40 yards from the blind.

[Scoot]

I have to run to a meeting. Hero shots to follow!

[sticknstring]

Would you look at that - Scoot got a turkey! Congratulations on your first bird and to have your son by your side - good stuff!

[harvey lee]

"We hadn't been out to the West at that point because we didn't want to rut up the roads. However, things had dried out remarkably fast and we figured we could get out there through the pasture without making a mess of the trails that went that way."

I have to thank you for holding off to the west to help keep the field road from getting all rutted up.

These things you do Scoot is why you will always be welcomr to hunt this land.

Most others I have let hunt this area would have just drove out there and not worried about if or how much they could have damaged the field road.

Again, thanks for what you do while hunting there. It's hunters like you that make it easy for a landowner to allow you to come back and enjoy the woods.

Carter mentioned last week how respectful you are of the property when you come out.

Noone I have ever allowed to hunt at the ranch has followed the rules like you have. NOONE

MY Father allowed very few hunters to hunt the place as he was burned so many times with hunters who did as they pleased and could have cared less about safety or the property.

My Father would have been very proud of how you guys go about hunting on others land and I do mean that. He had lost faith in most all hunters who asked to hunt there.

I know I have said it time and time again thanking you for being the person that you are.

Carter loved when you and Ryan came to the house to show them the bird.

[grapeapplepie]

Awesome story Scoot, I can't wait to see the hero shots!

[IlliniWalli]

big congrats, scoot!

and thanks for takin us along on the hunt. great story

chalk one up for the tom commanders!

[Scoot]

Wow- thanks very much, Tom. I'm very flattered. I remember several of your stories about people screwing you over after you generously let them hunt out there. I definitely don't ever want to do anything like that. I'm extremely lucky to be able to hunt out there and I try to make sure both you and Carter know that I'm very grateful. I've tried to just use common sense and follow the rules you laid out for me at the beginning. The rules aren't too complicated, so you'd think it'd be easy to follow them. However, it sounds like many in the past haven't bothered.

I lost the ability to hunt a lot of land I used to be able to hunt around my hometown. As my dad's buddies got older many of them sold their farms to big farming operations. Also, many of the son's of my dad's buddies got much tighter with hunting permission and since I wasn't around there as much as I used to be, getting permission to hunt became tougher and tougher. Now when I go back there's almost no where I can hunt anymore. When I was a kid there were only a few pieces of woods in the area we couldn't go into. I hadn't done anything wrong, but lost the ability to hunt just about everywhere back home. Sad deal. ...anyway, I know what it's like to lose the ability to hunt places I've hunted before and it's absolutely no fun! I try had to not screw up out there because I love going out there and hope I can continue doing so. At the very least if I'm ever not able to hunt out there I don't want it to be because I've messed up in some way.

Lots of ramblings by me above, but the take home point is this- thank YOU for letting me go out there! It's a slice of heaven out there and I'm extremely appreciative of the chance you give me to hunt out there.

[Scoot]

Ryan insisted on hauling the bird to the truck. Although it wasn't a huge bird, it was a lot of weight for him.

We headed back to the truck.

One final shot of my favorite turkey hunting partner! Thanks again, Ryan, for making the final call and for helping me bag my first turkey!

FYI- I wasn't kidding about having a tag to fill still. Gabe still has a tag in his pocket and we're going to do our best to fill it. I'm not sure when we'll get out next, but when we do I'll be sure to update this thread with more pictures and info.

[harvey lee]

Love the pic's of you and Ryan.

Can't wait until Ryan is old enough and comes out to try and harvest a deer or turkey with his bow if he decides to try it.

Now, hopefully Gabe can fill his tag, gotta be one tom left with his name on it.

[paceman]

Great story and pictures! Congratulations on your first bow bird!

[NoWiser]

Congrats Scoot!! It's so cool that Ryan insisted he get up early and be with you, and then got a chance to help call before you shot it! I bet he can't wait until it's Dad's turn to do the calling and his turn to do the shooting!

[sticknstring]

I can't wait until my son is old enough to help carry dad's bird out!