Team 4: "Beard Busters"

[rangerforme]

Was out this morning and my 3 Jakes came out again. Passed them hoping for the Tom that was gobbling on the roost about 200yds to the East of me. Of course the Tom went East and never showed up. It just really seems the Toms want nothing to do with my calling and they sure don't want to come onto the field edge. I guess I will have to change it up and hunt in the woods.

That's where turkeys spend about 90% of their day is in the woods, where I'd be!

[deets22]

We'll guys I struck out. I had my opportunity Sunday morning and I blew it. Called a nice tom and 2 jakes in off the roost and was spotted. After missing out I walked out and looked at my spot and realized I stuck out like a sore thumb!!! Guess everything looks fine I the dark. Oh well we learned a lot about the property and te landowner will lock us in for whatever season we want after b season in wisco.

Te group went 2 for 3 this weekend. Both birds had 10 inch beards and one had 1 1/4 spurs, he actually came off public land. We were checking out a piece if property that you could throw a rock onto I-94 from and my buddy busted that guy out of a bush on a fenceline.

Can't wait for next season!!!!

[deets22]

Hey fellas one question, would it work to set up a blind in the middle of a field?? We had some birds come off one of the roosting areas and head directly down the middle of the field. The field has a nice crown to it so you can see both sides on top. It is too wide to be able to hammer them from either woodline. Just curious if one could put a blind up in the middle and just try to wait them out if they so use that roost. Thanks.

[rbs]

Work calls this morning so I couldn't go out. I saw on the decoy post that one guy uses a jake and hen only in the early season. Is it too late to be using a jake right now? I am looking for any help to close the deal lol

[x1957x]

deets, we set up all the time either along the edge (in the field 30+ yards usually) of the trees. We also set up alot of times right in the middle of the field kinda along (if you will) a drive way or a high advantage point. Dont seem to phase them either. Never even come in looking at the blind. Focused on the decoys usually.

[Borch]

Work calls this morning so I couldn't go out. I saw on the decoy post that one guy uses a jake and hen only in the early season. Is it too late to be using a jake right now? I am looking for any help to close the deal lol

All of our birds came in very aggressively to jake or jake strutter decoys with three attacks and one broken decoy stake. Didn't even put out any hen decoys.

This was as of Sunday afternoon.

[Archerysniper]

Just a heads up for the team here,Don just set me a text wanting me to let your team know he put down a nice tom in Wisconsin this morning.

[rbs]

Awesome!

[FrontenacPike]

can't wait to hear the story and see the pics!!!

[DonBo]

Here's a quick look at my bird and some of the beautiful country we hunt in Wisconsin. He was just under 22 lbs. I'll post more later.

[hugonian1]

WTG DonBo.

Looks a little nicer than last year.

Congrats

[DonBo]

rbs, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Hope you got to do some hunting on this special day. Is there cake? I like cake.

deets, sorry your hunt didn't end well.

adndoc Jr, how did your hunt go?

[x1957x]

Nice bird Don!

[IlliniWalli]

congrats. great pic

[deets22]

Nice bird don!!!

[FrontenacPike]

Nice bird and great photo!

[DonBo]

WTG DonBo.

Looks a little nicer than last year.

Congrats

Yep, we had a lot of wind and rain, but it beat the heck out of the 16" of snow we got last year.

Here's the story:

My good friend Dave and I have hunted this part of Western WS for a long time. We camp in the area and hunt hard, it's a great trip.

We got down there early Tuesday evening in time to set up for our opener on Wednesday morning. We never had a chance to scout so had to rely on our previous years experience. Last year, walking in on this same night we blundered into a large group of birds right where we were going to set up. They flew off in every direction. This year we were much more cautious coming over that last rise in the field, and sure enough there was a strutter right there. We dropped our blind and stools and decoys and decided to return EARLY tomorrow morning to set up.

The first day was really slow. Extremely windy and quite cold. We sat till noon and only saw one hen, though there were at least a few different gobblers that sounded off early. We set up a blind on another farm for tomorrow morning, then returned to our original blind for the rest of the day. Again, pretty slow. Another hen came through about 3:30, then at about 6:30 a tom responded to my calling. He answered every call but would not come any closer than about 150 yards. We could see him out the back of the blind and he was BIG. Finally he wandered off and we called it a day.

Thursday morning dawned clear and warmer. The wind had died down considerably, a beautiful morning. Several toms were sounding off in the hills to the east, then one behind us that seemed to be coming closer. Finally I looked out my window and there he was standing right on the field edge maybe 100 yards away. I grabbed my gun and looked again and he was headed the opposite direction at a pretty good clip. Something must have spooked him. I called and he stopped and looked, strutted and looked and strutted and looked. He would come a bit closer then wander off. He went back into the woods twice only to return to my pleading purrs and yelps. Finally two hens came into the field on the opposite side of us. He SLOWLY came our way stopping often to strut. He was circling around us headed towards the real hens. I don't like to shoot beyond about 35 yards, but am fairly confident in my set up to nearly 50. At what I judged to be just over 40 yards I didn't think he was coming any closer. With just his head and neck above a rise in the field I knew there would be no wounding. My trusty old 870 barked and my hunt was over.

He was just shy of 22 lbs, 7/8" spurs, 10 1/4" beard.

We waited quite a while before getting him because the hens were still in the field, but no other toms showed. We took the bird back to camp to clean him up, then Dave bought me breakfast before heading back to our original spot for the remainder of the day.

The clouds rolled in, the wind picked up and rain was threatening. About 3:00 I though I heard a response to my calls, but with the wind it was so hard to know for sure. I called sparingly and thought I may have heard another gobble. Then just like that, there's a tom standing on top of a rise about 80 yards out. Full strut, reddest head I've ever seen. He came in slowly, full strut the whole way. It was just starting rain. The closer he got, the heavier the rain. Finally at about 25 yards, he pulled the trigger and we were filled out.

We packed up all our stuff and headed to the truck, arriving just minutes before the heavens opened up and dumped more rain than I've seen in a long time. Sometimes timing is everything.

I just got permission this morning for a spot I've been drooling over for two years, so hopefully I'll be able to tag another with my bow here in MN before the season ends.

[Hoyt4]

Congrats Don. Nice work

[Scoot]

WTG DonBo! Great work!

[DonBo]

Ten minutes in the blind last night, my first sit of the MN archery season, and this nice bird was on top of my decoy:

Seconds later, he was down.

21 1/4 lbs, 9 1/2" beard. That's two in three days. A pretty good week.

[Hoyt4]

Congrats on the MN bird. I know that house

[Borch]

WTG Don!

Saw a lot of turkey activity in NE MN this weekend just driving around. Seems like they are going nuts just before and after heavy rain squalls.

[DonBo]

Saw a lot of turkey activity in NE MN this weekend just driving around. Seems like they are going nuts just before and after heavy rain squalls.

Yep, seems everybody I know is putting birds on the ground this week.

[sticknstring]

Heckuva week Don - congrats! That's sure some great scenic diversity from the rolling hills of WI to hunting in someone's backyard!

[pumper317]

Well done Don! Nice birds, great stories.