Team 6 - Team Gobblestein

[woody1975]

Lets go get 'em!!

I say we let the young gun pick our name!!

I leave tomorrow afternoon for Nebraska! When and where are the others hunting?

Woody

[woody1975]

Where are the other team 6 members?

DL

[delzz7]

Hi guys

I Will be going to NW Nebraska late April and will be hunting mn in May, probably with my bow.

I'm all for letting the young gun pick the name.

Good luck Woody! where about are you heading to in Nebraska?

[eric29]

Hello guys

I'll be hunting A season around the Owatonna area. I have a work meeting on the first day of hunting so probably won't make it out on the first day. Good luck woody.

On a side note, I've notice some post from other groups on the fishin mn HSOforum that don't show up here. So we should make sure we're all posting in the same place.

[Powerstroke]

Hey team! I'm super excited that our season is almost here. I'll be heading to Nebraska Apr. 9 with my bow and then I'll figure out a later season hunt in MN.

[woody1975]

Struck out in North East Nebraska....birds were still bunched up & we had to try to bust up the flocks & try to call them back. Had over 100 birds in one flock. Managed to get within 20 yds of a good bird, but the cedar tree he was standing behind wouldn't move for me.....I'm not done yet!!!! Good luck to everyone!

[sticknstring]

Hey guys. Sorry for the late check-in... I was hunting down in Nebraska.

We had a great trip and 5 of us shot 8 birds. Only 3 came from blinds as they weren't coming to calls/decoys very good yet. The turkeys were bunched up in groups of 20-40 and there was a lot of breeding taking place. I brought my recurve down, but had to trade it in for a buddies compound on the 3rd day. Snuck into a flock of 30 birds and pulled off a double that afternoon. A nice 22# tom and a jaker. Found a nice 8pt deadhead, but no sheds this trip. Too busy hunting to spend much time walking.

I'll be hunting MN A season as well starting 4/15. I haven't hunted April in MN since 2012 so I'm looking forward to it.

Here's a few pics from our trip.

[woody1975]

Nice...I struggled with them being bunched up, but I am going back down in 3 weeks with my daughter and the shot guns, so hopefully I can redeem myself.

DL

[sticknstring]

Yeah, they weren't being real cooperative for us either. I don't like hunting in March for that reason. Easter kind of put a wrinkle in our dates this year. Next year it's Mar 27th so it should work out a little better. I think you and your daughter will have much better luck in 3 weeks!

[DonBo]

Congrats on the double Matt! Looks like a fun trip.

[Powerstroke]

Things are looking good already.

Matt, were those birds from the area you usually hunt?

[Powerstroke]

BY the way, we've heard from everyone except Hunter2, mws4dux kid. Glad to see we've got a full team.

Speaking of having a youth member on the team, my daughter is on team 5, so I'll try to keep the longbeards for me. Just kidding of course. I plan on getting her in front of as many birds as possible. At $6 a piece for a NE turkey license for kids, I hope she fills the freezer. Good news is she isn't as strong at waking up early so I will have plenty of my own opportunities.

HSO/FM Team #6

Powerstroke

eric29

woody1975

sticknstring

Hunter2(mws4dux) - Y

Delzz7

[sticknstring]

Andy... same area.

My oldest will be turning 5 in May. Hopefully start bringing him down in a few years. Getting 'em hooked early on $6 tags and then pillaging for $96 for the rest of our lives! lol

[Hoyt4]

Matt

Congrats on the birds nice work. It's fun getting out of that blind and taking a bird. I know 90% of our birds over the 14 years going down to NE are taken out of the blinds. Have to get after them sometimes hunting them early like that.

Nice pictures and cannot wait till Saturday when I will be seeing those hills for a week.

[woody1975]

Looks like there is some confusion as the which team the young gun is on, since he is listed on 2 teams.

Lets get some names going......

Triple T (Tom Turkey Topplers)

GobbleStein

Fly-Down Fatality

Haha

DL

[sticknstring]

Thanks Hoyt.

Yeah, we need a name don't we? I like Team Gobblestein or Fly-Down Fatality myself! Anyone else?

[Borch]

BY the way, we've heard from everyone except Hunter2, mws4dux kid. Glad to see we've got a full team.

Speaking of having a youth member on the team, my daughter is on team 5, so I'll try to keep the longbeards for me. Just kidding of course. I plan on getting her in front of as many birds as possible. At $6 a piece for a NE turkey license for kids, I hope she fills the freezer. Good news is she isn't as strong at waking up early so I will have plenty of my own opportunities.

HSO/FM Team #6

Powerstroke

eric29

woody1975

sticknstring

Hunter2(mws4dux) - Y

Delzz7

Hunter 2 was an accidental double entry. So you've heard from everyone.

[woody1975]

Looks like everyone has checked in.....

Are we in agreement on Team Gobblestein?

DL

[DonBo]

Are we in agreement on Team Gobblestein?

Let me know guys, and it shall be done.

[Powerstroke]

I approve of Gobblestein!

Glad we've got our whole team.

Hoyt4, what area do you hunt in NE? We will be in Croften Thursday-Monday.

[sticknstring]

Good luck 'stroke! Outside of some wind, should be good weather for you down there.

I'm going scouting Sat am. Hope to get a blind up and a few cameras out. Hopefully can post a postitive report.

[sticknstring]

Went scouting Sat am and again for an hour this morning before work. Had a solo tom ripping it up on my main farm today. Heard two other groups of birds on neighboring farms as well. Roosters everywhere - the mild winter is paying dividends on the pheasant pop. One more morning alarm and it'll be game on!

[Powerstroke]

I'm back from my first trip to Nebraska and I delivered on my promise. My daughter had 4 shot opportunities in 3 days. Those are pretty awesome odds as you can imagine. Fortunately for team scores, she missed each time she shot. I wish she would've shot every one of them, but you can only do so much for them. They have to pull the trigger.

I did hunt alone on the last morning and saw two toms, but we were really hammering that spot and those toms had grown wise to my blind. Had I been run and gun hunting it may have been another story, but its bow only still for me down there.

I will hunt NE again for sure and maybe get some time in here in MN.

[sticknstring]

That's a bummer your daughter wasn't able to put a bird on the ground. At least she had some opportunities!

I had a great hunt this morning here in MN and dropped the string at 7:45am. Story and pics to come!

How's everyone else been fairing? Pretty quiet in here!

[sticknstring]

I'll try to keep this relatively short, but I love taking pics and sharing hunts so bear with me! MN A season has always treated me well and I hoped to keep the tradition alive this year. Here's a recap of my hunt.

Wednesday was terribly windy and the morning was a bust except a coyote that stalked the decoys to 25 yds before he caught my wind and disappeared. I grabbed an early lunch and headed to deep timber around 11 and wound up calling in a tom w/ 2 hens right away. One hen was in the decoys for 20 minutes but the tom stayed back and strutted at 50 yds for over a half hour. He had no intentions of coming any closer so finally I gobbled at him, but he didn't like that and walked off with his gals. I gave it another another hour or so and called it a day.

Thursday morning I was 3/4 mile away setup on new roosting area I had found scouting earlier in the week. The wind had laid down and it was calm and the birds were fired up. The gobbling was intense, but there were hens and is often the case, they led the toms the opposite direction. Here's my setup that morning. All the birds were roosted 100 yds into the timber.

I sat until I knew the birds were gone and packed up around 8:30. I drove a 1/2 mile to get on a small piece of property I had permission on to intercept them. I pulled in my parking spot and I spotted red heads heading towards me. Too late! These two toms came first, and passed by my truck at 20 yds. They were headed to the neighboring property of where I had setup Wednesday morning. I turned around and saw 4 more strutters w/ some hens heading towards me as well. I quickly decided to drive back to my main farm and get setup.

15 minutes later I was setup and looking across I could see the birds coming across. What a pretty sight!

They were veering off course so I grabbed the Heartbreaker box and tossed out some loud yelps and cuts....GOBBBLES right below me! Different birds... I wasn't expecting that. Haven't even got the blind up yet! I get setup quick and soon I spy red heads 100 yds below me and they're fired up. Instead of coming right up to me in the open, they head into the timber below me and approach from behind. Well in my haste to get setup, I just popped the blind up in front of a big brushpile the farmer bulldozed and wouldn't you know those two toms drummed behind me for 20 minutes gobbling at every purr I gave 'em! I opened the roof flap and periscoped my head and there they were at 25 yds in all their glory. Not a dang thing I could do. They eventually walked off and I decided to move for the timber for the afternoon. I sat from 12:30-5:30 and never saw a bird.

Friday brought new anticipation with those 6 toms that crossed over yesterday. I had my spot in mind and was planning on sitting all day. I had snacks, lunch, and a good book - I was ready! I also had a thermos of hot coffee - does it get any better than this?

My farm was quiet except the old tom I encountered on the opposite end Wednesday afternoon. Pretty sure it's the same bird I played cat & mouse with all last year in May. I wasn't wasting my time on him! Birds were sounding off around me on the neighbors though and it was already a beautiful day. At 7, I heard a gobble behind me. I looked out the porthole and there was 2 toms standing 100 yds out. I gave a few clucks and here they came running! A minute later they were at 30 yds and I grabbed my bow. They stopped to look at the decoys so I gave the jake some movement with my rope. They didn't like that jake, turned around, and walked off the same way they came. Shoot - so close! Here they are 15 min later in the field gobbling like crazy but obviously not coming back in.

Once they were just out of sight, I crawled out and grabbed the jake and breeding hen decoys and left the upright hen. While those two were fired up, another bird got worked up down below. I kept calling and his gobbles were getting closer. Next time I looked out there he was - trotting up the field edge - alright here we go! He came up to the right of that sign.

I nocked an arrow and was hoping this would work. He puffed up at 20 yds and I was watching him through a sliver of blind opening on his approach. He was so close all I saw was brown fan and a white head. Is drumming not the coolest sound or what??? At 10 yds I drew back, held a few seconds while envisioning where I wanted the arrow to hit and then the arrow was gone! He jumped up, flapped his wings and stumbled in the brush 20 yds away and was done! Finally, after trying for 3 years, I was able to put a bird down with the recurve. My grandpa's bow nonetheless - I had to take a few moments to collect myself and make sure that really just happened! Today was a great day in the field.

Good luck guys - neither of my birds were record breakers this year so if you can pick out a few multi-bearded limbhangers, we'll be in good shape for the contest!