Turkey Activity Report

[Borch]

Actually I've read a few Of T.R. Michel's articles in publications like turkey & Turkey hunting. I believe that Knight & Hales Gobbling guide may very well be based on his research as well.

Here's a link to several of his artles online. T.R. Michels Turkey Articles

Borch

[psegriz]

STEARNS COUNTY

As I type there are 13 turkeys within 5' of my PU out the west window. Four are toms/jakes the rest are hens. Some friends have licenses for later on but they must use a bow. Now as I look out the south window I see 7 deer. Went to look out the east window and see a couple nice roosters. Ain't Minnesota a butiful place to live? Wouldn't live anywhere else!! Hang on toms are fightin right by my FH. OK guys I'm back. I never knew turkeys fought til death. So now my ? is what to do? Got a dead turkey on the lawn and I really don't want to let him go to waste. Should I do like DNR policies state and let it rot on my lawn.

GRIZ

[SCCO9803]

Ashes to ashes, dust unto dust. :-)

[Ben1022]

Not necessarily a report but some observations driving from the Cities to Chicago and back this weekend. On Friday along I-94, I saw, at 1pm, a gobbler strutting all by himself just out of Hudson. About 3 miles later on the other side of the Interstate another gobbler strutting on the edge of the woods in an elevated hump in a plowed field. The rest of the way to Chicago I saw 8 flocks of turkeys of which 6 had four birds and the other two had at least 12 birds. I could only see a few birds real clear and the flocks consisted of a gobbler and three hens. Don't know the breakdown on the larger flocks.
On the way home yesterday, as the huge storm was rolling in, I saw about the same number of flocks with only one being large and ALL others were four birds. I found it interesting that there wasn't a gobbler and two hens or gobbler and four hens. Always four birds. I did see one lone bird that was a long way from any trees and feeding in some taller grass. Don't know for sure if it was a hen or gobbler but figured it was a hen. Was in an odd place...kind of by a lot of CRP ground and pasture w/no trees or cover w/in 1/2 mi.
The birds were out as early as four pm feeding and still out w/the real high winds. Of course, they were taking advantage of a little wind break and were all on the north sides of the tree belts. I was surprised to still see them out w/in just minutes of the real dark skies and rain. All were w/in strikning distance of some roost trees but I figured they would be just inside the trees feeding vs. out in the open.
Wisconsin looks like a great place for turkey hunting...have to check in to it.

[TomBow]

There is no doubt that WI has potential and I'm sure a pretty good population of turkeys. The I-94 corridor all the way to Madison is good looking turkey habitat.

REPORT: 04/15/04, first light

I took my wife down to the property that I checked out 2 weeks ago, right on the edge of the Minnesota River valley by Henderson, MN. We saw only one hen and heard very little gobbling. We checked out some open fields and saw plenty of tracks but no birds.
Things were very quiet.

It is good to have gotten the rain from yesterday's storms and I am sure that the leaves will be exploding soon! 21 days left until my wife's hunt starts! Best of Luck to all!

[Guest]

Was out in Washington county this am. Lots of gobbling on the roost, but not much after that. Saw three toms - must be 2 year olds -not too big, but bigger than jakes. One hung around for awhile about 40 yards away. Would not gobble. Occasionally would start to puff out after a few clucks. May have been intimidated by my jake decoy? Heard a couple hens, but not a whole lot happening.

[Ben1022]

Another second hand report from a neighbor. My neighor and his boy were hunting up near Wyoming for this 2nd season. They pulled up last night w/about a 2-3 yr old gobbler. It was the kids first turkey tag and first hunt and he bagged it on the 1st day of the hunt!
Said they saw birds moving around all day but not much for talking. Said they heard the hens purring a little bit.
Three hens made their way to the decoys and one started to fight the decoy. It got two gobblers excited and they headed in to see what was going on and the 1st gobbler got shot. They said they never called the whole day. just stayed put. Patience paid off for the 1st timer!!!

[Hotspotter]

Just a reminder to post replies in the proper section. If you could put it in the "Spring '04 - Stories From the Hunt" section, that would be great. If you don't have time to re-post it, no problem. It's getting down the page a bit so it's tough to spot out. Thanks!

Great story guys! I'm loving it hearing about guys out hunting, and having birds come in.....rather than my experiences thus far of seeing a bird from the road here, or hearing one gobbler there.

Joel

[Borch]

Saw 3 toms on one of my huntng spots this morning.

Area:419
Time 7:45 am
Siting: 3 mature toms. All in full strut. On edge of field. Thought I saw a hen in the brush but couldn't be sure.

Weather: Sunny, Little wind about 40 degrees.

[Hotspotter]

Always nice when you can have your pick of the litter!

Borch, when is your season? Have you checked out the local registration station records for your area? How are things looking so far? I'll be checking things out this weekend.

Joel

[Borch]

I get to hunt starting April 29th. I'll actually hunt another spot that day and when my kids come out with me the next morning I'll take them to this spot. We're the only ones hunting it this year. So I'll get them on some unpressured birds.

I check one of the registration sites last friday. They already had a bunch of birds registered. The average weight is up this spring. The birds around here have had it pretty good this past winter.

Things are looking good. I'm seeing a lot more sign this spring in all of my usually hunting spots. Based on what I've been seeing I believe there's a lot of breeding going on right now. Not a lot of gobbling and the gobblers and hens have been traveling together.

Looks like things should be happening when my season opens. I sure hope so at least.

Borch

[Remington]

338
out there at 5:20, done at 7:30.
Partly cloudy.
I located some birds in a field above ravines on Tuesday and decided to set up aboout 50 yards from where they were last seen.
The birds seem to 'sleep in' a little and they didn't start gobbling until ~6am. We heard 5-6 toms gobbling and one was real close. When they flew down, they were silent for 30 minutes, then the resident hens started to make every noise possible. I yelped and clucked and pulled in a 21lb tom to the decoys. 10 inch beard, but less than an inch spurs. They were real rounded. Does anybody know if that is the sign of an older bird with worn spurs, or a younger bird with developing spurs?

[Ben1022]

It could be a combination of a few things. My first guess is that it's a mature bird and that's why the spurs are rounded off. Another thought is that the ground could be more rocky than soft soil and that's why they're rounded off. Or an area that the bird frequents is rockier/harder terrain. I know that birds in the in New Mexico and AZ had rounded spurs on either young or old birds because of the harder terrain.
Great hunt and congratulations.

[Remington]

Thanks,
It is mainly an agricultural area, so I will stick with the story of pulling in the oldest and smartest tom out there! It may gain a few pounds in the story by the time I get to work on Monday.

[TRMichels]

I just wanted to say thanks for the plugs some of you gave me. If I can be of any help with turkeys, whitetails, ducks or geese let me know.

I've spent 10 years researching the animals, trying to figure out why they do waht they do, and where and when the do it, so I could try to help you guys figure out when, where and how to hunt them.

I've you've got questions; fire away!

God bless,

T.R.

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T.R. Michels
Trinity Mountain Outdoors
PO Box 284
Wanamingo, MN 55983
507-824-3296
[email protected]