Turkey Hunters

[fivebucks]

I had my first turkey hunting dream of the year last night. Boy did I have fun. Can't wait for the 3rd season.

[seamonster1]

Ugly day for the turkey. Parked truck at a spot I always open at and two gobbles right away. Then silence for the next 3 hours. Had a blind so rain didn't bother me. Turkeys did NOT want to talk though- So decided to pack up and get some sleep. On way out almost spooked 5 toms walking up ridge towards me- must have been coming to my calling- but never gobbled-or I did not hear with the wind and rain slapping the blind. So set up again and waited- 30 minutes later- 1 by 1 the head start peering over the ridge. Bang! I feel very fortunate to have scored on such a lousy turkey hunting opener! How is everyone else doing?

[NELS-BELLS]

Congratulations Seamonster1,
Not the kind of hunt you dream about with the crappy weather. Good thing you had a blind. What part of the state were you hunting?

[Grand River Zip]

I did get drawn. This season too! I haven't been down yet, I am [PoorWordUsage]ed, can't seem to get away hopefully I can hunt tomorrow, have to have a productive afternoon today. Sarge, did you get your plot book back? I assume you found it...

[Sarge]

Yep, got the book. Man, I can't believe you haven't been out yet. That would be driving me crazy!

[kb1965]

Well went turkey hunting in Houston, Mn. 3 of us filled out 2 toms and 1 jake. 24, 20, & 18 pounders. Left St. Cloud tuesday and it was 90 degrees when we got to Houston. Wednesday, thursday, rain all day long. Friday windy and cold. Finished up on saturday in a light rain with fog rolling in.
I got the jake on saturday and when he came into the decoys there was 9 other jakes with it. Nice to see a group like that. Got packed up and it downpoured all the way to Rochester. Good luck to anyone else heading out these next few weeks.

[TomBow]

Congratulations to the lucky hunters who have filled out their 2003-first season tags. I was hoping that the weather wouldn't hamper your hunts too much. My wife and I were lucky enough to get tags for 338G and I CAN'T WAIT!! but I'm gonna have to! I scouted 2 weeks ago and got within 60 yards of a 20-bird flock with 6 gobblers, strutting and following the hens around. Great to see the birds. Hope you all get a chance to get out. To the unfortunate hunter who "(hadn't) been out yet", Where are your priorities, man? I had my time-off scheduled the day I found out we had tags for this year! Can't wait for the big rush of adrenalin, when we're sitting next to a tree and hear that almighty "Gobble-lobble-lobble"! Ain't much better than that! Best of Luck and keep those stories comin'!! Watch out where you practice your calling though, I heard a hen flew into a window at the DNR building a few weeks ago and there's been a few suicide-turkeys on the highway!!

[Guest]

There was a 13 or 14 yr old kid that came into 4 seasons with a 26 pd bird.

Anyone else get a bird?

http://www.geocities.com/wish_i_was_fishing2002

[TomBow]

Talked to a guy at my fav-o-rite store in the whole wide world, Fleet Farm. (Wife's threatening banning me from checkbook possession soon!) He and 3 buds just got done, east of Rochester, somewhere's near the river, they went 4 for 4, gobbler's still grouped up. Seems to be a little later than usual this year. 18 days left for me. Aww, I think the clock is SLOW!!

[Gordon Fothergill]

I hunted season 2 (347). We went two for two including a 25lb bird. I shot mine at 15 yards with my bow, great fun. We had great weather and lots of morning gobbling. The birds were real quiet during mid day but the toms were out and looking. We hunted mobil in the mornings and hunted with decoys near food sources during mid day. Saw a lot of birds and had a great time. Good Luck guys. GF

[TomBow]

Mr. Fothergill--Congratulations to you and all my fellow MN turkey hunters! I've got 17 days left to wait!!

Can you tell me how you got your bird with a bow: did you use a blind, how many dekes/type, how far were the dekes from you, what broadhead did you use, what position was the bird in when you drew, what position when you hit him, where did you hit him (head, neck, etc), what did he do after the shot? I know I'm asking alot but I am trying to meet the challenge of bow-turkey and I need all the info I can get. Thanks and Best of Luck to all!!

[Gordon Fothergill]

Tombow,

I was using a Doghouse blind and single hen decoy placed at 8 yrds. We also had luck with two hens and a jake decoy, although we did have some Toms avoid that particular spread. I shot my bird as he was walking perpendicular to my position at 15 yards. The shot placement I like is between the top of the legs and the wing hinge and that is where I hit him (although about an inch lower than I like). The bird did not go far. For broadhead I use a collared muzzy. I was also drawn for Wisconsin, my season starts May 21, I cant wait. Good luck on your hunt Tombow, let me know how you do. GF

[CornPirateKiller]

Finally! I leave tomorrow for Ottumwa Iowa for a weekend turkey hunt. I'm so jazzed from seeing turkey's here in SE MN that I can't hardly stand it. I got drawn for MN too but don't hunt until May 11th. I'll post my results after the hunt.

Good Luck to all you turkey hunters!

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Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati

[benelli_dude2002]

Here's a good one for you guys. A friend of mine who lives in southern Indiana called me this past Saturday ( April 26 ) I dont know about some guys but some guys have all the luck and this is one of them. He's only lived there a few years and the first year he was there he took up turkey hunting and was hooked. His first gobbler was 25.5 lbs, last year his biggest so far weighed 27.5 lbs and this year well this is where it gets good. At least i think so. The season down there opened April 23 and he didnt get out til the 26th because he couldnt get off work. He didnt do any scouting or even shoot his gun to see if his scope was still on. He used a Mossberg Ultimag with a Simmons scope this is just one of his many shotguns. His girlfriend tagged along to check things out so they got their camo on and headed for the woods at daylight. He blew on his crow call and had a gobble right away and then they set up about 100 yards from the bird. They heard it fly down and from the time they set up to the time he dropped the gobbler ( at 40 yards ) was like 20 minutes. Cool I thought. I mean this guy has all the luck. the first gobbler he got was almost the same situation only he forgot his face mask, hat and gloves and that bird came in at 15 yards. This most recent bird was 24.5 lbs. He called me early in the morning and he sounded pretty excited on the answering machine so I called him back and I knew right away what he was all pumped about. I got to try turkey hunting myself last year when I went down there but I never bagged a bird and this year I never made it down there. maybe next year. Thats my story I mean it isnt my story but I thought I'd share it with you.

[elusivecrappiecatcher]

Well we baught a new house in forest lake, MN. When I went up there to look at it with my parents for the first time there must have been 20-30 turkeys in the field next to us. The guy next door about 500 yards away raises wild turkeys and when his turkeys start gobbling the turkeys from the feild next to us come right through our yard. And let me tell you there is some BIIIGG turks out there. So this december I am gonna apply and if I get drawn I am gonna get one. I have never turkey hunted before. So it will be fun. I can't wait!

[CornPirateKiller]

Well, this year was the charm. I have hunted turkeys five previous times in MN and IA and never scored. Saturday morning, I ended the slump.

I hunted SE Iowa, South of Ottumwa. A chapter of NWTF volunteers puts on a guided hunt for disabled hunters each year and I hunted with them (I broke my neck 18 years ago.) Two great guys took me out and we got set up before dawn. At 6:00, a hen made her way down the field to our deke, followed by a big tom. She came right to the setup, but he held off 50 yards out. They eventually passed through the fencerow we were setup in and she fed while he strutted for over an hour. She finally returned to our deke, but he was too suspicious and tried to sneak around behind us. I repositioned and found an opening in the brush that gave me a shot out the back of our blind. When he stepped into the lane, I dropped him. We had estimated him at 25 yards before the shot but it turned ut to be more like 40! 22 pounds with a 12 inch beard and 1 1/8 inch spurs. What a rush!

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Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati

[elusivecrappiecatcher]

Congrats on the bird CPK!

[TomBow]

Congratulations ya CornPirate ya!! It's a long way to go for a turkey but, if you're like me, you'd go farther just to hunt 'em! That's part of the cool thing about turkey hunting, just watching those birds struttin' around doing their thing. Way to go and send a Thank you to those fellahs down there who got you out hunting. Hope that bird is DEE-Licious!! Got 10 more days 'till we start the turkey hunt, I'll be foamin' at the mouth by then!! Best of Luck to all!

[NELS-BELLS]

I hunted last weekend with my Dad near Redwood Falls, MN. He shot his first Turkey ever within the first 30 minutes. I was happy to witness it from the other side of the field. We were both surprised that the Tom never gobbled even though it was strutting around his decoy. As a matter of fact I never heard any gobbling the first three days of hunting but saw plenty of hens. Finally on Sunday I had a bird gobbling and when I called him in it turned out to be a Jake. I didn't know that Jakes gobbled.
To cut a long story short, I never got one but still enjoyed the hunt and witnessing my Dad shoot his first Turkey.

[Zarkohl]

TomBow. The email meeage of your that that I responded to keeps coming back with a "host" error message. I received your message, so I assume that the problem is on your end. let me know and I try and resend. Jim

[CornPirateKiller]

Hunt #2 - Minnesota. Only had two days to hunt, Sunday (5/11) and today (Monday 5/12). Sunday was a bust. My rain gauge read over three inches of rain and it was still coming down in sheets with wild winds. This morning was perfect, yet muddy. The weather had scattered the birds we'd scouted, though, and as the sun came up, the gobbling we'd heard last week was missing. Sat waiting and watching until 8:00 am when three hens showed up. One had a 6" beard but I passed on her and let her go to make more little ones. No gobblers following, though. Strange. Half hour later, three more birds. Two small jakes and one that was bigger and obviously dominant. Still no sign of a longbeard. My hunt was short and I didn't think the toms were going to cooperate. I watched them for ten minutes and then took a bead on the big one and dropped him at 12 yards. 16 pounds, 4" beard. He wasn't the trophy I was after, but I worked hard for him and I'm still smiling from a great hunt. Two birds for two hunts. It's gonna be a great year!! Good luck to all those still out hunting!!

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Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati

[TomBow]

zarkohl--try 'er again there bud! About a year ago, our company bought this new fangled state of the art (read: way to expensive) phone system with it's own server to handle our e-mail. Needless to say, nuttin' but trouble!

Please give it another try! Thanks.

Tom B.

[Borch]

I hunted in the rain Sunday morning in the St. Cloud area. I saw 8 turkeys(4 toms and 4 jakes). Didn't hear a gobble until I headed back to the vehicle. Ended up thumping a 17.5 lb, 8 7/8" beard & 7/8" spurred tom. I had a very large tom within 12 yards but he stayed in the brush and didn't offer a shot.

Pretty good day despite the rain and wind.

[LABS4ME]

Good Luck to those that are hunting the last season....the Toms are getting quiet, and decoy shy. We hunt farms that are not hunted by others so it's not from pressure. If you can find a solo Tom you can probably get him worked up enough to come into a call. Two of my buddys gave up calling and ended setting up an ambush sites on field edges where birds had been seen. They both tagged out, I ended up doing the same, had 10 minutes of time left yesterday and a Tom came out on the opposite side of the field feeding. I gave a couple of clucks and purrs and got some gobbles in response, he zig-zagged his way feeding across the field all the while gobbling during my very soft, sporadic calling, he then started strutting everytime I called, but at the same time feeding away from me, so I took a chance and got real aggresive with the call. Turned him and 2 minutes later 22#'er, 10 inch beard, was taken at 42 yards. Usually don't shoot when they are that far out, but felt pretty confident as he was fully outstretched at that moment (couple of putts on the call). Was one of the toughest seasons I've had, but it was woth it in the end. Hope all goes well for those finishing up!

Good Luck and hunt safe...

Ken

[Surface Tension]

Congratulations on your successes.
I start my hunt the 21st. More sleepless nights.