Team 3 "Strut Stoppers"

[hugonian1]

Just make sure he watches out for the "bearded hen".

Nothing but trouble there.

Although I guess they are legal.

[monstermoose78]

Ok Sunday we are going turkey hunting

If it has a beard I think he will be shooting

[monstermoose78]

We got a couple hens around no toms or jakes. Lots of pheasants 

[monstermoose78]

We got a sneaky tom circling the blind

[monstermoose78]

He was strutting about 55 too 60 yards away

[ANYFISH2]

Good luck monster!

[monstermoose78]

A hen came through and he joined her out of range. Just had big rooster walk by

IMG_1032.MOV

[monstermoose78]

Well the tom did not come back before we had to in for Mother's Day activities !! 

[DonBo]

That's the same kind of luck I've been having all season moose. Frustrating.

I believe my MN archery season is over.  We leave Wednesday for WS. Pretty certain I'll be able to take one for the team.  We have two tags each and have always done well on this trip.

[DonBo]

Wisconsin never disappoints. Nice 1st morning tom.   Poor cell service here, more later...

[monstermoose78]

Looks like a good one

Congrats

[ANYFISH2]

Nice, congrats Donbo!

[123fish]

Way to go Don! We needed that one. Looks like a real nice bird. Looking forward to a story and stats. Go Strutstoppers!

[walleyehunter02]

Nicely done teammates!

now only if I wouldn't have sailed an arrow ever so graciously under this guy...

Monday and Tuesday are my last options to try and get out and it's looking like one or the other. If I can make it happen.

and yes, the closer bird is just my decoy.

 

Edited May 20, 2017 by walleyehunter02

[ZachD]

How far away was he walleye? bummer

[walleyehunter02]

33 yards. I was thinking 20 when I shot and had a softball sized hole in the brush to shoot through. I just ended up rushing it and shot low. At least it was a clean miss!

[monstermoose78]

Well my nephew and I are going to try on Sunday funday to make it happen. I have to work today 

[monstermoose78]

Stupid turkeys will not come close enough. He is strutting about 75 to 100 yards away. We are hoping he makes his way over when he follows one of the hens to her nesting area.

[walleyehunter02]

Get em! Good luck!

[Borch]

Same for me today.  Lots of birds but always sitting in the wrong spot.  Icing on the cake was walking back to the car tonight and seeing one strutting in 35 yards in front of the blind 100 yards away from the car.  I did find a couple morels at least.

[DonBo]

Good luck walleye, sorry about the miss, but we all know what a tough road archery hunting can be.

 

My good friend Dave and I headed to Wisconsin Wednesday afternoon.  We have two tags each. We hunted hard for most of 5 days while enduring some of the worst weather we have ever had to deal with. 40 degrees ain't bad, and a little rain ain't bad, but a hard rain at 40 degrees just plain sucks. Add in some wind and it was pretty miserable.

 

Wednesday we got to our hunting spot mid afternoon and set up. We weren't intent on spending the evening with plans to scout a bit and get the permission we needed for another farm.  We actually heard a couple gobbles and they seemed to be coming closer, then the rain started.  Do we wait till it quits, or do we leave before it gets worse? Dave said lets get out while we can. Sure enough, as soon as we got out of the blind there was a big tom looking at us.  Game over.  Oh well.

 

Next morning we were back at this same spot. Nothing going except a lone hen way out, not even a gobble...till 10:00. This bird would gobble and come closer, then gobble as he went farther away. Over and over again.  Finally he showed himself at the end of the field 80 yds out.  He'd gobble then head back into the woods to gobble some more.  In and out like that for what seemed forever. Finally he came back out again and ever so slowly headed our way. Closer and closer, then - "there's another one!"  Another big tom came to see what all the noise was about.  The first one was inching closer and closer, right to the edge of my shooting range. He stopped and lifted his head and turned around. I couldn't wait to see if he'd come closer, a few steps would put him out of range.  My trusty old 870 barked and he was down.  Sweet!  I looked at the clock, it was 11:30. We'd been working this bird for an hour and a half! I later paced it off at 45 yds.  Haven't shot very many beyond that.

 

The other bird didn't even flinch, he was coming to see why his bud wasn't getting up. Closer and closer till Dave couldn't wait anymore.  He shot. The bird started running, then took flight.  He shot again and that bird was in the woods, never to be seen again.   Two missed opportunities on our first two sits.

 

Though we hunted hard the next few days and saw some birds, we never had another chance.  Tough, tough hunting.

 

My bird tipped the scales at just under 24 1/2 lbs. Spurs both right at 1" and pretty sharp, beard just over 10". Probably a 3 year old.

 

 

 

My bird came from the far corner, just to the right of the blind.

 

 

Here's my buddy Dave all loaded up for the long walk back to the truck.

 

 

Red sky in the morning, hunters take warning.

 

 

Big heavy bird, second heaviest I've ever taken. Just starting to rain.  Again.

 

 

 

 

Take a close look at the headgear already on this nice buck.

 

[walleyehunter02]

Nothing better than a successful trip even if the hunting was rough.

 

Not looking good for me today to be successful. Saw 4 a couple hundred yards out early this am and didn't hear a gobble intil 10. He has gobbled a 3 times since then, but seems content across the river where he is at and he doesn't seem to like what I am saying to him.

[Archerysniper]

Kept me waiting long enough  congratulations Don

[DonBo]

Just now, Archerysniper said:

Kept me waiting long enough  congratulations Don

 

Sorry. Cell service down there was horrible. Had to wait till I got back to a real computer.

[Illini Walli]

congrats, great bird and pix