HSO TEAM #9..........Jakes or Better

[Greybeard53]

Thanks Joel.

Good advice about work.

I did get out of the area quick though because my son's license is for season "C", and I didn't want to do anything to reduce his chances. The shotgun blast didn't seem to have much affect though. The gobbling picked right back up within 15 minutes. I'm thankful I will get to spend some more time in the woods with him this weekend.

Hopefully I'll have pictures of his next week.

[FrontenacPike]

Way to go buddy, nice looking bird. Thanks for carrying the weight for the team.

[Greybeard53]

Thanks Frontenac.

Have you been out since your last post?

Are you still seeing birds?

[elevatorguy]

Well guys I got one today. And just a bit quicker that you Greybeard. I was about 15 minutes into my season. I got a 21 lb Merriam with 1 3/16 and 1 1/8 spurs an 8 1/4 beard. I will post story and pics when I get home. I have limited internet and will upload everything when I get home. We have 2 more tags to fill and now I get to be guide. I will be home sunday so by monday I will have everything posted.

And nice bird greybeard!!!

[sticknstring]

Way to go elevator... that's a great bird. You must've had them tucked in from the night before. Curious to see how the rest of your hunt went and which part of the hills you were hunting. Keep us updated with some pics when you get back.

[Hotspotter]

Grey:

I think you're right, esp. just a shotgun blast. You did the right thing by just packing it up and moving out.

I'll let Jonny tell his story about spooking turkeys

At times, in the right spot, you can booger them bad and still come up with a turkey.

Joel

[Greybeard53]

Good job Vator.

Sounds like a great bird. I'm anxious for the story and pics.

Two down, three to go.

[FrontenacPike]

I have one more morning and feeling the rainy weather blues. I had one working this morning but as soon as the rain came everything shut right off, not a single gobble in the woods. I stuck it out until noon with nothing but soaking wet gear. I hunted out of my blind this morning so I wasn't absolutely miserable. Well I'm gonna give er heck tomorrow and hope for the best.

[Greybeard53]

Hang in there Frontenac.

Everything can change in an instant. You just need to be persistant.

And one good thing about a rainy weather Gobbler...all those wet feathers make 'em weigh more.

[Greybeard53]

Joel,

FYI, when I was scouting about a week before season, I saw a partially white turkey. Not an albino, but one with large white patches like a piebald. It was a couple hundred yards out but I had the binoculars on it for a while. I didn't see a beard (although it may have had one), but never could tell for sure if it was a male or a female.

That was the first I've ever seen one that looked like that. Have you ever run into that in your neck of the woods?

[FrontenacPike]

SKUNK!!! Sat in the rain this morning, set up within 100 yards of a roosted gobbler. He gobbled and gobbled in the tree. The rain started shortly after he flew down. Once on the ground and with the rain, I never heard him again. Rain sux!!!

[Greybeard53]

He's not on our team, but here's a photo of my son's gobbler from last weekend. The weather was lousy Saturday and the birds were silent. Called in seven quiet birds, but only jakes and hens. My son had his mind made up he wasn't going to take a jake, so he passed.

On Sunday, it was a differnt story. The temp was cold, but the sun was out, and the birds were extremely vocal. After about an hour of calling, a trio of identical gobblers came in to the decoys. All three took turns strutting. They came to within 5 yards at one point. After watching the show, my son had all he could take and nailed one, and the other two decided to pound the snot out of it. You can see by the photo, they did a good job.

A nice two year old. Beard was 9.5", 20 lbs with 1/2" spurs.

This is his third Gobbler. One with a bow, and two with a shotgun. Not a bad start for seventeen year old.

[elevatorguy]

Well guys here he is..

Well I have hunted the Black Hills now 7 out of the last 8 years. And I can say that I have worked very hard chasing them birds out there. And this year I can say I am one of those lucky guys who litterally was walking out to his spot and stumbled onto a bird and got him. Well we left Perham, MN at about 5:45 am and arrived in Rapid City, SD at about 2:00 pm Mountain time. After checking in to the cabin and picking up a few things we headed out to where we hunt. I know a guy who lives in the edge of the Hills and the land is all private in the area with National Forest behind him and not much hunting pressure. None of his neighbors hunt or let people cross to hunt the National Forest. So he lets us cross his land to hunt the National Forest behind his place. And there are alot of turkeys in the area. Last year I ran in to a guy walking his dogs on the NF and he said that anywhere from 25 to 70 turkeys went through his yard almost every morning. So anyway there are 2 ridges and valleys to cross to get where I have hunted last year. My dad was ahead of me and my friend going down the 1st valley at the bottom and we were just headed down and my friend spotted turkeys. He claimed to see a tom but all I saw were 2 hens. So we cross and get on the 1st ridge about where my dad was gonna set up and we chatted and me and my friend then headed across the ridge and just as I crested the top I saw a turkey run. I took a few more steps then noticed a full fan. I thought no way it can't be this easy. As I stepped aside he stepped out from behind a tree and bang I rolled him at about 50 yards. Tagged my bird about 15 minutes into my hunt. Not how I really wanted to get one cause nothing beats having them come in gobbling and strutting but I will take some luck once and awhile. I have hunted hard and long out there and have had a ton of bad luck so I thought it is all good to have it go my way for once.

We ended up going 2 for 3. We hunted where I got my bird maybe a 1/4 of the time we were there. The birds were really henned up bad. We saw birds at 3 or 4 in the afternoon with many hens and that is not a good sign. We were able to work a few gobblers in the afternoon to only have 1 hang up and another circle around us and bust us. We also set up on some roosted on private land in a patch of woods. We set up about a 1/4 mile from the truck down the fence line hoping to get them to come over only to have them cross over about 80 yards from the truck. The only reason I know that is that is where they were after we sat about 3 hours and all went quiet and as we were walking out we could see the truck and oh there was about 15 of them between us and the truck.

Anyway another great year in the Hills. I can't wait for next year already. And I will be bowhunting down by Houston,MN on the 16th of may so I hope to get 2 this year. And maybe get the monkey off my back and stick one with the bow..

[Greybeard53]

That's one beautiful bird.

Gotta take those easy ones when you can. It makes up for all the hours you put in over the years.

Great job Elevator.

[Hotspotter]

Holy cats Elevator......great work. Nice hooks on that Merriams!

Joel

[Borch]

Congrats Elevatorguy on a great bird!

I'll hope to connect on one easy or hard this week out there.

[sticknstring]

The white fan, ponderosas, and bushels of pine cones tell it all! Glad to hear your party had some luck - that's a great bird. Congratulations. Different hunting out there that's for sure - you take 'em when you get an opportunity.

[elevatorguy]

Thanks guys and I do love hunting the Hills.

And Joel on those hooks, I wanted to take a pic with him hanging off them and I completely forgot. He was a limbhanger and I wanted a pic of that so bad. I am bummed I forgot.

[Hotspotter]

The one spur was rock-damaged and still around 1"!!!

Joel

[schmidty]

no bird for me this year. next year has to be my year.

woody1975 thanks for the use of your blind --that thing was a life saver on saturday in the blowing snow.