Team # 6 - Strut Busters

[woody1975]

Alright Team #6 Here is our Hot Spot headquarters!

Lets start hearing some ideas for team names?

Turkey Tumblers?

Spring Chaos?

Feather Dusters?

Hook Hangers?

Strut Cutters?

Man am I looking forward to this!

DL

[mozy]

Strut Busters?

[woody1975]

Strut Busters - I like that!

We need to feel fortunate - We have WallyDog on our squad - One beard isn't good enough for him - If I remember right, he likes 4 or 5 of 'em at a time.

Any one else on the squad can chime in, otherwise "Strut Busters" it is!

Later,

Duncan

[woody1975]

HSO Team #6

Mozy

SlamNFish

Klecker

Wallydog

Woody1975

eric29

Looking forward to typing? with you all.

Mozy has checked in - Where are the rest?

[LABS4ME]

Klecker was moving snow the past 2 days...

Good thing you have wallydog on your team! Maybe Chad (Klecker) can borrow a beard or 2 from him! hehehe That oughta get him to reply!

Good Luck!

Ken

[klecker]

Funny guy!

strut buster works for me.

Chad

[LABS4ME]

I knew that'd get you to reply!!!

Good Luck!

Ken

[eric29]

Strut Busters sounds good to me

[woody1975]

Welcome on board Eric29 - When and where are you hunting?

OOPs saw it on the other thread - 464B - That is Turkey killin' country there!

Am I the only one in the group hunting the first season? That is a little pressure right there. I hope the weather cooperates. Haven't been to our area in a few years, but we managed a jake then and learned a few lessons along the way. Got a blind and gettin' tough this year.

Later

DL

[klecker]

I'm hunting may 7-11 in wi zone 38 "big woods" turkeys. The snow wasnt to bad up there this year so they should be in good shape. There isnt alot of birds back by our cabin and they usually are done breading for the most part by this time period. I have had a couple of ten min. hunts in the late season as the toms get real aggresive looking for the last few hens that will play games with them. Man I cant wait

[mozy]

I'm not hunting until the 26th, but I can't wait. I need to get the 'ol Trykon out and practice on some turkey targets. I'm going out in the morning to see how talkative the birds are.

[eric29]

I was out earlier today and saw alot of sign but no birds. Scratches, droppings, and a few feathers all over the place.

[woody1975]

We leave a week from tonight! Gettin' pumped. Glad I'm going South east and not northwest!

Good Luck to everyone and have a safe hunt!

DL

[Wallydog]

Teamers..........

I'm fine with any name but I must admit I've always been fond of "Jellyheads".

I'll be calling for a youngen in our youth hunt Saturday morning bout 30 minutes west of Boise. Then the 5 hour drive to Orofino in the Clearwater Valley Sunday to get ready for the Tuesday opener here in ID.

Best of luck everyone.

Remember it's not the gobbler, it's the gobble!

WD

[1lkstage]

Go woodrow!! Best of luck, some of us what to see another video! Lets see some tears of joy this time. I'll hold down the fort and have your backside. Shoot straight and Good Luck! Enjoy your days off!

The Boss!!

[1lkstage]

Woody, the Bonus "Famous Daves" for dinner today was alot better then what your turkey will taste like.

(FYI- Ind. Indexing [PoorWordUsage] is a go)

[Wallydog]

Bingo in Idaho!!

story and pics to follow

WD

Story:

Day 1 April 15. The silo was set in the same exact spot I've used for 15+ years. Problem was this immediate area is slightly higher (200') than everything around us and has had snow almost everyday since November. The birds were in the vicinity but 1/2 mile or so away and just a little lower where things had started to green up. We heard only a couple of gobbles all day and managed to call a pair of the gobblin', spittin' and drumminest jakes to 15 feet.

Day 2 April 16. Make the trek to the other side of the Dworshak Res. to another private honey hole. Had to walk bout 1.5 miles in on the snow covered access road to an area with south facing fields and broken timber patches. Used the old Peacock call to elicit a gobble upon entering the area. He was right where he should have been. We slipped into a spot that I've killed a couple birds and carefully placed one hen deoy on a green/wet spot. Called and got an instant response. Back and forth we went for 45 minutes. He went up hill on our right, down hill on our right, side hill below us, and slipped in above and to our left. I made a quiet call on my Roberts Bros glass and he roared at about 75 yds. "Somethings gonna die" I whispered to TB. Spoke too soon. The old dog simply worked his way around the bowl we were in, only to tuck his wings and exit gobbling as far as we could hear him. Musta been an old bird that just didn't like what he saw. So off we went for a recon mission and to the east end of the section. Much less sign and no answers in that area. Bout an hour later we headed back towards our original setup. Gobbles stopped us 300 yards above and short or that spot. I'd called a bird in from the very spot. So I pruned a few pcs of brush and we sat down shoulder to shoulder, this time without a decoy. I yelped on a Todd Hanson orginal boatpaddle and they fired right back. After 10 min. their heads popped above a rise at 25 yards. Both longbeards, big dog on the right side (my side). 1...2...oh no, my bird took several steps to my right and precisely behind a pine bough I hadn't pruned....bang! TB lowered the boom on his bird and my pitched down the mountain to be a warier SOB. Oh well, darn nice 3yr old bit the dust. Pictures and another move followed with 2 single hens called in, one not sure if she wanted to gobble or yelp. some sort of identity crisis I suspect. Before leaving for the day I peeked over the steep cliffy are below us to see a monster chocolate bruin on a logging road at 125yds. He entertained me by standing on his hind legs and grabbing a 10' Doug Fir seedling and scratching his back, head and neck with it in his forepaws. We headed out to the truck around 5:30 and witnessed a hen in a field in full strut chasing around another hen for 10 minutes. I thought it must have been the hen with the sexual identity issues. Kinda cool tho.

Day 3 April 17. Back to the same general area we hunted day 1. Walking in at the perfect time. Peacock called to no avail. Finally heard a gobbler up the creek aways. Walked into the trees heading that direction only to bust at least 4 birds outta their roost and seeing nuther hen in the tree at 40 yards. Been there done that, hate it every time. Backed out and moved uphill to listen. Flydown time was upon us. The hen talk started below us and it sounded rather urgent! It worked as a tom chimed in to our right and below us. We listened as they "hooked up". Set up and commenced trying to coax them up to me. They cared not for my barrage of voices. 20 minutes later I grabbed the boat paddle again and struck a gobbler. We worked his way in to 10 yards and became an inquisitive jake with a nice gobble. However, I'd stimulated another gobbler to answer behind us from an open field. I let the jake drift out of sight and got after the bird behind and he closed the gap quickly. I supect the jake gobbling in front may have had something to with it! He shut up at 50 yards and slipped in below us. Suddenly there was much skwallering and here came the heads.....Jake, jake, jake, jake, must have been 8 or 9 jakes with one round fan chasing them all over the hillside.

I called to try maintain the teenagers attention so they wouldn't do anything stupid like drag he longbeard away. He needed to separate himself from the kids so I'd have a clear shot. He did and I did. 0715,time for breakfast in Orofino, pack up and head for south Idaho.

[klecker]

Great job! Way to get the team on the board.

[woody1975]

Awesome Wally Dog - Can't wait to hear the story.

Well - I got one for the board - Not very big at all, but a very interesting story.

We had just gotten back from lunch and in the blind. A very slow afternoon - No Gobbling at all.

I decided we were going to do a little scouting for the next morning. I just wanted to see the area a little better. We would walk 15-20 yards - I would call and then we would sit for a few minutes. ( I was reminded of a hard lesson on this one!)

After the third calling set, I walked toward the end of a pretty steep cliff. When I was 20 yards away, I looked up and there was a beautiful turkey standing there - All I could see was the beard, but it was a dandy. As soon as I saw him, over the hill he went. I walked over to where he went over and t my suprise, he had only gone a couple feet down the hill. I had a perfect 20 yard shot at his big red noggin' I slowly aimed and pulled the trigger and the sky lit up. There were 5 turkeys over that hill and they were all long beards, except.....The one I killed. When I got to my bird laying against an Elm tree on this hill side, my first reaction was - Oh Oh I shot one without a beard, but after further inspection, there was a little one there. 13 # - 1/8" spurs - 2 " beard. Not my personal best, but a fun hunt none the less. My older brother shot a dandy on Wednesay Morning. 20 #, 9" beard - 7/8 " spurs - A good bird. Ended up 2 for 5 on the trip. Now this guy isn't huge by any stretch of the imagination, but if I'm counting - Thats two for the strut busters.

Sorry about the photo, my 12 year old nephew took the picture.

My report is that the birds in South Eastern MN are not very ho into breading yet - At least in the area we hunted. The Toms were all running together separate from the hens. Very Windy.

PS - Here is the one I wish I could've posted for our squad, but this is the Turkey my brother shot on opening morning:

[eric29]

I got a trophy for us this morning guys. 27lbs, approx 11 1/2 beard and 1 1/4 spurs after a quick measurement.

Ill try to get some pics up, anyone have some advice for postin pics- i dont know how

[Tippman]

Wow, that's a huge bird eric, congrats. I can post the pics if you send them to me if you'd like. Otherwise the photo sharing forum has advice on how to do it.

[woody1975]

Hey Eric - Nice work - Get them pics up - Sounds like a nice bird!

DL

[eric29]

I just sent pics to you Tippman.

Thanks in advance

[Tippman]

Here ya go Eric. I did split them up between the two places since there were quite a few of them.

[Please read forum policy before posting again. Admin]

[woody1975]

Hey - That is a hog! Nice work Eric!

Lets hear the story!

DL