So Far so good...

[Borch]

Well two days into the MN turkey season and we have two birds down. Yesterday the woods were very quiet. Not a gobble heard during primetime. At about 7:30 we had a coyote sneak in and I was about the follow the farmers instruction for such an encounter when he winded us and was gone in a flash. However, within a minute I heard a cluck to our left and then saw my brother who was sitting up against a tree 15 ft away from me slowly raising his gun. The toms saw the movement and turned to go but it was too late for this guy.

A nice 2 year old toms with 5/8" spurs, a 7 1/2" beard and weighed a heavy 25 lbs. It was my brother's first turkey hunt and he was pumped!

The rest of the day produced a few exciting moments with a big strutting gobbling tom that wouldn't commit, a jake and a couple of hens.

Today I decided to hunt a different property as the farmer was busy working the fields on this one yesterday afternoon right up to dark. When I arrived at a small chunk of public property I hunt there was already someone parked there. I quickly made my way back to the property that my brother and I hunted the day before and heard distant gobbling on another property. I decided to set up in a differnt area closer to the gobbling birds but after flydown it was quiet again. After 20 minutes I saw a hen checking out my set up. She peeked over a hill a few times through out the morning. At 8:30 I decided to make a move and packed up. I made a half dozen steps into a field and saw strutters 150 yards away down by where I had planned on moving. I slipped back into the cover and set up quickly. I let out a couple soft yelps on my HS Strut Fang and within a minute had a parade of hens working past me into the flield to feed. All in total there was 12 hens followed by the two strutters. I looked into the field and saw a lone tom watching the whole thing at 40 yards. He must have worked in from the hilltop in front of me. When the two strutters stepped into an opening at 20 yards I gave one a killer headache. Here he is

He had 1 1/16" spurs, an 8" beard and went 21 lbs.

Hopefully things work out for my son Travis who has had school the past two days. He gets his chance starting tomorrow morning.

[sticknstring]

Way to go Jeff! Congrats. Two beautiful mornings and 2 nice turkeys on the ground. Hopefully Travis can put one down to make it 3-3. I'm having a hard time waiting until B starts up.

[Wanderer]

Great recount of a great hunt!

[mknolls]

Always like to hear the event that goes with the picture. Nice Bird, good pictures. Congrats.

Mike

[Gordie]

great job guys and awsome photos

[DonBo]

Way to go!

[Powerstroke]

Nice Bird Borch!!! I hope Travis is as lucky as the rest of your group!

[fivebucks]

Nice birds!

[Borch]

Wow! It's hard to believe it over for me, after 3 days. Travis pretty much had just today to hunt. He could make it out for an hour and a half before work this weekend but today was day he hoped to score and decided he'd take any legal bird. We had a ton of activity this morning. It started with busting 5 turkeys off the roost as we settled into our spot in the dark. As it got light the air was lit up with the sound of gobbling. Things were sounding good. Other than first light barrge it quieted down to a sporatic distant gobble it was pretty quiet up to 6:45 am and a distant gobble got louder and louder cutting off my calls. At 7 am I was looking at a gobbler and a hen walk by at 20 yards. Unfortunately Travis never had a shot as he was sitting 15 ft to my right and the gobbler cut into the woods. It got quiet again until 7:45 when I got a distant reply to hard cutting on my HS Strut Fang diaphram. He was closing distance fast and suddenly shut up. Within 5 minutes I was watching him work through the brush and as soon as he saw the hen decoy he went into strut mode out 50 yards. He kept strutting very gradually getting closer. When the tom hit 45 yards Travis shot and the gobbler rolled and then got up and went. We looked for him for 20 minutes and other than a few feathers left behind he was gone. Travis got a bit worked up and thought the tom was closer than he was. After we walked back to his blind we noticed a few small pieces of brush which he had sawed off with his shot. It happens, this is where patience would have paid off as the tom was coming in he just needed to put on a show first. We settled back into blind and within 5 minutes were working another gobbler. The wind picked up and blew the blind material and with no leaves it was enough to alert him snd he skirted our setup with a hen alarm putting. We worked 2 other gobblers and had one coming in but he was a no show. We saw what I believes was the gobbler Travis shot earlier working his way across the field and other than a negative response to calling he was doing fine. As I was calling to him and heard another gobble behind us. Not as loud or deep as the others and I thought, Jake. About 20 minutes later a nice jake snuck in silently and I got Travis' attention. He made a nice 15 yard shot and our season was over. Here's Travis with his bird.

The birds stats are 4" beard, 1/4" spurs and 16.2 lbs. He'll eat good.

Seems that the gobblers are getting fired up with gobbling all morning and several toms seen with a single hen today. Should just be getting better.

[DonBo]

Sounds like you had a great few days of hunting. Three for three, way to go!

I'll be taking a youth out tomorrow on his first ever turkey hunt, sounds like the timing will be perfect.

[rbs]

Awesome hunt...congrats!

[theghost_03]

Way to go guys!! Pics are awesome! This just got me even more fired up for B season. I start Monday near Winona and head to Nebraska the week afterwards.

[paintbrush]

Congrats to everybody! Looks like you all had a heck of a good season!

[delzz7]

Well Done Borch. Sounds like you guys had alot of action. Thats awesome!

[mknolls]

There is nothing more exciting then spending time in the field with your son or daughter or any family member. In my case its my son. It just can't be bet. Way to go, I'll bet if your like me you're just as pumped up as your son. Great picture. Congratulation to Travis.

[harvey lee]

Congrats to the Borch gang. Nice birds.