2022 Turkey day

Good luck to all going out today. I will be hunting evening’s after work and then the weekend. Going to be a great spring , NE started off with a few birds hitting the dirt.

I have a bunch of pictures yet to get through since coming back from hunting last week. Tonight should be fun.

Was planning on taking 8 year old stepson out Friday morning for the 1st time with him holding the gun. Talking like 29 degrees with 42 mph winds at 6 am. Dont know if i wanna waste a vacation day since he can go all seasons. Its his spring break this week so thought it would be nice to try.

JEREMY wrote:

Was planning on taking 8 year old stepson out Friday morning for the 1st time with him holding the gun. Talking like 29 degrees with 42 mph winds at 6 am. Dont know if i wanna waste a vacation day since he can go all seasons. Its his spring break this week so thought it would be nice to try.

That’s far from good turkey hunting conditions for even a die hard turkey hunter. I think your better off waiting for a nicer day to introduce a 8 year old to the sport. I’m sure there will be some better days soon. Good luck to you and the little guy when you do make it out. Hope to see some great pictures of the little guy with a nice big Tom !!!!

Yeah this weather really blows. Literally. Wind, cold, rain, snow etc we’ve had it all. The long range forecast doesnt look much better either. My middle son is going to give it a shot this weekend at his friend’s house, but we havent been seeing many turkeys lately. Something happened. They were everywhere and now I havent seen one in weeks.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Yeah this weather really blows. Literally. Wind, cold, rain, snow etc we’ve had it all. The long range forecast doesnt look much better either. My middle son is going to give it a shot this weekend at his friend’s house, but we havent been seeing many turkeys lately. Something happened. They were everywhere and now I havent seen one in weeks.

I really think this last winter or the bird flu has had a major impact on the # of turkeys this spring. I’m seeing far fewer birds than normal for this time of the year here in Central Minnesota. I put a fair amount of miles on a week or so ago and saw FAR less birds than normal for this time of the year.

Birds are still flocked up in to their winter groups, focused on food sources for good reason. You’re either going to have them all, or none. Although I will say I would agree with seeing fewer

Hes been going with me since he was 2 or 3. He finally said hes big enough to shoot this year. We have a few big wood sided heatable deer blinds at my dads was thinking about going there. Havent seen much around there yet most are still grouped up 1/2-3/4 mile away towards the river bottoms. Has been some jakes on patrol lately and i think he would be ok shooting one of them. Just have a hard time getting myself to go to work when this has been the plan for so long. Guess i will leave it up to him when i get him from his dads tomorrow night.

ganderpike wrote:

Birds are still flocked up in to their winter groups, focused on food sources for good reason.

The thing with this is, where I was seeing them grouped up all winter, nothing. I was seeing them literally every day.

ganderpike wrote:

Birds are still flocked up in to their winter groups, focused on food sources for good reason. You’re either going to have them all, or none.

I’ve noticed this too. Enormous groups when I find them, like they are in the winter behavior. Luckily I know where the main flock is, and I have permission to hunt next week during season B. Just have to get one close enough which is almost always the problem.

Season A is always a gamble for me with the weather. Its nice to get first crack at it when its finally legal but it seems the weather rarely cooperates. For this reason I usually select season B or season C.

Im down in SE MN just north of the Iowa boarder where they had tornadoes touch down last night. Wasn’t sure what this morning would bring since it stormed until 3am, but they were down early and still making noise, just not as much. Was windy with some spitting rain but I tagged out within an hour. Kinda bummed cause I took 3 days off of work but I hate to let an opportunity pass by. Took longer to pluck than to actually hunt haha. Going to cook it whole for the fam on Easter.

Nice bird FF! Congrats!

FinickyFish wrote:

Im down in SE MN just north of the Iowa boarder where they had tornadoes touch down last night. Wasn’t sure what this morning would bring since it stormed until 3am, but they were down early and still making noise, just not as much. Was windy with some spitting rain but I tagged out within an hour. Kinda bummed cause I took 3 days off of work but I hate to let an opportunity pass by. Took longer to pluck than to actually hunt haha. Going to cook it whole for the fam on Easter.

Beautiful bird, glad it looks like a dry bird, much better for pictures! Good on ya for taking the time to pluck as well! Haven’t got any pics on my cam in Riceville IA for 18 hrs, hope it didn’t get destroyed in the storm!

FinickyFish wrote:

Took longer to pluck than to actually hunt haha. Going to cook it whole for the fam on Easter.

I missed this part when I read your post earlier. I can’t believe you plucked that thing. I did that once and it took me over 2 hours. I will never do it again.

If I were you, I’d have a back up plan for Easter dinner.

Nice job filling the tag.

This is just so typical.
A buddy and his son were in the blind at 5:30 and left around 3 when it started to snow today.
I took this a little bit after they left.
Gotta wonder how many times that’s happened to me and everybody else.
His boy was fired up to get back at it after seeing this!

Oh no.

I had something similar happen last year. I had tagged out the first day and continued to go out and take pictures the rest of the week. Probably 3 or 4 more afternoons.
I’d meet up with another hunter who was on the same property and show him pictures of all the Tom’s that had passed by and he wouldn’t have seen anything. Didn’t matter where we were set up, I’d see them and he wouldn’t.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>FinickyFish wrote:</div>
Took longer to pluck than to actually hunt haha. Going to cook it whole for the fam on Easter.

I missed this part when I read your post earlier. I can’t believe you plucked that thing. I did that once and it took me over 2 hours. I will never do it again.

If I were you, I’d have a back up plan for Easter dinner.

Nice job filling the tag.

Haha no back up plan needed. I wont argue that its more work than its worth but I make sure to plan a day around it. I just love roasting a full bird and nothing beats wild turkey carcass soup. Cannot wait.

Congrats Finicky

Got it done in the wind yesterday. Man was it windy. Thought the blind was taking off more than a few times! 8″ beard, 7/8″ spurs and weighed in at 23.7lbs.

haleysgold wrote:

This is just so typical.
A buddy and his son were in the blind at 5:30 and left around 3 when it started to snow today.
I took this a little bit after they left.
Gotta wonder how many times that’s happened to me and everybody else.
His boy was fired up to get back at it after seeing this!

I got one that’s just as bad from Wednesday. Left my blind about 8:20 to check out a couple pasture areas and fields on top. Watched a couple jakes in a pasture area that I did not have permission to hunt. While doing that a turkey started to gobble that seemed pretty close. I was probably 150 yds from my tent through the woods. Within 10 minutes it had gobbled several times and I swear the thing must have been standing right outside my tent. So I hunkered down by a tree, made a few calls and nothing. Waited about ten minutes and decided to try to sneak back to my blind. I had a breeding hen on the ground and a jake decoy out by my blind. When I got back to my blind (9:00 only gone 40 minutes) my breeding hen decoy was tipped over! That tom was violating my hen decoy while I was off looking for something else. Never heard a beard the rest of the morning!

Nice work. I see your blind in the background of that one photo.

Nice work Gerty

Busted my turkey hunting cherry on Easter morning and got to witness a Tom take some liberties on his fallen brethren. What a cool experience.

Edit: pictures are in reverse order. They are blurry screenshots taken from a video.

tswoboda wrote:

got to witness a Tom take some liberties on his fallen brethren. What a cool experience.

They just can’t figure out that one of their fellow brethren just got blasted with a 12 gauge, can they? That’s happened to me so many times too. They definitely aren’t problem solvers lol

gimruis wrote:

They just can’t figure out that one of their fellow brethren just got blasted with a 12 gauge, can they? That’s happened to me so many times too. They definitely aren’t problem solvers lol

Turkeys havent been known to be real bright. My dad said when he was a kid they raised turkeys and they were all outdoors. When it rained they looked up and they drowned.

Ever see a jake to young to even have a tiny beard. my 8 year old wanted to shoot it so bad but couldnt let him. It fanned out a few times and tried to gobble but it was weak at best. I know it was a jake it was within 10 feet for a while. I could see a part in its feathers where it should poke out from but there was absolutely nothing. Maybe born so late last year just didnt pop out yet? It was way bigger then the hen it was with.

CaptainMusky wrote:

When it rained they looked up and they drowned.

LOL

I was also able to harvest an Easter turkey. My hunts after work did not go as plan was not able to get out till Sunday.

We will be getting kids out through the season and hopefully a few more birds hit the dirt. Nothing flocked up by my north lands or southern MN places. All are out roaming and doing there thing.

Have two more tags in WI and might head back to NE for last tag. Also need to prep for food plots such a fun time of year.

Nebraska was a success with our group of 3 putting down 5 birds with many other opportunities. Even helped save a calf for the rancher who gave us permission. Mom tipped over in the woods, died, and calf stuck by her for two days. We called the rancher on Easter morning and he showed up in an old pickup to take the calf back (to a vet?). Well his pickup died 2 miles off the road and we got her running again too. Said we could stay at his ranch house next year!

Now on to MN C season next week. Looks like comfortable sitting weather. Getting itchy for walleyes though.

Thats a neat story. Nice work!

Hi folks, stumbled on this forum out of desperation I am brand new to turkey hunting, live in SE MN. I just started my season B but the first 2 mornings have been very rough, trying to find turkeys on public land. I have a whitewater WMA tag so I thought that would be a fun place to go…but i’ve been having a terrible time locating birds. Heard a few distant gobbles yesterday morning but have not laid my eyes on anything. I’ve been leaving the woods pretty early after feeling like I am wandering aimlessly. Just wondering if anyone has any tips for this region in particular public land which seems to be very tough to find something. I have a couple more mornings to take a crack at this, and can spend longer times out there but I am starting to lose all hope!