2022 Turkey day

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>
I’ve never hunted turkeys in the fall, but I believe there is a short season and you can take a hen or a legal bearded male. I don’t know anyone who hunts them in the fall though, as there’s obviously the other hunting seasons open.

I would think they would be extremely difficult to hunt in the fall because I wouldnt expect them to react to calling. I have flushed turkeys pheasant hunting before that could have been dusted. You should have seen the look on the dog’s face when he pointed them and that big dang thing got up LOL

To me turkey hunting in the fall is not turkey hunting. The only people I know who buy a fall license are Bow hunters. They just want to be able to shoot one if one wonders by while out chasing deer. I’m not saying I’m against a fall season just say its nothing like turkey hunting in spring. To me its would be more like grouse hunting. Walk around and hope one flushes or spot and try and stalk them

I usually prescribe to the less is more theory of calling in all situations. But this year I could not get a Tom to come closer than 100 yds for about an hour, until I ramped up calling so much that we were basically in a yelling match with each other. Put his head down and ran right in. Now he’s in the freezer.

Took down a Jake this morning at 7:30am. It and a hen came walking out to my hen decoy and I dusted it at 25 yards. I heard 3 toms gobbling behind me again this morning but they just didn’t show for 4 days. I’m pretty happy to fill a tag, as I had a 2 year turkey-less drought going. Weather was terrible for the last few days. Rain, wind, cold…not ideal. But I heard and saw turkeys every morning so I won’t complain too much. I also saw pheasants, deer, a coyote, raccoons, and a mink.

Congrats!

Are you gonna pluck it? What recipe will you use to cook it?
Yummy!

Well my luck turned around. Got some last minute access to some nice wooded 50 acres that had some birds around it. Had a great experience yesterday getting busted by a jake while i had my sights on a tom with an obstructed shot. Today was quiet until about 9:30 then the same Tom came back and i had a better position. Was about 30 yards and he went down cleanly. He is 24.2 lbs. First ever turkey and first year hunting for them. Feeling like it was a ton of work but very fortunate for how it all turned out. Thanks to many of you for giving me helpful tips. It’s been a journey!!!

Nice work Gimruis and that away Turkeyfail. You’ll need to change your name now ha!

Congrats to you both. Holy smokes turkeyfail what load were you shooting? That is some serious head damage for a thirty yard shot.

Nice work. Your new access paid off.

steelslinger71 wrote:

Congrats to you both. Holy smokes turkeyfail what load were you shooting? That is some serious head damage for a thirty yard shot.

Thanks! I was shooting long beard XR 3” 12 gauge #5…..buuut i wasn’t taking chances for my first so i ran up and shot it again inside 10 yds. Overkill!

Nice birds fellas! I’ll be in the woods season D here in MN

turkeyfail wrote:

I was shooting long beard XR 3” 12 gauge #5…..buuut i wasn’t taking chances for my first so i ran up and shot it again inside 10 yds. Overkill!

I use Longbeard XR too. It’s the best turkey ammo you can buy. I’d say you dusted him good lol

Nice birds boys! Anyone hunting and getting a bird in the weather we have had this year deserves it! Congrats!

That is a bit humorous turkeyfail. I don’t blame you one bit though. If I thought there was even a tiny chance of my first bird getting away I would drill him again in a minute. The reason I asked is because I called a tom in for a friend last year and in came in from behind and he shot it at four and a half yards as it walked past the blind. It’s head looked an awful like your birds. No second shot needed.

Will be in the blind tomorrow hunkering down in this weather. Want to put one down with my bow but if this weekend doesn’t pan out the beretta will be with next weekend.

waldo9190 wrote:

Will be in the blind tomorrow hunkering down in this weather. Want to put one down with my bow but if this weekend doesn’t pan out the beretta will be with next weekend.

Good call on the blind. I was so thankful during season B to have a good blind. I would have gotten soaked otherwise. Based on the forecast the next few days, it looks wet.

I didn’t even realize that you could buy both a firearms AND archery license for spring turkey hunting.

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>waldo9190 wrote:</div>
Will be in the blind tomorrow hunkering down in this weather. Want to put one down with my bow but if this weekend doesn’t pan out the beretta will be with next weekend.

Good call on the blind. I was so thankful during season B to have a good blind. I would have gotten soaked otherwise. Based on the forecast the next few days, it looks wet.

I didn’t even realize that you could buy both a firearms AND archery license for spring turkey hunting.

You can’t

• Archery-only license holders may hunt statewide for the entire season (April 13-May 31).
• Hunters cannot purchase both a firearms and archery-only license

Justin riegel wrote:

<I didn’t even realize that you could buy both a firearms AND archery license for spring turkey hunting.

You can’t

Maybe he’s not hunting in Minnesota. But I believe you are correct and you can not buy both in Minnesota

Justin riegel wrote:

You can’t

• Archery-only license holders may hunt statewide for the entire season (April 13-May 31).
• Hunters cannot purchase both a firearms and archery-only license

Thanks. I’m sure Waldo has an explanation.

I keep pushing back my season due to the crappy weather. Looks like its going to be D for me. Fingers crossed the extended forecast holds an we finally get some decent weather. I have a local flock of turkeys that live in my neighborhood in Eagan so obviously can’t hunt them, but the past handful of days they have been silent in the morning and evening. I get a kick out if it walking the dog in the morning and getting them to shock gobble when I do my crappy owl call.

Last year Primos brought back my favorite call because of people bugging them all the time about making the call again.So the lil heartbreaker is back. I’ve been using this call for 20 plus years and almost lost it one year and would of been heart broken if I did. If you are looking for a great box call order one up not sure how long they will keep so I ordered another.

Youve shot like 109 turkeys in 20 years surprised your not growing feathers yet from eating all them.

wrapped up my MN turkey season yesterday in zone 508. Three days of hunting 5 AM – 8:15 PM and there was not much for activity. Had a couple gobbles Friday morning but they went quiet shortly after they got off the roost. One gobble saturday morning but same story, went quiet. Yesterday was pretty miserable hunting in the rain all day but the season is short and you have to hunt when you have the opportunity.

We hunted both private and public and we found lots and lots of turkey sign – tracks and scat, plus we have loads of turkeys on our trail cameras all year round, so there are definitely turkeys in the area. I’m thinking with this late spring we had in northern MN, we are still about a week or maybe two behind when the Toms will get really fired up. The ice just got off the local lakes in the last week, so most years that is the equivalent timing of mid april.

That is three seasons turkey hunting under my belt (2 in MN and 1 in WI) and I’m yet to pull the trigger. Hopefully next year is the year. I’m going to try to go somewhere fun next year. Something like Iowa, SD, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska. A completely new area will take a lot of research on the front end and we also plan to dedicate an entire week to it. Anyone have any suggestions?

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

That is three seasons turkey hunting under my belt (2 in MN and 1 in WI) and I’m yet to pull the trigger. Hopefully next year is the year. I’m going to try to go somewhere fun next year. Something like Iowa, SD, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska. A completely new area will take a lot of research on the front end and we also plan to dedicate an entire week to it. Anyone have any suggestions?

You can still hunt the F season the last 13 days of the month with an unfilled tag. I am going to buy an E tag and hunt the rest of the month.

If it were me the the Black Hills or Western NE would be on my list to travel to.

I had a pretty similar experience as Duluth the past handful of day. I hunted Wed AM/Thursday AM/Friday PM and Saturday AM. I saw or heard birds every day, but never got an opportunity. For the most part it was very silent other than some early morning gobbling around 30 min before sunrise. I had limited time each day out so really only hunted maybe 2 to 3 hour chunks each day. All public land. Bumped into some other guys and saw some decoys from afar. Trying to find a bird to roost Friday night and I about ran into a hen that was hunkered down in some bushes. I am not sure if she was more surprised to see me or if I was to see her. About crapped my pants when she flushed next to me.

Thought I had one roosted in a tree Friday evening, got out early Saturday morning but never heard or saw him. I did probably see 30 plus deer over the days.

Justin riegel wrote:

You can still hunt the F season the last 13 days of the month with an unfilled tag. I am going to buy an E tag and hunt the rest of the month.

If it were me the the Black Hills or Western NE would be on my list to travel to.

thanks for the suggestion. My hunting partner is also strongly advocating for the Black Hills. My only reservation with SD is I already go out there twice a year for pheasant hunting and the landscape kind of leaves a lot to be desired. I know teh black hills are different but that is my thought process.

Also, I know you can still use an unfilled tag at the end of the season but I will be in the BWCA for 8 days and between that and work, I won’t have any more time to dedicate towards turkey hunting.

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

My hunting partner is also strongly advocating for the Black Hills. My only reservation with SD is I already go out there twice a year for pheasant hunting and the landscape kind of leaves a lot to be desired. I know teh black hills are different but that is my thought process.

Also, I know you can still use an unfilled tag at the end of the season but I will be in the BWCA for 8 days and between that and work, I won’t have any more time to dedicate towards turkey hunting.

My choice destination within a reasonable driving distance would also be the Black Hills of SD. I know the drive out there is awful on Interstate 90. I can’t deny that. But the scenery once you get there and the fact that they have both Merriams and Easterns would be worth attempting at least once for me.

Turkey hunting is hard. I may have mentioned this earlier in the thread, but here in MN, the average success rate with a shotgun is only about 20-25%. So for every hunter that fills a tag, there are at least 3 or 4 that don’t. If you are filling a turkey tag every three years, you are still ahead of the curve.

I finally got it done, had some crappy cold weather early but things finally turned around. I pulled this guy in from across a highway, once he saw the decoys it was game over. I love the fact that turkeys don’t mind ground blinds!

I would say it is definitely a mix on ground blinds, decoys or just about any scenario with turkeys.

Some days they have no issues and other days they keep about 50+ yards from decoys or a blind.

Some days a hen steals your Tom and on another day the hen tows a Tom right into you and to his demise.

On the days they skirt the blind (like a flock of snow geese on decoys) … they appear to be unalarmed (no puts, no running away) … just wary enough to avoid …

I have found that two or more Toms together usually approach calling or decoys more aggresively … but that is my observation.

Son and I just took two on Monday morning. We were just using a smaller two panel ground blind and no roof. I had not used a Jake decoy in years, but it sure worked Monday AM.

Aggressive calling pulled them into our small grass field, but once they appeared is was apparent they wanted to take on that decoy with the red head.

After a warm rain shower I figured I would go see whether the birds are out milling around as a last hurrah for the season. A strutter and two hens hanging out near an edge. Long, mosquito-ridden sneak thru the woods and managed to cut the distance to 30 yds. His fan was up and butt facing me, walked 10 yds closer, hens spooked, head perked up and now I can fully focus on walleyes for summer.