MN Permits

A week from today 1-26-18 turkey permits are due for season A and B. Hoping to pull A this year .

A little fishing this winter to hold me over till April 1st and be back in NE.

Good reminder, thanks.

My property is north of the Twin Cities and this year I’ve decided on a big time gamble. I went with Season A.

There’s about a 50% chance I’ll regret this and be out there trudging around in the snow, but I had to do it. The last 2 years we’ve had Season B tags and last year, in particular, it seemed the breeding was all over and done with. All the toms were henned up and nothing was responding to the call at all.

It’s a gamble, but I had to try it. Best of luck to everyone, hope you draw the tag you wanted.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Good reminder, thanks.

My property is north of the Twin Cities and this year I’ve decided on a big time gamble. I went with Season A.

There’s about a 50% chance I’ll regret this and be out there trudging around in the snow, but I had to do it. The last 2 years we’ve had Season B tags and last year, in particular, it seemed the breeding was all over and done with. All the toms were henned up and nothing was responding to the call at all.

It’s a gamble, but I had to try it. Best of luck to everyone, hope you draw the tag you wanted.

Grouse

Grouse, I have property west of Hinckley not far from you I believe. Although I don’t turkey hunt his property I do hunt property quite a ways north by sturgeon lake and always select season A. Hunting in the snow may make it harder but I have always had good response from the flock of birds we have up there.

You wont regret it!

Angler II wrote:

Grouse, I have property west of Hinckley not far from you I believe. Although I don’t turkey hunt his property I do hunt property quite a ways north by sturgeon lake and always select season A. Hunting in the snow may make it harder but I have always had good response from the flock of birds we have up there.

You wont regret it!

I hope you’re right. If I draw a tag, this will be my first Season A.

I know you guys that hunt the Banana Belt Tropical Zone in southern MN are like what “weather issues” are these guys talking about? Up in the fronzen turndra, we’ll be lucky if the snow has all melted in the woods a week before season. I think it was 4 years ago that the A season guys were treated to about 24 inches of snow north of Rush City.

I had the feeling last year that the B season was behind the curve as far as peak breeding activity. The gobblers were responding, but they would not move away from hens. We had 2 gobblers with 7 hens in front of us working a hay field, and they would not budge to round up a stray hen. They just follwed their harem and gobbled back and forth at each other across the field as if to say, “Don’t come over here!”

That’s how the whole season went, we ended up getting one by “stand hunting”, my dad just sat against a fence post by a gate that the turkeys would walk through to get to corn stubble. Flock walked by and he blasted the the tom. Not the rush that calling them in is. Ugly but effective.

Good luck to everyone.

Grouse

Don’t let the weather hold you back . Have taken many in snow and rain storms just need to get out there with our short seasons we have in MN.

Today is the last day to pick up the MN permits for A and B seasons

So when do we find out? I can’t remember when they notify.

Also, do you get a notification if you did NOT draw?

Grouse

From what i read, they will send out some kind of postcard/mailer in Mid-February stating whether you were drawn or not. Then beginning on March 1st you will be able to purchase your license.

You can log on the DNR Site put in your DNR # and see if drawn also the card like mentioned above is sent out for the winners

I would guess in the next week or so you would be able to check the DNR site for results.

Results are available on the dnr site now. I was drawn again A season 501!!!

Season A for me nice I was not drawn last year.

Bitter. No A season draw for me in 508.

It looks like the A season is all anyone cares about in my zone. I’ve never NOT drawn a B season tag, but I’ve never drawn an A when I applied.

The problem is that now that I a pref point, I basically have to keep after the A season because if I go back to applying for B, I’ll burn the preference point on drawing the tag that I suspect everyone who applies, gets a permit anyway.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Angler II wrote:</div>
Grouse, I have property west of Hinckley not far from you I believe. Although I don’t turkey hunt his property I do hunt property quite a ways north by sturgeon lake and always select season A. Hunting in the snow may make it harder but I have always had good response from the flock of birds we have up there.

You wont regret it!

I hope you’re right. If I draw a tag, this will be my first Season A.

I know you guys that hunt the Banana Belt Tropical Zone in southern MN are like what “weather issues” are these guys talking about? Up in the fronzen turndra, we’ll be lucky if the snow has all melted in the woods a week before season. I think it was 4 years ago that the A season guys were treated to about 24 inches of snow north of Rush City.

I had the feeling last year that the B season was behind the curve as far as peak breeding activity. The gobblers were responding, but they would not move away from hens. We had 2 gobblers with 7 hens in front of us working a hay field, and they would not budge to round up a stray hen. They just follwed their harem and gobbled back and forth at each other across the field as if to say, “Don’t come over here!”

That’s how the whole season went, we ended up getting one by “stand hunting”, my dad just sat against a fence post by a gate that the turkeys would walk through to get to corn stubble. Flock walked by and he blasted the the tom. Not the rush that calling them in is. Ugly but effective.

Good luck to everyone.

Grouse

Grouse, This is the season I believe you are referring to: Mid Apr of 2013. Perhaps the hunting may have been good… If you could have reached your destination which I never did. Township roads aren’t quite as high on the snow removal list in rural NE MN. I ended up having to improvise and was able to hunt two different alternative properties. Definitely a snowshoe hunting affair. I believe the 2nd morning started out somewhere around -3 to -5 degrees (not always expected for a spring turkey hunt). In the cold air you could hear the pre dawn gobbles for over a mile.

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tegg wrote:

Grouse, This is the season I believe you are referring to: Mid Apr of 2013.

Yes, and IIRC, that snow lead to a really bad B season as well, with all kinds of issues with waterlogged roads, crunchy snow in the woods, etc.

In 2014, I had either an A or B season tag, can’t remember which, and we had just torrential rains on all 4 days that I had available to hunt. Fields and field roads were waterlogged so you could not use pickups to access many areas as you’d just sink to the hubs in mud.

I had one group respond to the call early one morning and they were heading right to us, but then they seemed to veer off to the west and disappear. So I walked over to find out what happend. Unkonw to me, all the rain and snowmelt had created a large pond between me and the roost I was calling to. The turkeys could not cross this pond so they moved away. That’s the way it went the rest of the time I managed to hunt, foiled by water at every turn.

Here’s hoping for better and more huntable weather this year.

Grouse

I really do not mind the snow. I’ve hunted in snow over my knees almost thigh deep sure not fun trying to get through the woods. Thought I was going to kill my buddy hunting with me it was that hard to walk through and get to places to look for birds. He was sure breathing hard hoping no heart attack happen. That was SD and the birds on the bridge is the top beam of the bridge showing how much snow was there another beam was below that even but could not tell with how much snow there was.

Tent picture was NE later in the day and everything was melting on the tables and tents but picked up 10inches starting the day before with rain and sleet. Pines are from NE also.

I think i’ve had to hunt in 6 or 7 snow storms just makes it interesting and something you do not always get to do. I do need to pick up a pair of snow shoes I just never think about until i’m trying to walk through the woods.:)

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