Spring woods are one of the best times to be out there. I was not able to hunt a morning till Saturday . I did get out Wednesday on opener more to scout and make sure nothing changed from the last time I scouted. Birds were still roosting in the same location but I was able to watch what they were doing and get a game plan together for a buddies son.
He took some of the my suggestions and a plan worked out Thursday after work and he was able to put down a 22lb gobbler. It was awesome and his first turkey. His dad was pumped and now he is working on son #2 to get out. I was not able to hunt Friday because I didn’t leave work till around 6 but I had good idea what I wanted to . Funny how that always changes. Saturday morning I was there plenty early and I knew it would be loud walking in with the crunchy snow. I made my way to where I wanted to setup but it was so loud I had to change setup and went down around the lake hoping not to bump the birds. Saturday morning was the most gobbling and hens yelping I have ever heard in MN or WI. NE always ton of talking but this was pretty crazy Saturday morning. One of the gobblers was roosted on the point of this small lake and in my mind I knew he was going to fly down on the lake 20 minutes later that is what he did. Crazy this frozen lake was going to be my problem. Next thing you know 8 hens fly down right to him. He struts and shows off on the lake and did breed one hen out there. All the birds walked across the lake away from me then I noticed two birds fly from roost all the way across. Thought they were too big for hens take a look through the bino’s and they are two gobblers. The tom runs them off almost all the way back to me but still a little too far. He goes back to his hens but another set of hens come out of my woods to join the two other gobblers. They all then head over to the first group. Still that First Tom would not let them near the group.
Once I saw how aggressive they were I started to get my decoys ready to put out but first I had a hen to deal with. I was doing some yelping because she was getting louder and closer. She almost walked over my feet looking for me, she circled me and got really loud and kept looking for that hen that should be there. Once she walked off I put the decoys out and heard a gobble long way off but knew the direction they were and they most likely were up in the woods just strutting for the ladies. Did some yelps on the box call and they gobbled closer than shut up. I got ready and 30 minutes later I see them coming through the woods and sun was just making them glow. Got ready did a yelp and they came down the hill a little further and saw the decoys and ran in. All 3 strutting and running with 3 hens following them. Once they got to about 12 yds they stopped and kept strutting and drumming. Dumped him right where he stood and one of the others stayed there bumping my decoy. Would of been perfect to pull a double. 24lbs , 3/4 spurs 10inch beard not the 3 gobblers I was hunting but it all worked out good either way.
Was the first bird I have shot over this DSD Jake decoy since buying it 3 or 4 years ago. Maybe the 2nd or 3rd time I’ve used. The birds right now are on fire and split up really good, they were breaking up a few weeks ago but now I was hearing gobbling all directions . Snow is still over my knees in most spots in the woods our food plots have cleared off mostly just in the woods is holding up still.
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