Darn, it’s over already? I had a great ending to a tough couple of seasons. I started getting after them on May 13th in WI. That morning I got a rushed setup because of a miscommunication with a hunting partner. It was getting light and I had to set the blind and decoys up quickly. I noticed I had alot of thin underbrush around my decoys after it brightened up. I am bowhunting and I use a strutting tom and hen for decoys. I had a hen come in and skirt the setup right away. I got out of the blind and trimmed the brush between me and the decoys. It was very windy that day and I didn’t hear a gobble until 11:00. I called back but htey weren’t budging. About 30 mins later I see one coming up the hill, no there were two with beards swaying, no there were three coming fast. They strutted up and stopped at twenty yds all strutting wing to wing to wing. What a sight to behold! Then they slowing made their way to the strutter decoy. They stopped directly behind him and I had no shot. They were 10 yds away with no shot. Then they must of seen movement and started to walk away. I drew when they were 15 yds and walking slowly away. No shot because of the underbrush. I tried calling them back and they gobbled but picked up their pace and walked away. I hunted 4 out of the 5 day season and did not have another encounter with a tom. I had several extended visits by hens but ended up skunked in WI for the first time in about 8 seasons.
The one day I didn’t hunt WI was the May 15th opener for bowhunting in MN. I took a 15 yr old young man mentee bowhunting for the first time. We hunted before school. Lots of gobbling at 5:00 and we saw our first bird about 5:45. A nice tom popped out about 65 yds. He looked at the decoys and gobbled. I thought we were in but aparently some hens showed up just out of our sight line and he strutted over to them. A couple minutes later one of the hens came into the decoys and hung around for 45 mins. We looked down the hill and saw two gobblers and 3 jakes moving away from us 250 yds away. Time ran out and the school bell was looming so we had to quit for the morning. Walking out we saw 4 more hens and 3 jakes.
I got the boy out 4 more times and we saw birds every time at a distance but the gobblers were unresponsive to the call. They seem to always have hens with them. Wednesday I went out by myself before work. I decided to push the envelope and moved into an area where I had seen a hen roosting. The gobbler liked to visit this hen first thing in the morning. I arrowed him at 6:00 am. He only weighed 20 lbs but he had an 11” beard with 1&1/4 spurs. Yesterday was the last day so I took the young man before school again. We heard lots of gobbling and saw 6 bucks within 50 yds but no turkeys showed. We went again right after school back to the same spot. We got there at 4:00 and set out the decoys. We didn’t call at all. At 6:00 pm I hear a hen clucking. Here she comes right to the hen decoy. She stays for about 5 minutes and then walks away. Five minutes later here comes a young buck. He walks over to the strutter stops and stares and then walks around the blind at 5 yds and goes into the trees behind us. Five minute later the kid is trying to tell me something but nothing is making sense. Then he points out the window and I see a big tom strolling past the hen decoy heading for the strutter. We hustle to get an arrow nocked and get drawn. He draws and I ‘m telling him where on the turkey to aim as the tom circles the decoy. I think I told him to shoot three different times but he was pretty excited to say the least and he had trouble holding the pin on him. Finally he got a direct frontal shot and I told him aim where the beard connects and shoot. He shoots and the arrow sails high and wide left. The gobbler just stands there like what was that? We try to scramble and get another arrow knocked. The gobbler hears the commotion and starts to walk directly away. By the time he gets drawn and on him, the tom was out about 25 yds. I told him not to shoot. I tried calling him back and he stopped once at 30 yds but decided to walk off. We stayed until 8:15 and then called it a season. He was bummed but pretty excited about the close encounter. What a great way to end the season! I told him killing a bird is just frosting on the cake. Missing is a part of this game and it wouldn’t be the last time that happens. He put in over 16 hrs in the blind for the one opportunity. The season was a great intro to patience and perseverance for him. When I dropped him off at his home he shook my hand with a smile on his face and said thanks for taking me I had a great time. It doesn’t get any better than that! 
May 29, 2009 at 10:10 am
#210976
