2010 TURKEY CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Announcing the IN-DEPTH OUTDOORS 2010 Turkey Contest

Once again, we will NOT be judging on the measurements of the TURKEYS beard length, weight or spur length. Staying with IDO tradition, what we are looking for is the best 2010 Turkey Harvest Photos and stories. Along with the photo we are asking all entrants to submit a short story about the hunt. The winner will be voted on by a panel of judges from IDO. Please still submit accurate beard length, weight, and spur length – along with a total score from the NWTF Scoring Calculator

To submit an entry, simply reply here and post a photo and story in this thread.

Like most photo contests, the pictures will have to be of good taste and convey the spirit of the hunt. The best picture you can take will be one of you in the field with the Turkey using the natural scenery as your backdrop. Pictures of the bird in the back of a truck probably won’t cut it. Winners will be judged in two divisions, the Tom (18 & Up) and the Jake (Under 18) divisions.

For a quick checklist, here’s a summary of the rules:

-This will be a photo/story contest

-Please submit a story and ONE PICTURE ONLY for each bird harvested

-Enter the contest as many times as birds you harvest

-Pictures need to include the Turkey AND Hunter

-Submit accurate beard length, weight, and spur lengths with NWTF score

This year the contest is for bragging rights with maybe some simple prizes TBD at a later date. Besides we all know “Braggin’ Rights” is more important and longer-lasting anyways.

Most importantly let’s have fun with this, be safe out there, and good luck huntin’!!!

The excitement of the upcoming turkey season started years ago. With help of the NWTF,the MNDNR released missouri and sw Mn turkeys in Martin Co about 10 years ago. Until then there wasn’t any here. What a success story! The turkeys flourished and spread out throughout the county. My season started last week. I started stalking the “flock”, which consists of 4 gobblers several jakes and 12 hens. They were pretty visual until about 3 days ago. Friday I did manage to locate a group of gobblers and watched them go to roost. Friday night was spent flipping and flopping in bed second guessing my tactics for opening morning. I awoke with warm but somewhat windy conditions. I decided to go with my original plan. I arrived at my hunting location at 5:30 am. Checked and rechecked my gear and started the walk to my selected site. Using the dark timber edge to cover my movements ,I stalked to with-in 100 yards of the roost site. I set-up 1 jake decoy and 1 hen decoy. I snuck back to a tree, put on my gloves and facemask. I then loaded my gun. I sat in the dark and waited for about 10 minutes, when the neighbors dog started barking in the distance. This started a whole chorus of gobbles from the roost tree. I was allmost like they were in competition. Who could gobble the most and loudest? It was awesome! Soon it got light out enough that I could see pretty well. I knew it wouldn’t be long before the “boys” would be leaving the roost. I decided to give a real soft purr. Big reponse! Gave them one more series a little louder then violently flapped my jacket with an even louder chuckle. I waited. No sound at all. Had I spooked them? UGH! I looked over my shoulder to the field edge ,just to make sure nothing was sneaking up on me. Nothing! As I turned my head back towards the roost tree, 4 turkeys landed near my decoys. I just about had a heart attack! As I began to focus on the 4 birds, I noticed they were all blue heads. Three were about 15 yards to the left of my decoys and one was approaching my jake decoy. This one had the same look on its face as them wrestlers do on tv. The three looked to be all jakes but the one about to kick the crap outta my decoy appeared to have a pretty fair beard. I raised my gun slowly and BOOM! As the jakes ran off like roadrunners and my gobbler stopped floping I walked over to my bird. I looked at my watch 6:30. After the usual tagging and trip to town We weighed the bird at 20.2 lbs. Not nearly the 26 pounder I got last year but…? It had 8 1/2 inch beard and both spurs were 1 1/8″inches. I think that brings the NWTF score at 57.125. I’ve harvested alot larger bids before but never this memorable or this easy! I’m guideing my grandson in the morning I only hope it’ll be this easy for him. Does lightning stike twice…..?

Trail Cameras? For Turkeys? You Bet!

Ok – I can’t hide it anymore. “My name is Pat Howard and I’m addicted to turkey hunting!” There I feel better now.

As usual, I started preparing for my 2010 WI 1st season (Zone 1 tag) about 3 weeks before I was due to actually hunt. I hung trail cameras in some likely spots and the game began. I would check them every 3 to 4 days and was very pleased to see 2 toms that had a pretty regular schedule with one of my food plots . 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM seemed to be their favorites time to strut their stuff in the seculded area on the ridge. I also monitored some other spots and they had pretty good activity too. The biggest problem was trying to keep the deer out of the way to get a good look at the turkeys .

Monday April 12 came (two days before my season) and I did some scouting in the morning and I also put out two blinds since Fellow iDo member Brad Juaire was going to be filming my hunt. I scouted again Tuesday morning making sure the turkeys were still in my core area. Brad ended up leaving Tuesday morning at midnight, drove all the way home from Montana spending a very small amount of time with a very understanding wife (thanks Tina ) and then headed to Sparta, WI. Brad finally arrived at my house about 9:00pm Tuesday night. That’s over 1000 miles driven in 21 hours! Knowing he was running low on sleep we cut the meets and greets short and headed off to bed.

Finally – April 14th – Go Time!! A little more excitement comes when its your turn to hunt. I do alot of calling and videoing for other people. Brad and I talked on the short ride to my spot about how spoiled I was to hunt 10 minutes from my house.

530 AM we entered the Covert Blind. The plan was to sit here in the morning and if we didn’t have any luck wander up the ridge to the 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM spot. However, the predicted wind had me 2nd guessing that already . We heard a few gobbles off in the distance but it was not what I was hoping for . About 7 AM we were surprised by a gobble about 75 yards away . The tom responded to every call I made but would not close the distance. Then 3 hens showed up and 1 made her way up to him – game over . We sat tight and had some other birds working around us (4 jakes) and the time went by very quickly. Next thing we know it’s almost noon . With a “rookie” turkey hunter wandering the neighbors, the decision was made to try to get to the other blind where I got the trail cam pictures of the two strutting toms .

By now the wind was blowing 20-25 MPH and the temp reached 80 degrees – not ideal conditions. We tried to walk slowly keeping the sweating to a minimum but no such luck. Finally we crested the ridge and made a right turn to head down the trail to the blind when we spotted a tom right on the trail ! I’m not sure how, but he didn’t see us as we backed off. The tom was in full strut and I was sure it was one of the toms that I captured on my trail camera earlier in the week. So we snuck off to the side and settled in. Brad positioned himself and clicked on the camera. After a few short yelping series, I was greeted by a gobble Game On!! It seemed like a long time but was probably only a few minutes when they wandered into view and there were 2 toms! What a sight! Now I’m off to Brads right with a small finger of brush between me and the turkeys which forced me to wait but this allowed Brad to get some awesome footage. They made their way to us ever so slowly and they would stop and stand up tall looking for the hen. I would give them some soft yelps they would strut and gobble. The show was enough to rattle even a veteran turkey hunter like myself . Finally the 1st tom is in the clear and it’s show time! I yelped at him and he struts and gobbles coming closer and closer! Then I kee kee – he sticks out his neck and the gun goes off automatically. Only problem is my cheek wasn’t touching the stock and at less than 20 yards a good turkey gun has a really small pattern. I watch back feathers fly and the tom takes off running . I sprang to my feet like any 235 lb guy would and the chase was on. This is Brads favorite part because about half way into the chase my hat blows off and I’m a little short in the hair department and later on some comment was made about the glare . I cut the distance and got a 2nd shot off and put him down . I was glad Brad got some great video but pretty mad at myself for muffing the shot . The tom was a 2 year old that wanted to be in the movies! He put on a great show and he weighed 19 lbs 5 oz, had a 10 5/8 beard and 3/4 inch spurs and a NWTF score of 56.5625.

Well, let me quickly recap my .’09 northern WI turkey hunt. Scouted for a solid week, picked a good spot, heard gobbling too far away, ran to the south end of the 40, had a bird coming, got the decoys down and settled, calling partner behind me 10 yards, calls the hottest tom ever to 10 yards and I can’t see a feather, calling buddy fake shoots him 4 times and then chase birds the rest of the week, NOTHING!!!

Well scouting this showed us that our 160 acres of plantation Norway (Red) Pines had been clearcut and the cutting was still being finished. So last Monday we find a bird in an old clearcut in north of our spot from last year.

Tuesday a.m. I plan on getting out to see where birds might be roosting/gobbling, park the truck on the pavement and get ready to walk in when the first one hammers from the tallest Norways 300 yards to the south of me. So I quickly get onto the fire lane that leads back to two clearcuts. On the way in I do a little yelping just to see who else might be in the area. By the time I had walked in 300 yards, I had 6 separate birds gobbling from different directions. I get back to the intended clearcut and have this bird hammering to the NE of me and closing the ground fast, time to shut up, back out and in a hurry!!!

On the way out, I have another bird in the other clearcut coming north and at a fast walk. I know I have enough pines in between me and him, so I know I am going to get by him ok. I get on my knees and crawl into the pines just enough to see him wandering north to my last calling spot. I get back to the truck and know I am hunting this spot and just need to come back after work to figure out the spot to put the blind up.

That p.m. I come back with my calling partner (avid turkey fanatic from last spring) to see what makes the most sense. We pick a spot and plan to meet at 4:45 to be sure we are there plenty early. Blind set up, decoys in the field and a heavy SW wind going.

Well we heard gobbles, but nothing close and thinking we had a good tom population in the area, we were going to stick it out this a.m. Having to open the store every a.m. at 9 doesn’t help the early hunt, but its still the best time. Still having to pick up the blind meant quitting 15 minutes earlier.

To keep this story short and from having to talk about the wind all week, and after giving her every moment last year, I made it out only Friday a.m. and then Sat. p.m.

Wind was howling on Sat. p.m., but I wanted to eliminate two one of the two spots for Sunday, so I decided to sit in the blind after running and gunning on Friday a.m. Put the blind up in the thicker pine plantation that hopefully had some birds trying to stay out of the wind, picked up every DNR regulation book to read and planned on sitting til dark.

I got in the blind and was set at 5. At 5:30 my wife texted me about feeding the dogs when I got home. I texted a friend who guides turkeys in SW WI about meeting later at 5:46. At 5:48 I texted a gobble and an answer. At 5:49 I looked up and he was there at 20 yards, standing tall looking at it all including my one decoy. Taking a page from the guy I borrowed the blind from, I put some heavy fishing line on my deke for motion if the wind layed down. I tugged on the string lightly twice, he took four more steps and boom!!! I texted my buddy with the blind “I think I owe you some screen” at 5:51 p.m.

This bird was just beautiful and came in at 19# 3oz., had a 7″ beard and maybe 1/4″ round spurs. His NWTF score is 38.1875. All of feathers were in great shape including his wing feathers. It was nice to get my first Northern WI bird and do it by myself for the first time!!!

Mark

WHAT A DAY!!

I got up yesterday early and headed to my favorite turkey woods. Usually the turkeys roost in the same general area day after day on the land I hunt, which normally leads me to sneak out in the dark, setup early, and wait. I thought I’d switch it up a little this morning… I decided that instead of trying to sneak around in the inky darkness, I’d instead wait until I started hearing gobbles and go from there. I got there a few minutes early, so I sat at the truck until they started blasting off. Same spot as always, so I started the trek and setup with my back to my “normal” turkey killing tree. Sad point, I noticed this large oak was really shedding bark bad, and was either totally dead or on its way out. Somewhat sad to see, since I’ve had some great encounters over the years with my back to that oak…

I sat down, got my calls out and listened. I counted a number of toms spouting off, but when they got down, they all seemed to go the opposite direction. Fine with me, I wanted to get up on the ridge anyway and find what kind of trouble I could stir up. I got to the top and had a couple toms going for a bit, but they pitched over the ridge headed for the fields on the other side. I know they tend to prefer hitting those fields in the early morning, but I also know that they generally head back up and hit a few strut zones right around the roost area later in the day.

I sat down and called a little, but nothing answered close. I made a mental note that they really weren’t interested in my mouth call yelps, but they did like the slate putts, purrs and softer yelps… Hmmm… Is this the start of a pattern for the day???

By this time, I had been out there for about 2 hours… I made a new plan to “troll” the ridge top. I wanted to try to get one fired up and come back to those ridge-top strut zones. I figured they would come eventually, it was just a matter of time and patience. I had all day, if it took that. I would stop and call every few minutes as I trolled throught the mature hardood ridgetop, up next to a patch of tall pines. I could hear multiple toms down in the valley more than willing to answer, but reluctant to ditch whatever hens they were with.

Suddenly, I heard a hen (funny when the real hens sound so bad, you think they are other hunters) headed my way… I got behind a tree (I was still standing) and just watched. I thought I was busted as she very vocally putted her way up to the crest of the ridge (heading to her nest, or just being harrassed by the toms??), but I don’t think she knew I was there. I could hear at least 2 toms behind her and headed my way. I really didn’t want that hen around me screwing things up, after she crested the ridge and started heading down the other side, I purposefully moved and spooked her off… I called loudly while she flew away to cover her escape noises, and then assumed her identity by putting with my mouth call loudly and often, just as she had done. Unfortunately, I was in a bad position, as I couldn’t see down the ridge, only about 15 yards ahead of me.

Sure enough, the first tom sticks his head up 15 yards away, but I couldn’t see a beard. I could have killed him, but didn’t want to take the chance at shooting a jake. I don’t know what he saw, but he busted me right away and took off. Being a little irritated, I thought I could maybe stand and possibly get a shot at one of the other ones before they flew… No dice. As always, patience is key in turkey hunting. Lack of patience generally gets you busted and frustrated…. If I had just waited, the other two toms might have crested the ridge enough for me to see a beard and take a shot…

So I continuted my troll, bummed that I didn’t convert. I hit the backside of the pines, and had two toms all fired up, but they never came my way.. Saw 3 deer, and heard another few toms back up the ridge. After a while I continuted my troll. After I setup on two toms that were gobbling a ways away, I glanced to my right and saw a curved branch sticking up… I thought that it looked like an antler…. And then realize it WAS an antler. A BIG antler… I called for a few more minutes before curiosity got the better of me and I went to investigate. I was thinking I had found a shed — I never expected to find a whole (mostly eaten/rotted) deer carcass with antlers attached. And it was a BIG deer, I haven’t seen too many bigger ones in the wild… I took the (stinky) head and carried it with me the rest of the morning. Must have been a good luck charm. I trolled back up the ridge and got one or two more birds going. Shortly after sitting down (having put both lessons learned into practice — 1. sit where you get a better vantange/view of the ridge slope and 2. Adapt to conditions, call wise….), I knew a tom was on his way. The toms had been fired up over the aggressive puts and clucks all morning. It wasn’t long before a lone tom came in cautiously, slowly, but within a reasonable (long, but makeable) 45 yard shot. After sitting behind a log for the longest time, he turned around, I got a clear shot and took it…

To make a long story longer, it was just an amazing morning.. Perfect weather, 35 degree low, 65 degree, high, little breeze, not a cloud around… I found what I estimate to be a 160+ gross buck and shot a near 23lb tom. All by 9:30 in the morning…

Just an awesome, awesome day.

BTW, the landowner is a friend of mine and it was really neat to see the look on his face when I gave him the rack… It was kind of like I had just given a 16 year old the keys to a new Ferrari… He had some bad luck last year and hit – but never recovered – a really nice deer while bowhunting. If this is the one (good chance, he thinks it probably is), then it brings his story full circle. Being able to give him that rack was the icing on the cake. I’m incredibly thankful for being able to turkey hunt out there and this was just one way to say “thanks”.

I’ll try to get another look and get a tape on the buck to try to find a gross score when able…

Turkey – 22 lb, 14 oz. 8.5″ beard, partially shortened by “beard rot”. 3/4″ spurs… I was hunting by myself that day, so I managed to prop my camera up, set the timer, and get a couple of decent shots off. The camera caught me with somewhere between a Rodney Dangerfield smile and elvis sneer…

NWTF score – Your score is 22.875 + 7.5 + 7.5 + 17 = 54.875

Mike

Turkey season has been going on for me about 7 weeks, with scouting for our learn to hunt program and scouting and hunting with freinds. Finally my 3rd season tag is approaching and I’ve been seeing 2 birds everyday on the way home from work strutting in the same location. Unfortunately I can’t get there early enough to see where the toms are roosting or entering the field. Looking at the lay of the land I take an educated guess and get the dark horse set up the day before waiting for wendesday morning.

Tuesday evening I see one hen walk past the blind and head to the oppisite hill from where I believe the toms are roosting. The only thing that may change the turkeys is that the land owner spread manure on the entire property that day. Later that evening my buddy Jay and I enjoy a couple beers at his cabin discussing how the day will hopefully unfold. Jay also has a tag but said he would video my hunt. I told him to bring his gun in hopes of a double.

Waking up at 3:45 and out the door at 4:15 with high hopes, the temps were cool with a heavy frost on the ground. Got to the blind at 4:45 and the song birds were already singing. 5:40 we heard our first bird along ways away then another and then things just lit up. One good gobble not far in front and two behind us. Around 5:45 a bird sails over the blind like a B-52 then another, the hens stayed quite right behind us. The birds behind us were getting closer, now which way will they enter the field. With the grass and hay being so wet we figured they would stay in the corn and strut. Didn’t take long and we could here the two birds drumming behind us then along the side. We decided not to call not to bring any more attention to the blind. Then BAAAA BAAAA their right out side the tent, wasn’t going to be long. With the camera running and the bow in had it was only going to be a matter of seconds before they show them selves. Well they did walking by the blind at 10yrds I told Jay I was going after the 2nd bird, but they wouldn’t stop. Now moving to my left and still at full draw the 2nd bird pauses for a split second and the arrow was on its way leaving blazing trail from the luminock. Hitting the bird a little back the bird goes about 20yrds and lays down. The second bird startles and pitches a short distance. Jay sets the camera down and BOOOM second bird on the ground at 51yrds. It’s only 5:59 and two birds down and got my bow kill on video (Awesome). Looking at my bird his head is still up not knowing for sure how good the bird was hit. I elected to use the gun and finish him off so I wouldn’t have to chase him all over the county. Walking out to my bird and seeing it was probably a 4yr old and my best bird to date I was very happy. Now the fun begins, I walk down to Jay’s bird and he’s laying there head up one more step and he goes air born. The tom goes a short distance and back to the ground I ran up to him and tackled the bird pinning him to the ground waiting for jays boot to step on his head and finish the job. A lot of laughes were had on that scenario.
I’m not sure if I can ever top that hunt my 3 firsts all in one hunt. First bow kill, first videoed hunt, and first double. I know the contest only asks for one picture but I thought I’d include Jay’s bird also Your score is 23.5625 + 12.5 + 7.5 + 21.25 = 64.8125

Well our season started out with high hopes. Mike and I and my daughter Danielle put a group of birds to bed last Tuesday night. Set up our blind went back to camp and got ready for the morning hunt. Met Brad at 4:30 and headed to the blinds in anticipation for a great morning. We had a two blind set up in a field with me in one blind, and Mike, Danielle and Brad in another. The game plan was that if multiple birds came to our set up, I would shoot one with my bow, while Danielle would follow up with her 12 gauge. If a single bird came in, Danielle would fill her tag. Brad was behind the camera hoping to get the action on film.

Needless to say the birds were not cooperative that morning.

They came out but stayed at the opposite end of the field we were in all day long. A decision was made to reposition our set up by mid afternoon hoping to catch the birds coming back to their roost in the evening. Got set up at our second location without being detected and waited for the birds. They were not interested in our calls at all that day. After waiting all afternoon, the birds were finally on the move again…but in the wrong direction! Brad took Danielle and headed down the field in hopes that they could catch them coming back to the field. Unfortunately they never appeared again that day.

We decided that we would have one blind down where we saw the birds strutting in the morning and one blind up where the birds went to roost. And would try it again on Thursday morning. Once again we settled in to our blinds, but the wind was blowing and gusting pretty good and we were having trouble hearing anything that morning. Finally we hear a gobble and look down the field and he’s right above Mike and Brad. Danielle is in the blind with me and I told her to get ready to enjoy the show as this bird was headed for their set up. He got about 100 yards out and decided he didn’t like what he was seeing. Turned and started coming around to us. I thought great, one way or the other this bird will be going back to camp with someone. Never happened. A hen came out and he followed her for a while before deciding he’s had enough of our calls and decoys and left. Mike and Brad could hear him gobbling behind them, but we could not with the wind blowing. By about 9:30 or so we decide that Danielle and I would try and get on him so Danielle could get a crack at him. Put the sneak on but by the time we got down and around to where he was at, he was gone. Went over to Mike and Brad and they decided to head to a different farm to hunt. Danielle and I decided to do a little running and gunning on the farm we were already on. Headed to the woods and a valley where we could get out of the wind and hopefully hear some gobbling.

By about 10:30 or so we found a spot to grab a bite to eat and take a quick nap. After about 45 minutes or so decided to change locations again and walked down the bluff towards a field at the bottom. Got to a spot where the wind wasn’t blowing that hard and we could finally hear. Set up one more time and waited. Five minutes later I could hear something coming up the trail to us, told Danielle not to move as I could see a coyote working his way right to us. He spots us when he’s only 5 yards from us and starts trotting away. He didn’t make it too far as I hit him with the 3 1/2 inch Winchester Supreme turkey load.

After taking some photos we worked our way thru the woods setting up and calling all afternoon, but could not get anything to respond. Went back to the blind for the evening and had a tom show up but would not come in. I believe he was the same bird we saw earlier that morning and could tell he was not a very dominate bird. When we were finished for the day we reset one more time hoping that the third time is the charm for the next morning. As it turned out it was…and Danielle will be posting her story and pictures soon.

The next day after she filled her tag, I brought her back to camp for her much needed sleep so I could go back out and do some running and gunning on my own. I love this type of hunting, trying to locate the birds and call them in. Decided to hunt a farm that joins the farm we were on in the morning. Stopped along side the road, hit the box call and one responds right below the truck. Grabbed my gear and was off. Hit the call one more time to make sure he was there and off I went. I needed to make my way down and around him so I wouldn’t spook him. Made it almost to the field edge and hit the call and he sounds off about two hundred yards up the field. Amazed he made it that far I took off after him. He hits my call every time I call but I can not make any ground on him. He has a nice field he is walking in and I am trying to catch him running up and down the hills, thru brush and briars. Finally after chasing him almost 600 yards down the field I made it in front of him. I can hear him drumming and the gobbling and he sounds like he’s only 25 yards or so in front of me, but it’s so thick I can not see him. I just wait him out. I soon realize why he was going so fast down the field, he was with a hen and she did not want anything to do with the hen that was calling to her boyfriend. She finally took him straight up the ridge away from me and there was no way I was going to go after him. He whooped me. Start heading back to the truck and what do I see right below my truck. The tom that first answered me when I started this little trek across country. My butt was dragging, but what do you do…you have to try and get on this bird. I head back in to the woods and put the sneak on. Got within 75 yards and start calling…Boom! He answers me (why couldn’t he do that the first time before I started chasing the other one?!?!). Game on! Played with him for a half hour before it started to drizzle and rain. He then decides to turn and go across the road from me, past my truck and up the other side of the ridge. Game over! Need to get to the truck as I am exhausted, wet and thirsty. Get to the truck collect my thoughts and drive up to the farm we hunted this morning where Danielle shot her bird. As I am pulling up I see a bird crossing the field next to the drive way. Quick park, grab my stuff and run up to where I think it might cross. Gave a soft yelp and the bird gobbles!! He’s up further than what I thought so I have to run another 50 yards and settle in. Gave one more call he answers me and is in full strut when he gets to the driveway. Took aim and hammered him in the middle of the driveway. I was kind of dumbfounded. Chasing two different turkeys earlier, butt just a dragging, and then see a bird, jump out of the truck and have it happen in less than five minutes was just crazy. Thank you Lord for another crazy, exhausting but enjoyable season…both with my brother and daughter.

Also like to thank Brad for tagging along with us for part of the week. Danielle appreciated you taking time to try and get a kill on film for her. It’s not always about the kill, but the friends and family who share that time together and doing what we love to do.

Tom weighed in at 21 1/4 lbs, beard 10 7/8 inch spurs 1 inch and 3/4 inch. Once spur was busted up. NWTF score: 60.5

i begin my hunt tuesday April 27- evening before the third season of turkey hunting. my dad, Dan Pearson, my uncle, Mike Pearson, and i went up to the farm in hopes of putting a couple of long beards to bed. sure enough, we spot three toms out in the field, saw where they were roosted, and prepared for the morning hunt.

as always, i started off in high hopes of the opening morning hunt and felt confident that at least one of us would be able to bag a turkey. we were very fortunate to have Brad Juaire tag along with us hoping we would be able to get a kill on film. we first set up in the middle of the field we had seen the toms in before, about 200 yards away from where they had roosted the evening before. dad was in one blind and mike, brad, and i were in another next to him. we saw them come out of the roost into the field, however, they stayed well out of range the entire day even after we relocated later in the afternoon- those hens can really mess a hunter up! about 7:00pm or so brad and i decide to head down to the opposite side of the field hoping the toms would give us one last chance before they hit the roost. unfortunately, this was not the case and we headed back to camp for dinner and got some rest for the next morning.

thursday morning, dad and i set up in the blind where we had last seen the toms and brad and mike were down the field from us. right away we had a tom come in view however, he was a very cautious bird and went right between both of our set ups multiple times until a hen finally came and took him away. mike and brad could hear him gobbling all morning, but dad and i could not because of the howling wind. we decided to try and go after him but were unsuccessful. we then went back up the field and down the other side of the ridge to get some relief from the wind and took a nap.

i am startled awake by a hen coming down the side of the ridge i was sleeping on. (dad said if i hadnt moved, she would have come right down on top of me). so we got up and tried to figure out what to do- in the middle of a logging road mind you- when i saw something move down the ridge from us. i put the binocs on it and its a jake with no beard, we then hear a hen to the left of us (she spotted us) and i loss the jake. we traveled down the ridge a bit and heard a gobble. so we set up where dad is on one side of a tree looking down the ridge and i am looking up it towards where we heard the gobble. as i am picking dozens of ticks off of me, i hear dad say something so i turn slightly and ask what he said (he told me not to move..oops!) and i spot the coyote. i get real excited because i have never seen a real live coyote so i turn more and he spots me. he then goes around the other side of the tree and i turned as well, still fascinated, when he sees me again and begins to run up the ridge. before i realize whats going on, dad whips around the tree and i hear the crack of his gun and down goes the coyote.

by the end of the day dad decides it would be best if we just set up in our blind again hoping we would be able to see something since we couldnt hear any gobbling with the wind. again, we come up empty handed and head back to camp. we are now up to 29 hours of being out in the woods.

4:00am friday morning came especially fast and the rainy and windy weather did not help me wake up. the evening before dad and i set the blind up in the field where we had seen the tom that morning. so we head out to the blind, and i am just exhausted. we are barely in the blind for no more than a few minutes and i am already trying to catch some more sleep. i try as hard as i can to keep my eyes open for more than a couple seconds and am unable to do so.

the rain finally stops and i am awake for only a couple minutes. it is about 7:00am and i am not really paying attention to anything out in the field- my eyes are completely glazed over, when i suddenly see a bird out of the corner of my eye stretch out its wings. well, naturally, this get my attention and my eyes widen and i tell dad we have a bird in the field. he slowly turns and looks out the window of the blind and identifies it as a tom. i slowly bring my gun up and take the safety off. i spotted the tom at about 150 yards and he slowly started to make his way towards our hen decoy. i am waiting patiently as i watch him come in..60..50 yards when he starts to head down away from us..i can feel my chances slipping away.

he then starts cutting across in front of us but as he does this he begins to go behind a small hill to the point where i am now only able to see his head. ive got my sites on him ready to pull the trigger whenever he lifts his head up. however, when he lifts his head it is between two corn stalks and i want to double check i am aiming at the right thing so i pick my head up to make sure i am on his head and not on one of the stalks. yep, im on him so i put my head back down and then so does he. this happens one more time and i know i am going to miss my chance if i dont do something soon. the next time he lifts up his head there are no corn stalks to mistake him of so i pull the trigger and BOOM! dad is ready for the follow up shot since i am using my 12 gauge single shot, but there is nothing to follow up on- we cant see anything! after a brief moment of panic, we finally unzip the blind and run over half expecting to see him running down the hill. thankfully, we spot him lying on the ground. dad turns around and gives me a huge hug (the best feeling in the world) and i go over and grab onto my bird to make sure he doesnt get up and run away while dad goes back to the blind to range my shot. it was a 44 yard shot and i found only four bb’s in the head. we finally take some pictures, register him at the local gas station, and i go back to camp to take, what i believe, was a well deserved four hour “nap” my bird registered at 21 pounds, 9 1/2 inch beard, and 5/8 inch spurs (he was not a dominant bird)
NWTF Score: 52.5

in the end i spent 31 hours hunting for my bird and as tired and exhausted as i was, i wouldnt have changed anything. it makes it so much more worth it when i know i have worked my hardest and have earned it.

thank you dad for all of the time you put into helping me prepare for this (and all of my hunting for that matter) and for sitting out there with me. i love every minute of it and enjoy sharing my rewarding experiences with you. Love you dad!

thank you also to uncle mike, i absolutely love hunting with you too! and to brad.. being “miked up” was a new experience for me and it was still pretty cool even though we werent able to get a kill on film.

i had tons of fun and thank God for every opportunity i have to be out enjoying His absolutely beautiful creation.

Our season started on thursday(4-29) But we didn’t start hunting until friday. So on thursday after work I went out to the property to set up the blind. Right when I pulled up there was a hen out in the field feeding. So I got out and started talking to the land owner for a bit and it didn’t take long and here comes a group of 5 toms all fanned out making there way to the hen. That was really cool to see and kind of set the mood for the next days hunt. But first I had to put the blind out in the 30 mph winds. Wow what a treat but finally got the blind up and got out. Met my dad out at the property and started making our way up to the blind stopping and calling. We didn’t hear anything really close so thought we’d stick it out in the blind. Which was a good idea with the wind and rain that continued through out the day. We were set up on the edge of the woods between 2 big fields. We were seeing some nice toms cruising between the woods but they were just out of calling range due to the weather. A few jakes came by the set up but were real skiddish. We had out 2 hen decoys. It was so strange though, we heard a few gobbles while on the roost early. But as soon as they got down they shut right up. It wasn’t until about noon We got a few birds to sound off to our calling. They were about 100 yards away in the middle of the woods. I would hit the slate call and immediately get a response from them. That went on for about a half hour with them slowly getting closer with each gobble. Finally a head pops up about 35 yards away, its a hen. Then a Tom pops out in full strut gobbling and then another one. We wait for them to get out in the open and my dad says he’ll take the one on the left. Ok sounds good to me lets kill em. Boom Boom 2 turkeys down. My tom had a 10″ beard, 1″ spurs and weighed 17 lbs. My dads weighed 20 lbs w a 10″ beard and 3/4″ spurs. Wow it was so awesome when I looked over and saw the look on my dads face. Just another great memory in the field with my dad. You just never know when there going to come by. We always try to do all day sits because where we hunt sooner or later they’ll be by. And before we left we went and checked out one of our spots for shrooms and were not disapointed. Good Luck to all this Turkey Season.
My NWTF score 57
Justin

Well it has been a challenging week to say the least. We passed a few jakes and 2 different bearded hens in hopes of a longbeard. Taking what we have learned after hunting these birds for a few days (and after Lori made the decision to sleep in ) I knew a trip to the cow pasture was in order.

Not wanting to chance taking her in there with me (because I can run faster than her ) We hunted these birds Thurs am and they hung up in a strut zone in a cow pasture that is the home to a not so friendly bull I was back again on Friday and couldn’t pull them out of the pasture again Having killed one in there last year I knew it could be done and I knew how .

So I snuck thru the pasture in the dark and got settled on the far end of the pasture (outside the fence ) 50 yards from the strut zone. And waited for daylight. About 515 I was greeted to gobbles but none as close as I expected About 535 I started to work my magic with my Jeff Fredrick mouth call and soon had a tom on a string from a longggggggg ways away.

He covered about 250 yards gobbling most the way Then quiet 1000 things raced thru my mind during that very long 3 minutes stretch Then he finally gobbled again 60 yards and closing but I still couldn’t see him . Finally I see the red head crest the hill I quietly click the safety off center the bead squarely on his melon and wait thats not him thats a jake . Then I hear pfffft vrooooom and see the top of a fan coming behind the jake and switch my focus to the tom. He comes over the rise right at 50 yards then they both hold up and start to periscope nervously as theres no hen in sight Knowing the body language and knowing my guns capabilities. I let the tom take 2 more nervous steps closer and then hammered him at 48 yards before he could sneek back over the rise. He never even flopped

Tale of the tape is
20lbs 3 oz
10 1/8 beard
1 inch and 1 1/16 spurs
Your NWTF score is 20.1875 + 10 + 10.625 + 20.25 = 61.0625

It’s been awhile since I’ve been on the site but considering I’m sitting here in English class bored out of my mind I thought I’d give it a visit, and sure enough another year and another contest… Now will see much of my hunt I can get down before my teacher comes over and see’s what I’m really working out…

Well it’s only my second year apart of Turkey hunting and I am hooked for life… I feel I have been a very lucky hunter because I have the pleasures of hunting with one of the best out there… More or less my guide for the last two years my cousin and SOUTHEAST REGIONAL DIRECTOR for the NWTF DARON BOHN, previously a competion caller… He has been one of my idols my entire life but I never knew he was a “Turley-holic.”

First season openning morning of the 2010 Turkey season and another sucess. We were hunting a strutters paradice and just hoping they would pay our decoys a visit. We were located in good’ol Wautoma, WI. At about 5:15am we were out on top of a hilly plain just waiting till we felt it was time to throw out that first owl location call… But before we could do that Daron informed me he had to use the pine tree quick as a restroom (I think the nerves might have got to him.)

After he was successful with releasing some pressure it was time to finally make that call. The first hoots made me sigh in dis-appointment becaues there was no response and then…… From the depths of the pines the gobbles burst out… (gobble- gobb- gobble)

We fixed out our locations of if we wanted to go in-search of the strutters or if we would wait to have them come to us, so I looked at Daron and we were off to the depths of the Pines. We were taking a path that he cleared earlier in the year hoping that it one day might fit our needs in a hunt and it sure did.

As we were walking down the path on the edge of the pines we were trying to stay keen and quiet hoping that we wouldn’t spook them from there roost, and I took a step on a twig and a gobble errupted from right above my head… We knew we were right on them and just had to back track a little and place out our jake and hen decoys. We got set up and it was nothing but a calling competion from there between Daron and A real hen…

We heard the tom’s fly down from roost and that’s when things got fun because the hen was cutting harder then ever cause the tom’s didn’t want anything to do with her rather they liked the supreme calling of Daron.

As the strutters got closer and closer and closer then finally I heard the infamous “spitting and drumming” and a fan appeared behind a small pine tree 12yrds infront of me. Daron behind me facing the other direction and his brother my other cousin to my left saying ” Dylan shoot him, shoot him” I replied ” I can’t, tree in the way” once again I saw him strutting 10yrds and then he came around the tree and the good old remington 3″ 4 shot put the working to him and jelly headed him!!! It was such a rush the best feeling ever when he rolled over dead.

There was high fives all around for another year of sucess. This is easily the best feeling ever and it’s very well enjoyed

Bird:
23 1/2 lbs
DOUBLE BEARD- 10 3/4″ & 2 3/8″
Spurs- 1 1/4″

Any Questions:
Winnebago Strutters, WI

City: Appleton
Contact Name: Daron Bohn
Phone: (920) 470-7424
Email: [email protected]

This all started last fall when Brad Juaire asked me to come and be the camera man on his WI rifle deer hunt. After meeting a few of the folks from the Durand/Arkansaw area and seeing the country, I could instantly tell why Brad has gravitated to this area for so long. At some point during our hunt, Brad offered to bring me back in the spring to turkey hunt. I of course said YES!!! I’ll hop at any chance to spend time with a quality person and hunter like Brad in such amazing country.

Fast forward 6 months. Brad was in need of a camera man/sherpa again. This time we would be hunting his father’s land in north central Minnesota. I’ve listened to Brad very passionately talk about what it means to hunt his dad’s ground and I couldn’t wait to see this property. As luck would have it, we scored big. See Brad’s report MN Bow Gobbler This really put the fever to kill a tom with my bow into overdrive. All I’ve done in the past two weeks is practice calling and watch as much video on turkey hunting as I could. I also went out and established a relationship with a gentleman who has been kind enough to allow me to hunt his land here in the twin cities metro area. Hopefully more on that after the 14th of May – the MN bow opener. Back to WI. I was lucky enough to draw a tag for the 4th Wisconsin season in zone 4.

Having been out of the hunting game for so long, I feel like a rookie all over again. Throw in a few equipment challenges the last two weeks and let’s just say I was feeling a bit of pressure. However, I knew hunting with someone like Brad would “calm” the nerves. I arrived on Thursday night. Brad and his wife Tina were patiently waiting for me. I got unpacked and semi-ready for the morning hunt. Brad informed me he put some birds to bed just east of our accommodations for the weekend. We all jumped in the truck and headed into town for a pizza and conversation. I got to hear first hand Tina’s story about her hunt and the tom that she harvested earilier in the day. It’s awesome seeing her eyes light up as she tells the story. Great job Tina!!

The decoy set up and the Covert XL Blind.The alarm sounded off at 4:15AM, but to be honest I had been awake for a good 30 minutes already. I jumped out of bed like it was Christmas morning. I had my gear together and was waiting by the truck like any good ol’ dog would be. I knew we were hunting close, but after a short 3 minute ride we were beginning to load each other down with gear. It’s amazing what it takes to film a hunt. It took about 20 minutes to walk to our spot. After looking it over in the dark we decided on the location.

We are hunting on top of a large ridge that runs east to west. The top/flat is a mix of alfalfa, oats and plowed fields. It’s quite wide. However, the north and south slopes on this ridge are rugged and full of great places for a turkey to live and roost. Shortly after getting the Covert set up and decoys deployed, we heard our first gobble off the roost. Yup, we are in the right spot. Brad did a couple quiet calls and he was immediately cut off by the birds. They knew we were here. Brad called I think two more times while they were on the roost and then we sat patiently. It got a bit quiet after birds hit the ground, but it wasn’t long and we could see two white heads over the top of the alfalfa in the tree line.

We were in the “perfect” spot and this was going to happen fast. So we thought…. Suddenly the birds started working to our right for no apparent reason. We lost sight of them and my heart sank a bit. It was about that time we could hear a hen putting. We peaked out of the Covert and sure enough to our right was hen out feeding in the field about 80 yards to our right. It wasn’t long and the two gobblers were spotted headed after her. My heart sank as I knew it would be a huge challenge to pull these guys off a live decoy. Brad started to softly pure on the slate call, at least a dozen times. For some odd reason, that purring did the trick. As we both watched, the birds were suddenly on a string headed for our location. I closed the blind window and Brad jumped behind the camera. I readied myself for a shot. What I wasn’t ready for was both birds gobbling just to my right when I couldn’t yet see them. My pulse was already racing and I had to take a huge cleansing breath to settle the nerves.

This was it, the moment of truth. My thoughts were not so much which bird to pick, simply to get a good anchor point and site picture. The first bird came smack dab into the middle of our decoy spread. Something spooked him and he got a bit nervous, but his partner wasn’t. He came to a half strut as I was drawing my bow back. Funny how it came back like a knife through warm butter, gotta love adrenaline. I picked my spot, settled the pin and released. The strutting bird was knocked off his feet and I thought I had my first eastern kill.

Suddenly the bird sprang to its feet and was off to the races. I jumped from the blind and was in hot pursuit until the bird got its wings and was headed for the trees to our north. Brad shouted to stay with him. So I busted down to where he entered the woods. I stopped and started scanning the woods. Nothing and it is dead quiet. I see no movement, nothing. About then Brad arrived on the scene and we split up a bit and started working our way down the ridge, stopping to scan and listen. Every once in a while I’d hear Brad step on a limb and it would sound like a rifle going off, crack. A few more steps and hear crack, crack…crack, crack, crack. Brad is doing his best Usain Bolt impression down a very steep ridge after my bird. I started the angle drill to beat them to the bottom of the ridge. Looking back, we are both darn lucky nobody got hurt.

Brad was able to run past the bird, turn and grab him. The hand to hand warfare began and Brad came out on top. I arrived in time to see the bird was dispatched and to start high fiving. It wasn’t the clean kill I had hoped for, but I’m very happy we were able to recover this bird. After inspecting the bird, I determined I forgot to compensate for the close proximity, 8 yards. A rookie mistake which I’m blaming on the adrenaline rush. I was a half inch from spinal kill or a half inch from missing all together. The Rage 3 blade opened up one heck of a gash in the back of the bird and I’m quite sure he would never have recovered from the injury.

We spent the remainder of the weekend at different spots trying to fill Brad’s zone 4 tag. As it goes with turkey hunting, we were just in the wrong spot or had hens to compete with. Unfortunately after many, many hours in the Covert, no bird, but lots and lots of great memories. To sum up my weekend, a first eastern turkey, a first turkey with a bow, my first time hunting in Wisconsin and tons of great memories.

Thanks to (Rick L.)”Flip” for allowing me to bunk at your house and hunt your land!!!! Thanks to Brad for another great weekend filled with lots of memories. I’ll gladly be your camera man anytime you need bud!

Here’s a pic of the bird that my son Ryan took during the 4th season. We had a tough time locating any good struttng areas or any concentrations of birds, mostly due to the high winds and rain that tormented us through the spring this year.
We set up on a known roosting area and sure enough, a Gobbler was waiting for us not 50 yds from our blind in the morning. He flew down at sunrise, but ignored our calls & headed the oppisite direction following an unseen hen.
The next morning it was blowing and raining so hard, we decided to go to school/work instead, and get’em next time.
Day 3 and our gobbler was right back where he was on the first day and he repeated his route, ignoring our calls again.
We decided to move our blind down the hill to the roost tree and be there in the evening when he came back.
At sunset here he comes. Strutting at about 35 yds, but not comming any closer. A little long for a 20 ga. and suddenly he flys up in his roost tree. We waited till it was dark and snuck out quietly with plans to be back waiting early the next morning.
Right at sunrise he flys down and starts struttng at about 30yds and then begins moving away. We’ve seen this move before and I said to Ryan, it’s now or never. He lined up on the edge of the blind for support and made a great shot. The Tom weighed 22 1/2 lbs, 10 1/2 in. beard and 7/8 and 6/8 spurs. Score 59.75

Entries must be submitted by this Sunday night (June 6th) at Midnight to be entered into this Bragging Rights Contest. Good Luck and get those last minute entries in!

After spending many hours this season chasing turkeys here in WI, I was hoping the 5th season would be the charm for my son Adam. With school and baseball practices, we were not able to take any time off during the week so it all had to come together in 2 days. With Adam at baseball practice Friday night, I pulled the camper down to Merrick and set up quickly in hopes of putting some birds to bed. I had a good idea where to go but wanted to get them targeted for the morning. Well as my luck would have it, not one bird sounded off to my owl calls. So we would be going in blind in the morning.

4:00 a.m. came early for us on Saturday but what a great morning it was, clear and no wind…1st time this year for me where I didn’t have to battle high winds or rain. I wanted to get to the edge of the ridge to listen for distant gobbles. Our plan was to be very aggressive and get as close as we could to him before setting up. As day break came we still didn’t have any gobbles close to us. Then at about 5:40 I heard one sound off deep in the valley…it was time to put the move on. We had several roads to travel down which made it very easy to walk and stalk. We headed down about 200 yards to where the road came to a point and I made a call…BOOM he gobbled and he was closer than I 1st thought. We found a large tree for both of us to sit down and I began calling softly. He was gobbling now at every sound we made but keeping the calling to a minimum was the key as he started to make his way to us. We couldn’t see him but we could track him by the gobbles as he made his way along the same road we are on. Unfortunately he got to what I would guess was 150 yards and he hung up. After about 10 minutes of no calling or gobbling he sounded off and I could tell he was making his way back in the direction he came… it was time to get a little closer.

We made our way down the valley about another 100 yards to where the road branches off in two different directions. Here is where we set up again with Adam now about 10 yards in front of me. I again made a soft call followed by some scratching of the leaves and he sounded off. He was only 100 yards away as the crow flies but a good 200 yards on foot. Again I hit him with soft calls and scratching but this time there was nothing. I waited another 5 minutes and called again but still nothing. I figured one of two things happened….he either busted us some how or he was on his way to us. After about 15 minutes of silence I told Adam that I thought I could hear him walking just below us and to our right. But after another 5 minutes I couldn’t hear anything. Now from where I was sitting I could see the road below us where it branches off but Adam couldn’t because there was a little rise in the road. But I figured I would be able to see him cross below us before he made his way up to us. Well I was wrong. I gave one more soft call and he sounded off directly below us and IN THE ROAD. I couldn’t believe it…I told Adam to get ready and he was already on the sticks and ready to shoot. I barely got the video camera on when I saw his head pop up at about 30 yards. I watched as Adam slid the safety off and I told him whenever he was ready he could shoot. From that point on it seemed like an eternity…I could hardly breath as I knew what was about to happen. As he squeezed the trigger all I could see was the bird flopping down the road. As a father I couldn’t have been happier. From the moment he was born I always imagine what this day would be like…and it was better than I could have ever imagined. As soon as he shot he jumped up and instead of heading towards the bird he turned and jumped into my lap. I don’t get many moments like that from my 12 year son old but I’ll certainly take it. Words just can not describe that feeling of pride and for those of you who have already experienced it you know what I’m talking about.

One of the greatest hunts I’ve been on and I can only thank the good Lord for such an experience. We retrieved the bird and it was only then that I realized the size of this beast. He was bigger than any bird I’ve ever taken…25 ½ pounds, 10 ¾” beard and 1” spurs! I believe that puts the NWTF score at 67! What a great day and I’m looking forward to experiencing it again for the first time when my daughter takes to the woods next year!

Some great stories here

When can we expect the winner to be announced ??

Good luck picking the winner judges

We are collecting votes (possibly scrounging for prizes )and hope to have this announced by the end of this week or the start of next!

Well, the votes are in and have been tallied for this years IN-DEPTH OUTDOORS Braggin’ Rights Turkey Contest!

For a quick review, here’s a summary of the rules for this year’s contest:

-This will be a photo/story contest

-Please submit a story and ONE PICTURE ONLY for each bird harvested

-Enter the contest as many times as birds you harvest

-Pictures need to include the Turkey AND Hunter

-Submit accurate beard length, weight, and spur lengths with NWTF score

The Winners will be judged in two divisions, the Tom (18 & Up) and the Jake (Under 18) divisions.

NOW FOR THE WINNERS!!

Tom Division:

1st Place: Pat Howard (Gutone4me) 1st Story Submitted

2nd Place: Kooty

3rd Place: Norseman

Jake Division:

1st Place: Dannir

2nd Place: Beetle

3rd Place: Adam Pearson

PRIZES:

This year the contest was for bragging rights with maybe some simple prizes TBD at a later date. Well IDO’s own Brad Juaire decided to give away a full day Guided Trip on Mille Lacs to the 1st Place winner in each division (Toms and Jakes). Brad will be in contact with the Pat Howard & Dannir with details.

CONGRATS to the winners from everyone here at IN-DEPTH OUTDOORS . The judges had a difficult time coming up with a winner as many entries received votes. IN-DEPTH OUTDOORS would like to thank all that participated and submitted an entry. As mentioned there were some great Photos and Stories entered.

We had a great Spring here at IN-DEPTH OUTDOORS and we are really looking forward to even a better and more exciting Fall.

Thanks IDO staff and Brad for donating. Too bad you have to take Pat fishing.

Congrats to the Winners and everyone that participated.

Yes, Congrats to all the winners! Also congrats to everyone who was able to get out and enjoy the turkey woods this past spring. I’m sure there were a lot of great hunts even though some may not have taken a bird home! Looking forward to next spring already!

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Looking forward to next spring already

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Whoa slow down there MR.

It is not offically even Summer yet and the best 4 months of the year (September, October, November and December) are just right aorund the corner!

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Looking forward to next spring already

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Whoa slow down there MR.

It is not offically even Summer yet and the best 4 months of the year (September, October, November and December) are just right aorund the corner!

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I’m ready to skip them and move right to March!

Thanks iDo

Congrats to all the winners

Cashing in the fishing trip next Thursday 6-17

congrats to all the winners

Congrats to the winners! Exciting reading stories and seeing pix throughout the season.

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Thanks IDO staff and Brad for donating. Too bad you have to take Pat fishing.

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Congrats Dannir & Gut

Even though I was the second loser . I totally enjoyed reading all the stories. It was like going on multiple hunting trips. I felt like I was really there. Thanks everyone for taking the time to share! Thanks IDO!

Lots of great pics and stories Like said, too bad Brad had to lose and take Gut fishing

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Lots of great pics and stories Like said, too bad Brad had to lose and take Gut fishing

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Congrats all