In the Blind w/ Joel Nelson

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And just like that Joel is out like a light snoring again.

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I would be careful James…I have heard that when Joel sleeps he tends to become a little too “relaxed”!

Isn’t it time to bust out the Tom call!!! Seems the jake call has been working well.

I would tell him to put down the jake call and pick up the Long beard special and stop snoring and start shooting.

Throw some arrows!

Good Luck

Time to bust out the squeeling hen!

I think I’ve heard every call variation known to man or turkeys in the last two days…

This afternoon was SLOW in comparison to the am. We had a few talkers off in the distance but no birds willing to take a walk.

We’ve moved to a new location that serves as a neck down area between the river bottom where most of the birds spent their midday and where we think they’ll roost tonight. The plan is to hang our hat on this spot and sit it out until dark.

If we don’t get one with the bow tonight an unlucky Tom is going to meet up with some hevi shot in the am. We have had numerous opportunities on a mature Tom that would have been a near sure thing with a shotgun but just out of reach with a bow.

Joel looks overconfident in this one.

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Joel looks overconfident in this one.

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Looks like a good time to pay him back for the Tahitian Treat he shared with us.
I had to get a haircut

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Joel looks overconfident in this one.

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Turkey hunting is hard work

Joel,
This turkey season is already taking its toll on you It doesn’t help to have a camera on you everytime you decide to take a catnap.
Good luck this morning- I am looking forward to todays updates.

Steve

Day 3… back in the blind and waiting to make a tom famous!

Here’s the update from our final set last night. We were in place and ready for business by 5 PM and we stayed put until 9PM. Joel chose a location very close to the roosting area where we thought the four toms had spent the previous night. Well, if that was the case they chose to roost in a new location tonight because we never did see those toms. All five Jake’s and the three hens from the morning worked back through on their way to roost within eyeshot up the hill. But not so much as a glimpse of the toms. We did get some VERY up close and personal footage of a hen and Jake within ten feet of the blind that was super cool… all that hen wanted to do was work up the hill and get to roost and for over an hour that Jake would stay between her and the roost in an attempt to keep her out closer to the field at our backs.

This morning we’ve relocated to an area with fresh birds since we’ve all but lost track of our toms from the previous day. The other change for today is Joel is toting his 12 guage Browning in an attempt to close the distance between our blind and the henned up gobblers that have done a masterful job of staying just outside of bow range.

5:44 AM – first gobbles from the roost in the distance! Won’t be long now! Time to get the camera ready to roll….. and wake up Joel!

Hammer time I love it

Knock 1 down Joel we have other business to take care off

one Joel

bird down!

Way to go Joel

Great Job guys

Congrats!! what are the measurements

Nice jake Joel.

Nice job guys!!!!!

WTG joel!!

Joel, your eyes are freaking me out in that pic! So was he close enough for archery equipment? That’s what usually happens when you put the bow away to grab the gun! great job again fellas!

Rumor has it Joel didn’t let him get in bow range

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Joel, your eyes are freaking me out in that pic!

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I’m surprised they are open

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Rumor has it Joel didn’t let him get in bow range

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This has been a very cool post! Fun to escape the office via your hunt over the last day and a half. Congrats on the bird!

WTG Joel!!! Thanks for the reporting James!!! Looking forward to the video!!!

Mark

Thank you, thank you, thank you guys. It’s been a fun couple of days, and I really appreciate all the positive comments. It was frustrating at times with the amount of birds we saw, but rewarding at the same time. I can’t recall a 2 and 1/8th day stretch that ever saw so much gobbling or bird activity. Multiple times we were able to hunt the same bird or group of birds on different properties, up to 1 1/2 miles from where they started their day. That’s not all that common in our neck of the woods when there’s available food, water, good habitat, and plenty of hens.

Special thanks goes to James and Brad for helping make this a reality. Brad’s a savvy turkey hunter, so it was great to have his input in the blind. It’s rare to have two experienced turkey hunters together in the same blind to act as one another’s sounding-boards, and the success we had spoke volumes about his knowledge and experience. Thanks Brad, I really appreciate it!!!

As for James, I was impressed. I’ve taken a lot of folks out in the woods for their first turkey hunt, few to none of them caught on as fast or developed as well as he did. As the hunt went on, he became more methodical in his movements, quieter, and fewer hiccups in the overall flow of the hunt. That was fun to watch!!! Did I mention he was lugging around 50 pounds of video gear, tripod, video camera AND still camera; filming all the while?

Bird was a cookie-cutter 2 yr. old. 20 1/2 lbs, 13/16″ spurs, and 9 1/8″ beard. Scored about 55. A beautiful bird that I have to attend to now after a nice salt-water soak.

Joel

Thanks for keeping us folks who are stuck at work entertained the last couple of days! Makes the day go by fast!

Sweet Now a congrats to ALL of you guys ! Sounds like a great hunt

P.S. I wouldn’t feel bad for James at all , Hes used to holding all them BIG Walleyes

Thanks for the play by play. Very cool. Congrats on your bird Joel!

congrats!!
pretty cool to follow the hunt.
so what becomes of all that video footage?