Season A MN Tom Down!
The past four MN Spring Turkey seasons have been somewhat of a new experience for me. I’ve had the honor to take out two of my nephews during this time and love the fact that we can get an early season tag over the counter.
This past weekend was no exception as I was able to “mentor” my nephew Hunter for the 2nd year in a row. Similar to past years, we were limited to one evening and one morning of hunting. So, after our family get together on Saturday was over, we headed out around 4:00 p.m. in search of a long beard.
We started out driving around different properties I have permission to hunt glassing and scanning fields from the road. At first I was baffled, we didn’t see any birds (not one) anywhere. So, I made the decision to put in some “leg work”. At the first property, we saw some older tracks in the snow as we walked down the logging roads but nothing fresh and even blind called a few times without getting any responses. After about 30 minutes we packed up and headed to a different property that has produced in the past.
Once we arrived to the other property, we quickly started getting our gear on. I mention to Hunter; “This likely won’t be like last year.” Meaning, we are really going to have to work at it. As we keep getting ready, we hear the unmistakable sound of a bird flying out of roost. Wouldn’t you know it, of all things, there was a Tom roosting in a big pine tree only 25-30 yards from us? He flew down and quickly ran into a small tree line. We didn’t bother chasing the bird at that point because he already knew we were there. Hunter being the good sport that he is says; “Well, at least we saw one.”
As we were walking to a spot that I’ve set-up in the past, my nephew says; “What’s that in the field out there?” I instantly kneel down and pull up my binoculars. As you can probably guess, it was four turkeys (all hens) working around in the picked corn about 250 yards away. So, we sit and wait. As we are watching the hens, more turkeys start to head out of the thicket and join the others on the field. This goes on for about 20 minutes or so when two Toms and one Jake decide to join the party as well.
At this point we are pretty much laying on the ground (in the open) and needed to make a move. We made the decision to army crawl about 60 yards to the base of a big tree and tuck in behind some brush. After we were situated, I let out a few yelps with my mouth call every 20 minutes but didn’t get a response. This goes on until darkness approaches. Luckily for us, we were in a position to watch the turkeys roost on the edge of the field. As we were walking away, I look over at my nephew and said; “I love tucking turkeys in”, Hunter looks at me (with a smile on his face) and says; “I love putting them down for a nap.” He definitely won quote of the night with his response.
By the time we walked out, I already had a game plan for the following morning. Get up extra early, get the blind set-up close to where they roosted, and wait them out. Obviously, 4:15 came all too soon but knowing where two toms were roosted made getting out of bed very easy. We were on the road for the 15 min drive by 4:30 and the blind was in place by 5:10. We had just enough light with the moon above and sun light on the horizon to glass where one of the Toms had roosted and confirmed he was still there by the big black blob sitting on the tree limb. It didn’t take long before we were greeted with our 1st gobbles of the morning. To our surprise, there were three Toms gobbling. We knew there were two Toms for sure but didn’t expect the third. It had to be the one that we saw where we parked the truck.
To make a long story even longer:
The first hen was on the ground at 5:20 and roughly 20 minutes before legal shooting. We sat in anticipation for the Toms to fly out of roost and come running to our lone hen decoy. As most of you know, it hardly ever works that way. At around 6:00, the Toms stopped gobbling and I told Hunter that they probably flew out of roost and were down on the ground (basically, I wanted him to be ready at any moment). As we sat and waited, we saw more birds coming out onto the opposite side of the field 300+ yards away. Pretty soon, there was a whole mess of birds gathered on the field only 150-200 yards from our set-up. All the while, we sat and waited and waited and waited some more.
Finally around 7:30, one of the hens broke loose from the group and headed our way. She made it all the way up to our decoy and scratched for insects for maybe for 5-10 minutes before heading back to the others. About a half hour after the encounter with the hen, two satellite Toms come out onto the field and immediately head toward the group which was now in the 100-125 yard range. This is when the show really began.
The boys started out fighting, dancing, and gobbling at one another for a good 15 minutes before the chaos of the new Toms ended. We (along with the turkeys) were so entranced by the fighting that we failed to realize a coyote entered the field and was in stalk mode. As the coyote got closer to the group, it focused on the two satellite Toms and chased them to the field edge. They both soon took flight and roosted above as the coyote stayed on the edge of the field and ignored the big group before heading into the woods.
Right after the coyote was out of sight, four deer came out of the woods looking behind them. Before you know it, the coyote was back on the field and chasing after the flash of the whitetails. Once the deer and coyote were gone the group was back to scratching and strutting. It was an amazing sight. We had 23 birds in front of us; Three Toms strutting, two Toms roosted, six Jakes, and 12 hens milling around. We even saw some breeding, which was a first for me. Again, this all happened between 8:00-8:30. The group continued to move (right to left) out in front of us but wouldn’t get any closer than 150 yards.
By about 8:45 the group had did a complete half-circle around us and I knew we didn’t have much time left with Easter obligations ahead of us, we only had until 9:15. Plus, with all those sets of eyes, I didn’t have the slightest chance of grabbing the decoy. I looked at Hunter and said; “we need a miracle.” It wasn’t five minutes after saying that when a new Tom entered the field about 350 yards away. I turn and look at Hunter and say; “This is our last chance.”
The new Tom hit the field and started to gobble and strut “like a Boss”. He even got the attention of one of the hens and better Toms in the big group. Soon they separated and worked their way across the field toward the new Tom. At the same time, I felt we had nothing to lose and started yelping with the mouth call loader than I had all morning. The new Tom started in our direction and within five minutes he had already cut the distance in half. He was only 175 yards away and we could tell he was focused on our lone hen decoy.
At approximately 9:00 the new Tom was about 50 yards away but didn’t stop or stick his head up while in range. Hunter kept waiting for a good shot opportunity but it didn’t transpire. Reluctantly, Hunter pulled the gun down as the new Tom walked out of range. It was a tough pill to swallow to be so close and waiting so patiently. However, like most hunts, things can change in a hurry.
We had stopped paying attention to the other Tom that had separated from the group and to our surprise he was closing the distance on our decoy as well. Pretty sure he thought it was a hen from the original group and he was coming back to fight for her. It’s now 9:05 and he’s out a little further than I would like but we have to get going and I doubt another opportunity was going to happen. I tell Hunter; “Safety off” as he steadies for the shot. The Tom puts his head up and Hunter whispers; “Now?” and I say; “Yes”. He shoots and the rest is history.
I have to say, Hunter did an awesome job for a 15 yr old and showed the patience and ambition of guys with years of experience. His bird ended up weighing 21 lbs 2 oz, had 9 1/8″ beard, and 3/4″ spurs. Hunter also set a new record for furthest distance shooting a turkey with my gun. He eclipsed the old record of 51 yards and set a new mark at 52 yards and some change with his shot.
After the high fives, it was time for pictures. As we were setting up to show off his new harvest, I look down on the ground and find my very first shed antler. All said and done, I know that Easter 2014 will be one of the best memories of my life. Thanks for reading.
