I’ve been hunting turkeys on our land in south central MN for 5 years now. The first bird I shot had 1 3/8″ spurs, no idea on age (11 3/8″ beard, 25-26lbs). Second bird was a jake, so age 1. Bird last year had 9/8″ spurs and was one of two jakes I watched on camera all fall-winter-spring, so age 2.

With little reading, and more hearing, I was under the assumption that spurs were fairly age dependent. With everything in nature though, I would presume that factors such as genetics, competition, nutrition, etc. play roles in variable degrees of importance.

Heres to hopefully your first 1″ plus spurs someday blowing past that mark – Good Luck

Congrats Thats pretty awesome you and your father both got one the same day!

Congrats on a great bird Joel! It doesn’t sound like too long before your boys start punching tags with you as well

Awesome looking mount! I don’t know much about bearded hens as we have very few turkeys around here (in fact I’ve never actually seen a hen during a spring turkey season; 5 seasons), but that has to be a pretty darn good one!?

Certainly must be a good memory looking up at that mount

Congrats! He could turn out to be quite some buck in the years to come

Congrats! Sounds like a great trip.

Thats a great looking bow! I have heard good things about Elite bows from friends If you are upgrading multiple years, regardless of brand; I believe you will be very impressed with the performance.

Mount looks great and congrats again on a great buck!

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I was wondering if anyone here is using there smartphones as a field viewer for trail cam photos? If so, where did you get it and how much do they cost?

I’m looking to get an on the go card reader that accepts an SD card with a micro USB connection. Also are the readers phone specific…or do I just need one with a male micro USB and a female SD slot?

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I just bought one for my brother for christmas. There appears to be quite a few on the market, at least enough to make you really look into what your phone is. Most of them are short cords with connection and SD slot. Most all of them appear to be phone specific. In my situation, my brother has the newest I-phone and required a specific card reader. Ordered it from apple’s online store. I just checked my online banking and it was $31, a.k.a. ~$65 less than the portable card reader I bought him two birthdays ago Looks like I have a portable card reader to go find and inadvertently make missing

Certainly a hard start to the winter around here, and if the trend continues; the wildlife is going to take another hit. We don’t have the heavy snowfalls this year in SC MN so far, however, we get a lot of blowing and drifting. We are heading into the 4th multiple day period of highs at 5 degrees or less. The blowing helps to clear some snow from fields and plots, however, when warm ups give way to extreme cold fronts we end up with fields and plots layered in 4, 8, or 10″ of nearly rock solid crust and ice.

With 15 acres of food we leave a year for the wildlife, I am not overly concerned as of now. However, seeing multiple acres of that already devoid of food is leaving me worried about what February as to bring.

Happy be-lated Birthday, hope it was a good one!

Congrats!!!

Good Luck!

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Food should be key the next 5-7 days. Colder than a well digger’s gizzard.

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If I had an open tag I would be getting pretty excited about hunting food sources! If you are looking for the first decent bodied deer, and have a real unpressured piece to hunt, do not over look that early afternoon time period.

Unfortunately that ones circumstances will become coyote opportunities at some point this winter….

Some great looking bucks there man Glad to see that your plans are coming together well.

Congratulations! You worked your tail off for that deer I had been following your posts and was really pulling for you

Congrats! Darn nice buck given you didn’t have a spot to hunt till days before the season

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Any broadhead will get the job done, just make sure it is sharp and your bow is tuned to the broadheads you decide to use. Its all about shot placement.

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Ive been shooting the G5 T3s for a few years now and they are great, durable, and sharp. Also killed deer with Crimson Talons, Muzzy 3 Blades, and Rage 3 blades. Shoot what shoots best, only reason I have changed from any of these are the little nuances that come with any product.

If you have some archery friends, they likely have an extra head you can try shooting or other brand heads they have switched from that they have sitting around to shoot.

Happy birthday! Glad to hear it was a good one

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Awesome! You have been hunting hard and I hope that trail lead to your downed trophy – Looking forward to the story

Congrats to your son on a nice buck!

What a donkey! Thats the buck you shot last year correct?

Congrats to him on a great buck Hope he can make it over to IDO to share the story

Congrats to your brother Cool looking buck for sure!

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Check out the plot forum. Tons of info!!!!

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The awesome thing about food plots is that they can be as simple or complex as you like and hold the capacity to not only aid the health of local wildlife, but also facilitate game patterns and hunting opportunities. How you intend to utilize your plot (for hunting, season of hunting, or just wildlife food) will play a big role in what your best and most effective plot species will be.

I would suggest grooming through the plots forum and think about how you want to utilize your plots. A few questions to keep in mind would be: Do you want to walk your plots for pheasants? Do you want sanctuary habitat for your birds? Do you want a plot that draws all bow season, a portion of the season, or a plot that draws during gun season? Do you want a plot that is most geared to wildlife health (i.e. early season nutrition for the herd or antler growth, wintering habitat for pheasants, ect.) or a plot geared to hunt over?

There is alot of great information in the plots forum, and at any point you have some more specific questions (as there as so many ways to answer your initial question) do not hesitate to post questions there. There is an abundance of food plot knowledge and experience here within the idohunting community/members.

Nice work!! Congrats to your boy on his first bird!

Congrats!

Congrats! Looks like it has been an awesome fall for you all

Congrats! That buck has awesome mass! Certainly a feat to harvest a buck that old in MN

Congrats! Looking forward to the story and pics