MN 2nd Season Spring Turkey Report

There are certainly pros and cons when it comes to hunting mature gobblers in the earlier time periods. These birds have not been pressured yet by other hunters and will usually gobble to your yelps and putts. They are also easy to pattern roosting in familiar trees and feeding in the same fields. However, the early season presents other challenges to hunters. Depending on the year and the weather, many of the hens are really active during the day and are not spending a lot of time on their nests. This keeps the toms in tow and causes them to get “henned-up”. There is also no ground cover and no leaves on the trees yet. Trying to keep concealed during stalks can be trying because you can see forever in the open woods.

I drew a tag to hunt in MN the second season (April 21-25). I’ve been hunting turkeys for over 12 years and this was the earliest season that I had drawn. The last two years, I was hunting a friend of a friend’s farm down in Cannon Falls. It is about 240 acres and it definitely holds a lot of turkeys. I was fortunate to harvest two toms on this particular farm. Once again this year I had high expectations knowing that I could easily pattern these birds.

I couldn’t hunt the first morning of my season and I finally arrived a little after 1pm. And then…. a major shock! To make a long story short, I showed up at the farm (70 miles away) to say hello to the landowner (who stays in AZ over the winter) and to my surprise, he denies me permission to hunt his farm this year. Apparently, some miscommunication happened between my friend and him, and he had other hunters coming to hunt the next couple of seasons. I was dumbfounded because my friend assured me that I was good to go! Now what??? I don’t even have a place to hunt and it’s already past noon on the first day of my season. I was kicking myself for not calling the landowner myself and for being in this awkward position.

I could of went home pouting, but I realized that wasn’t going to help much. So I decided to knock on some doors that surrounded this property. I ended up speaking with three different land owners that afternoon and got permission from all three covering about 400 acres! I was back in business and eager to start scouting the area!

The rest of the day I scouted and hunted along the way. I saw some good sign and also a lot of turkeys. In fact, I called in and could have shot 9 different jakes that afternoon, but I was holding out for a mature tom. I heard a few distant gobbles but nothing that I could pinpoint or hunt. I scouted until dark and heard some turkeys fly into a roosting area. This is where I would start my hunt tomorrow. Due to not being able to set up a blind, I decided to leave my bow at home and use my 12 gauge shotgun.

The next morning I made the trek up the ridge about a mile away from my truck. It’s a steep ridge and I was huffing and puffing all the way up. I finally got to the top and shortly after I heard 5 different gobbles in the same ravine where they roosted the night before. I quickly made my way over and set up 100 yards away from them near the field edge but still was able to see down the ravine. Shortly after, turkeys were flying out of their roosts and hitting the ground. Gobbles were all around me but the only thing that came into range was two hens and three jakes. I was mimicking one of the hens and she didn’t like that. It was fun cutting her off during her yelp and she just had to come over to check me out. Eventually all the turkeys moved on and then the woods fell silent. The morning hunt was over and I did not get a crack at a tom. I believe three toms went down the ravine onto the neighboring property. The other two cut across a field on top. So I decided to do some “runnin and gunnin” hoping to catch up with these two toms.

One thing I noticed the day before was that most of the turkeys were in the hard woods and not in the fields. There’s not a lot of green plants out yet nor insects. My strategy was to stay on top of these ridges and field corners calling as I go. I was suspecting that the toms were staying with the hens and it would take a lot of coaxing to get them into range. I finally got a couple of response gobbles to my calling but it was on the adjacent property. Were these the same two toms? I moved on hoping it wasn’t. I came up to the other field corner and let out a yelp. Two gobbles answered from the ridge across from me and I was back in business.. Decision time, do I stay put trying to bring them across the ravine or circle around and try to get on the same ridge as them? Not knowing how steep the ravine was between us and if the turkeys could even get across it, I decided to circle around and try to get ahead of them. I had to move fast and cover a lot of ground crossing the field on top and then cutting across the woods.. Finally about 15 minutes later I was making my way back up the ridge and I needed to find out where they were at. I let out a soft yelp and they both gobbled back at me again much closer than what I had expected. Another decision… I wanted to be on top of that ridge on their same level but in doing so I may get busted due to there was not a lot of ground cover. I decided to stay put trying to entice the toms to come down to me even though I knew from experience that it’s harder to get a tom to come down than it is to go up. I set up anticipating which direction the toms would come from. I let out another yelp and they responded again. I answered them ever so softly and then quieted down. Shortly after, a hen yelped back at me. I quickly hit the call again and cut her off. She didn’t like that and yelped louder at me. I copied her note for note and each time got the last word. This went on for a couple of minutes and finally she shut up. I knew the only way I would see these toms is if I could call that hen in first! During this whole exchange, the toms were silent.

Ten minutes had passed and nothing happened. Finally I caught movement a mere 30 yards away. It was a hen that came in looking for me. She putted ever so softly wondering where I was. Then two more hens appeared walking the same path. They made their way through the woods and ended up walking by me a mere 10 yards away. I was sitting against a tree fully exposed. However, I knew as long as I didn’t move, most likely I would not get busted. I even squinted my eyes so that they wouldn’t see me blink. In the meantime, I kept looking back from where the hens had come from hoping to see the two toms. A couple of minutes had passed and now all the hens were somewhere behind me. I could hear the rustling of the leaves and they were close. One of the hens let out a yelp behind me and then both toms gobbled loudly. They were close and but yet I could not see them. They were going to come in and I had to get ready. There I was, right smack in the middle, sandwiched in-between the three hens and the two toms. I thought to myself, it can’t get any better than this!

Finally a head popped up over a downed treetop and it was one of the toms about 30 yards away. He looked right in my direction and most likely at the hens behind me. I remained still and quickly assessed the situation estimating where he would walk behind a tree so I could shoulder my shotgun. The second tom then came into view while the first one started to strut. The first tom seemed a little bigger and more dominant so I focused on him. Ten yards in front of him and between us was an oak tree. That is where I would finish shouldering my gun. He slowly walked towards me and eventually behind the tree. It was now or never, I had to get into position for the shot knowing that the hens may see me move. I slowly finished shouldering my shotgun and to my surprise I didn’t get busted by the hens behind me. Two seconds later he popped his head on the other side of the tree – a mere 20 yards away and I let him have it! The shot found its mark. The other tom looked confused and quickly ran over to the flapping tom wondering what was happening. He was running around in circles putting at the downed tom. If I only had a second tag! Eventually he ran off with the hens and out of sight.

I went over to the downed tom and made sure he was out for the count. He was a pretty bird with unique white markings on his wings. I looked at my watch and it was 12pm on the nose. I couldn’t believe it and realized that I totally lost track of time. Knowing that I had a long walk back to the truck, I decided to rest a bit while I ate my lunch right there in the middle of the woods. I started to make plans to thank the landowners once again. I thought I would give them each a package of venison brats along with a picture of the tom and me. I also reminded myself to ask them for their addresses so I could send them holiday cards. I’m grateful they granted me the opportunity to hunt on their land and I wanted to show my appreciation. I then started to think about how things turned out. My season started out with some bad news, but yet ended up a memorable success. I guess it pays to never give up and to keep a positive attitude. Things always seem to work out that way.

Good luck on your turkey season and I hope your hunt is as memorable as mine.