Minnesota’s “B” season opened up this Monday, and as far as fellow IDO Pro-Staffer Brad Juaire and I were concerned, it hit the ground and never stopped running! We were fortunate enough to be greeted with very active birds, despite the difficult weather that produced 20+ mph wind gusts with periodic rain and cool temperatures. From opening to close, the hunt saw nary a dull moment, which kept our spirits high and our confidence bolstered.
James Holst and Brad Juaire joined in the fun the night before with some last minute archery target practice, as well as some scouting and roosting of birds. Freshest information is always best when turkey scouting is concerned, but the recent rain and cooler night had the birds very quiet at roost time. Locator calls failed to produce a gobble, and so did the real thing as a few barred owls squared off right at sunset. A few fly-up cackles from hens, as well as a distant gobble or two had us confident in our morning location. During the early season, find the hens, and the gobblers will almost surely be in-tow.
Morning broke with a thick fog, but the turkeys were there in force. Early hen fly-downs into the field (6AM) along with a massive hen fight and fighting purrs galore had the gobblers fired up often. Six mature toms followed their hens not 70 yards from our position, seemingly uninterested in the decoys and calling save a few courtesy gobbles. An old crafty bird snuck up behind the blind nearly a ½ hour later, but spooked from the b-mobile decoy. Not much later after that, we called in two jakes that strutted majestically down the hillside, who were later joined by another five jakes that held court amongst our decoy spread. It was easy to pass on those birds given the intense gobbler activity we’d already seen right before our eyes. The rest of the day was a cat and mouse game with a pile of gobblers/jakes with only 2-3 hens. Each time we presented a threat to their toms, the hens would simply march their gobblers off and up the hill. It’s tough to win that game, so we opted for yet another property I’d scouted heavily in the pre-season. Here lived a good gobbler or two, including one distinctive bird with a big gap in his tail-fan. That bird was in the hayfield when we drove by, so we scrambled to make a sneak to the other fieldside and setup. Another move in closer was required to get his attention, and when he came down the hillside to our setup, he had a friend who was bigger!
They both couldn’t yet see the dekes, and were starting to skirt left, so I clucked and soft-yelped on my Quaker Boy mouth call directionally, in order to steer them right and out into the field. Both crossed under the barbed wire, and proceeded to the dekes. The larger bird spooked on the draw, but was still killable, though the other bird presented the best shot which I quickly took. THUNK!!! The quartering-towards bird took the 2-blade, rage-studded arrow just above his right breast, quartering through the vitals, and lodging in the spine. The bird flipped on the shot, then scurried back up and over the embankment, only to die just as soon as I reached him. What a hunt!!!! I need to thank Brad and James for their participation and help, particularly Brad who kept the blind from blowing away, and provided some great company and good times. The bird wasn’t a monster, but I’ll take him anyday of the week. – STATS – Weight – 23lbs., 12oz. Spurs – 7/8”. Beard – 8 3/4”.
good job
Congrats on a great bird Joel
! I’m hoping Brad or James got that bad boy on film 
.
Yep, they did Steve.
Congrats Joel on your MN Bird. Your homework definitley paid off for you again. Great report and I love the Areial view showing your set up, a very nice detail to show!
Joel – congratulations on a great bird!
Joel,
Congrats all the way around. I can’t wait to see the video
Sounded like an awsome hunt
Many days until my archery hunt unfolds. Soaking up tips here on the site.
Steve
Nicely done! That’s a handsome bird.
Congrats Joel, nice bird. When is your next tag?
Nice work
Great bird, and with a bow at that! The almighty turkey slayer Nelson strikes again!
Thanks!
Looks like I’ll be doing some calling for folks in MN’s E, F, and G seasons, and then heading to WI for the last season to try and fill a tag.
Joel
Joel, first and foremost a thanks for all of the helpful knowledge you have shared in the forum. I’m sure each of us has taken a bit from each of your posts. Did you have a blind on your kill shot? I’m guessing not and that’s quite a feat. Congrats on your bow bird!
Thanks for the kind words!
As for the blind, we were in one. I haven’t been doing the bow-bird thing for that long, but of the birds I’ve killed with archery equipment, only one of them has been outside the blind. I can’t begin to tell you the number of birds I’ve bumped trying to kill one outside of the blind. It’s tempting to take after them without the blind, but my experience has been that I’m better off limiting my mobility and keeping the birds from spooking. That way, when I do get a shot, it’s a quality one.
Thanks again for the encouragement, it means alot!
Joel
Joel. Great read over coffee and wet morning. Congrats on your bird and I can’t wait to see the footage. What’s it like in a blind all day with Brad??????? Sounds like you guys had a great time. Enjoy the weekend.
Brad’s great to hunt with! Energetic and interested when there’s birds workin’, and helping to keep me awake when they’re not.
It’s good to swap stories with anyone like Brad that hunts alot, as you end up learning more than you ever thought you would “going turkey hunting.”
That and I get to make fun of deer, and he gets to make fun of turkeys. All in good fun!
Joel
It was an absolute pleasure being in Joel’s blind for a day of turkey hunting. Usually its me making all of the decisions (when I’m guiding others). It was great just to sit back and let Joel do his magic. I learned a lot in that one day about all of the little things that lead up to success.
Joel is the most passionate hunter I’ve ever been around when it comes to turkey hunting. What people need to understand is a mature tom to Joel is like a 170″ buck to deer hunters or a 10 lb. walleye to an angler. He seriously views it in the same light. It’s part of his being and I can guarantee you that he thinks about turkey hunting every day of his life.
It was pretty funny to listen to us in the blind. When we would see some deer, I would say, “cool, here comes some more deer. I wonder if they are starting to grow some antlers”.
Then Joel would say “#$%#@ deer, they always screw up my hunt!” 
Great job Joel! Good luck in Wisconsin.
For a video recap and highlight from this hunt, check out the IDO Hunting video:
IDO Turkey Hunt
Joel
nice tom and like the film