My WI Turkey Season

So, April 22nd – 26th couldn’t come fast enough for my son Adam, my brother Dan, his Daughter Danielle and myself. This season brought some new excitement as we had several new pieces to hunt and we saw lots of birds during our preseason scouting trips. Knowing that the birds were there made it even more exciting the night before opener. Blinds were in place and all we needed to do was wait for that alarm clock to go off….which was set at 4:10 a.m. Opening morning had finally arrived and it found Adam and me snuggled in our Covert blind with dekes out and gobbling just starting all around us. There is nothing quite like that feeling when you know the entire woods is ready to bust with birds. As shooting light approached, we could see deer feeding along the edge of the cut corn field about 70 yards away. We watched them for about 10 minutes when I noticed a black spot in the middle of the field about 300 yards away….the first bird of the season! I put the Nikon bino’s to the first of many hens to be spotted. But the gobbling was still going strong all around us so my hope was that she would feed right past us and pull a couple of gobblers past as well. Well it wasn’t 5 minutes and we had two tom’s coming out of the woods about 400 yards away and they closed in on her with in a matter of seconds. The plan was coming together perfectly. I placed the blind in a pinch point in the field (picture a peanut shell for a field and the blind in the middle) with farthest distance between the two sides was 40 yards. They began to feed our way with the hen doing her best to keep the boys in tow. Well it was about 15 minutes of this when she must have finally noticed our decoys about 150 yards out. Well it didn’t take her long to escort the boys out of the field and up the ridge! My heart sank as all we could do was watch as they followed her…ignoring my calling. Sad to say that was it for the excitement for our opening morning. My son is 11 years old and has been spoiled the last three years with me getting my bird right at day break opening morning…little did he know what was in store for him on this hunt. After that encounter we were only visited by hens the rest of the afternoon. I had packed snacks and drink along with books and his DS to try to keep him entertained during the slow times….and it worked. I was proud of him as we managed to spend 10 hours in the blind on day one but nothing to show for it but a sore back side and a stiff back. So we went back to camp and got just about the same report from the other two hunters. They sat 12 hours in the blind and had no tom sightings and a handful of hens. We knew the birds were there so we decided we would head back out to the same place the following day.

Day two we were greeted with overcast skies and WIND!! Now I can handle rain but that wind is a killer. Unfortunately we spent another 10 hour day in the blind with only a hen flying into our set that morning. We had several hens walking through but no fellas. The worst part was the toms never let out a single gobble for us all day. So needless to say our second day was uneventful. My brother and his daughter were experiencing the same problems that Adam and I were…no sightings and no gobbling. They were positioned about 3/4 of a mile away from us on top of a ridge, so he decides to take Danielle on a walk to see if they can here a tom sound off in the distance. They set out and walk and call, walk and call, and so on. Well they both decide it’s time to take a little nap and set up on next to a huge downfall. As they lay there napping, they hear the sweet sound of a gobble off in the distance…but where did it come from? They walked about 30 yards in the direction they thought he was in and he called again….BINGO! He’s about 60 yards and closing. They set up, called again and within 5 minutes he is strutting 30 yards from them looking for his girlfriend. Dan gives Danielle the green light and she downs her second tom in two years! Nicely done guys…22 1/2 pounder with a 10 1/2" beard. 1 3/16" spurs. This gave us a good excuse to head into Fountain City for some supper and celebration (which for us lasted until about 8:00).

Friday I found myself alone in the blind as my partner decided to sleep in with Danielle at camp. I went back to the blind in hopes of something making his way to the field. My brother decides he will hunt a different piece of property this day. As I begin my soft tree yelps, just as planned, I have my hen fly down to my set up. She walks in and gives my hens a little piece of her mind and walks away. Then I notice another bird across the field…another hen? Nope, this bird has a blue and red head and is making his way towards my set up! My thoughts are that I will take him because I have a friend coming in the morning for his first ever turkey hunt and I was going to take him so I knew this was my last day! It turned out to be a jake and he made his way straight into the decoys. Normally, I would’ve taken him but he was beardless….very young bird and not much too him…so I passed him up! He stays around for about 5 minutes when the hen from earlier sounds off from down the field and he takes off towards her. So, that was my excitement for the morning hunt. It’s now about 10:00 and I’ve had enough….with no gobbles and no real action for three days, I decided it was time to do a little running and gunning of my own. My thoughts are to head straight up the ridge to an open field above me to see if we have action. So I start out…walking about 20 yards and then calling softly. I don’t get 70 yards from the blind when I stop to make a call and BAM…a single shot from the field I was heading too. So that took care of that. I decide to pack up the blind and head back to camp and regroup as now it’s getting warm. As I return to camp I see that Dan has had some success this morning…he shot a jake at about 8:30. So after regrouping and having lunch, Dan and I head to try and fill my tag before our friend Jay arrived that night. Unfortunately, the birds were not moving due to the weather and that turned out to be the story for the rest of the weekend as well.

After a hot Friday afternoon, storms moved in with colder weather and rain and shut down the birds for us. Saturday we did have a close call with a tom that flew into our set and lit about 40 yards from our friend Jay…but a rookie mistake killed him. As the tom was flying in, he moved his gun into position and got busted. That’s alright Jay, we’ll get him the last season now that you know what NOT to do! Sunday brought more rain and more rain…thank god for my new GAMEHIDE Journey Rain gear. I’ve owned several rain suits before but none of them compare to my GAMEHIDE! I bought them specifically for my elk trip this fall but I definitely put them to the test Sunday and they passed with flying colors! Sometimes things are not easy as my son found out this year; sometimes you end up with just a tag sandwich for all your efforts! But I still have this weekend as my wife tries for her first gobbler, May 15th – 17th for the MN archery season and my late season WI tag. It was definitely tough out there with the toms being henned up and the weather conditions not being the best, but if you’re persistent enough then I believe good things will happen.

Good luck to all who are still chasing the mighty Thunder Chickens!