When a brother has a tag, you help him fill it right? What about when you have two brothers with two tags hunting in two different areas? First off, let me just say that neither of my brothers need my help in filling a turkey tag. Both have plenty of birds under their belts, but it’s fun to tag along and be a part of the hunt. But in order to tag along, I was forced with a 50/50 choice of which one to go with in the hopes of tagging a bird. Let’s just say I chose the wrong brother.
Being that this story is second hand, I’ll do my best not to embellish. After being called back to work the day before his turkey season, Jerry had a grand total of 4 hours. Yep, a few hours spanning two late afternoon hunts to fill a MN turkey tag. What he had going for him was a ton of scouting going into his season. Upon sneaking into the woodlot he was hunting, he immediately boogered 3 longbeards, but knew there were plenty more. Eventually, a bird fired up on its own, and got it to respond to his calling. The bird sounded crazy, pacing back and forth, gobbling his head off. Jerry took a gamble by moving to where he thought he last heard the bird as it was gobbling off on one of its “paces.” After some cat/mouse, the gobbler came close, and he sealed the deal with a single cluck. The bird immediately broke strut and closed the distance. His 10 gauge wagon-tongue of a shotgun boomed heavy, and at 20 yards, we weren’t surprised when we saw the damage. Did I mention from start to finish this story spanned the time of only 45 minutes? Life and turkey hunting is not fair.
Meanwhile, my other brother Steve and I were trying to reconnect with a bachelor group that we had seen the day before and that morning while scouting. It never did happen despite our very best efforts. We saw many hens wandering aimlessly, and have been seeing them at all times of day throughout this “E” season. This is a sure sign that nesting is in full progress with most of the available hens. It’s also why the gobbling on the roost and throughout the day has been on fire……which doesn’t do much good when your brothers can’t hunt until 6pm-close.
Steve and I still had a great hunt, which included recovering a good set of antlers from a dead buck we found in the woods. One less rat with hooves to spoil my turkey hunt. Kidding deer guys! Jerry came over with his bird and we got a chance to re-live the hunt and watch the light fade in the western sky. We also got a chance to take some stats on Jerry’s bird. BBD as Chris Walls would say!
STATS
Weight – 24lbs
Spurs – 1″
Beard – 10 1/16″
Score – 64.125 – TROPHY!
Sweet!!!
Congrats to the Nelson Brothers!
Sharing time with your family& friends in the woods is what it is alll about IMO.
Nice report and recap Joel.
That was a nice buck too. 
good read joel congrats to your bro
good story
intersting find. Looks like the buck’s right G1 is split, how about the left?
Yep, left and right are split. They’re more like sticker points however with them starting nearer the base than off of the same point.
Landowner’s a hunter too, and didn’t know anything about a deer being wounded in their area that wasn’t found. No arrow near/in it, and everything was far too deteriorated to tell what really happened.
Joel
Great recap Joel and congrats to your brother!
45 minutes??? 
It’s amazing sometimes how everything comes together so fast. 
Part II –
Tonight my brother Steve was en-route to scout another property, when lo and behold, the birds we’ve been after were feeding on a hillside. Right out in front of God and everybody. Who could resist the temptation to do battle with an old foe?
He raced down the pasture to get into position, being more aggressive than our past hunts, knowing he only had late afternoons to close the deal. Just as with brother Jerry, he spooked a few and thought it was all over. He recollected himself, made a few calls, and the same bird we saw two days earlier, the one that cut off our calls, was at 50 yards cutting off his calls again.
The bird left his two hens to seek out that hen in the weeds, and my brother put him down hard at 30 paces. Just like that, over again. It turned out to be one of those superjakes. This was a bird that was king of the jakes he was with, and I believe to be the dominant bird of the group. This includes the mature tom he was with. On rare occasions, an ultra-aggressive jake that was an early hatch last year will take over the clan. That’s especially true when the jakes outnumber the toms.
This bird ended up having a 5″ beard, weighed 18lbs 2oz, and had 1/4″ and 3/8″ spurs.
After successive phone calls from my brothers, I feel like I’m being forced to report that once again, I wasn’t with to take part in the hunt. The common thread in the two kills once again, is my absence. Which of course they feel has something to do with their success.
Once again, neither life nor turkey hunting is fair.
Joel
WOW! That’s 3 late afternoon/evening toms for the Nelson Brothers!
Congratulatons to all and great job making the most of your hunts!
Nicely done Joel and Bros.
Congrats to both the Nelson brothers for getting the job done!
Sounds like you guys had some fun and frustrating times…isn’t that what turkey hunting is all about! That’s what keeps you coming back every year for more. 
Nice job guys! Sounds like no turkeys are safe around your family.
great job