Southwest WI Turkey Report – "F" Season May 20-24

The last tag of the year is usually a bittersweet one to fill. On one hand, a guy gets behind in his work and family life, yet on the other, turkey season is too good to let another 365 go by. If you do it right however, that last call, last shot, and last hike out of the woods is as much a relief as it is a regret. And so it was with my Wisconsin turkey season ’09.

I consider myself extremely lucky to have met Brad Juaire, a fellow friend and hunter who takes hunting as seriously as I do. Brad’s an admitted whitetail-guy, but he’s no slouch in the turkey woods either. Like myself, he’s been on a couple-week turkey binge that leaves us able to sleep on-command. He was kind enough this year to invite me to an area he’s been hunting for years in SW Wisconsin. A virtual Valhalla of wild turkey, we worked countless birds, and spotted numerous toms each day. Encounter after encounter, we were blessed with a great season in the woods. As with any later season, you encounter birds that have been worked before. Sometimes they’re tight-lipped, or give you a courtesy gobble and about 30 seconds before vacating……other times they run the other way when you call! Experience in these situations has taught me to lose the pride, and look for a dumb one if you have the luxury……and so goes my strategy. Work long enough and hard enough until you encounter a bird or birds that are un-pressured and willing to work right.

Day one was a blast-furnace. Temps approaching 90, and winds gusting to 40mph made blind-hunting difficult. We did our best to catch up with 6 toms and give Brad a bow-shot, but to no avail. A big gobbler we worked into the field was heading our direction until a hen popped up in the field corner. Game over. This experience was repeated several-fold, again and again, most notably, when we had a tom working our direction off of a corn-stubble field down a field road. Just then, the farmer pulled into the field to plant. Game over once again. Thursday was a bust as we could only devote a few hours to hunting, but we put our heads together that night and came up with a plan.

Brad was hunting with "Little G" from IDO here, and I was to be off on my own, gun in-tow. When the farmer who’s land I’d planned to hunt seemed interested in going, I immediately jumped at the chance to put his knowledge of the birds and land to good use. Rick knows the woods, and those birds so much better than I could possibly ever hope to! Right off of the roost we worked a smart old bird who gobbled into 50 yards, all around and behind us, without showing his red-head once. And 10 minutes later, another bird worked and and did the same thing. Our hasty setup in the noisy woodlot was poor, and although Rick did his job, I failed to do mine. After two more encounters before 7AM, Rick was off to milk cows, and I was left to go after a pair that was gobbling every 30 seconds. I slipped down (literally) into this massive pasture, and proceeded to fire the birds up with a Quaker Boy Banshee Box call, then dropped them like a bad habit. The silence was tough, for both of us. 30 minutes later, they, plural, strutted into the pasture 150 yards from me. As they proceeded to head directly towards me, I notice one has an outstanding beard. As luck would have it, he scoots to 45-50 yards to my right, while the bird in the pictures sticks his neck out at 30. Bird in the hand? Out with a bang, and I can’t thank Brad and Rick enough. I might still get out and call for some friends, or do some video-taping, but it’s been a great season. Thanks to everyone here for being supportive and for all the tips and advice!!!

STATS – Tom

Weight – 22lbs, 6oz.

Spurs – 3/4"

Beard – 9 3/8"

SCORE – 56.125

Joel