A weekend of firsts, but hopefully not the last!

The author of this Field Report is IDO Gold Member – John Kutz (Kooty).

This all started last fall when Brad Juaire asked me to come and be the camera man on his WI rifle deer hunt. After meeting a few of the folks from the Durand/Arkansaw area and seeing the country, I could instantly tell why Brad has gravitated to this area for so long. At some point during our hunt, Brad offered to bring me back in the spring to turkey hunt. I of course said YES!!! I’ll hop at any chance to spend time with a quality person and hunter like Brad in such amazing country.

Fast forward 6 months. Brad was in need of a camera man/sherpa again. This time we would be hunting his father’s land in north central Minnesota. I’ve listened to Brad very passionately talk about what it means to hunt his dad’s ground and I couldn’t wait to see this property. As luck would have it, we scored big. See Brad’s report MN Bow Gobbler This really put the fever to kill a tom with my bow into overdrive. All I’ve done in the past two weeks is practice calling and watch as much video on turkey hunting as I could. I also went out and established a relationship with a gentleman who has been kind enough to allow me to hunt his land here in the twin cities metro area. Hopefully more on that after the 14th of May – the MN bow opener. Back to WI. I was lucky enough to draw a tag for the 4th Wisconsin season in zone 4.

Having been out of the hunting game for so long, I feel like a rookie all over again. Throw in a few equipment challenges the last two weeks and let’s just say I was feeling a bit of pressure. However, I knew hunting with someone like Brad would “calm” the nerves. I arrived on Thursday night. Brad and his wife Tina were patiently waiting for me. I got unpacked and semi-ready for the morning hunt. Brad informed me he put some birds to bed just east of our accommodations for the weekend. We all jumped in the truck and headed into town for a pizza and conversation. I got to hear first hand Tina’s story about her hunt and the tom that she harvested earilier in the day. It’s awesome seeing her eyes light up as she tells the story. Great job Tina!!

The alarm sounded off at 4:15AM, but to be honest I had been awake for a good 30 minutes already. I jumped out of bed like it was Christmas morning. I had my gear together and was waiting by the truck like any good ol’ dog would be. I knew we were hunting close, but after a short 3 minute ride we were beginning to load each other down with gear. It’s amazing what it takes to film a hunt. It took about 20 minutes to walk to our spot. After looking it over in the dark we decided on the location.

We are hunting on top of a large ridge that runs east to west. The top/flat is a mix of alfalfa, oats and plowed fields. It’s quite wide. However, the north and south slopes on this ridge are rugged and full of great places for a turkey to live and roost. Shortly after getting the Covert set up and decoys deployed, we heard our first gobble off the roost. Yup, we are in the right spot. Brad did a couple quiet calls and he was immediately cut off by the birds. They knew we were here. Brad called I think two more times while they were on the roost and then we sat patiently. It got a bit quiet after birds hit the ground, but it wasn’t long and we could see two white heads over the top of the alfalfa in the tree line.

We were in the “perfect” spot and this was going to happen fast. So we thought…. Suddenly the birds started working to our right for no apparent reason. We lost sight of them and my heart sank a bit. It was about that time we could hear a hen putting. We peaked out of the Covert and sure enough to our right was hen out feeding in the field about 80 yards to our right. It wasn’t long and the two gobblers were spotted headed after her. My heart sank as I knew it would be a huge challenge to pull these guys off a live decoy. Brad started to softly pure on the slate call, at least a dozen times. For some odd reason, that purring did the trick. As we both watched, the birds were suddenly on a string headed for our location. I closed the blind window and Brad jumped behind the camera. I readied myself for a shot. What I wasn’t ready for was both birds gobbling just to my right when I couldn’t yet see them. My pulse was already racing and I had to take a huge cleansing breath to settle the nerves.

This was it, the moment of truth. My thoughts were not so much which bird to pick, simply to get a good anchor point and site picture. The first bird came smack dab into the middle of our decoy spread. Something spooked him and he got a bit nervous, but his partner wasn’t. He came to a half strut as I was drawing my bow back. Funny how it came back like a knife through warm butter, gotta love adrenaline. I picked my spot, settled the pin and released. The strutting bird was knocked off his feet and I thought I had my first eastern kill.

Suddenly the bird sprang to its feet and was off to the races. I jumped from the blind and was in hot pursuit until the bird got its wings and was headed for the trees to our north. Brad shouted to stay with him. So I busted down to where he entered the woods. I stopped and started scanning the woods. Nothing and it is dead quiet. I see no movement, nothing. About then Brad arrived on the scene and we split up a bit and started working our way down the ridge, stopping to scan and listen. Every once in a while I’d hear Brad step on a limb and it would sound like a rifle going off, crack. A few more steps and hear crack, crack…crack, crack, crack. Brad is doing his best Usain Bolt impression down a very steep ridge after my bird. I started the angle drill to beat them to the bottom of the ridge. Looking back, we are both darn lucky nobody got hurt.

Brad was able to run past the bird, turn and grab him. The hand to hand warfare began and Brad came out on top. I arrived in time to see the bird was dispatched and to start high fiving. It wasn’t the clean kill I had hoped for, but I’m very happy we were able to recover this bird. After inspecting the bird, I determined I forgot to compensate for the close proximity, 8 yards. A rookie mistake which I’m blaming on the adrenaline rush. I was a half inch from spinal kill or a half inch from missing all together. The Rage 3 blade opened up one heck of a gash in the back of the bird and I’m quite sure he would never have recovered from the injury.

We spent the remainder of the weekend at different spots trying to fill Brad’s zone 4 tag. As it goes with turkey hunting, we were just in the wrong spot or had hens to compete with. Unfortunately after many, many hours in the Covert, no bird, but lots and lots of great memories. To sum up my weekend, a first eastern turkey, a first turkey with a bow, my first time hunting in Wisconsin and tons of great memories.

Thanks to (Rick L.)”Flip” for allowing me to bunk at your house and hunt your land!!!! Thanks to Brad for another great weekend filled with lots of memories. I’ll gladly be your camera man anytime you need bud!