Turkeys, laughs and memories

Has anyone noticed that winter seems to have a death grip on the upper midwest this year? I’m not sure why Ma Nature is so upset with us, but she sure keeps throwing the challenges our way. I kicked off the 2011 hunting season with good friend Brad Juaire on his family land in north central Mn on April 14th. We arrived at the “Mecca” about 3PM surprised by the unseasonably cool temps. We quickly unloaded enough stuff so we could access the blinds. We knew right where we wanted to set the first Covert, in the same location Brad was able to fill his 2010 tag with his bow. This central location on the property has several logging trails that form a great intersection and the turkeys are constantly working through this area. As we pulled into our parking spot, I noticed one bird, then two, then three. We bumped a group of 5-8 birds. Darn it anyhow! We didn’t let it dampen our spirits though. We got our blind setup and decided to leave the area until morning. We needed to get settled into the cabin however the turkeys we had just spooked had other thoughts. As we got closer to the cabin, we spotted this group of birds in a food plot right next to the cabin. So, we shut the truck off, sat and watched from a safe distance. A couple different times we had almost convinced ourselves to attempt a stealth mission. However we both agreed we didn’t want to pressure these birds anymore than we already had. It was fun to sit and watch them for well over an hour. As we watched the birds work up and down the now barren corn plot, deer started to trickle from the woods. What started out as 2 ended up being over 20 deer for the evening. What a great way to kick off a hunt. Our biggest challenge now was deciding where to hunt the next AM…

A simple, but effective setup

We woke up early on Friday AM, I hope that rush of anticipation never fades. Not even the northeast winds at 20 mph could wipe the smile from my face. After a couple powder sugar donuts and a few swigs on the root beer, I was officially ready to get the hunt started. We chose to setup another Covert blind where we last saw the group of birds the previous night. When I stepped out on the deck one thing was very clear. I didn’t bring enough cold weather clothes. Luckily our location was out of the wind a bit. We settled into the blind and got situated while the woods were still very quiet. Unfortunately, it remained that way. As we sat at the edge of another devastated corn plot, I noticed a black blob working through several rows over. Brad’s calling couldn’t entice a comeback. About 15 minutes later, we finally got our first response of the season from a hen. She was close, but where? Soon I could see 4-5 different black blobs in the corn out the side of the blind working exactly as we had hoped. Funny thing I’m learning about turkeys, the second you think they are headed the right direction, boom they are moving in another. Then I spotted the coveted blue and white head of a gobbler and just like that he disappeared back into the corn with the other hens. The woods went quiet again. As we sat devising another game plan, we heard our first official gobble. Then another, then another, then another. We looked at each other and decided to grab the shotgun and the camera and put a sneak on these very vocal birds. With the hard easterly winds, these gobbles sure sounded close, but they weren’t. After trekking a good 3/4 of a mile right past our original blind we were about where we wanted to setup. Suddenly Brad pointed to the left, two deer. About then they decided to get out of dodge, along with the other 6-8 deer I hadn’t seen. As the herd of deer charged through our flock of Toms, the woods went silent again. It was still early, so we headed to blind #2. We sat for a couple hours without a peep. By now we are both getting cold and hungry. I don’t think it took much to convince either of us a hot lunch in the cabin was in order. We spent most of that afternoon driving around looking at the country, Brad sharing hunting stories from years gone by. When we returned to the cabin we decided to go get our decoys put away from the 1st sit of the morning. As we walked back to the cabin, our first shed hunting partner arrived. As Brad was showing off his food plot behind the cabin, I spotted a group of birds headed to the same spot as we busted them the night before. I grabbed my gun and was off to intersect them before they entered the food plot. I wasn’t able to get to the tree I really wanted to sit by due to the openness of the terrain. So I sat and hoped the turkeys would offer me a 40 yard shot. About 15 minutes after sitting down, I spotted my first hen…Then the rest of the birds, 4 other hens and two toms. The first 3 hens walked from right to left right at 40 yards, I was thinking perfect, now just follow them you silly toms. Of course they didn’t, they skirted my position at 65 yards. I snuck a little closer to the food plot and hoped to get a shot, but as the sleet and rain were pelting my face and my shivering became more and more violent, I decided to call it a day. As I made my way back to the cabin, I could see Brad on the deck giving me hand signals to circle south of the cabin and to hurry up! Sure enough I got to the cabin in time to see the same flock of birds that locked us down the night before in the same spot. About that time, another of our shed hunting party was on his way to the cabin. The birds got spooked a bit and headed for the woods. Brad suggested I should go sit in the blind behind the cabin but my blood still hadn’t warmed enough. I also didn’t think those birds would work towards all the commotion of 4 guys unpacking and getting ready for a fun weekend. Another lesson, turkeys don’t do what I think they should. Sure enough, 30 minutes later the birds were walking down the path behind the cabin right for the blind I should have been sitting in. I think I heard something uttered to the affect of “I told you so”. We made one last hunt that night trying to get in front of these birds, unfortunately they outsmarted us and soon it was dark. At least we now had a solid game plan for the morning. Move the Covert to the last place we saw this flock and get some sleep.

Success

Saturday AM, 5:30. I wake up to see Brad all dressed and ready to hunt. I was excited, but this guy is nuts. One donut, a little root beer and out the door we went. We were greeted by a light north breeze, 2 inches of snow that was still falling. Not exactly what I wanted to see but at the least the wind had lain down. The first 45 minutes, we could hear several gobblers off to the NW across a huge slew. I would guess them at least 800 yards away. While a bit depressing we couldn’t get to them, it was fun to listen to them. Finally after calling several times we got a response from another hen. She was very vocal and not happy some other birds were on her turf. Each time she would yelp, Brad would cut her off getting her more and more excited. Then as the two of them are going back and forth, the glorious gobble came for the same direction and he was close. Not a minute later, the hen comes charging into the food plot we were in. She was yelping and my best guess is cursing out our DSD decoys. Our blind is facing to the west, the birds are coming from the woods to the south. Brad is sitting to my left behind the video camera and I’ve got the trusty 870 Super Mag just waiting to test out the Federal Premium 5 shot. Brad asks me if I can see him, I say NO. About then I looked down at the view finder on the camera. There he is in full strut. I feel my pulse increase drastically. Soon I could actually see the tom with my own eyes, but still couldn’t shoot due to the camera. The tom stayed in full strut the whole time he was in the open. Slowly moving to our right. When he cleared the camera, I asked “do you got him?” Brad was ready, now all I had to do was make the shot. The 870 bucked hard with this load and it did its job immediately. The old tom was down and I started to giggle…then Brad. Just like a couple school kids. I retrieved my bird that was just 29 paces from the blind. He was heavy and beautiful. We snapped a few pictures and headed for the cabin to enjoy a hot breakfast. The shed hunters all met us outside to high five and hear the story. Rodney said the shot went off at 7:13. A day and time I’ll likely remember forever. The bird weighed in at 26lbs even, 11.5” beard with a 1 & 1/8th inch spur. He was missing the other. A true MN trophy!

Brad and I enjoying another successful hunt together

The remainder of the weekend was spent looking for sheds and having some quality guy time. Brad has 3 good bucks who survived the winter and our goal was to find those sheds. Well, we found 2 of the 3 so I think that is pretty darn lucky. A quick thanks to Dean and Craig for being camp chefs, Rodney for the never ending ribbing. I have to give a special thanks to Brad and Roger for allowing me to hunt on such a special piece of property. It means a lot to me. I can’t wait until the next time I can spend some time together in the woods with these guys.