Turkey hunting has always been a passion of mine and I introduced it to my wife – Tina over 7 years ago. She soon caught the same fire as me and was quickly becoming an addicted turkey hunter. This year Tina drew a tag in central MN for one of the later seasons. It was a bit of a chore trying to get off work and juggle schedules but we finally etched out a couple of days.
The first morning we were in the big XL Covert Blind where I killed a tom last year with my bow and where Tina had killed one two years ago. It’s a small food plot right in the middle of a big woodlot and it’s a central hub for the turkeys to cross. As soon as daylight approached we heard a gobble behind us and he responded to my calls but between us and him was a swamp that he would have to cross or walk all the way around. Needless to say, he wanted no part of that and he did never did show himself.
Picked Cornfield where we set up along with the DSD Full Strut Tom Decoy
Thanks to my Uncle, we were able to obtain permission to hunt on another property a few miles away from our land. We did some light scouting in the afternoon so we would know where we had to go in the dark the next morning. The land had great structure including picked cornfields, mature woodlots for roosting, two big gravel pits in the center of the property and a river flowing down the east side of land. The plan was simple, stand in the middle of the big picked cornfield, wait for a gobble, and then set up on them.
Later on that afternoon, we set up on the same tom that gobbled at us in the morning putting ourselves in between him and his roosting area. After a few deer walked by us at 20 yards, he finally gobbled and it sounded like maybe he was in the south part of the food plot where we were in the morning. Go figure… He gobbled a few times and ended up roosting about a hundred yards away from where he did the night before. We had a decision to make – do we set up on him again or hunt the other property? This tom was not very responsive so we decided to go in blind to the other property.
The next morning we went to the new property and hauled all the gear with us into the middle of the big picked cornfield. Soon after, we heard a couple of gobbles down by the river, but I wasn’t sure if they were on our side. Daylight was breaking fast.
Finally we heard another gobble and this tom was pretty hot. However, he was way across the other side of the property and we had to cover a lot of ground, walk through a rock quarry and then set up on top of it in a short period of time. We did just that, lugging all the gear in tow (blind, decoys shotgun, chairs, and video camera/tripod). I was trucking along with a man on a mission, still recovering from knee surgery and I ended up taking a digger right in the mud. I had so much stuff on my back, I couldn’t even get back on my feet without leaning on Tina. LOL…
The sun was rising fast so we scrambled to get everything set up. The tom went silent for a bit, and I was thinking maybe he was already on the ground and had spotted us in the skyline on top of the rock quarry. However, soon after he fired off another gobble. Whew! We had to draw him across a fence line and then through a picked cornfield covering 250 yards where we were positioned on top of the rock quarry. It was as close as we could get. It was not going to be easy but at least we could see his every move.
The tom gobbled at everything – crows, cows, blue jays along with my calls. Finally, we spotted him and he was just inside the fence line. There he stood and gobbled while strutting and pacing back and forth. This went on for over a half hour! He just didn’t want to cross that fence. I started to get a bit more aggressive with him and it didn’t seem to matter. Eventually he worked down the fence row away from us and we didn’t see him for awhile.
Another cherished memory!
About 10 minutes later, I finally saw him cutting across the cornfield working his way towards the rock quarry. On this path, he would be walking by us parallel at 150 yards. I decided to remain quiet for about 10 minutes and start all over so to speak. He finally gobbled again on his own and I softly yelped back to him. He gobbled back right away, went into full strut and turned towards us. Hmmm…. A minute later he gobbled again, I softly yelped, he gobbled back, went into full strut and took a few more steps towards us. This was the first time I actually got a good response from him. This process was repeated many more times and he was ever so slowly closing the distance. I was thinking that it was due to all my calling, but then soon realized there were two hens right behind our blind a mere 10 yards away. One of these hens started yelping along with me and then the tom picked up the pace. The problem now was the hens were walking towards him and I thought the game would be soon over. However, to my surprise the tom walked right past the hens and was now focused on the full strut DSD tom decoy that we had put out. I stopped calling and just let him come. He was coming in hard to our right and out of my video camera view. I told Tina to take him through the mesh screen as soon as she got a good shot and not worry about getting the kill on video. Being closer to the window then me, Tina couldn’t see him yet and he was getting really close – almost too close. The spitting and drumming was so loud, we could feel it in our chests! Finally he angled a bit and then she saw him, squeezed the trigger and dropped him at mere 14 yards.
Wow! What a hunt! The tom must have gobbled over 200 times for over an hour until his last breath. Tina was so excited and happy to put another tom on the ground – her 6th one in 6 years! Way to go girl! After a few photos and video recap, we packed everything back up and headed back to the cabin with smiles on our faces.
I’m thankful for another cherished memory that will be forever etched in my memory. I’m also very grateful and feel fortunate to have a spouse in my life that‘s as passionate as I am towards turkey hunting. It’s our one time a year, where we get to spend some quality time together and away from our everyday busy life raising a family and both of us having a career. Soon we will not have a lot of quality time together. Tomorrow our son Nick who suffers from cerebral palsy and autism will be having major surgery on both of his legs in order for him to be able to work straighter as an adult. He’s endured so many other surgeries over the years including one last year on his back where they inserted a titanium rod. It’s very difficult trying to explain to Nick on why he needs these surgeries and why he has to go through so much pain. Needless to say, it will be a very trying time for Nick along with Tina as he slowly begins the long recovery process. I guess that is why I cherish these hunts and our time together as much as I do and I will never take that for granted. The ironic thing is that before we know it, time will go by fast and time will heal. Nick will eventually recover from his leg surgeries and we will see his little smiling face again and soon after we will be listening for more gobbles in the dark.