Boxerboxer
WKR
I’ve been trying to kill a turkey since 2017 when I shotgun hunted a private farm in IL. I missed so many opportunities that year. “That’s way too many gobbles to be anything but a hunter calling” prevented me from going after several turkeys, and not knowing what a Jake was prevented me from pulling the trigger when I had one at 7 yards. Ultimately the only thing I brought home was a bunch of morels which admittedly was awesome.
The next year I moved to MN too early to hunt IL but too late to have my new drivers license in time to hunt MN.
I did some scouting in 2019 but had no idea where to find birds and never bought a tag.
In 2020 I got some intel on some public that was a bit further than I’d like, and opening morning, with my son in the blind I called a turkey in to 15 yards… and then put an arrow in the dirt right next to it. I never got that close to a bird that year. 2021 for reasons I won’t get into I wasn’t able to get back to the spot where I almost killed the previous year, so I scouted hard closer to home and found some birds. I saw some nice toms but wasn’t able to get any to come in.
This year I hunted a little in the early season but decided l would take this week off to have a chance at really understanding what birds are doing and have a better chance to make it happen. I hunted every day but Wednesday, and was able to get a good idea of what was going on. Friday AM was horribly windy (25 with big gusts) but I set up in a spot where I had seen birds move from the roost on Monday and sure enough about 7:15 there were 4 toms gobbling their asses off at about 40 yards. I did a little soft calling and they listened for a bit but ultimately decided to skirt me on the way to where they were going. Fortunate a bearded hen took interest, circled around my blind to where my decoys were, and gave me a shot and the rest is history.
I love seeing turkeys up close. They’re a weird looking bird but their feathers are absolutely beautiful.
I got her plucked, butchered and packaged yesterday, clipped all the wing feathers to use for fletching arrows, and gave the beard and fan salted to display. Made a batch of broth with the carcass and ate a small piece of breast as well.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The next year I moved to MN too early to hunt IL but too late to have my new drivers license in time to hunt MN.
I did some scouting in 2019 but had no idea where to find birds and never bought a tag.
In 2020 I got some intel on some public that was a bit further than I’d like, and opening morning, with my son in the blind I called a turkey in to 15 yards… and then put an arrow in the dirt right next to it. I never got that close to a bird that year. 2021 for reasons I won’t get into I wasn’t able to get back to the spot where I almost killed the previous year, so I scouted hard closer to home and found some birds. I saw some nice toms but wasn’t able to get any to come in.
This year I hunted a little in the early season but decided l would take this week off to have a chance at really understanding what birds are doing and have a better chance to make it happen. I hunted every day but Wednesday, and was able to get a good idea of what was going on. Friday AM was horribly windy (25 with big gusts) but I set up in a spot where I had seen birds move from the roost on Monday and sure enough about 7:15 there were 4 toms gobbling their asses off at about 40 yards. I did a little soft calling and they listened for a bit but ultimately decided to skirt me on the way to where they were going. Fortunate a bearded hen took interest, circled around my blind to where my decoys were, and gave me a shot and the rest is history.
I love seeing turkeys up close. They’re a weird looking bird but their feathers are absolutely beautiful.
I got her plucked, butchered and packaged yesterday, clipped all the wing feathers to use for fletching arrows, and gave the beard and fan salted to display. Made a batch of broth with the carcass and ate a small piece of breast as well.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
