iDoHunting.com: Southeastern Minnesota Turkey Report

Minnesota’s “B” season opened up this Monday, and as far as fellow IDO Pro-Staffer Brad Juaire and I were concerned, it hit the ground and never stopped running! We were fortunate enough to be greeted with very active birds, despite the difficult weather that produced 20+ mph wind gusts with periodic rain and cool temperatures. From opening to close, the hunt saw nary a dull moment, which kept our spirits high and our confidence bolstered.

Locating some toms

James Holst and Brad Juaire joined in the fun the night before with some last minute archery target practice, as well as some scouting and roosting of birds. Freshest information is always best when turkey scouting is concerned, but the recent rain and cooler night had the birds very quiet at roost time. Locator calls failed to produce a gobble, and so did the real thing as a few barred owls squared off right at sunset. A few fly-up cackles from hens, as well as a distant gobble or two had us confident in our morning location. During the early season, find the hens, and the gobblers will almost surely be in-tow.

Morning broke with a thick fog, but the turkeys were there in force. Early hen fly-downs into the field (6AM) along with a massive hen fight and fighting purrs galore had the gobblers fired up often. Six mature toms followed their hens not 70 yards from our position, seemingly uninterested in the decoys and calling save a few courtesy gobbles. An old crafty bird snuck up behind the blind nearly a ½ hour later, but spooked from the b-mobile decoy. Not much later after that, we called in two jakes that strutted majestically down the hillside, who were later joined by another five jakes that held court amongst our decoy spread. It was easy to pass on those birds given the intense gobbler activity we’d already seen right before our eyes. The rest of the day was a cat and mouse game with a pile of gobblers/jakes with only 2-3 hens. Each time we presented a threat to their toms, the hens would simply march their gobblers off and up the hill. It’s tough to win that game, so we opted for yet another property I’d scouted heavily in the pre-season. Here lived a good gobbler or two, including one distinctive bird with a big gap in his tail-fan. That bird was in the hayfield when we drove by, so we scrambled to make a sneak to the other fieldside and setup. Another move in closer was required to get his attention, and when he came down the hillside to our setup, he had a friend who was bigger!

They both couldn’t yet see the dekes, and were starting to skirt left, so I clucked and soft-yelped on my Quaker Boy mouth call directionally, in order to steer them right and out into the field. Both crossed under the barbed wire, and proceeded to the dekes. The larger bird spooked on the draw, but was still killable, though the other bird presented the best shot which I quickly took. THUNK!!! The quartering-towards bird took the 2-blade, rage-studded arrow just above his right breast, quartering through the vitals, and lodging in the spine. The bird flipped on the shot, then scurried back up and over the embankment, only to die just as soon as I reached him. What a hunt!!!! I need to thank Brad and James for their participation and help, particularly Brad who kept the blind from blowing away, and provided some great company and good times. The bird wasn’t a monster, but I’ll take him anyday of the week. – STATS – Weight – 23lbs., 12oz. Spurs – 7/8”. Beard – 8 3/4”.