Go Time. Spring Turkey. truck is loaded.

[GaryH]

5 hours ago, gimruis said:

 The advantage to using a bow here is that the season is much longer than with a shotgun.  If you use a shotgun (like I do), then you can only hunt for one 7-day season.  If you hunt with a bow, you can hunt for over a month.

Wow. Here in Pa. It’s the same for both. A month long. 1 gobbler or 2 with the bonus tag. Hen hunting fall only 1 allowed.

 

[gimruis]

2 minutes ago, GaryH said:

Wow. Here in Pa. It’s the same for both. A month long. 1 gobbler or 2 with the bonus tag. Hen hunting fall only 1 allowed.

 

You probably have more turkeys than we do here in MN.  Turkeys do not inhabit the entire state here.  The northern 1/3 of the state is basically all heavy timber and they do not live there.

 

It wasn't that long ago when you actually needed to put in for a tag through a license system and you'd only draw about every other year.  Our turkey population has expanded and increased to the point where they discarded the lottery system and now you can hunt whichever season you want to.

[GaryH]

Just now, gimruis said:

You probably have more turkeys than we do here in MN.  Turkeys do not inhabit the entire state here.  The northern 1/3 of the state is basically all heavy timber and they do not live there.

 

It wasn't that long ago when you actually needed to put in for a tag through a license system and you'd only draw about every other year.  Our turkey population has expanded and increased to the point where they discarded the lottery system and now you can hunt whichever season you want to.

Need to give a lot of credit to the NWTF for the increase in Turkey population thru out the country. We’re fortunate here to have turkeys all over the state. Good luck when your season gets going.

[gimruis]

Just now, GaryH said:

Need to give a lot of credit to the NWTF for the increase in Turkey population thru out the country.

Minnesota did not have a reproducing population of wild turkeys prior to 1973.  In 1973, the State of Minnesota traded the State of Missouri some ruffed grouse for some wild turkeys.  Those turkeys were released in southeastern Minnesota, and have expanded since.  Its an amazing conservation success story.

[TnRiver46]

On 3/25/2023 at 2:35 PM, Darth-Baiter said:

Here. 
 

 

Nice one!!!

 

I’ve got a buddy that shot a bearded hen, now that’ll confuse ya! 

[GaryH]

39 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Nice one!!!

 

I’ve got a buddy that shot a bearded hen, now that’ll confuse ya! 

Bearded hens are more common than most people think. I usually see at least one each year. 

[12poundbass]

4 hours ago, gimruis said:

Minnesota did not have a reproducing population of wild turkeys prior to 1973.  In 1973, the State of Minnesota traded the State of Missouri some ruffed grouse for some wild turkeys.  Those turkeys were released in southeastern Minnesota, and have expanded since.  Its an amazing conservation success story.

Michigan was the same way. The southern part of the LP had the birds. They started the conversation efforts sometime in the 70’s. Some areas still have a lottery, but most are just buy over the counter.

[Darth-Baiter]

On 3/25/2023 at 2:06 PM, 12poundbass said:

Rio Grande or Merriam? Beautiful fan either way. 

we have Rio's only.  i would love a Merriams.  one day.

[GaryH]

Christmas wreath I made after my first grand slam. 

Eastern, Rio, Osceola, Merriam feathers

[bigbassin']

On 3/27/2023 at 12:25 PM, Darth-Baiter said:

My first 5 birds were taken with archery.  I used mechanical broadheads on them.  
 

the funnest method by far. 

I seem to see more turkey bow hunting content out of California than other states.

 

I’ve still got to get one with a shotgun before I attempt it with a bow.

On 3/27/2023 at 8:37 AM, gimruis said:

I don't think the same broadheads are used for deer as for wild turkeys.  Maybe I'm wrong, but the archery hunters I know definitely use different broadheads on their arrows.

 

Archery hunting for wild turkey is extremely difficult.  Here in MN the average success for spring turkey with a bow is about 10%. 

I believe you’re correct, seems to be a lot of 2 blade mechanicals from what I’ve seen rather than a fixed tip. 10% actually seems pretty good compared to looking at Florida or Georgia, although I’d imagine your pretty decent at it if you’re trying with the bow.

[GaryH]

You’ll see most archery hunters hunting for turkeys will use a ground blind unless they’re using a crossbow. It’s a blast using a bow for turkeys. 

[12poundbass]

Morning one: low to mid 40’s little to no wind hunting my friends 20 acre property. 6poundbass and I get out, we’re listening and listening, but hear nothing. We go from one edge of the woods to the other making calls with no answer. The geese were plentiful so we were hoping they would make the turkeys gobble. Nope! They finally left, we get back to the east edge of the property, make a couple calls, and finally get a response! He was on the neighbors property which we don’t have permission to hunt this year. We got a couple more responses but he was pretty far out there and couldn’t coax him in. We hung it up around 9 and decided to go for a drive.
 

The evening was windy and rainy so we decided not to go out. Turns out, that decision was a good one because another friend bagged a good sized Tom that morning and said we could hunt his farm land. This gives us another 300 or so acres to hunt. He showed us around last night and we saw a couple hens around 7 pm by one of his blinds so we were confident they’d roost fairly close.
 

Day two: 32 degrees, burr! Super quiet (except for the dang geese). Not a single peep from the turkeys in the roost. As soon as the sun came up the wind picked up! We sat for a while then decided to creep through the woods checking a couple fields with no luck. We didn’t see or hear any. I’m pretty sure with the below average cold, wind, and snow flurries this morning they weren’t in the mood to be cooperative. 
 

The two mornings of hunting so far we could’ve limited out on geese, ducks, deer, and sandhill cranes (if there were a season for them), but not turkeys. 
 

We have a month and a half so I’m confident 6poundbass will bag his first turkey by the end of May.

 

Stay tuned! 

[gimruis]

22 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

I’m pretty sure with the below average cold, wind, and snow flurries this morning they weren’t in the mood to be cooperative. 

That's been my experience too with spring turkey hunting.  They generally prefer the warmer, sunny, calm days.  And when you get the rain/snow, cold, and high winds, its not very good.

[12poundbass]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

That's been my experience too with spring turkey hunting.  They generally prefer the warmer, sunny, calm days.  And when you get the rain/snow, cold, and high winds, its not very good.

The only good thing about this cold and wind is it’s slowing down their desire to make babies, so they’re not henned up yet. This coming weekend looks promising though weather wise. 

[TnRiver46]

Two of my buddies have both killed a turkey with .410s they bought for their kids

 

[Bird]

I've only taken 1 turkey with a bow in over 40 years of archery hunting...... they have good eyesight.

[12poundbass]

Trip #3

 

The weather has stabilized and the sun decided to make an appearance late yesterday so we decided to head out. We get to our first spot, make some calls, nothing. We saw several tracks in the mud so they’re there. After about an hour and multiple calls with no return, we head across the road to our next spot. Along the way I found a nice opening inside the woods that looks like a great roosting spot with plenty of nice white pines and a landing pad for them. I’ll be close to that area come Saturday morning. 
 

We get to spot number two, same deal, plenty of calling with no response. We called it a night. Of course after I get home the land owner texts me saying he was out doing chicken chores and heard gobbling across the road! ?

 

I’ve never had much luck hunting turkeys at night. They’re spread out, hard to find, and don’t communicate as much. I’ve only managed one evening turkey over the years, which turned out to be my biggest ever and won me a 12ga turkey gun so there’s that! ?

[jminer79]

Taking my son out for his first time next weekend. Starts on the 1st here in NY. Got a sweet spot all picked out already. 

[Darth-Baiter]

My brother bought that dedicated.410 shotgun purpose built turkey gun.  Break open single shot.  He has been hammering birds out to 40 yards. 

Good luck everyone!!!

[throttleplate]

I could have gotten out of the car yesterday and grabbed one for ya. Wild turkey are struttin in the neighborhoods here in fargo nd. They are a problem for home owners whom live by the woods and river. I went to the VA yesterday and right outside the VA building which is by the woods a couple were meandering around.

[TnRiver46]

5 hours ago, throttleplate said:

I could have gotten out of the car yesterday and grabbed one for ya. Wild turkey are struttin in the neighborhoods here in fargo nd. They are a problem for home owners whom live by the woods and river. I went to the VA yesterday and right outside the VA building which is by the woods a couple were meandering around.

Make sure you hit it before you grab it, they fight back! 

[12poundbass]

9 hours ago, throttleplate said:

I could have gotten out of the car yesterday and grabbed one for ya. Wild turkey are struttin in the neighborhoods here in fargo nd. They are a problem for home owners whom live by the woods and river. I went to the VA yesterday and right outside the VA building which is by the woods a couple were meandering around.

The ones strutting around are easy pickings, grab them right by the legs. ?

[throttleplate]

13 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Make sure you hit it before you grab it, they fight back! 

 

[gimruis]

Well the first two days of my turkey season have been pretty good.  On Wednesday I saw a pair of toms on the field strutting  but they never came any closer than about 75 yards.

 

This morning I had 3 hens, 3 toms, and 7 jakes walk across the field in front of me at about 80 yards around 9am.  Unfortunately, this is the closest any of them came.  But I am seeing (and hearing) turkeys each day so far, so I will be patient and hopefully a legal bird is willing to walk close enough to take a shot before my season ends.

 

This sort of thing seems to happen to me every spring.  I've pinned down the roost, hear them gobbling, and often seem them on the field, but the challenge is getting one within range.

[12poundbass]

On 4/27/2023 at 5:52 PM, gimruis said:

Well the first two days of my turkey season have been pretty good.  On Wednesday I saw a pair of toms on the field strutting  but they never came any closer than about 75 yards.

 

This morning I had 3 hens, 3 toms, and 7 jakes walk across the field in front of me at about 80 yards around 9am.  Unfortunately, this is the closest any of them came.  But I am seeing (and hearing) turkeys each day so far, so I will be patient and hopefully a legal bird is willing to walk close enough to take a shot before my season ends.

 

This sort of thing seems to happen to me every spring.  I've pinned down the roost, hear them gobbling, and often seem them on the field, but the challenge is getting one within range.

I was just talking with the land owner who’s land I’m hunting. He was telling me about his last couple seasons, here today gone tomorrow, hear them in the roost, then go silent once they hit the ground. I ended our conversation with, “turkeys are dumb….until turkey season.”