being thats its october,that means its fall turkey season here in Mn.
me and my son Wes have been spending every weekend and i have been spending any day during the week that im not driving out in the woods hunting.
Wes's girlfriend Carly comes with on weekend days that she isnt busy doing other less important things.
its been a long hard fall season,with only a single hen to show for our hard work.
weve spent many days from before sunup to sundown with nothing to show for our efforts.
havent seen norheard any birds other than the single hen we took early in the season.
hunting public land can be tough. this time of year.there are a lot of squirrel hunters,bow hunters,mushroom foragers in the woods which keep the turkey quite and hard to locate.
well i got tired of all this public hunting and pressure,and knowing that where i work there are turkeys that hang out on the property of our lumber yard.
so i asked my boss if it were alright if we hunted behind one of the buildings this weekend,he was kind enough to grant us permission.
we got set up int the ground blind well before sunup today,5:30 am to be exact.sun up wasnt expected until around 7:40 am.
we knew it was going to rain during the morning(no big deal).Wes and Carly asked if i thought the rain would hinder our hunt.i told them it wouldnt and that i have killed more of them sneaky ground buzzards in the rain,than i have on nice sunny days.
at about 8:00 am we heard the birds start to sound off,so i called and they responded.by the calls i knew it was a hen flock with some younger birds in the mix.which is alright because in the fall we can shoot either toms or hens.
they were quit vocal this morning and i kept calling and kept them talking for just over and hour,then we heard one gobble and then they went silent.
Carly and Wes both loved hearing all the different vocalizations that the birds made and i explained how to tell which birds were which from the sounds they make.
Carly was worried that since they went silent that they had disappeared.
i told her that it just meant that they had grouped up for the morning and that they would more than likely come in silent.
about 20 mins later i looked out the back window of the blind and see several birds coming our way.
just as they get into shooting distance,something spooked them and they trotted off in the same direction that they had come from.
i told the kids not to worry that the birds would come back because they didnt fly away or run fast,they just trotted off slowly.
after about a half an hour had passed i called softly on my friction call.and then just waited and kept looking out the back window of the blind.
about 5 minutes after i called i can see the flock coming back up the trial towards us.
i grabbed my binoculars and checked them out before they got into shooting range.8 hens,1 jake and 1 long beard.
i told the kids to get ready to shoot once they were in range,i also told Wes he gets to shoot the long beard since he didnt get a bird in the spring.Carly was to take the jake.
the flock is now in shooting range and start to separate a little,just enough to ensure only the intended targets would get shot.
Wes pokes the barrel of the 835 ulti mag out the window of the blind,puts the tri viz sites on the head of the long beard and lets it bark.the bird dropped right there.
then Carly slips the barrel of the mossberg 500 20 ga out the window and squeezes of a round,but misses the jake and he runs off in to the brush.i tell her shoot a hen.
she lines the bead sight up on a hen and squeezes off another round,dead right there.
WOOOOO HOOOOO! a double.in all the years i have been turkey hunting i have never been privy to a double before.
the hen weighed abut 8 lbs(pretty average hen for our area) and made a good supper tonight.
the tom weighed 19.44 lbs,the beard is just a fraction of an inch shy of 12" long,one spur is 15/16ths of and inch and the other is dead on one inch.
now im going back tomorrow to try and fill my tag.
P.S.
the title comes from a saying we turkey hunters have.
shoot them in the face(that way you dont eat bb's or ruin any meat)
me and my son Wes have been spending every weekend and i have been spending any day during the week that im not driving out in the woods hunting.
Wes's girlfriend Carly comes with on weekend days that she isnt busy doing other less important things.
its been a long hard fall season,with only a single hen to show for our hard work.
weve spent many days from before sunup to sundown with nothing to show for our efforts.
havent seen norheard any birds other than the single hen we took early in the season.
hunting public land can be tough. this time of year.there are a lot of squirrel hunters,bow hunters,mushroom foragers in the woods which keep the turkey quite and hard to locate.
well i got tired of all this public hunting and pressure,and knowing that where i work there are turkeys that hang out on the property of our lumber yard.
so i asked my boss if it were alright if we hunted behind one of the buildings this weekend,he was kind enough to grant us permission.
we got set up int the ground blind well before sunup today,5:30 am to be exact.sun up wasnt expected until around 7:40 am.
we knew it was going to rain during the morning(no big deal).Wes and Carly asked if i thought the rain would hinder our hunt.i told them it wouldnt and that i have killed more of them sneaky ground buzzards in the rain,than i have on nice sunny days.
at about 8:00 am we heard the birds start to sound off,so i called and they responded.by the calls i knew it was a hen flock with some younger birds in the mix.which is alright because in the fall we can shoot either toms or hens.
they were quit vocal this morning and i kept calling and kept them talking for just over and hour,then we heard one gobble and then they went silent.
Carly and Wes both loved hearing all the different vocalizations that the birds made and i explained how to tell which birds were which from the sounds they make.
Carly was worried that since they went silent that they had disappeared.
i told her that it just meant that they had grouped up for the morning and that they would more than likely come in silent.
about 20 mins later i looked out the back window of the blind and see several birds coming our way.
just as they get into shooting distance,something spooked them and they trotted off in the same direction that they had come from.
i told the kids not to worry that the birds would come back because they didnt fly away or run fast,they just trotted off slowly.
after about a half an hour had passed i called softly on my friction call.and then just waited and kept looking out the back window of the blind.
about 5 minutes after i called i can see the flock coming back up the trial towards us.
i grabbed my binoculars and checked them out before they got into shooting range.8 hens,1 jake and 1 long beard.
i told the kids to get ready to shoot once they were in range,i also told Wes he gets to shoot the long beard since he didnt get a bird in the spring.Carly was to take the jake.
the flock is now in shooting range and start to separate a little,just enough to ensure only the intended targets would get shot.
Wes pokes the barrel of the 835 ulti mag out the window of the blind,puts the tri viz sites on the head of the long beard and lets it bark.the bird dropped right there.
then Carly slips the barrel of the mossberg 500 20 ga out the window and squeezes of a round,but misses the jake and he runs off in to the brush.i tell her shoot a hen.
she lines the bead sight up on a hen and squeezes off another round,dead right there.
WOOOOO HOOOOO! a double.in all the years i have been turkey hunting i have never been privy to a double before.
the hen weighed abut 8 lbs(pretty average hen for our area) and made a good supper tonight.
the tom weighed 19.44 lbs,the beard is just a fraction of an inch shy of 12" long,one spur is 15/16ths of and inch and the other is dead on one inch.
now im going back tomorrow to try and fill my tag.
P.S.
the title comes from a saying we turkey hunters have.
shoot them in the face(that way you dont eat bb's or ruin any meat)
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