Congrats to all involved in the youth hunt. Let's start with Period A and follow the season with Hunting reports, conditions, pics of birds killed. Good luck to everyone!
Turkey Hunting
2017 Bird Reports
4/18/17 @ 4:23 PM
Displaying 16 to 30 of 74 posts
waupaca co:
sat sunday AM dodging rain drops but turned out to be a nice morning even had a couple gobblers hammering after fly down they were on another side of a creek so I figured they would'nt make it my way anyways packed up and check on two other properties trying to get a gobble but didnt hear anything so went home, skeeters really woke up too after the rain basically laughing at my thermacell jeeez.
ate some lunch and planned on heading back out in the PM for a couple hours the it got hot out and the wind really cranked up in the afternoon so figured it would be tough until just before close, planned on packing up my blind and everything anyways and sleeping in Monday AM so my fiancee' and I headed out around 4 got dekes set and got in blind and i hear humming of an ATV and talking , neighbors are out zipping around on atv through woods then the shooting starts in 2 directions o swell, its a nice day in May who gives a crap about turkey huntin! anyways i wasnt to confident at this point with all the activity going on so I took a short nap while kristin read her book, about 7pm it got quiet and the wind stopped an was a real nice evening i look out much to my shagrin i see a turkey and it has a beard well wth! jake makes big loop around dekes feeding and off into the woods behind us at about 45yds, ugggg! well atleast we saw one kristin says maybe it will pop back out, naaaa he's gone haha half hour later i look to my right here he comes back out feeding his way to about 30yds i put the bead on um and the #5's dropped um in his tracks what an awesome hunt and end to the season especially havin my girl with me this was her 3rd time with me she doesnt want to hunt at all but likes to just sit and read so i'll take that, nice bird about a 5" beard and 14-15lbs played cat and mouse with gobblers all season and after going 0-2 on birds during B i was on a mission and ended my season 3-3 un real you gatta love the kings of spring!! going to be a long year until next April!
congrats to all who harvsested a bird this spring!
goodhuntin all!
zone 3- Waupaca co.
Been a tough 2 days with several encounters and goofy birds again, going between 3 properties, the turkey gods helped out this morning after not hearing any gobbles and the sun poped out a bit I did some soft calling and I look to my right and see a bird walking into the decoys, bird was on my right and I was siting to the right so getting the gun up without getting busted was a bit tough but I got it up just in time and dropped him at about 10-15 yds was a hefty magnum jake with a 6" beard and 1/2" nub/spur very happy with him after a couple tough hunts, hopefully the rain holds off still have a tag to fill we'll see what happens the next 2 days.
goodluck to all out chasin um yet!
zone 2:
Been a tough period E hunted fairly hard, wed pm just a few hens, friday hunted pretty much all day between public and private land but was very windy and cold seen a few jakes and hens far off but nothing up close, saturday am hunted before work and I ended up going out very early well before 4am and i ended up right in the middle of a turkey bedroom had gobbling 40-50 yds away from me from multiple toms and cackling from what i thought was maybe 1 or 2 hens sitting on edge of a huge plowed field this is goin to be awesome they will fly rite down to me, which kinda happend after the sun poped all heck broke loose birds pitiching down from all over rite over the top of me hens jakes atleast 20 they hit the field and trot off i go well the gig is up here i still have gobblin just over my left shoulder and i see 10 more birds come walking out with 2 toms semi-strut i get the gun up and they see that and start walking off i pull a rushed shot on one of the toms and nothing they ran off up the hill, swell! went to work then it rained no PM hunt but needed a break anyways hard functioning on 5 hours of sleep! worked sunday AM til 1pm back out checked a private field that butts public see some jakes and 2 toms with a hen i sneek into the public sit down in woods and start sof calling the hen starts calling back and gobblin starts they are comin my way all i see is red heads and fans coming through the grass, hen pops out with toms in tow on a deer trail, looks around and cluk cluk cluk! ug $@$@#%$#! they all walk off, leave there and go set up on a big public field for the rest of the evening wind was terrible again and i didnt see or hear anything i start packing up and i look out one more time and i see a bird coming my way; figures! so i sit my fat arse back down in my busted chair that the leg snapped off on an hour earlier i glass the bird its a hen the wind gusts and i see a beard swing down no way bearded hen, i get the gun up and she comes to 30yds POW! rite down she sported a 7" nice beard for a hen and was aprox 15lbs, real nice bird especially for my last hunting day and off public land, somebody was even kind enough to jam my lost hunting seat in a tree for me which i found on the walk out so double bonus! was a tough hunt but happy with the bird i got. back up to waupaca for the last hoorah this week.
goodhuntin all! 
Went after work yesterday starting at 4:30pm. spooked 4 on way in. Sat for 1.5 hours with nothing happening. Went to go check a field edge-had 8-10 birds heading my way-with 4 toms. They got close enough-and the rest is history. Not sure if they would have responded to a call or decoy-but did get the job done. First bird ever. SE Minnesota
Had birds gobbling before light yesterday on the land to the west of the property I hunt. Plowed corn field that runs north and south and woods along side of it. When it got light enough could see 3 Toms and some hens along field edge. One Tom stayed with 4 hens and 2 of them followed another across the field in my direction. The Toms got about half way across and turned around while the hen came across into the plowed corn field I hunt. I sit on a fence line that has a alfalfa field on the other side. My fields run east and west and alot of birds cross and work east on either side of fence line. Hen was just crossing into my field when Tom's turned and started back toward her. They were at least 150 yds behind her but on the same path. She kept coming and went past me and I even text my brother if they followed they were in trouble. They would gobble and strut ever so often and it took well over a hour for this whole deal to happen. Once they crossed into my field could tell they would probably follow the hen right to me. That what happened and dropped one at 31 yds. Have another tag and have switched to bow.Went this morning and hunted until 7 then put up some range markers.There were 6 Toms on the field early so got some targets for the rest of the period. Given it hard tomorrow and any days it is nice. Will hunt every morning untill at least 10 and longer if nice and/or seeing birds.
made it out in zone 2 yesterday afternoon on some public land that I scout fairly regularly, got up early before work and swumg by my goto spot and there was a truck there, I have not seen a vehicle there all season murphys law I guess! set up in PM on a new area that butts up to private land were there has been a tom and jakes daily, it was a death march getting into it and after seeing a few other boot prints I had to chuckle who would come down here, set up and saw nada changed locations and could see birds out on the private land but they wanted nothing to do with what i was puttin down. picked up and went to another area set back up and had 2 hens come out and feed before fly up and that was it before the storm came. back at in in the AM. birds still being weird imo jakes and toms together moving around with large flocks of hens, seems like early season stuff to me, must be a second breading phase.
Thursday zone 3 not much happening till 10 am and this guy strutted in. 20 lbs 11 1/4 inch beard so then my 3 year old wants to go so that afternoon set up the turkey tent on a public field I see birds use set up by 6:45 done at 7:08 he put on a show for my son strutting around my jake decoy I was caught enjoying the show my self till I looked at my son covering his ears saying shoot it dad lol 24 lbs 10 inch beard
Got this guy at 6:45 pm this evening. After sitting on field edges in the mornings and afternoons, I set up in the trees where they roost. I got set up and yelped a few times and he answered with a few clucks. He walked behind a large hickory and gave me the perfect op to shoulder my gun. The rest is history. I hadnt hunted turkey in over 15 years but took it back up three years ago. After not seeing any birds on our property up north the last two years, I decided to hunt my wife's family's farm in Calumet Co this year. Good call.
23#, 9.5" beard, 1" spurs.
Displaying 16 to 30 of 74 posts
