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I am just going to take a minute and circle back on a successful Spring Turkey season; yes, I am aware it is late June, haha!

Over a long weekend Ryan and I were able to fill our spring tags in back-to-back days. The turkey numbers were way up in the river bottoms. It may have been a by-product of a spring snow storm that pushed the birds down from the hills. Trudging through waist deep snow for a turkey season was a rare occasion for me, but it beat picking off wood ticks afterwards. Either way, we were crawling in birds. In fact the morning I shot my bird we counted over 40 Turkeys, and 30 of them were Jakes or Toms!

 

It was one of those odd situations though, there were actually too many birds. Although it is a good problem to have, getting responses to calls or setting up near roosting areas was next to impossible. But, we adapted our strategy and it paid off in spades.

We located a couple pinch points that the flocks had clearly been using and set up shop. We hunted the birds like they were deer and waited for their daily routines to put them into our shotgun range. Although the birds we tagged were not 20 pound swingers, it doesn’t tarnish the hunt or memories one bit. It was a fantastic hunt with a satisfying outcome.

River Time

Sorry for the gap in posts, I started an new/old job and have been swamped. But, it is a good thing!

This time of year has a touch of limbo to it. It precedes stand preparation and trail camera hanging that July typically brings and precludes the Turkey and Shed hunting seasons.

This is the time of year that I enjoy getting some fishing in. My cup of fishing tea is murky and muddy; The Red River of the North.

It is one of the best Catfishing river systems North of the Mason Dixon and is home to some very large Channel Cats.

My new Friday night ritual paid off with my biggest cat to date, 31” and 15lbs (sorry for the poor quality pictures, I was rolling solo)

Another Kind of Hunting

I cannot say that I have ever attempted to 'hunt' Morel Mushrooms, but I certainly know people who do. To be honest, if I did try it would be more for the exercise and fresh air

; I am not the biggest mushroom fan on the planet.
I ran across this very informative blog post and know it gave me some tips if I ever do decide to go 'schrooming. Enjoy!

http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/hunting/2013/04/finding-cooking-morel-mushrooms

Talkin' Turkey

Talking Turkey
Author Note: This article can be found in the most recent issue of the Leisure Outdoors Adventures newsletter and you can also subscribe to that newsletter here: http://leisureoutdooradventures.com/signup.php


Spring brings many different things into our lives. For me, it is birthday celebrations for my two daughters, nail-biting March Madness basketball, fresh hope for the Minnesota Twins, the promise of another impending Red River flood, and dreams of fanned-out, gobbling Boss Tom Turkey’s. Out of that list, guess which one I don't care for all that much...
The Minnesota and North Dakota turkey seasons fire up around the same dates each year, and like most other lucky hunters who drew a tag this year, we have been impatiently crossing days off the calendar until the season opens up. I will admit one thing right off the bat; we are nowhere near being Turkey hunting experts! But each Turkey hunt is a learning experience, and over the past 5 years we have formulated some thoughts that might help out those of you getting ready to chase gobblers for the first time.

Choke Up
For those hunters who are in their comfort zone carrying a rifle instead of a shotgun, you are not alone. Hunting with a shotgun is a completely different animal. It is easy to be overconfident that your rifle marksmanship will translate to shotgunning. If there is one piece of advice that is not optional to follow, practice with your shotgun, choke, and shot shell combination! Getting familiar with how the trio performs together will be the difference between tagging a bird and missing it altogether.
There are multiple manufactures of Choke Tubes and all the models have catchy names that vary in price and looks. The thing to remember is they all work on the exact same principle: They are meant to tighten (choke down) your pellet pattern as it leaves the end of your shotgun making the pattern more accurate at increased distances. Now, your next question might be are all chokes created equal? No, they are not. Some will tighten up your pattern more than other, some have venting that will reduce muzzle last, the list goes on. But almost any choke on the market is going to improve the accuracy and lethalness of your shotgun. A choke in the price range of $30 is a terrific starting point. If you have access to try out multiple chokes before you purchase one, even better! The same choke out of the package will perform differently depending on the shotgun it is screwed into and the ammunition used.
Speaking of ammunition, there are a ton of choices in that area too. You can help yourself out by letting your choke decision guide you. Some chokes take steel or heavy shot, other will not. Pellet size and velocity is also a consideration. Most Turkey loads will be in the 4, 5 and 6 shot range and vary a far amount in velocity. If you ask an expert you will get strong opinion on which size and speed is the best. Our philosophy, no matter what shot size you choose, knowing how it will pattern with your choke and shotgun is far more important. Do not feel like you need to be super aggressive and throw the tightest pattern in the fastest 4 shot you can find at a bird. Middle of the road 5 shot and a mid-priced choke will get the job done in any Turkey scenario.

Call Them, Maybe
Spring season coincides with Turkey breeding season. It would seem only logical that the best way to trick birds into range would be calling and using decoys. After all, we have all watched hunting shows and videos that show hunters calling in love starved Toms into decoy sets with a few strokes on the slate or box call. It looks easy enough. Plus, all of the calls you buy come with instructions for a reason, right? Well, take it from us; you should spend some time practicing.
There are way too many call options (mouth diaphragm, slate or glass, box, etc) and techniques to cover in this article. For my two cents, instead of learning via trial by fire, sometimes swallowing a little bit of pride is a better choice. A simple search on the internet will provide a wealth of instructional videos (both good and bad) that can be used to hone your calling skills (Listen and Learn). You can also do some research on the advantages and disadvantages that each type of call have to offer. Of course, even after serious practice, just because you can speak their language doesn’t mean they will want to listen.

Fan Out
As the Turkey season stretches on, birds get a fast education to our tricks. Heck, some of the Toms that have a few seasons under their wings are practically Rhodes Scholars, especially Public Land Turkeys. Pressured birds are cagey and will often not respond positively to calling. If you run into this situation, being the best caller in the world won’t even help you. But don’t throw in the towel. Get mobile.
I would classify our Turkey hunting style as a hybrid model of spot and stalk/run and gun, emphasis on stalk and run. Admittedly, this style of hunting will not be feasible for everyone. But, if you have a good amount of acreage at your disposal, it tends to be more productive to burn some boot leather, locate birds, and formulate a game plan. Turkeys are habitual and like to travel similar day to day routes. They especially like to revisit roost locations and strutting areas. If you can find their preferred roost locations, that is 75% of the battle. At that point you can use terrain to your advantage and pinpoint a few ambush locations. Pick a spot that will either work in the morning as the birds dump off the roost and get ready to strut, or that will put you between late afternoon feeding feeds and their bedtime roost.

Wrapping Up

Like us, I am sure you are eager to hit the woods, fields, and river bottoms in chase of a swinging Tom. Hunting this so called ‘dumb bird’ has left me personally humbled and eating tag soup many times in the past years. Hard lessons have been easier to come by than success, but every spring brings a clean slate for us to cutt, cluck, purr and yelp my new lessons on.