The Great Turkey Hunt (Days 1 & 2)

The morning was cold after three days of rain, and getting up at 4 AM was a bit of a chore.  You have to be on site when they (the turkeys) come alive.  I headed north to Fort Calhoun, Nebraska with great hope and optimism.  My home work had been done. 






It was one of those really black nights when I arrived at the landowner's home.  The road was dry as I weaved up his lane to the top of the hill.  Checking the road south to the area I wanted to hunt, it appeared dry as last night was very windy.  This saved time, and I didn't have to walk to the south end of the farm.  Loading up my gear, I headed to the valley where the erosion dams were.  As I crested the hill leading to the dams, I could hardly believe the noise.  Hens were yelping. Toms were gobbling.  Getting closer to my hiding place, the woods were very noisy.  If someone would have been with me, we would have had to raise our voices to hear each other speak.  I said to myself, "This will all be over in about 30 minutes after shooting time begins".

It was not to be. As light came, the birds came off the roost.  They did not come to the dams where I was hiding.  This was contrary to last week.  The majority flew off over the top of the hill.  The others headed east of my location deeper into the timber.  The sound of the gobbling and yelping slowly became faint.  I sat there alone wondering what had happened.  By 10 AM, it was time to move and I headed to a spot along a ridge deep in the timber.  There were lots of signs, but no birds, and I called it a day at noon.

Next morning, I was up and at it, heading for the erosion dam. Yesterday was just a fluke.  You have to recognize an important fact.  They do move around a lot.  I would try my luck where I have had a history of harvesting a lot of birds.  Again I arrived in the dark and settled down to my usual spot. There was not one sound.  So I made some.  With my shaker I gobbled. With my mouth call I gave the fly down cackel call.  With my friction call I sent out a lot of calls, clucks, and purrrs.  I was talking to myself.  Nothing appeared.  By light it was obvious that I was skunked here.

By 9 AM, I pulled out and headed for the ridge.  Here I hunkered down in a pile of fallen timber, put out the Pretty Boy and Girl Decoy combination. (Click on the link for more information. Carry-Lite Pretty Boy Turkey Decoy Set) Then I waited for about 30 minutes to let the woods settle down.  After a few calls, here came three love- sick jakes.  Meat is meat.  I straightened up and quickly shouldered the gun.  Waiting for another 30 seconds would have been better.  The three of them immediately headed deeper into the timber.  I was bobbing the gun up and down, trying to get a fix on one of them to make a shot.  They moved from me left to right among the standing timber.  Sitting on the ground and twisiting my body was not a good way to shoot.  Just as one appeared to move from behind a tree, I blasted away.  Two of them flew.  I might have hit the one jake.  He kept on moving through the timber, but not as fast.  I jumped up and started after the jake, but he took off and flew.  I believe all I did was sting his rear end a little.  I stepped off where the shot was made. It was almost 40 yards.  Adding all the standing timber into the picture reduced an effective shot many times. 

                   


By noon, I was done and headed for home.  This is why it is called hunting and not shooting.

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.  Hank

http://www.outdoorswithhank.com/


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Scout the Ground to Find Them (Turkeys)

They move around a lot.  You might have great shooting and multiple opportunities in one area and next year it totally changes.  It is time to scout out the three farms that can be hunted.  This means getting up really early on three different days and planting yourself in the woods in a good hiding place.  This also provides the opportunity to locate the place in which you want to hide. 

Sitting and listening.  This is what I do till daybreak.  When I can hear the hens and or the toms, a good spot may have been located.  When the toms begin to gobble, I use a friction call with a few clucks and purrs which gives me a good idea if they are going to be coming my way.  Primos has a new call you can strap to your leg.  I am going to buy one.  When the hunting starts, I want to be able to keep my gun up and still make some calls with the striker. Go to the website  under Turkey Hunting Gear. You will find one on page 3.  Click on the picture and you can go directly to Cabela's to purchase.  This looks like a great way to keep calling and  be ready to shoot when he steps into range.

                 



The first farm down by the river showed a lot of promise.  Next to the Missouri River levee, there were turkey signs every where.  Moving east back into the woods, the noise became louder.  Hunkering down and mixing myself in the tops of some fallen timber, I made a few short clucks.  Immediately he answered.  Waiting and waiting, he finally appeared.  Not big, but his time will come at the opening.  Several more young birds appeared.  Opportunity abounded in this location.  Talking with the landowner, he had some business associates coming to hunt, so I ruled out those days.  This spot is still number 2.

Next morning a trip to Oakland, Iowa was made.  Talking with the landowner the night before, he had seen some birds, mostly hens, when he was feeding cattle.  Moving onto the river bottom a hiding place was found and the waiting started.  As light started to break, a few hens came off the roost and could be heard.  I did not hear one tom.  Wherever there are hens, there should be toms.  Making a few clucks and purrs produced no response.  Trying some additional sounds with the call did not produce anything either.  By daylight, it was time to leave. 

Talking with the landowner, he had not seen a lot of birds, but other farmers along the river bottom had.  What are a lot of birds?  It depends on who is looking, but it was believed that they roam up the narrow strip of trees that run along the river bottom.  This spot will be in reserve.

A third trip to Fort Calhoun was made.  Visiting with the landowner the night before gave me some fresh information.  The birds that had hung around his house were not coming back.  Also, coyotes were now common in the area.  Last winter during the fall season, one was spotted.  This farm had always been my favorite for deer and turkey, so it would be hard to give up.  He suggested I head south to the pasture that bordered the private ground.  A non profit owns all this timber and I would hunt the edge next to a erosion dam. 




Hiking down to my usual spot and hunkering down, I waited.  It did not take long.  Hens calling, toms gobbling, wings flapping, they came off the roost in hundreds.  As it got light, I saw a spectacle of hens and toms emerging from the woods heading up to the erosion dam.  There was a lot of discourse among the toms and they put on a show for me with all their strutting. 

This is the perfect spot for opening day. 

Good hunting, good fishing, and good luck.   Hank
http://www.outdoorswithhank.com/

Find us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Outdoors-with-Hank/156198364399226
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Two Weeks to the Turkey Opener

Next week it is turkey time. Based on the volume of birds seen along the highways, this should be an outstanding harvest. It is amazing. You can drive down the highway, and they will be right along the side of the road, pecking and scratching the ground for seeds. Out in the woods or an open field, they spot you at some really long distances and take off running. Anywhere in eastern Nebraska or western Iowa where there is standing timber, crop land and a water source, you will have turkeys.


Whenever we have guests over for game, wild turkey is the favorite dish.

It is nice to have choices. There are three farms that I can hunt upon. The first is right close to home on the Iowa side along the Missouri river. Here the timber is thick. Last spring the area was flooded but is dry now, so the birds are probably roosting in these woods in the evening. The major problem is there is so much deadfall and debris that was washed into this area. This is not a good choice due to all the debris. On the east side of the levee is crop land and more timber. This ground was not affected by the rising level of the Missouri river last spring. This farm is a plethora of deer and turkey. The disadvantage is that the landowner is very generous and allows a lot of friends to hunt the ground.

I have shot a lot of really nice Toms on this farm. This will be my second choice.


              

The farm north of Oakland, Iowa holds a lot of deer. Last winter when the snow was on the ground, I did not see a lot of turkey sign. With the heavy cover, water close by and the crop ground, this farm should be a producer. I did not see a lot of tracks in the snow. They could have moved up off the bottoms during the day to feed and followed the same path to the woods to roost. I could have missed it all as I hunted deer in a really tight area, and did not roam the farm.

The landowner is very generous so this ground is available anytime. I always call and let him know when I am coming, and where I will be hunting. This is good for him to know, and it is also good for me. A change in locations will prompt a phone call to let him know where I am on the farm.

This farm is my third choice. It is third simply because in the winter, I see limited sign of turkey.




My first choice is the farm in the hills north of Fort Calhoun. This ground is not a farm, it is a meat market. I hunt this ground spring and fall, and have harvested many birds. From a small stream on the west side, the ground rises steeply from crop land to timber to pasture at the top. It then descends steeply back into timber and borders ground belonging to a non-profit organization. The non-profit ground is “no hunting allowed.” This is where it can get really exciting.

There is an erosion dam on this ground.  The birds come off the roost in the early AM and go right to the dam. This is where I will make my stand, and put meat on the table. It is a great plan, but first I will go to each farm and scout the ground.  I'll be looking for sign of turkeys and listening for their gobbles and calls.

A friend with a lot of experience made a turkey decoy that is deadly.  He took a big tom he had shot, carefully skinned it out completely.  Saved the fan.  Severed the head and the neck in one piece.  Then he stretched the body feathers over a styrofoam model he had made.  Attached the fan and the head and neck, and there it was a very life like decoy.  It was un real.  In the field the toms literally attacked it, and he could pick out the one he wanted. 

Now you don't have to go to all that work.  Click on the Bass Pro banner on this blog or website, and go direct to the turkey section.  There you will see the almost exact same thing, feathers and all.  It is pricey.  I have seen this type of decoy work. 

This should be an exciting season.

Good fishing, good hunting, and good luck  Hank
http://www.outdoorswithhank.com/

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They Came, Flew over and Kept on Going

It is over.  As fast as it started, the snow goose migration only lasts two to three weeks.  You have to get it done right away when they come through.  I checked the waterfowl survey at Squaw Creek Refuge near Mound City, MO, and they are now down to two thousand snow geese.  Ten days ago there were two million.

                 

Following the previous day of good success,  it was back to the blind.  This time there were two other club members with me.  All of us had high hopes of a successful shoot.  Migration numbers were down by 75%.  However, we were still seeing birds, but not in the great quantities that we had seen before.  Most of the flocks were high fliers riding on a south wind. 

The same process worked on this day that had worked before.  Wait until you see some low fliers, turn on the speakers, and hope for a bird or two to drop out of the flock.  It usually happens.  First they all began to sail.  Then the V broke up.  Thirty seconds later it reformed.  Then one to five broke from the flock and locked up into the wind.  They dropped fast right into the floater decoys.  Shots were at 15 to 30 yards, so success was high.

The top picture is looking north along the walkway to the blind.  The blind faces to the right of the picture which is east.  It is buried in the ground and surrounded by decoys.  The second picture is looking east out of the blind. The floaters can be seen on the lake.  There are 20 acres of water in front and 20 acres behind.  The club put out 650 decoys.

I started hunting around 8:30 AM and by noon there was a decent mess of birds to be divided up.  I picked up a few and headed for home.  This was a very successful four days of hunting.  We did not get into the big flocks which lock up and spiral into the setup, but singles and pairs made for good shooting.

Snow goose numbers just keep expanding.  The birds we harvested were young and probably from last year's hatch.  Smaller than a Canada but bigger than a Mallard, they taste exactly the same.  It is always a welcome treat for family and friends to dine on Snow Goose.

Now to shift gears to something that will help us all this summer when the pesky mosquito makes its appearance.  This information was sent to me by Ron Ross, President of the National Association of Citizen Journalists.  Per the information supplied to Ron, spraying Listerine mouth wash on your deck and the grass will keep the mosquitos away.  I intend to use this at home and especially when I go fishing in the evening.  It is always the same problem.  You slap on the Deet, smell terrible, and still swat the bugs.  This may be the answer.  I intend to start fishing just as soon as we get a little warmer weather and conditions settle down.  If anyone tries the Listerine, please let me know how it works for you.  I will be posting results when I try it out.

Good hunting, good fishing and good luck.  Hank                                        
http://www.outdoorswithhank.com/ 

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