Chapter 4; THE NEW HOPE

OK, so I was a bit bummed about not getting my turkey. Nevertheless, I have hunted and fished for enough years to know I do not always return with the game. Look at how long I hunted this past deer season before getting anything.

Of course, I never give up. I may not win, but I keep trying. I checked out a possible lead and I was able to get a second chance this season. Unused permits are available “over the counter”. A quick check of the WI DNR website showed some remained for the final session (week) of the season. I suspect they were still available because that is the worst time period. Who cares? At least I can get out and try again. I ordered another permit last Wednesday. Now I can get totally excited all over again. However, first I have to concentrate on getting the wife her bird next week.

Turkeys also have a sick sense of humor. Last week I was out every day looking and calling. No turkeys, just a few sounds (which was eventually good – see the last blog). Two hours ago (7:45 am; April 24), I looked out the front window towards the neighbor's place and overlooking the area to become our garden. Standing out in the open, as bold as could be, were several turkeys. I called the wife to the window and we got quite a chuckle out of it. One even walked up the driveway to our pond. They have done this before, but never during turkey season (now session two of six). I grabbed the binoculars and checked them out. All I could clearly see were hens. A flock of gobblers would have really been hard to take.

Finally, one got tired of looking around the driveway and flew straight at the house, passing just above the window and into the back. Very impressive flying and a big bird.

Now I feel revitalized and looking more toward the wife’s turn as well as my second chance. Hearing them is one thing, but seeing is better. Now if they would just do the same thing next Saturday morning, when the wife is off work . . . .

Turkey season

My turkey season ended last Sunday (19 April). I hunted long and hard all days.

My first three days were in the blind along the trail where the cameras had shown repeated movements. I waited three days and listened carefully. I saw a lot of wildlife, including some deer and heard quite a few unique sounds. I even heard a few gobbles. However, nothing came by in the three days, even when I was not there (love those trail cams). I am new to this type hunting, and tried to limit my calling. I felt confident that I was not very good. However, as the days passed, I began to call more.

With a strong background in planning and tactics, I know the value of sticking to the plan. I also know the folly of blindly sticking to it. After three days to frustration, I decided to move around the property. 58 acres gives room to roam. Day four started out at the blind, but after an hour I moved straight up to the top of the ridge, and then down the back. As I started down, I gave a few crow calls and even some aggressive hen yelps (not at the same time or location). I may not be the best caller, but I needed to get some idea where the gobblers were. I finally got a few responses to my efforts. At last, I had located some.

That evening’s hunt saw me in a secluded location, with a decoy out, two different calls within reach, and 4 more in my vest. I settled down, I tried sounding like a lovesick hen. I heard a response. We kept up the conversation for the next hour and a half. I kept trying to sound like I wanted the big guy to come over and meet me. He responded with a “come here girl” gobble. Finally, he lost interest and moved off. At least I had not scared him off with my calling. I knew there was a problem since I had to convince him to come across an old country road that separated my property from the neighbor’s farm.

Sunday morning was the last day. I headed out early, hiked to the spot with yesterday’s limited success. As I walked in, I made an occasional crow call or a few yelps. I heard a few responses. Finally, I reached my location, set up a decoy, and got covered up. I began calling and received a response; actually several. There were three separate groups of gobblers in earshot. Two were pretty far off, but one was just across the road and off to the left of me. I called, they (he?) responded. I kept this up, with long periods of silence. Lo and behold, he was coming closer. I slowed my calling to an occasional cluck to bring in that reluctant gobbler. He was still closing, but would not cross the road. We had been working each other for over an hour, but he was still coming, even if very slowly.

Suddenly, there was another hen call on the other side of the road, in the neighbor’s field. Good grief, where did this guy come from. He was not even as good a caller as I. Then I realized I had been beaten by the birds. It was a real hen (maybe several). No way could I outcall the real thing if they were on the other side of the road. I could imagine the gobbler(s) meeting the hen(s) and heading off. There was no further interest in my offerings.

That evening’s attempts were somewhat anti-climactic. There was no response to any of my calling at any location.

So the turkeys had emerged unscathed from my first attempt at turkey hunting. However, I had fun and learned quite a bit. Talking to some other locals, it was a tough opening period in this area. My wife’s permit kicks in on April 29. With what I learned, perhaps I can get one into range for her.

Anyhow, there is always next year (or actually, the fall season).

Antici-(turkey)-pation

For many years, I have enjoyed watching the shows about spring turkey hunting. Let’s face it, this is normally an off season for hunting, so a spring hunt sounds great, rather than just waiting for the fall (unless you also fish like me in which case you are already too busy getting ready to or actually fishing).

Living in Alaska for the last 34 years eliminated any chance of doing this unless I travelled. Now I live in Wisconsin, so out came all the books, videos, and watching all the shows on TV or the internet! The trail cams were set, the pictures analyzed, the area scouted, the permits obtained. Today was my first ever Turkey hunt.

My blind was set up yesterday. Inside were my decoys, to be deployed when I got there this morning. The alarm went off, and I slipped out of bed without awakening my wife or the dogs (minor miracle). I got my coffee, dressed, filled the thermoses, and headed out.

On the way to the blind, I actually spooked a gobbler out of his roost and saw him take off (good sign) even if he was not even near where I was hunting. At least I saw one during the season (deer hunters know what I mean). I reached my blind, and set out the decoys. I sat down, made sure I could reach the calls (various types from seeing all those shows) and got ready.

Problem 1; the seat leaned too far forward. This would make it difficult to see the bird and shoot. Solution, collapse the rear feet and the seat was flat.

Problem 2; seat too low, and I would probably hit the edge of the blind when I shot if I did not remember to sit up or get a higher seat. I was already using my official turkey seat and booster from my turkey hunter vest. Solution; bring a chair next trip.
Problem 3; two thermoses of coffee, and I would have to leave t
he blind several times when my body processed the stimulant drink. Solution, bring a can next time to urinate in!

I had reached the blind about 5:45 am, just as legal shooting time began. At 7:00 am, there was a shrieking sound. I did not know for sure what it was, but it got the attention of the 2 deer about 50 yards to my right. Too bad it was not deer season. Around 8:00, a squirrel entertained me along with quite a few crows. 9:30 and a gobbler sounded off along the ridge behind me, and several minutes later the squirrel did an encore. More gobbling at 10:00 and a buck grunted behind me at 10:30. This was all great, but I wanted visible turkeys, bearded types.

Finally at 11:30, I went back to the house for lunch, and to pick up what was needed to fix my earlier mistakes.

I was back at the blind bay 1:30 pm. I had brought a higher chair, and a bucket. The rest of the day was uneventful except for the gobbling at 4:20.

I finally withdrew as the sun started to set.


Thus ended my first day as a turkey hunter. Failure; no way. I had been out hunting. I learned from my mistakes, and had a lot of fun learning how little I knew about my turkey calls. They sound so good at the house; and so bad in the field. Tomorrow morning I will be back out there; better prepared and less ignorant. Of course, it did not help to learn the daughter of the person from whom you are trying to buy guinea fowl got one earlier in the day.

It is called hunting, not killing. I have 4 more days on my permit. I really need to get one to be sure I can get it right for my wife. Her permit activates in 2 weeks.

Turkey fever

Turkey season opens next week. I have a permit for the opening period beginning April 15th. Since this will be my first ever chance to hunt Spring Turkey, I am excited and studying everything I can find. All these months of work and chores have been to have time freely available for my hunting and fishing.

So far, I have been getting the remote trail cameras out to see what was around. I have captured a few pictures, and located other sign. Today I walked the entire perimeter of my property. This is something I wanted to do for quite a while, but work kept me too busy until the snow came. Then it was too hazardous. Now it is snow free and dry enough to try the walk. I made it all the way around, even reaching the highest spot on the property. This has been especially useful to compare the topographic charts and aerial photos with what is on the ground. I also enjoyed getting more familiar with the property.

During today’s hike, I even managed to spot a turkey (probably a hen) running across one of the open fields. Good news from my point of view, since I love seeing them in life even more than with the trail cameras. Hopefully, all this sign will pay off on opening day.

Early this morning, just before sunrise, I heard some crows calling (hardly out of the ordinary). However, today they were answered with some gobbles (just like on the TV shows).

The turkey and the coyote trap

I just returned from checking my coyote traps, for the second time today. Normally, once first thing in the morning will do it, but today I had a little more bait to put out.

The traps are set near a deer carcass I found on the property last December. Some slob had trespassed and shot the fork horn and not even tried following it up. I discovered it a few days later, by which time some critters had already started eating it. There was nothing salvageable by then, so I kept an eye on the carcass and noticed a steady flow of opossum and raccoon using it, as well a strong likelihood of a few coyotes. After the deer season ended, I set some traps nearby.

The weather has been pretty cold this winter, and the carcass was covered with snow most of the time. However, when it warmed and the snow began melting down, there was quite a bit of activity. I set my trail camera in several different locations near the spot. Most of the time I got pictures of crows. Once a red tailed hawk stopped by. Last night I got a picture of a raccoon on the infrared.

During the trapping season, I managed to catch 2 raccoons. On another occasion, I shot an opossum on the kill site.

I caught a rabbit in one of the traps, near a trail approaching the location about a week ago. Normally, this would have been fine with me, but when I found it in the morning, most of it was gone. Something had eaten it in the trap. Possibly a coyote, but more likely a raccoon. I reset the trap and left the remains nearby. A few days later, the remains were gone.

When I reached the area late this morning, I noticed the space around my main coyote trap was all torn up, and the trap was gone! This upset me since it had been there 4 hours earlier. I had located it under a tree, near a game trail where a lot of varmints left droppings. This made it quite unlikely to catch some other animal accidently.

I carefully checked the area for signs in the snow. There were several sets of long curved marks looking like 5 claws raking the snow. If this was a B grade horror movie, I would have been in real trouble. Then I found a feather and saw the other tracks. Several turkeys had come though the area. The “claw marks” were from the wing feathers. Apparently one had gotten caught by the trap and been able to pull the rig clear of the tree to which it was attached (How I do not know since it held a raccoon several weeks earlier).

I could not let a turkey go running around with a trap attached, so I began tracking. The soft snow made the tracking possible, but certainly not easy. I could indentify the bird with the trap and keep to that trail. However, after a couple hundred yards, the trail ended. I was even more upset until I saw my trap there on the ground. Apparently, the bird managed to get just one claw caught and was able to pull that free.

I was relieved, picked up the trap, and relocated it on another game trail for the coyotes (who were howling away at 1:15 in the morning the day before). Hopefully, with the warm weather we are having today, there will be some activity this evening.

Of course, I am glad the turkey made its escape, since it might have been a real challenge to get the trap off it otherwise. Sadly, I had pulled the trail camera this morning on my earlier visit, and thus did not get any pictures of the turkeys. I am glad to see the wild turkeys moving around a lot more. I saw several others beside the road while driving into town this morning. I was concerned with the weather we have had this past winter.