Half Hour Hunt
 

I hunt in NE WI and Saturday morning was my first chance to get out in the woods. The spot I hunt is a pine plantation with a river running through it, and for some reason this area always holds a lot of turkeys. I feel very fortunate to have such a premium area. My good friend Brad and I got a little bit of a late start and didn't step out of the truck until about 4:50AM. We stood around for a few minutes listening for any turkeys gobbling on the roost. Because of the 25mph winds, however, we weren't able to locate any toms. I drew Brad a quick map of the area in case we needed to move on some birds so he would have a simple understanding of the area. We headed into the woods to a known roosting spot that we had successfully hunted a couple years ago. Upon stepping into the pines, Brad let out a few yelps and we got an immediate response from a gobbler that sounded no more than 50-60 yards away. We instantly picked a tree and got settled in. I was on the left and Brad was on my right. For about 15 minutes we were getting a pretty steady response to Brad's calls, until the bird flew off the roost. He let out another gobble and we knew he had flown down away from us. His gobbles sounded distant and we contemplated our next move. We were about to get up and try to circle around the bird when we heard a hen yelp a few times from up in a tree, and the gobbler answered back, this time from much closer. We were surprised by how close the bird got in such a short time. After only a minute or two we spotted one strutting bird, then two, then three. They were about 40 yards in front of us and on the other side of some underbrush, so neither of us could tell how good of birds they were, only that they were strutting and drumming and working our way. Suddenly, one of them split from the group and started heading towards our right, straight at the road carved through the pines, which would give me a clear shot if he made it that far. Where I was sitting, I couldn't see the bird, but Brad still could so he was telling me "he's going right, no he's going left, yea he's going left." All of the sudden he popped out on the right, on the side of the road. Brad said to me "take him, take him, take him." I could just barely make out his body and head and once I was settled on the kill zone, I fired my Remington 870, and the bird dropped. After the shot, the two birds that were with my tom (two jakes) along with 3 or 4 more birds that were still roosted in the trees around us flew off in all directions. About a half an hour after stepping out of the truck, my spring 2011 turkey season was over. It all happened so quickly we didn't even have a chance to get it on tape like we had hoped. I couldn't be happier with my success, and getting to share it with a good friend made it that much sweeter. This is only my 2nd turkey ever, and I hope to create many more turkey hunting memories in the future.

22 pounds
11" and 9.5" beards
1 1/8" right spur
7/8" left spur
Unofficial NWTF Score... 84

Sounds like you guys had a great hunt alright !

Second bird and double beard ~ gonna hard to beat in the future.

How long were the spurs ?

That a way....................great job !

Congratulations !!!

It was quick for me last year not more than an hour in the woods,this year it took 9 days with a 1/2 hour of working into posittion and working the bird in. So thats success either quick or slow and I know that's fine with all of us who where blessed with a bird this year or two in some states. Good job on your hunt and a real nice bird,sounds like you guys had a good time together also.

great bird .

Wow ! Congrats ! what a bird !

Great story and great bird love those short hunts