longspurs
Active Member
Since early this year my brother and I had been planning to hunt second season together in an attempt to get him a turkey. It's been about 10 years (maybe more) since the last time my brother and I chased turkeys. We've always been close, but it seems life's commitments have gotten in our way. We're both married now and each have a lot on our plates but we decided this was the year.
He stayed at our house Thursday night and after a short night's sleep :drink1: we headed over to a farm that our family has hunted in Winneshiek County for that last 20 years or so. I'd put my bow tag aside and spent some time scouting things out during first season because I really wanted to make it happen for him.
We left early and were out in the woods in plenty of time. There were two birds gobbling fairly close together and we were able to slip up to within 200 yards or so - not ideal, but I knew they love to come down to the bottom pasture and strut. We found a tree suitable for the two of us to sit together and I gave them a couple soft yelps early - they immediately answered back. We heard one hit the ground so used my trusty wing (the thing's probably 15 years old
) and did a fly-down of my own ... more instantaneous gobbling. Heard another bird hit the ground so I did one more fly-down, a series of more aggressive calling and shut-up.
About five minutes later we spotted him moving along the hillside through the timber about 150 yards to the south of our position. He was across the creek and about 15-20 feet above the pasture we were in because there's a limestone bluff that runs alongside it. In the past I've had several birds pitch off the bluff, over the stream and into the pasture so I was hoping for similar results. Sure enough, he worked along the edge, down into a small draw and flew across. As soon as he hit the pasture he fanned out and strutted on in. At 25 paces I whispered to my brother to take him and at 06:20 that was that. The bird weighed 24 pounds, sported an eight-inch beard and one-inch spurs.
It was a moment in time that I will never forget. This was only my brother's third turkey and his excitement was priceless as we high-fived and took it all in. We sat there and enjoyed the moment, snapping photos and telling stories of past hunts on the property. We don't get to spend nearly enough time together but on Friday morning I couldn't have been more proud to call my brother, John, my brother.
We worked some other birds that morning but they wouldn't cooperate. After the wind kicked up we decided to hit the trout stream and manged to hook into a few trout. All-in-all, it was an outstanding day that will remain in my mind forever. I couldn't have been happier for my brother.
The set-up ...
Looking to the south where the bird came from ...
Priceless ...
Spending some time wandering the trout stream ...
-Longspurs-
He stayed at our house Thursday night and after a short night's sleep :drink1: we headed over to a farm that our family has hunted in Winneshiek County for that last 20 years or so. I'd put my bow tag aside and spent some time scouting things out during first season because I really wanted to make it happen for him.
We left early and were out in the woods in plenty of time. There were two birds gobbling fairly close together and we were able to slip up to within 200 yards or so - not ideal, but I knew they love to come down to the bottom pasture and strut. We found a tree suitable for the two of us to sit together and I gave them a couple soft yelps early - they immediately answered back. We heard one hit the ground so used my trusty wing (the thing's probably 15 years old
) and did a fly-down of my own ... more instantaneous gobbling. Heard another bird hit the ground so I did one more fly-down, a series of more aggressive calling and shut-up. About five minutes later we spotted him moving along the hillside through the timber about 150 yards to the south of our position. He was across the creek and about 15-20 feet above the pasture we were in because there's a limestone bluff that runs alongside it. In the past I've had several birds pitch off the bluff, over the stream and into the pasture so I was hoping for similar results. Sure enough, he worked along the edge, down into a small draw and flew across. As soon as he hit the pasture he fanned out and strutted on in. At 25 paces I whispered to my brother to take him and at 06:20 that was that. The bird weighed 24 pounds, sported an eight-inch beard and one-inch spurs.
It was a moment in time that I will never forget. This was only my brother's third turkey and his excitement was priceless as we high-fived and took it all in. We sat there and enjoyed the moment, snapping photos and telling stories of past hunts on the property. We don't get to spend nearly enough time together but on Friday morning I couldn't have been more proud to call my brother, John, my brother.
We worked some other birds that morning but they wouldn't cooperate. After the wind kicked up we decided to hit the trout stream and manged to hook into a few trout. All-in-all, it was an outstanding day that will remain in my mind forever. I couldn't have been happier for my brother.
The set-up ...
Looking to the south where the bird came from ...
Priceless ...
Spending some time wandering the trout stream ...
-Longspurs-
