Kyle Hauck
Active member
Well, yesterday was archery opener in SD for turkey. As Evenive posted before I've been out of town working in Minnesota about 9 hours away from my home and even though I would see my wife and kids in 4 days as they are coming to MN for Easter, a guy has priorities, and in the spring time, my main goal is getting after turkeys.
It would be a quick trip driving home after work on Friday to arrive at around 1 a.m. I was tired but I couldn't sleep. Giddy to be up at 5 a.m. I also have a sweet little chunk of ground that consistently has birds lined up. I headed out to the blind with my 9 yr old first thing. Getting into the blind you could hear the Tom's gobbling their heads off about 150 yards away. They talked non stop from shooting light until sunrise when the hens finally pitched down to the ground. As typical Merriams do they were fairly quiet after that. Knowing that I was in an area where they should go right in front of us on the way to a food source. I was dead quiet. I didn't even bring a call to the blind. I put two decoys, a DSD hen and strutter 20 yards in front of me. A
20 minutes after sunrise here they come. A filing of 40 birds including several mature Tom's. I spotted a long bearded hen I have been after for several years but as the group gathered in front of the decoys I lost track of her. One of the mature Tom's strutted to the front of the group at 14 yards. I was already at full draw so I let it fly. Perfect shot. He ran towards me and died at about 10 yards. A group of toms was immediately on top of him pecking and trying to gain top dominance among the group. Not too worried about my bird getting tore up I watched them and let them slowly meander away knowing I will be back at this spot in a few weeks. I have a few shotgun tags for this same unit but it does not open for another week. I could only legally shoot the one although there was more than enough opportunity to kill 3 or 4 Tom's right in a row.
I almost felt like I was cheating because everything worked out so perfect and fast. 50 minutes after legal shooting and it was over. Thank goodness I still have several more tags for shotgun season (even though those will be filled with my bow as well)
View attachment IMG_20200404_065212-EFFECTS.jpgView attachment IMG_20200404_103626_482.jpgView attachment IMG_20200404_074430_258.jpg
It would be a quick trip driving home after work on Friday to arrive at around 1 a.m. I was tired but I couldn't sleep. Giddy to be up at 5 a.m. I also have a sweet little chunk of ground that consistently has birds lined up. I headed out to the blind with my 9 yr old first thing. Getting into the blind you could hear the Tom's gobbling their heads off about 150 yards away. They talked non stop from shooting light until sunrise when the hens finally pitched down to the ground. As typical Merriams do they were fairly quiet after that. Knowing that I was in an area where they should go right in front of us on the way to a food source. I was dead quiet. I didn't even bring a call to the blind. I put two decoys, a DSD hen and strutter 20 yards in front of me. A
20 minutes after sunrise here they come. A filing of 40 birds including several mature Tom's. I spotted a long bearded hen I have been after for several years but as the group gathered in front of the decoys I lost track of her. One of the mature Tom's strutted to the front of the group at 14 yards. I was already at full draw so I let it fly. Perfect shot. He ran towards me and died at about 10 yards. A group of toms was immediately on top of him pecking and trying to gain top dominance among the group. Not too worried about my bird getting tore up I watched them and let them slowly meander away knowing I will be back at this spot in a few weeks. I have a few shotgun tags for this same unit but it does not open for another week. I could only legally shoot the one although there was more than enough opportunity to kill 3 or 4 Tom's right in a row.
I almost felt like I was cheating because everything worked out so perfect and fast. 50 minutes after legal shooting and it was over. Thank goodness I still have several more tags for shotgun season (even though those will be filled with my bow as well)
View attachment IMG_20200404_065212-EFFECTS.jpgView attachment IMG_20200404_103626_482.jpgView attachment IMG_20200404_074430_258.jpg
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