Turkey hunt

Mike Repp

Mike Repp

Well-known member
Well went out this weekend here in Illinois. Birds were silent thursday night so I didnt roost any birds for Friday mornings hunt. Friday morning heard one bird gobble on the roost. Worked my way to the other side of the property about 2 miles. Sat down and called, bird answers back, I'm thinking this is going to be a great day. Worked this bird for about an hour. Then nothing but silence. And that was the way the rest of the morning was until aroun 10:00. along a crp field I start calling under this huge old oak. I get a response from a Tom and the games begin again. I could see him in the field about 100yds out strutting. Just could not get him to come in any closer. Then I see a hen come into view and hes lost to love. Rains had the creek high and I finally found a place to cross. Working my way along the creek, stopping to call every once in a while. the sun is high and its getting hot. Shooting ends at 1:00 and its 12:30 by now. So I decide to call it a day and head back to the truck. Searching for a place to cross the creek, I finally find a spot that has a sand bar and the water is only 3ft wide, but 4 ft deep. I figure I can jump 3 ft so I jump to the other bank only to have it give way under my feet. Soaked and muddy I crawl up over the creek bank. I walk about 20yds and here is a bird laying flat on the ground trying to hide from me. I swing the Benelli on him just as he trys to get up and fly. Bang my opening day ends with an 18lb bird 10in beard and 3/4in spurs 10 minutes before shooting ends. Also had a bonus of musrooms.

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nice bird our season here in vt starts tomorrow and im so pimped i got a jake w/a double beard and a few nice toms on properties i can hunt. i traded a few hours of working saturday for a few hours on tuesday to hunt so wish me luck.

eddie
 
that double bearded jake is down. 17lbs 4 and 5 inch beards not much for spurs but i wasent about to get skunked again this year. i found out tho that that new hevi 13 shot is only good at 50 yrds or further i hit the first shot at 30 but he took off running so i plugged him at about 50 or so. 3 different properties and only one bird gobbled and then died. found a nice bird this evening maybe before work tomorrow morning i can get a kill on video.

eddie
 
Wispete the mushrooms were awesome. Largest buttons I have found, some were a couple inches across a few were almost 6in long. found them the night before the hunt when I was scouting for birds. cooked them up on Sunday in a little butter and had them with BBQ'd steaks, deliciuos.
 
Mike the mushrooms aren't up here yet. It has been dry as a bone. Fire danger is high. We have had three fires in the last week. The last one almost got into the Council Grounds State Park. That would have been terrible. There's some 150 yr. old white pines. A power line got knocked down by a tree. Instant fire along 300 ft of the downed line. A quick repsonse by the DNR and several fire departments stopped it. The wind were at twenty miles a hour. A wind shift just on the edge of Park enabled them to stop it. We need rain then the musrooms will pop along with the asparagus. Yummy.
 
We have had more than our share of rain here. Creeks are swollen and rivers in spots over there banks. Hope you get some rain soon nothing worse than dry conditions that your describing. Fires can start in an instant and run out of control when its dry and a little wind. My dad lost his cabin back in 78 to fire in Hiawatha national forest. A few years later they had more fires, this time he opened the place up for the fire fighters to use as a base of operations. It came close to burning again but they saved it that time. Watch those mushrooms pop up once you get some rain.
 
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