Wisconsin Opener Success! Stories and Pics
04-18-2003, 10:09 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Ridgeland Wisconsin
Posts: 276
Wisconsin Opener Success! Stories and Pics
Hello to every one, this is a long one.
I was fortunate enogh to be a part of two days of successful Turkey hunting here in Wisconsin. Two of my turkey hunting buddies had tags for Wisconsins first season. We figured it would be fun to all hunt together. I was just along for the ride and to help with calling. Well to start off with the weather here in WI was as nasty as I have ever had to hunt in. 30 mph winds and rain and sleet. Mike Miller who Gobbcaller and I always called Stue, went out to try and roost a few birds Tuesday night, but found nothing gobbling. We gave up early for fear of getting struck by lightning. Wednesday morning Stue and I met up at my place and then went and picked up Pete. The weather was terrible the temps were in the low 30' s the winds were gusting 30+ mph and it was raining. It was miserable out there but we wasn' t going to give up. We arrived at the first woods at about 5:00 am, and we were greeted with silence, out side of the wind ripping at our clothing. We owled and crowed to no avail and when it was plenty light to see we called for some time. But the turkeys were not talking. We decided to drive down the road a ways and check out a different spot. Sure enough there were three Gobblers standing in the feild all alone. The problem was getting near enough for them to hear our calls without them seeing us. We opted to leave them alone untill another day. At the next point of interest we found a flock working their way across a hill top field. The flock contained three gobblers and five or six hens. Pete knew the lay of the land and said we could get around them without getting spotted. So off we went. We found our selfs across a deep valley from the birds. My thoughts were to get across the valley before making a peep. But Stue thought we should check them from where we were. Not wanting to be argumentative I yelped a few times. We were answered by all three gobblers. We all agreed to slip down into the bottom of the valley. From there we called for around ten minutes the gobblers answered us constantly but would not come down the ridge into the valley. I told Pete and Stue we had to get up the other side. So we left the birds alone for wile and then sliped down the valley a ways and up the other side. Once near the top I let out a few yelps, GOBBLEE! a bird answered, and he was close. Stue and Pete hit the deck in the prone position. I ducked back behind a tree. Once Pete and Stue looked settled in I yelped again. GOOBBBLLLEEE! this time the bird was so close his Gobble took some of the paint off my hat. He was in a little draw on the ridge edge and when he popped his head up he was at ten yards. Bam! Pete let him have it.
Pete' s Bird - 22lbs 9 oz' s. inch spurs and a 9 1/2 inch beard. What a mess
.
We were soaked to the bone even with rain ware on. On the way back to the truck it rained harder than it had all day. We waited untill we got back to Pete' s house and took a few pics. Funny it stopped raining long enough for us to take some pictures. We got dried out a little and headed back out but couldn' t find another bird willing to gobble. That afternoon we found a lone gobbler with a few hens. We got within 75 yards of him but couldn' t make him gobble. His hens eventually took him away from us.
Thursday morning we heard fair gobbling off the roost but couldn' t work no mature birds. The three off us spent the day going from place to place trying to find a willing Gobbler. At one place we called in a group of jakes, four to be exact. The rain turned to sleet over night and every thing was covered in a layer of ice. The good thing was the rain had stopped and so had the wind. Now that it was dry I could bring out my other calls. The boxes, strikers and pots. up untill Thursday morning the only call I could use was mouth calls. After dinner Pete said we should try this spot he had been successful in before. What the heck, we were fast running out of places to go. So we drove down a long feild road and stoped at a gate. As Stue loaded up his gun Pete told Stue " that will be the last time you will need to load that this year." Stue said " I hope so I would sure like to get the dust out of the barrel." We started a long walk down a trail through a bramble infested clear cut. It sure was pretty. Every thing was white with ice. Once through the clear cut we found our selfs at the head of a long wooded ridge with deep broad valley on either side. This was part of the Buckeye. A well known chunk of land around here. This is a large track of land made up of long deep valleys with extreamly steep sides. There is probably a thousand acres of wooded hills and valleys bordered by farms and cropland. I have seen most of the Buckeye but this section was new to me. I really enjoy seeing a woods for the first time. I pulled out my Blodgett Aluminum and a mystery striker. Gobble! Gobble! we got answere right off the bat. The problem was that they were across the valley and on the next ridge over. As we were talking the situation over a hen started in. She was with the gobblers. Darn the bad luck. We would kill ourselfs trying to cross that valley to only have the hens take the gobblers away. So the three of us set up, half heartedly, knowing the hens would take the gobblers and run. Sure enough my next series of calls passed unanswered. After ten minutes off silence on the Gobblers part we got back up to reconsider the situation. I tried them again and got an answer from a new gobbler way down the ridge we were on. We quickly started heading in his direction. After about a hundred yards we stopped to check him. This time we were answered by the first two gobblers and that darn hen. Well now what. I was getting flustered. The new gobbler went quiet. The melting Ice was dripping from the trees onto my Aluminum and fouling things up. I pulled out a box call and started giving the hen the business. She wanted a peice of me and I was mad enough I wanted a piece of her too. We figured we would stay put untill we coud tell which of the gobblers was going to make some sort of commitment to us. As it worked out that hen was getting madder by the minute and her gobblers were starting to get fired up. I threw caution to the wind and yelped and cut on my box with wreckless abandon. The Gobbler on our ridge would answer but he wasn' t going to move. But the gobblers across the valley with the hen were double and tripple gobbling and before long they were starting to work towards us. We did a comic repositioning as the two gobblers made there way into the valley below us. Stue was now leaning over the big stump he was sitting against, and I crawled in right behind him. Pete sliped down the ridge about 20 yards behind us. I was running my box and peeking out from behind Stue' s left side as the gobblers made it near the top of our ridge. Those gobblers were fired up and gobbling almost nonstop. Then they finally cleared the top at about 50 yards out. What a sight, they blew into full strut and jockeyed each other for position, so close together that Stue didn' t dare shoot. I had stop calling to keep them from pin pointing Stue' s location. But Pete started in on a mouth call and kept them heading our way. Then two hens appeared following the gobblers. The Gobblers worked closer and closer, you could hear them spit druming. I wispered to Stue to shoot the big one, as a joke knowing they were almost twins. As the two gobblers grew closer I lost sight of them and had to peek around Stue' s right side to witness the shot. I could see that Stue was starting to shake pritty badly. In a split second it was over. three turkeys luanched them selfs off the top of the hill and left one gobbler flopping on the top 25 yards from Stue' s barrel.
Stue' s Gobbler 23 lbs 13 oz' s 10 inch beard 3/4" spurs. Dose any one reconize the mystery Striker?
.
We took pics right at the stump we were hiding behind
.
Looking across a valley in the Buckeye
.
We had a blast out there together. But there will always be one missing from our pictures, GobbCaller (Mike). We sure miss him, and missed him yesterday. There were some tears shed out there. We are thankfull for the gift he gave all of us, Turkey Hunting. Every bird we harvest is a tribute to him. For he took all of us under his wing and taught each of us the art of Turkey hunting.
I was fortunate enogh to be a part of two days of successful Turkey hunting here in Wisconsin. Two of my turkey hunting buddies had tags for Wisconsins first season. We figured it would be fun to all hunt together. I was just along for the ride and to help with calling. Well to start off with the weather here in WI was as nasty as I have ever had to hunt in. 30 mph winds and rain and sleet. Mike Miller who Gobbcaller and I always called Stue, went out to try and roost a few birds Tuesday night, but found nothing gobbling. We gave up early for fear of getting struck by lightning. Wednesday morning Stue and I met up at my place and then went and picked up Pete. The weather was terrible the temps were in the low 30' s the winds were gusting 30+ mph and it was raining. It was miserable out there but we wasn' t going to give up. We arrived at the first woods at about 5:00 am, and we were greeted with silence, out side of the wind ripping at our clothing. We owled and crowed to no avail and when it was plenty light to see we called for some time. But the turkeys were not talking. We decided to drive down the road a ways and check out a different spot. Sure enough there were three Gobblers standing in the feild all alone. The problem was getting near enough for them to hear our calls without them seeing us. We opted to leave them alone untill another day. At the next point of interest we found a flock working their way across a hill top field. The flock contained three gobblers and five or six hens. Pete knew the lay of the land and said we could get around them without getting spotted. So off we went. We found our selfs across a deep valley from the birds. My thoughts were to get across the valley before making a peep. But Stue thought we should check them from where we were. Not wanting to be argumentative I yelped a few times. We were answered by all three gobblers. We all agreed to slip down into the bottom of the valley. From there we called for around ten minutes the gobblers answered us constantly but would not come down the ridge into the valley. I told Pete and Stue we had to get up the other side. So we left the birds alone for wile and then sliped down the valley a ways and up the other side. Once near the top I let out a few yelps, GOBBLEE! a bird answered, and he was close. Stue and Pete hit the deck in the prone position. I ducked back behind a tree. Once Pete and Stue looked settled in I yelped again. GOOBBBLLLEEE! this time the bird was so close his Gobble took some of the paint off my hat. He was in a little draw on the ridge edge and when he popped his head up he was at ten yards. Bam! Pete let him have it.
Pete' s Bird - 22lbs 9 oz' s. inch spurs and a 9 1/2 inch beard. What a mess
.
We were soaked to the bone even with rain ware on. On the way back to the truck it rained harder than it had all day. We waited untill we got back to Pete' s house and took a few pics. Funny it stopped raining long enough for us to take some pictures. We got dried out a little and headed back out but couldn' t find another bird willing to gobble. That afternoon we found a lone gobbler with a few hens. We got within 75 yards of him but couldn' t make him gobble. His hens eventually took him away from us.
Thursday morning we heard fair gobbling off the roost but couldn' t work no mature birds. The three off us spent the day going from place to place trying to find a willing Gobbler. At one place we called in a group of jakes, four to be exact. The rain turned to sleet over night and every thing was covered in a layer of ice. The good thing was the rain had stopped and so had the wind. Now that it was dry I could bring out my other calls. The boxes, strikers and pots. up untill Thursday morning the only call I could use was mouth calls. After dinner Pete said we should try this spot he had been successful in before. What the heck, we were fast running out of places to go. So we drove down a long feild road and stoped at a gate. As Stue loaded up his gun Pete told Stue " that will be the last time you will need to load that this year." Stue said " I hope so I would sure like to get the dust out of the barrel." We started a long walk down a trail through a bramble infested clear cut. It sure was pretty. Every thing was white with ice. Once through the clear cut we found our selfs at the head of a long wooded ridge with deep broad valley on either side. This was part of the Buckeye. A well known chunk of land around here. This is a large track of land made up of long deep valleys with extreamly steep sides. There is probably a thousand acres of wooded hills and valleys bordered by farms and cropland. I have seen most of the Buckeye but this section was new to me. I really enjoy seeing a woods for the first time. I pulled out my Blodgett Aluminum and a mystery striker. Gobble! Gobble! we got answere right off the bat. The problem was that they were across the valley and on the next ridge over. As we were talking the situation over a hen started in. She was with the gobblers. Darn the bad luck. We would kill ourselfs trying to cross that valley to only have the hens take the gobblers away. So the three of us set up, half heartedly, knowing the hens would take the gobblers and run. Sure enough my next series of calls passed unanswered. After ten minutes off silence on the Gobblers part we got back up to reconsider the situation. I tried them again and got an answer from a new gobbler way down the ridge we were on. We quickly started heading in his direction. After about a hundred yards we stopped to check him. This time we were answered by the first two gobblers and that darn hen. Well now what. I was getting flustered. The new gobbler went quiet. The melting Ice was dripping from the trees onto my Aluminum and fouling things up. I pulled out a box call and started giving the hen the business. She wanted a peice of me and I was mad enough I wanted a piece of her too. We figured we would stay put untill we coud tell which of the gobblers was going to make some sort of commitment to us. As it worked out that hen was getting madder by the minute and her gobblers were starting to get fired up. I threw caution to the wind and yelped and cut on my box with wreckless abandon. The Gobbler on our ridge would answer but he wasn' t going to move. But the gobblers across the valley with the hen were double and tripple gobbling and before long they were starting to work towards us. We did a comic repositioning as the two gobblers made there way into the valley below us. Stue was now leaning over the big stump he was sitting against, and I crawled in right behind him. Pete sliped down the ridge about 20 yards behind us. I was running my box and peeking out from behind Stue' s left side as the gobblers made it near the top of our ridge. Those gobblers were fired up and gobbling almost nonstop. Then they finally cleared the top at about 50 yards out. What a sight, they blew into full strut and jockeyed each other for position, so close together that Stue didn' t dare shoot. I had stop calling to keep them from pin pointing Stue' s location. But Pete started in on a mouth call and kept them heading our way. Then two hens appeared following the gobblers. The Gobblers worked closer and closer, you could hear them spit druming. I wispered to Stue to shoot the big one, as a joke knowing they were almost twins. As the two gobblers grew closer I lost sight of them and had to peek around Stue' s right side to witness the shot. I could see that Stue was starting to shake pritty badly. In a split second it was over. three turkeys luanched them selfs off the top of the hill and left one gobbler flopping on the top 25 yards from Stue' s barrel.
Stue' s Gobbler 23 lbs 13 oz' s 10 inch beard 3/4" spurs. Dose any one reconize the mystery Striker?
.
We took pics right at the stump we were hiding behind
.
Looking across a valley in the Buckeye
.
We had a blast out there together. But there will always be one missing from our pictures, GobbCaller (Mike). We sure miss him, and missed him yesterday. There were some tears shed out there. We are thankfull for the gift he gave all of us, Turkey Hunting. Every bird we harvest is a tribute to him. For he took all of us under his wing and taught each of us the art of Turkey hunting.
04-18-2003, 03:27 PM
#6
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Blair Co., PA USA
Posts: 537
RE: Wisconsin Opener Success! Stories and Pics
Congrats to you and your buddies Jerry! Great narration as well. I know somebody enjoyed watching from above.
Keep us posted on the rest of the WI season! Our season begins on the 26th and the birds are cranking!
PBB
Keep us posted on the rest of the WI season! Our season begins on the 26th and the birds are cranking!
PBB
04-18-2003, 07:00 PM
#7
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: The Wild Turkey Capitol of the World......Missouri
Posts: 1,027
RE: Wisconsin Opener Success! Stories and Pics
Way to go Jerry, that' s a pair of dandy birds anytime, especially considering the terrible weather you guys had up in Wisconsin. Thanks for the nice pics also. Tell your friends congrats!! 
