It was one tough year for me hunting wise. South Dakota was a major disappointment. Only saw one longbeard in 3 days of hunting, which I managed to take, but he only scored out at 42. Saw lots of hens and some jakes and let jakes walk on 3 different occasions, but where the longbeards were remains a total mystery. In areas from the past that held lots of birds, hardly any. Bird numbers just seemed way down from the past.
Didn't get to go to Wisconsin because the day before I was suppose to leave for down there my father-in-law suffered a stroke and was flown down to St. Cloud 70 miles south of where I live. Spent 3 days going back and forth down there with the wife. He seems to be doing ok now.
Minnesota was just plain rough. Hunted 4 days and stuck out. Had a bird in my sights for a second on the first day but didn't pull the trigger because of the brush. Called him down the hill and across the creek, but couldn't seal the deal on him. The second day had one in the sights for a split second, but once again, I couldn't get it done. Had a thunder storm roll threw in the early am so went out a hour latter then normal. Got to where we hunt and was going down to the end of the field where I usually go but decided to stop part way there to give a call or 2 over the bluff edge. I got up close to the edge and stepped on a small twig which snapped and a gobbler let loose like 70 or 80 yards from me! I set up real quick behind a blow down on the field edge and called lightly once and he gobbled like 50 yards away. I saw movement and made a slight gun movement, like 2 inches, to get on him and he must have caught it as his head came part way up, went back down, took 2 steps, and flew. I just sat there and muttered to myself what the heck! He was behind a blow down at about 30 yards when this all happened, and if he had raised his head as most birds seem to do , he would have been dead.
The 3rd day saw nothing but a few hens, and the 4th day I let 2 jakes walk. Saw lots of hens over the 4 days, but most all were by themselves. Sometimes there would be 2 hens together, but not very often. 4 of us went down, Mag10 included, and we all stuck out. Those 2 jakes I saw where the only jakes any of us seen. It was rough.
This was far and a way the worst turkey hunting year I've had for a long long time. Hopefully fishing season turns out much better! To everyone still out hunting, GOOD LUCK!!
