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Northwoods Turkey Camp: Part 2
Last week, I left off at that gobbling turkey getting run off by two coyotes. So I’ll just pick up the story where I left off.
After that bird was run off, we made our way back to camp and got a cup of coffee and discussed a plan to attack that turkey again, not knowing how he may have been effected by those coyotes. So we make a plan of attack and make the 10 minute drive back to the spot.
After loading up and putting back on our gear, we made a long loop around where we last saw and heard the bird, and tried to get to a spot where we thought he would end up. Knowing the terrain and territory pretty well, I decided we would make a setup along an old logging path that was overgrown.
After a couple minutes of calling, we start hearing some metal banging. I bring the binos up to see a guy in his camp on top of the hill above us, walking around his camp. Not knowing the situation, we picked up all of our things and got out of there. It is legal to camp back in those woods, but he was quite far off the beaten path. Again, I’m not sure of the situation as he could’ve biked back in there or was setting up camp for the weekend, but in any case, we just got out of there.
Heading back to camp, my brother decides he’s going to lay down for a nap. In a never say never attitude, I decide to make my way out to the same spot I killed my bird last year, and where we saw decent sign scouting the day prior.
I head out to the trail and make the mile walk back to the area. not making a call. With rain falling on and off, and wind howling through the trees, I decide to take a knee on the edge of the trail and make some calls on the glass and try to make some cuts through the noise of the weather. After a quick round of cuts, I look up and to my right, just to see a dark bird in the middle of the trail. With his head held high, I freeze and make sure not to make a single move. After a minute or less, he begins to feed around on the trail, which gives me just enough time to drop my call and belly crawl behind a fallen tree. With the tree in front of me and still laying on my stomach, I prop the gun up on the exposed roots of the fallen tree and cut a few times with my mouth call. Slowly, the bird makes his way around the corner at about 15 yards away. I see beard and pull the trigger and he drops without barely a flop.
Absolutely ecstatic about the hunt, I get up and take a few snapshots with the bird, pack him up, and take him back to the car. After packing everything away, I take him back to camp to show the boys.
I get back to camp and no one is there. So I continue to crack a beer and enjoy myself, thinking about the hunt. A couple guys from camp had just run to town, and are back within a few minutes. The celebration starts as one by one guys come back to camp as I get to tell my story and have some celebratory beverages. The fish fry was extra tasty and the beverages went down extra smooth that night.
Throughout the remainder of the weekend, I made my way out with my brothers as a designated caller, but couldn’t get one to cooperate. My younger brother ended up missing one, along with another guy in our group having a chance but ended up missing as well.
The weekend with those guys in camp is always the hunting highlight to my year. I feel like every year is just as special if not more special than the last, as the group we go with gets older and older. With most of the guys approaching 80 or more, it is always tough to leave and always hard to believe another year has gone by. Celebrating a bird down with them is always special, but really just the icing on the cake. I’ll miss that camp and those woods till next year.
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Northwoods Turkey Camp: Part 1
The northwoods turkey camp is always my favorite hunt of the year. It tops deer gun opener, bow camp, and anything else revolving around hunting. The stories told, jokes (some at others expense), and food cannot be beat. This year was no different. I’m going to write this weekend in two parts.
Before my brother and I made our move to go up on Thursday around noon, we got word that my dad had shot one on Wednesday morning, opening day. It was a quick hunt. There was gobbling everywhere and the two toms came right into his decoy after they hit the ground. Can’t write it any more simple.
The next day, I had my things packed and made my way towards my brother’s after dropping the kids off at the in-laws. The two hour drive went quick, and we were setting up our camp in no time, getting up there around 2:30pm. With the car unpacked and our camper set up, it was time to hit the woods.
The initial afternoon hunt proved to be uneventful but that’s ok. We got some good scouting in on a couple areas, and got good insight into the spots the other guys have hunted. After a supper of burgers and brats along with a handful of beverages, it was time to get some rest for the morning hunt. We plan to get out early to the area where my dad shot his, as there seemed to be plenty of toms to go around.
Getting up around 4:30am, we get out to the parking area and make the short walk to get setup. However, morning comes and goes and we don’t see or a single thing. Deciding to make a move around 7am, we get up and go for a walk. The walk proves to be uneventful, all besides the one hen we spooked off the trail. Feeling defeated, we pack up our things, and head back to the car to assess what to do next.
On the drive back to get a cup of coffee, we decide to walk a different area and make some calls to see if we can get something talking. No more than a few hundred yards into the walk, we strike one up and make a setup. I had my brother sit down immediately as I moved behind him to try to scratch and call him in. The sequence lasted about an hour with the bird responding to calling and scratching, and eventually I had him gobbling by himself, without calling myself.
After about a half hour of no calling, I decide to text my brother to get up and walk backwards towards me so that we can make a loop around the turkey. As soon as I send that text message, I see movement to my left. I recognize it as a turkey shaking his wings off, just before he runs off at about 70 yards through the thick brush. After about five minutes of wondering what happened, I see more movement to my left. I see two coyotes running through the woods and they stop dead in their tracks and look back at me. No more than a second goes by and they dart in the same direction the turkey went.
I grab my brother and we head back to the car to assess what had happened. Since it was close to 11am, we decide to head back to camp for some lunch and a cup of coffee.
And that’ll do it for the first part. I’ll be looking forward to sharing the story to the second half of the day in part 2, along with the rest of the weekend!
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Pack and Prepare
This is the week of my opening day which looks to be Thursday (4/25) afternoon. So it’s that time of the year to get everything packed up and loaded in the truck. Back to the old trusty list…
So I went down to the hardware store and got some permethrin spray, as it is the tick time of year. Took my time and sprayed down everything I could with two bottles of spray. Went through all of the camo along with the winter gear to make sure I had everything. Amazing what ends up in my closet and what ends up back in the bin it should be in,
After packing all of the list items into the truck, I’ll be off to the up north camp. I can’t wait to get up there. It is by far my favorite hunting time of the year, with a great camp and great friends. Hopefully I have a story or two after it’s all said and done.
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2024 Turkey Permission
I was very grateful this week to be able receive the “go for it” text from the local farmer I contact every year to hunt his farm again for the 2024 season. I’ve been hunting this property for the past three years, but have hunted the surrounding property for about four years prior to that. So permission hasn’t been too much of a concern this year.
Last year, I had written some letters to drop them off around at different farms that I scouted from the road, hoping to get a call or text to have a conversation. I knocked on a few doors and was able to talk with one farmer, but didn’t end up having any luck as he already had a guy hunting his property. The letters all came up empty with zero response. My hope was to get permission on some of those properties for turkeys, but then possibly convert them to deer hunting properties. No matter the case, they didn’t get a response. I am hoping to still try to get some permission for deer season this coming year, and plan to use the letter and knock on door method, but I’ll have to report back once I have some knocks under the belt for this year.
So I’m back to the same property I’ve hunted in past years, which isn’t a bad thing as this property has plenty of birds on it. Honestly, my permission experience is all about who you know. Always keeping in mind to ask the question to friends or asking friends if there is anyone they might know who’d allow you to hunt. This is how I originally got into the property I hunt today, and hopefully will produce more properties in the future.
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Northwoods Plan
Getting ready to head north in the next couple weeks, I figured I would put together a plan to attack the forestry.
I’ve had the pleasure to get this little patch of around 180,000 acres of hardwoods since I was around nine years old. The way I’ve hunted through the years has definitely changed through that time. I’ve had the opportunity to kill more than my fair share of turkeys in the area, but have only taken a total of two birds over that time. Not a good percentage. However, I’ve only really taken it really seriously the last handful of years. So that has changed how I do things dramatically.
Last year I was able to take a bird within the first two hours I had my gun in the woods. Literally the afternoon I arrived at camp when scouting. Now, I don’t plan to do that this year, but I am certainly going to try.
The whole plan is to base what I do off of what I know from previous years. I plan to go up Thursday afternoon to get a little scouting in, and then possibly hoot at dusk. I’ve had minimal success hooting at dusk, but figure that it can’t hurt. A huge plus is that there are guys that come up to our camp Monday afternoon, and have a few hunts already under their belts by the time. So sometimes there is already good info of our known areas by the time we get there.
If none of the well known areas are winners, then it’s back to the drawing board and the previous pinned spots that I’ve looked at prior to the season. Hopefully at some point, one of those spots will show promise with sign or gobbling.
And that’s it. It is a pretty simple plan, and it has payed off in the past. The main thing is knowing the area, and making sure that you’re up early enough to hear the birds to make a move or get one to come in off the roost. After that, things can be a crapshoot, but there is no better place to hunt than those woods.
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Turkey Vest Prep
It is officially my opening season month for turkey season. In just three weeks and a couple days from today, I’ll be leaving for the up north turkey camp. With that being said, it is time to officially get everything together in the turkey vest.
Last year was my most successful season to date, and with a total of three birds on the wall, I don’t feel as though I need to change much. Having such a successful year in 2023, I definitely need to keep myself in check as to not feel as though I’ve mastered the wild turkey. So this year, I’m planning to keep things the same, simple setup I had run the previous year.
As far as calls are concerned, I’ll be running the three same mouth calls from last year, along with the same glass call in previous years. All of the calls are from Woodhaven via the Hunting Public YouTube channel. Last year I landed on a three pack of mouth calls that was on sale, which had a ghost cut, scorpion cut, and viper cut. I’ve ran the ninja hammer mouth call in the past as well, but have found that the cut doesn’t really make too much of a difference. But it is nice to have a variety to change things up, even if it is only to keep your mind right. The glass call that I’ve used for the previous handful of seasons is the Cherry Classic Crystal. I usually will use this call if it’s windy or if I need to call a long distance such as locating. All other times I’m using a mouth call.
For locators, I carry an owl hooter and crow call. I’ll use the owl call more than the crow, simply because I don’t think I’ve ever had the crow call work. The owl call works on occasion, but it isn’t completely necessary as you can use your mouth and lungs to produce similar vocals with little effort and practice.
Here is a list of the last few things I carry: turkey tote that came with my vest when I bought it, range finder, pruning snips, some toilet paper, glass conditioning stone and kit, water bladder, and shells. These last few things are pretty self explanatory. I also got used to carrying a small ground blind net that I’ll use occasionally.
No decoys, no chair, nothing too fancy. Hopefully this simple setup will do the trick again this year.
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Turkey Calling
My turkey calling has definitely evolved over the years, but I believe I have what I like dialed in. There are about a million different ways to call, and I’m not saying my way to do it is the right way for everyone, but I have found success doing it.
One of the best tips I ever received as far as calling is concerned, was to listen to an actual turkey call, and mimic it. Where do you find such a thing? I used to have a CD that came with a beginner set of calls I used to use in my car, but I think I lost that when I sold the car back in 2016 with it still in the CD changer. Should’ve probably charged more for the car with it in it. Today I use the NWTF website and just play the calls I like from my phone. I believe I heard Dave Owens talking about it on a podcast.
Screenshot Through all of the calls on this website, I can safely say I use two calls the absolute most: the Excited Yelp and the Cutt. I’ll mix in a tree yelp every now and again depending on the situation, and I’ll listen to all of the calls on the page before the season starts. But for the most part, especially last year, I used the Excited Yelp and Cutt.
The key to utilizing these calls and the website, is to really listen to the tones of each. For example: when yelping, you’ll have to fight the urge to make perfect yelps every single time. Instead, change the tone on every one, similar to how a teenagers voice will crack. This goes for both the yelps and the cutts.
As far as the types of calls I use, I keep it pretty simple. I have a glass call for long range and windy days, but will mainly use a mouth call on most occasions because of it’s versatility. Walking and talking is easier, and when you get in a possible shooting situation, there is less movement. I use a handful of Woodhaven mouth calls along with the glass call, but I’m sure others could work. I liked the sound the Hunting Public guys were getting out of them in their videos, so I thought I’d give them a try and I ended up really liking their sound.
So all in all, pretty simple. It doesn’t work all of the time, but listening to the real thing cannot be beat. The more I listen and practice to sound like the real thing, the more confident I get in my calling.
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Turkey Tags This Season
Today was a big day as the over the counter tags for Wisconsin in zone two went on sale online and over the counter. This is a big day because it essentially lets me know what the rest of my season will look like.
I already have my draw tag which is in zone one, period B which runs 4/24 through 4/30. There were minimal tags available for period D which runs 5/8 through 5/14, and the plentiful tags for the remaining two seasons which run through May 28th. You are given the opportunity to buy one today, and then one per day starting this coming Saturday.
The goal today was to get one of those season D tags. I was not able to accomplish that goal. Instead I took the season E tag set for 5/15 through 5/21, and can assume I’ll get a season F tag on Saturday as there are slightly less than 6,800 tags left for that final season of 2024.
So my season is set. I’ll have three opportunities on paper, and will need to schedule time in the woods with the family to make the most of those opportunities. I can’t wait to get into the woods and hear the gobble of the spring turkey echo through the creek bottom and hardwoods.
Remaining tags left in the state:
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Car Scouting
Started driving by the property that I’ve had permission to turkey hunt the past few years, and sign is looking good. I’ve seen turkeys every time I’ve driven past the area. Once was a group twenty with a mix of jakes and hens, and the other handful of times lone toms or a group of two or three.
This isn’t a surprise, but it is especially good to see since I took two birds off of the property last year. That isn’t to say I had any concern last year, but always good to see a healthy flock. It’ll be especially interesting to see how things are come hunting season since it has been so unseasonably warm. I’ve heard more than a few people say they are concerned breeding will be a lot earlier than previous years, changing how they feel about their draw tags. No matter what the situation is, I’m just looking forward to getting out.
So I’ll continue to drive past the different areas I hunt, along with keeping my eyes on how different flocks are acting. Soon enough it’ll be time to put the vest together for the season.
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Changing Gears
The weather here in Wisconsin has been unseasonably warm, which had my mind switching to turkeys that much sooner.
I received notice from the DNR that I was awarded my requested draw which is season B (4/24 through 4/30) in zone one. That season will be the usual turkey camp I have with my family and friends up in the Black River State Forest. You can read last year’s blogs to catch up on some of the history there, but that hunt is always a weekend I look forward to. The vast forestry along with the comradery of camp can’t be beat.
The remainder of the season will be decided by over the counter tags that go on sale the week of March 17th. I’m hoping I can add three more weeks to my season, but can only guarantee the last two due to very few tags left available for season D which runs 5/8 through 5/14. Season E which runs 5/15 through 5/21 and season F which runs 5/22 through 5/28 look to have plenty of tags available, and shouldn’t be a problem getting tags for those hunts.
So it’s time to dust the vest off, get the mouth calls out of the freezer, and and find all of the turkey gear. Spring seems to be right around the corner.
Wisco Pete 