WI/MN Hunt over

**Ironranger** · 05-18-2005, 11:08 AM

Just returned Monday from my WI/MN hunts. Rain, rain, rain!! I wanted to finish in WI within the first two days so I was pushing it a little. Birds I found wouldn't come to call so the 2nd day in the pouring rain I snuck on a group. Must have spooked them but got around to where they were heading. I was out in the open so I took the first gobbler that came thru the budding brush. I could see the heads and not much more and ended up shooting a jake thinking he was the bigger bird. He had a decent head for a jake and fooled me. Then it was off to MN. I worked one bird for two days that the farmer's son had tried to take but couldn't. He roosted same place every morning but wouldn't come to calls. 2nd day around noon I went back to him and he was there gobbling away. I worked up to him and he was right there. If I'd have been in a field the shot would've been taken but I couldn't see him thru the brush. He'd move farther up the hillside and I'd follow switching positions and then playing hard to get. I'd reposition when he moved away and almost had him but he didn't come down a fenceline and instead over the crest of a hill in the field. It was fun trying to fool that old boy but I let him rest after two days and he went silent from then on or maybe was spooked by me or someone else. The last day I was just about to call it quits as I needed to be back for on call shift. I slid up into the woods and called one last time. Got a response and moved in closer. He wouldn't come in for nothing either but I did some crawling and repositioned without calling and he made the mistake of coming closer than he should've. 21.5 lbs, 11" beard, and decent spurs. I'll post pix later. The season before me in MN some guy shot a 28.5 lb bird where I was hunting and my hunting partner took a 24.5 lb bird in Wisconsin the week before I hunted. Since I was hunting solo and don't have a tripod for my digital I just snapped shots of the birds with the jake being a wet mess of feathers. I'll post later and take measurements as well.