Spring Turkey 2024

This post is a little late. Life has been crazy lately, in a good way, so I can’t complain. But this blog has taken a backseat to more important things. More posts coming soon. This story was from this spring of 2024.

Last spring turkey season (2023), Eli and I only made it out one time. But what we did get accomplished is having a setup that we can use for hopefully many years to come. This year, we were ready to go come opening day. 

We caught an extremely lucky break. A friend of ours texted me a phone number of a local landowner who had told him he had turkeys, and that he would more than likely be willing to let me and the kids hunt out there. I called the landowner and he was very welcoming to me and the kids hunting on his property. Eli, Caleb, and I drove out and met him, he showed us around his land and where we could hunt. We really hit the jackpot. The property was beautiful and the best part, it was just less than 15 minutes from our house. It had a river running through it and two alfalfa fields that he showed us the birds had been using. Because of the low cost of mentor licenses in South Dakota, I purchased one for Eli and Caleb with the understanding that Eli got the first turn, but if she were to happen to get one before the season is over, then Caleb would get the next chance. 

Opening day was here before you know it, and it wasn’t long before Eli and I were loading the Yukon with all the gear for the next morning. We woke up early and headed out to the spot. We knew what field the turkeys had been using most recently, but we didn’t know where they were roosting. So we made our best guess, and tried to set up on the path we thought they might take to get to the field. It didn’t take long to figure out where they were roosting, as the sun came up we could see them sitting in the tree a few hundred yards away. I tried to do some calling, but it was to no avail. We watched them come down from the tree and go the opposite direction, and away from the property we had permission to hunt. We could hear the occasional gobble, but we never really got a glimpse of them. The morning was not a total loss. We knocked off the rust in getting the pop up blind and tripod setup, and now had a much better idea of the area they were roosting in. We watched the pheasants, deer, and geese put on quite the show, and Eli got some good reading in. 

This spring was busy, so it wasn’t until a few weeks later when I got a text from the landowner saying that he had been seeing the turkeys more regularly and asked if we were coming back out. We picked a morning that worked, and got back out to try again. This turned out to be a very entertaining hunt. We set up a little further south of where we were the last time looking towards where they were roosting. This time they came down from the roost and to our surprise cut straight across the neighboring field, and came right towards us. We watched a couple hens with a jake, and two nice toms cross in front of us. I wasn’t sure where they would cross the property line as I thought that there was a fence running the whole way. But it turns out, that assumption was wrong. They crossed about 100 yards to our north where there was no fence and went into the south alfalfa field. We heard them in there for a while and hoped they would cut back through where we were sitting as the morning went on. Unfortunately, they went back exactly the way they came and never got too close. After picking up, we went and inspected where they crossed, and figured out where we could set up for the next hunt. And needless to say, we were pretty excited to give it another go. 

The next week we had another morning that worked for both of us. We got up early and headed out. We got there and got everything setup quickly, as we both were starting to get the system down. We put the blind up, just about 20 yards north of where they crossed the last time we were out and put our decoys out about 10 yards in front and just on the west side of the blind. The idea was that they would see the decoys and have to cross directly in front of us and the shot would be about 15 yards if all went well. The turkeys were still roosting in the same area as before and it wasn’t long until they were coming on the same line across the neighboring field as they did the last time. I called a little bit, and the jake began to get pretty curious and the excitement began to build. To our surprise the hen decided to cross the property just to the north of us. Exactly where we were the last time we were out. She pulled another tom with, and then the jake decided he would just keep following them. Although you could tell he wanted to come check out what was going on from the calling but unfortunately he couldn’t see the two decoys as the tree line was in his way. They got into the north alfalfa field, and seemed pretty content for a while. We were only about 40 yards from them so we tried to sit quite, as best we could. I made the decision to open up a small window in the back of the blind and move the gun to the other side. We successfully accomplished this without scaring the turkeys. I had hoped they would come up the path right towards us and that would present a perfect shot. It almost worked out that way. The hen was the first to leave, and she crossed about 35 yards in front of us and then went back into the field we didn’t have permission on. The jake followed this time and he came down a little closer even. I pulled back the hammer on the gun, and gave Eli the ok if she could get a good aim on him. She took her time, and in that time the jake moved into taller grass, but the tom then came right behind him. He was only out in the clear for a few seconds, and I tried to give Eli a signal to shoot at the left bird, which was the nice tom. He crossed into the taller grass but you could still see his head clearly. I gave Eli the thumbs up, if she had a shot. While this was not optimal, I figured this might be the only shot we get. The way he was going across you could really see just his head very clearly. I thought one of two things would happen. Either she will make a good clean shot on the head and at (33 yards, we paced it out after) that would be lethal. Or she would miss cleanly. She took her time again, and took a shot. I was very surprised at how quiet the gun actually was. All the turkeys' heads popped up for a second. I could tell it was a miss right away. Eli looked at me and said “his head moved right as I was shooting”. She had the excited shakes, and handled missing very well. What happened next was surprising. Instead of running away, they all looked around for a bit, and then carried on as normal. I called a little more, and the jake was still very curious. Instead of going back across with the other two, this time, he came down the neighboring field to the point where he could see the decoys. I was fumbling in the blind bag trying to find another shell. Through hand signals we both got up, moved the gun back to the other side of the blind. I was trying so hard to be quiet, but it seemed like everything we had in the blind bag was making noise. The funny thing was that the box call we had with, was the loudest thing and it kept squeaking. To my surprise the jake was still coming. He was just about to cross the property line, about 10 yards in front of us. I had finally found the shells and grabbed another. As I did that he crossed. And he was close. I tried as hard as I could to break the gun quietly and reload, but the click of the ejecting shell was what did us in. It was the noise that finally spooked him a bit. He scurried out and back across the property line. I got the new shell loaded in, and the gun loaded back up and tried to call him back. It was pretty funny. He sat just on the other field, again really close and just stared at us for a while. Until he went back across and met back up with the hen and the tom. Funny enough they crossed back over, a little further out this time and went back into the north field. I talked with Eli and using the trees as cover, we could maybe make a sneak on them. But the excitement had taken its toll on Eli and I was informed that she now had to go to the bathroom. So we let them get to a point where they couldn’t see us as much and then picked up. We had to walk the path she took the shot on to get back to the car, so that was when I paced it out. We walked as quietly as we could to not disturb them across on the other side of the field. They watched us walk out the last 40 yards or so as we got past the tree line. When we got home, I was so happy with how well she handled what happened. Eli was more excited than disappointed, as that was the first time she got to experience that rush. I think I was more disappointed, as I felt like I had blown it. Hindsight is 20/20 but I wish I would have just been a little more patient. I feel like if we would have waited, that jake would have still come across to check out our decoys. But I really felt they were just going back to the roost. But it turns out, knowing what happened they wanted in the south field where we were. Had we just waited, I think she would have gotten the 10 to 15 yard shot we were really looking for. Instead of me comforting Eli, it was actually the opposite. She told me there is no way I could have known that was going to happen, as I was replaying everything in my head and kicking myself a bit. 

We tried one more time a little while later, towards the end of the season. We set up on the trail directly between the two alfalfa fields and put the decoys out right in front of us. So, no matter which way they would cross, they would see them. They were still roosting in the same spot, but due to the rain we had the night before, they got a late start. Instead of coming directly across they took their time in the neighboring field and circled all around it. They came towards us, but they just didn’t want to come all the way across. They just sat content in the corner of the field directly next to the ones we had permission on and they just never came. They also never left either. They just hung out there. I called a little. Then a little more, but it was to no avail. I could have sat there all day trying but after a little while I heard “they are not coming, let's go home”. Eli wasn’t mad, but running out of patience and I knew not to push it. We had a fun season with lots of memories, even though we were not successful and I am looking forward to next year.