Kelly first was featured here with a stud of a moose from Canada, and later with her goofy pronghorn from Oregon. 

Well now she had added a nice gobbler to the wall, with her bow no less.  In true Western fashion she received permission to hunt on a neighbor’s ranch.  She did it solo, even though she had never been to the site before.

Here is the story in her words:

This ranch where I shot the tom is located about a mile down the road at a neighbors ranch. My boss maintains their road for free and in return they let him (and his friends) hunt turkeys if they are there. And they are there…for now. My boss informed me yesterday that I would be hunting this morning. (what a good boss, eh?)

I set out my one Montana Decoy turkey about 15 yards out and I climbed into the blind at about 5:45am this morning. It was pitch dark and pouring rain but I managed to find the blind in the dark (I had never been there before), get inside and get the windows opened way before it started getting light. So I arranged…and rearranged my ‘nest’ until I felt I was perfectly placed and facing the right direction. That lasted for about a minute. I rearranged again because it just didn’t feel right. (this is the first time I’ve ever sat in a blind…not used to the confinement or the…just sitting there waiting.

Anyway, I kept looking thru my binos for some movement of ANY kind. Finally…I saw something…a rabbit. wrong critter. I kept watching and attempting to listen beyond the heavy dripping of rain on the top of the blind. It was plenty light and I thought for sure if there were any turkeys in the neighborhood that I should see something by now. So…I got out my Primos “The Freak” turkey call. I barely got a noise off it and “GOBBLE GOBBLE” went off RIGHT ABOVE ME! The blind was in a wooded area with some really tall oak trees. There were turkeys roosting right above me! I took the striker and called again with the same result…and then I heard a bunch of turkeys fly down behind me, which were blocked by some heavy blackberry vines. But I looked across the drainage and running across the adjoining field right at me was 2 more turkeys. At that time, the one in front looked like a hen, the one in the back was a tom.

The group that flew down behind me began working their way back into my view. Hen, hen, more hens, and little jakes….nothing I wanted to shoot…yet. I keep watching for the two to come out that were headed towards me from the field. I called again. Jakes answered immediately and then BAM…out comes the 2 I was waiting for. Sure enough, the one is a hen. The second, a pretty decent Tom that I decide if he gets clear of the fence, I’ll take him. Although he was on the other side of the fence, it was still the same folks property. I just didn’t want to shoot threw a woven wire fence for the obvious reason. Hens began flying over the fence towards me. I’m thinking, ‘this is good’. But the Tom holds up for about 10 minutes behind a stack of old lumber. I can only see his head pop up every now and then. And then, here he comes. He is within about 20 yards but still on the other side of the fence. After some of the other hens started working their way away from me, I decided I’d better do something. I figured if he got up RIGHT against the fence with no or little space between he and the fence, that I would take him. At 23 yards he did just that. I shot, heard a ‘thunk’, but then saw the tom turn and start running…with no arrow in him. He ran out about another 25 yards and then just toppled over. I hit him right threw his vitals and ended up with a brand new broken arrow! But it’s a broken arrow I will cart around with pride!

I took him by home to show hubby and where he snapped a few pictures and then loaded him back up and took him to work, where my boss was. He was elated! We measured his beard and I was pleasantly surprised by a 9 3/4″ reading. I was back at work by 8:00am.

The general season youth turkey hunt runs Thursday April 8 through Wednesday April 14. Youths 15 years or younger on April 8, may participate in the youth hunt. All youth hunters must have a valid 2010 Idaho hunting license.

The general spring turkey hunts open April 15 and runs through May 25. Dates vary for controlled hunts, listed in the brochure.

Spring turkey hunting seasons and rules can be found in printed form at all Fish and Game offices and at license vendors statewide. The brochure is also on the Fish and Game web site at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/hunt/rules/ug/.

Hunters also can use the convenient Idaho Hunt Planner, found in the hunting section of the Website, where detailed maps are available.

Hunters must have a valid hunting license and a turkey tag. They may buy an extra tag for the spring hunts, but the limit for the year is three turkeys with no more than two taken in either the spring or fall seasons. The extra tag is now valid throughout the spring season and may also be used in the fall turkey season.

The waiting period for using the second tag has been eliminated.

Two turkey tags – one general tag and one extra tag – may be purchased for the spring turkey season before May 26.

Resident adults pay $19.75 for the first tag and $12.25 for an extra tag. Discounted tags for youth, seniors and disabled veterans are $10.75. Nonresident turkey tags cost $80, except for junior mentored tags priced $19.75.

I called up my hunting buddy Cal and said” We gotta set a date to hunt together.” After playing phone tag for 2 weeks we finally picked April 11th. Sure enough the weather man is calling for 2 inches of rain. But we are determined to hunt Sunday morning come Hell or High Water (which was a real possibility.)

I had secured permission to hunt on a ranch a couple miles down the road. This gentleman, first generation immigrant from the Azores Islands off of the coast of Portugal, was more than happy to grant me permission.

I really treasured spending time talking with him a couple nights before as we sampled his homemade wine and “white lightning” as the sun went down and we watched a large flock of turkeys strutting on the distant hills fly up into a eucalyptus grove to roost. Yeah, that’s where we wanted to be come morning.

Cal arrived at my house well before daylight and we were set up in a portable blind, with two hen decoys out front as the sky began graying up in the East. It hadn’t started raining yet but the wind began to pick up and coming from the South. Soon a gobble echoed up the canyon, and through my binoculars, I found the tom roosted in the grove. Soon we picked out more birds roosted in neighboring trees as they began to talk among themselves. The tom would gobble, and then hens would call back. Finally the tom flew down and began to strut 126 yards away, as we watched through binoculars.

At this point we were worried that the real thing might pull our target in the wrong direction. Cal began wooing him with seductive clucks and yelps from his slate call. Cal would call, the turkey would gobble and a chorus of excited yelps would follow from the ladies auxiliary still in the branches. Cal resumed his calling with gusto and pretty soon there are six hen turkeys flying in our direction. They landed running and in a split second they were only 50 yards from the blind and the gobbler was hustling in our direction.

The hens fed over in front of us at 12 yards and began socializing with our two decoys that were moving in the wind pretty erratically. The gobbler positioned himself on the horizon 30 yards away. Puffed up and strutting, the increasing frequency of the raindrops didn’t deter him from putting on a show.

Cal whispered “John, 30 yards. Stick him.”

Meanwhile, I am trying to get down on my knees to shoot uphill and out the blind window. Without spooking the hens 8 yards from the blind.

“SHOOOT HIM….” Cal hissed “that is a chip shot.”

But I never drew my bow, worried that the hens in the red zone would catch my movement through the side windows and blow out.

“John you aren’t gonna get him any closer.” said Cal, as the hens tired of the mute, bobbing mannequins they thought were their kin. One by one they fed back to our right and over the ridge.

I could sense Cal’s irritation as the rain began to fall steadily. As the rain intensity increased, the gobbler’s calling frequency decreased. Finally the whole flock had fed out of sight into a swale to our right and behind our blind and out of view.

We sat there as the rain steadily pelted our blind and dripped. I wanted to explain my reluctance to shoot, when a bird we hadn’t seen in the trees flew down to the spot the flock had vacated. From all appearances it was another hen. I found it odd she was alone. I could hear the flock calling, but she never answered back. We both shrugged and sat back to see if our new “live decoy” could pull in a gobbler.

Finally she began to feed in the direction of the flock, and the gobbler resumed his mating call. As she turned sideways on the ridgeline she was silhouetted and I saw A BEARD!

“Cal, that hen has a beard” I said.

He whipped up the range finder and said “Forty-two yards”.

By now he was drawn too.

My previous caution was thrown to the winds as I settled the 3rd pin on the top of the wing and squeezed off my shot. The arrow sounded like a baseball bat hitting a ripe melon as the bird toppled out of sight on the back side of the ridge.

After a quick high five, we noticed the Tom had come back into view as he looked over in our direction wondering what had just transpired. I grabbed my box call and began calling. In less than a minute he trotted from 50 yards on my right to directly in front of the blind.

I quickly ranged the inquisitive bird out of  strut as he stood head on.

“Twenty yards” I whispered to Cal who was at full draw already.

The sound of the bow and the sound of the arrow hitting merged into one “KER-WHUMP” as the startled tom leapt in the air and landed running with Cal’s arrow passed nearly through his body. We both thought it would be an easy recovery, as we left the comfort of our hide and felt the brunt of the rain and wind.

I found my arrow where it had passed through my bird and the trail led to a patch of thistles below. I went over to Cal and his bird had headed for an even BIGGER patch of thistles. We spent the next hour blood trailing Cal’s bird. We tore apart that half acre patch of thistles and flushed him out into a creekbed where another arrow anchored him for good.

We walked back to the site of my hit and found my trophy hunkered down in another patch of thistles. It was indeed a hen. No spurs, no wattle, no fan, just a 5 ½ inch beard. Since the California upland regulations read “One bearded Turkey per day, Three per year” I am in compliance.

Cal’s bird was a real trophy though. It weighed 22 # with a 9 3/8ths inch beard, one wickedly sharp spur that measured 1 1/8th inch and a broken spur that still hit the 7/8ths mark on the tape.

This marked the third time Cal and I combined for a double on turkeys. I can’t think of a better team mate.

Successful applicants also have been notified by mail. It is the responsibility of hunters to find out whether their names were drawn in these hunts.

Details for obtaining or exchanging tags are explained on the site. Hunters who need to exchange a general season tag for a controlled hunt tag can do that at any Fish and Game Office.

Hunters who have a general turkey tag will need to buy the controlled hunt permit that costs $7.75. Hunters who don’t have a general turkey tag must buy one as well as the controlled hunt permit.

Those drawing a spring bear controlled hunt and who have a general season tag may exchange the general season tag for the controlled hunt tag or may keep the general season tag and buy the controlled hunt bear tag. Any exchanges of tags must be completed at a Fish and Game office.

For drawing results go to: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/apps/ch/turkbear.cfm; for drawing odds to go: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/apps/ch/odds.cfm.

As we drove home from the tire shop, past the ranch where Erin had been successful the day earlier, we saw a couple of turkeys under the trees.  A quick glance at the watch showed we had a couple of hours left if Doug wanted to take some turkey meat home.   We quickly dropped off the tire back at home  and changed back into camo as the seconds ticked down.  We hit the ranch at 2:30 pm and began calling every 100 yds. along the tree line. 

We worked to the east with no responses.  We back tracked and worked to the West as the evening breeze kicked up.   Doug was in the lead with the box call when he dropped behind a tree and pointed down the hill.  I hunkered down, and Doug stroked the Wet Willy.  Immediately a gobble erupted from just over the crest of the hill, and I caught a glimpse of a couple toms peeking up over the crest of the hill less than 50 yards away. 

At the same time, a blacktail doe popped up between us and the turkeys, then a yearling fawn, and another, and another doe.  All in all SEVEN deer filed past us at less than 20 yards.  We were pinned down and couldn’t move until the deer moved out of the zone of fire. 

Finally the last doe stotted cautiously into the pepperwoods, and I heard Doug’s shotgun roar.  A gobbler thrashed on the ground and I made two “Hail Mary” shots with a bow and just managed to lose two arrows. 

A quick check of the watch revealed the time as 3:15 pm.  Truly a last hour success.  Doug’s bird was about the same age as his daughter’s.  Good eating size, and with a nice fan.  The Northern Exposure team was 2 for 2 on turkeys in a seven hour time period.

That afternoon, father and daughter signed the box call that they used for both of their turkeys.  Kelsey wouldn’t part with it though since she plans to use it to call in a gobbler for her dad (me ) later this month.  Doug exclaimed that he was hooked on turkey hunting and began planning next year’s adventure. 

We probably would have gone hunting the rest of the week if we didn’t have 4 days of archery competion ahead of us in Redding.  That in itself is a whole ‘nother story though…

Sunday, we spent the morning scouting locations for the next morning’s hunt. I had reserved one ranch strictly for this occasion and we spotted toms feeding in the open. And we made plans for Monday morning’s hunt.

Little did we know that it would be tough to find a California non resident license. Since California has its hunting year starting July1, many places didn’t have any current hunting licenses. Finally after our 3rd stop we managed to get Doug a two-day license, and his daughter a junior license. The folks at Western Sport Shop were extremely helpful and typified the reason I like to support independent retailers in the outdoor industry. If you get a chance you should check out either their Santa Rosa or San Rafael locations.

Monday, we hunted hard and Erin got a turkey after a long wait, and unconventional end to the pursuit. The details are in the post “This probably isn’t gonna work”

While Erin and I were busy with our turkeys, Doug and Katerina were playing hide and seek with a gobbler who would gobble when a distant tractor back up beeper would sound off. They got him within 50 yards, and then he spotted them and headed for cover. When they heard our shot, they called it a day, and we headed for home.

Tuesday morning we moved to a different ranch I had hunted earlier in the season. I knew there were turkeys there, but the hunting gods had conspired against us. This time I was determined to set up where I had seen 3 gobblers strutting weeks earlier.

We arrived as day was breaking and I heard turkeys gobbling from the roost directly next to our ambush spot. We retreated down the creek about 500 yards from the roost tree and I had serious doubt we would be able to coax the birds out of their usual feeding and strutting zone. Kat and Doug got set up in the pop up blind as the suns rays began to peek over the Eastern ridge. I wished them good luck and retreated to a high point about a quarter mile away to watch the action from afar.

Well, the birds pitched down out of their roost tree on the other side of the willow choked creek directly behind Doug and Kat’s hiding hole. A group of toms to the north gobbled and the three toms we had targeted began moving in that direction, away from our hunters. An inquisitive black cow pushed them even harder in the wrong direction. My heart sank as they got farther away. I thought for sure that we were done when they turned to the east and began feeding up the hill over 500 yards from Doug and Katerina. I could hear Doug on the box call pleading for their attention. I stood up from my perch and began my walk down to pick up my hunters and regroup.

As I rounded the corner of the hill I saw the three toms on a string headed for the blind. I pulled up my binos and saw the birds pull up and start strutting for the Montana Decoy hen. Seconds later I heard the “POP” of the 20 gauge and two toms were streaking for the ridge as one lay still on the ground.

It took me a few minutes to cover the ground but I arrived to a beaming girl and a proud dad. They recounted the story from their perspective, and how Doug’s aggressive calling had captured the attention of the toms at a distance we thought was impossible.   The Montana Decoy had pulled them in close enough for Katerina to draw a bead on a young tom who was in full strut and she gave him a full dose of #6’s that left a ragged hole in the fan but anchored the bird on the spot.

We got back to the ranch before my girls had even left for school. They all admired Kat’s prize and we shot some pictures for posterity.  Our middle daughter revelled in the fact that the call Doug had used to lure the bird in was HERS.  A  Knight and Hale “Wet Willy” box call that she picked out on a shopping trip last month. 

Next time, Part 2, the Northern Exposure team scores again..

On Monday, along with Alaskan friends, Doug and his daughter Katerina, we got up at 5:30 to set up along a tree line where we had seen turkeys feeding on a regular basis. The morning started off frosty and foggy and the birds started gobbling early. We could here gobbles on three sides of us as the eastern horizon slowly grayed up. When the fog lifted at about 8:00 we could see a flock of turkeys across the road with 3 toms strutting. We called and called and coaxed one tom over a ditch, two fences and the highway to come check out our setup. He didn’t like what he saw at about 50 yards and “put-putted” off into the brush.

Shortly after, two toms came in from behind us out of range and fed back into the trees. Doug and Katerina left us to pursue those toms. By this time it was 9 am, and we were getting ready to regroup and move to a new location when Erin spotted some movement below us on the hill. It was the other two toms from across the road. I recognized one as a one legged tom with a nice beard I had seen the day before. He had been feeding 90 yards below our position that day, and the pair worked their way to that patch of clover again this morning.

That was at 9 o’clock in the morning. For two hours we called to these toms. They would look our direction and occasionally gobble, but they held their ground in the wide open. Later two hens came and joined them on that patch of clover. It was getting late. I could tell that 5 hours of sitting was getting old for Erin, despite the number of turkeys we had seen.

So I asked Erin if she wanted to see if we could get closer. My whispered words were:” this probably isn’t going to work, but let’s slide on our butts when they put their heads down to feed. When they raise their heads, we freeze. Got it?”

Erin nodded slightly and we began our stalk across the open hillside. Each time the turkeys raised their head we froze and I whispered “this probably isn’t going to work…” then the four would continue feeding and we would continue our butt-scoot inches at a time. We covered 50 yards in about an hour, through thistles and across rocks. Erin gritted it out until we were within 30 yards then as cool as a professional slowly rested the 20 gauge across her knee, and anchored the nearest tom with a perfect head shot.

I have never seen my little girl so excited. After ejecting the hull from the breech, she was admiring her prize, and grinning from ear to ear. Doug and Katerina had witnessed it all from behind us and were there to congratulate Erin as she swung that turkey on to her back and packed it back to the car.

The beard measured 9 inches and each of the spurs was a perfect 1 inch. Upon opening up the breast, we discovered #8 bird shot and evidence of a previous wound in the left breast. Apparently this tom had escaped a previous encounter and was wary, but not wary enough for this unconventional tactic that “probably isn’t gonna work”.

Then we head to Redding the Mecca of target archers for the Western Classic Trail Shoot.  Thursday is the Blind Draw event, and then the Trail shoot Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Doug was my wingman last year and this year he will have backup. So as things develop, I will report ‘em. but ’til then I’ll be pretty low profile.   this year at Redding the focus is on fun shooting.  I haven’t been to an archery shoot in 2009, so I’m just trying to enjoy the company of friends and archery.

I’ll be in the Freestyle division this year since I now have a 7 pin sight.  My bow is my hunting rig and I will enjoy being able to devote 3 full days to shooting it.

i gotta give him credit, he really captured the essence of the frustration when a big ol’ tom won’t come in. I’ve been feeling plenty of that lately.

Cal hit a new ranch in the afternoon after a morning hunt didn’t produce. He had a coyote come in and spook off two toms he called in, but still managed to keep his composure and still hunted his way into bow range on this nice tom.

His gobbler’s beard measured 10 1/4 inches.   The spurs were 1 1/4 inch each.  Truly a remarkable bird. 
It just goes to show that afternoon hunts can produce. Sometimes you just have to adjust your tactics.  Cal did and it paid off.