Trail Cameras for Turkeys? You Bet!

The author of this report is Pat Howard (gutone4me).

Ok – I can’t hide it anymore. “My name is Pat Howard and I’m addicted to turkey hunting!” There I feel better now.

As usual, I started preparing for my 2010 WI 1st season (Zone 1 tag) about 3 weeks before I was due to actually hunt. I hung trail cameras in some likely spots and the game began. I would check them every 3 to 4 days and was very pleased to see 2 toms that had a pretty regular schedule with one of my food plots. 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM seemed to be their favorites time to strut their stuff in the seculded area on the ridge. I also monitored some other spots and they had pretty good activity too. The biggest problem was trying to keep the deer out of the way to get a good look at the turkeys.

Finally the youth season was upon us. I got an invite to hunt with new iDo member Dylan “runin nd gunin” Dearman and we were lucky enough to tag out (see Dylans 1st “run and gun” Tom story in the turkey forum). I’m pretty sure that just gave me “turkey fever” even worse .

Monday April 12 came (two days before my season) with scouting in the morning and I also put out two blinds since fellow iDo’er Brad Juaire was going to be filming my hunt. I scouted again Tuesday morning making sure the turkeys were still in my core area. Brad ended up leaving Tues morning at midnight, drove all the way home from Montana spending a very small amount of time with a very understanding wife (thanks Tina ) and the headed to Sparta, WI. Brad finally arrived at my house about 9:00pm Tues night. That’s over 1000 miles driven in 21 hours! Knowing he was running low on sleep we cut the meets and greets short and headed off to bed.

Finally – April 14th – Go Time!! A little more excitement comes when its your turn to hunt. I do alot of calling and videoing for other people. Brad and I talked on the short ride to my spot about how spoiled I was to hunt 10 minutes from my house.

530 AM we entered the Covert Blind. The plan was to sit here in the morning and if we didn’t have any luck wander up the ridge to the 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM spot. However, the predicted wind had me 2nd guessing that already. We heard a few gobbles off in the distance but it was not what I was hoping for. About 7 AM we were surprised by a gobble about 75 yards away. The tom responded to every call I made but not close the distance. Then 3 hens showed up and 1 made her way up to him – game over. We sat tight and had some other birds working around us (4 jakes) and the time went by very quickly. Next thing we know it’s almost noon. With a “rookie” turkey hunter wandering the neighbors, the decision was made to try to get to the other blind where I got the trail cam pictures of the two strutting toms.

By now the wind was blowing 20-25 MPH and the temp reached 80 degrees – not ideal conditions. We tried to walk slowly keeping the sweating to a minimum but no such luck. Finally we crested the ridge and made a right turn to head down the trail to the blind when we spotted a tom right on the trail! I’m not sure how, but he didn’t see us as we backed off. The tom was in full strut and I was sure it was one of the toms that I captured on my trail camera earlier in the week. So we snuck off to the side and settled in. Brad positioned himself and clicked on the camera. After a few short yelping series, I was greeted by a gobble Game On!! It seemed like a long time but was probably only a few minutes when they wandered into view and there were 2 toms! What a sight! Now I’m off to Brads right with a small finger of brush between me and the turkeys which forced me to wait but this allowed Brad to get some awesome footage.

They made their way to us ever so slowly and they would stop and stand up tall looking for the hen. I would give them some soft yelps they would strut and gobble. The show was enough to rattle even a veteran turkey hunter like myself. Finally the 1st tom is in the clear and it’s show time! I yelped at him and he struts and gobbles coming closer and closer! Then I kee kee – he sticks out his neck and the gun goes off automatically. Only problem is my cheek wasn’t touching the stock and at less than 20 yards a good turkey gun has a really small pattern. I watch back feathers fly and the tom takes off running. I sprang to my feet like any 235 lb guy would and the chase was on. This is Brads favorite part because about half way into the chase my hat blows off and I’m a little short in the hair department and later on some comment was made about the glare. I cut the distance and got a 2nd shot off and put him down. I was glad Brad got some great video but pretty mad at myself for muffing the shot. The tom was a 2 year old that wanted to be in the movies! He put on a great show and he weighed 19 lbs 5 oz, had a 10 5/8 beard and 3/4 inch spurs.

Special thanks to:

Brad Juaire for driving 1000 miles and spending my turkey day with me!

Jeff Fredrick for making the best mouth calls I’ve ever used.

And Covert Hunting Blinds – the morning was super comfy hanging out in there.

This is only the 1st week of turkey season and I dont think my heart can take much more but thats a chance I’m willing take!