2017 was another successful year turkey hunting just outside the greater Twin Cities metro area. My Minnesota season started and ended quickly, as I shot a tom on the first weekend during a thunderstorm. I had been following a flock of roughly 11 birds over an area of public land not too far from my house. They spent some of their time roosting on private, and some on public. After roosting the birds on public the night before the hunt, I snuck in close the following morning. They flew down the opposite direction, and I couldn’t call any of the toms away from the hens. I thunderstorm rolled in, and I tried playing cat and mouse with the flock. They toms would give up their location after every crack of thunder. Eventually, I was able to get to where I thought I was pretty close. A tom responded to my waterproof box call, and I jogged up one last ridge before finally getting a shot. Here is a short video clip of my reaction and recap of the hunt:
In Wisconsin, I drew a season C tag. After struggling to call birds off of private land in my normal public areas, I secured access to a large piece of private to hunt for the rest of the week. This video shows my experience hunting those last few days:
Following season C, I bought an over the counter season D tag in Wisconsin. This time, I was able to locate a flow of birds roosting on public land that was new to me. This video shows my morning hunt chasing after those birds: