Turkey Hunting 2010--Day 3

Complete change to the weather from the day before: cool, almost chilly, still a stiff wind. The cold air behind the front made itself noticed. We got out of bed without too much trouble and after sampling the Crest's sumptuous breakfast buffet (cereal and Hostess-brand muffins but nice strong coffee) we headed for the woods. I had my doubts about today, after a front whips through, game and fish seem to lie low. I did not hear much in terms of gobbling before 8:00 AM and next to nothing after. A quiet morning.
After not hearing a thing between 8 and 10, I got up to stalk. It felt good to move my limbs and I was able to admire the dramatic landscape. I made my way along some game trails along the N of a spur jutting out to CR22 from the location of my blind. I went no farther than a large boulder perched fairly close to but well above the road. In hindsight I marvel at how this puppy may come crashing down one day, rolling onto CR22. I'd rather not be below at that time.
Then I climbed back up keeping to the S of the spur. Interesting to see the difference between the N and the south slopes, the N having been logged many years ago, as evidenced by many moss-covered tree stumps and woodpiles.  The logging seemed to have been quite inefficient and wasteful, some of the logs were at least a 50 cm across.

I did notice that most of the area was infested with poison ivy (Toxidendron radicans), just beginning to peep through the leaf litter, just like some fist-sized morel mushrooms (Morchella esculenta). Unfortunately, the latter were a bit past their prime, otherwise I would have gladly bagged them in lieu of a turkey.
We came out of the woods around noon, again heading for the Redwood Cafe for lunch. Merrill joined us. After lunch we chose Bee Creek which flows south into Iowa as our fishing spot for today. The water was crystal clear and there were a lot of rises. After a few tries I ended up with a size 14 royal coachman parachute fly. It brought a lot of hits, but the trout were spitting out the flies as soon as they took them, I ended up with a single smallish trout. Jim had a similar experience with the nymphs he used but he caught a few more.  However, we greatly enjoyed the scenic, almost park-like riverbank on the Bee.

Turkey Hunting 2010--Day 2

The night was anything but restful. Our alarm went off at midnight, I had set it to 4:15 but had turned on both alarms of the two-alarm clock.I noticed lightning of a far-away storm, foreboding the rain forecast for the next day. Indeed, when we struggled groggily out of bed at 4:15, it was raining. By the time we got into the car, rain had turned into a downpour, with occasional lightning. We decided to head for the woods anyway and wait there for a break in the weather. It turns out that the rain had been merely a strong but thankfully short shower. I preceded Jim to my blind, confident in my good rain gear. The morning was war and humid, more so than at any time I can remember. I was more wet from sweat walking the short stretch than from the rain.
I crawled into my blind and awaited day break, worrying about the next shower. But while there were occasional raindrops, there was no further deluge. Between dawn and 8:00 there was a lot of activity nearby, gobbling, calling, none very close. I do think I heard a hen clucking, too. I was unsuccessful calling in any of the toms or jakes, and after a while, everything settled down again. Around 9:30 or so, a movement caught my attention. A hen wandered in from the north, slowly ambling by. She clearly was a  little nervous about the blind, but stopped to pick some seeds or grubs or whatever turkeys eat, barely 25 feet away from where I was sitting, she didn't bring along any suitors and the turkeys remained silent.
However, I had quite a few visitors. The most startling was probably a fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) that suddenly appeared within easy reaching distant on a tree trunk to my immediate left. Like the turkey hen, it intently scrutinized me, apparently knowing that something wasn't quite right, but not concerned enough to run away. A wood pecker, as far as I could tell a yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) came to the tree under which my blind was set up. I caught a glance whenever he flew over to the deer stand just a few steps to my left and tapped his message on the metal rungs of its ladder.
When it started raining again in earnest I decided it was time to leave the woods. When I walked by Jim's location I found him gone already. I turns out that he never even heard a turkey, the frogs in the pond (mostly gray tree frogs, Hyla versicolor) drowned out any other noise in the forest. As an aside, two-three years ago, I was sitting  at W.A. Frost on St. Paul's (if not Minnesota's) finest patio enjoying in good company a nice after-dinner drink. All of a sudden something wet dropped in the middle of my balding head. "This can't be what I think it is" I mused and, against better judgement I reached to remove the offending item. I had barely touched this moist thing when it removed itself, to my shoulder. Definitely not the behavior one would expect from guano or from an overripe fruit of some kind. I was able to twist my head in the direction to take a good peep, and I am pretty sure it was H. versicolor, who, upon seeing my giant face practically nose to nose with him decided to make his next move which  landed him on our table, almost  in my beer.
We left for lunch at the Redwood Cafe. When we exited, black clouds were gathering again and we began fearing for the planned fishing outing. By the time we returned to the Crest Inn, the rain had turned into a torrent and as soon as we were inside, hail was drumming on the roof and against the windows. We decided to delay the fishing and instead took a nap.
When we awoke, it was almost 4:00 PM and we hurried to our favorite trout stream near Caledonia, Crooked Creek. The runoff from the rain had troubled the waters, but Jim was unperturbed. We hit the creek and started casting our flies. Hares ear nymphs were what did it for me, they were not excited, but I was able to catch a few fish.

We stayed until it got too dark to tie on a fly and headed for dinner at the Good Times. We saw Merrill and ___ at the bar and had a beer with them before we headed to our table, right under a gigantic moose head (see picture on the Good Times website). Jim was rather worried that the moose would drool in his food.
We turned in after dinner and thankfully had a uninterrupted and restful night.

Turkey Hunting 2010--Day 1

This year we did not seem as well prepared as in previous years. It seems like we wasted valuable time by coming out on Wednesday night and not taking advantage of an opportunity to hunt on Thurdsay morning. We met Merrill, our longtime contact and friend for breakfast at the Redwood Cafe and discussed some options to hunt on private land.Since he retired from farming a few years ago, Merrill sold most of his property, including the the areas where we used to hunt. He told us that he'd make a few calls and sure enough, whe we got in touch a few hours later he told us that we should go see Thor for a spot.
Thor is a real estate developer who fell in love with SE Minnesota during a hunting trip and moved here. From what I can tell, he bought some swaths of land and built several high-end homes. An avid outdoorsman, he believes in sharing his passion rather than keeping it to himself. Through the introduction by our friend Merrill, we came to benefit from Thor's generosity. He had already someone hunting at his hobby, or should I say gentleman's farm. So he sent us to a tract of land he owns near CR22 and Fort Ridgeley Rd.

Jim and I decided to spend some time in the woods this very afternoon. Thanks to Thor's good directions and a map drawn on a satellite photo, Jim and I had no trouble finding it. The terrain is a valley with steep hill sides, the very bottom of the valey still owned by the person who sold him the property. We started walking along the NW edge of the plot, the rim of the valley. Jim decided that he liked the one of the first locations we came across, a pond at forest's edge, which he hoped would attract thirsty birds. I continued, came across a similar location just a couple hundred meters further. Here, the pond was dry, not surprising since it was at the top edge of a deep hillside. When I investigated for suitablity of a blind location, I came nose-to-nose (or about 5 m) with a coyote (Canis latrans), right outside of her den.

She took one quick look at me and darted down the hill side, vanishing into the thick growth. Charmed by this encounter I decided that this might not that good of a location to set up since I could not imagine that the fowl I was after would be keen on visiting the backyard of a predator's lair. So I continued, meandering in and out of the woods until I found a location where the woods made a corner. I set up my blind and spent a couple of hours listening to turkeys who did not seem have any inclination to make my acquaintance.

At 16:00 I met Jim, we needed to head back for our date with Merrill at the country club. We went over at 17:00 and partook in the customary Thursday Men's Night at the club. Merrill had bought some filet mignon, they were excellent.
Jim and I turned in around 21:00, with probably a little more alcohol than we should have. The last thing I remember hearing was the barking, yipping and laughter of a coyote family, very close, from the sound of it.

Turkey Hunting Planning 2010

Got together with Jim this morning to discuss details of the MN Spring Turkey Season. We quickly agreed to enter the lottery for Period D, April 29-May 3 for our usual area, Houston #349. Since the DNR got rid of the second choice, it was an easy decision. All surplus licenses are now going to be sold first come-first served. If we don't draw, we still may pick up a license anyway.

Hunting Winnebago Valley

Got up at 4:00 AM, packed the car and headed for John's land. 34F when we got there, but again, no wind. This time I decided to follow Jim up the hill, north of Cty Rd. 5. A steep climb rewarded with beutiful views, and also interesting birds, such as the red bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus).


View Turkey Hunting--Winnebago Valley (North) in a larger map

Lots of turkeys, fairly close and seemingly coming closer but none close enough to even be seen. On the way down, I admired the flora typical of a southern slope. Many blooming flowers.



After coming out of the woods we headed for Crooked Creek. Coming out at Whitetail Dr, we checked out Crooked Creek but were spooked by a bunch of rowdy teens on various motorized two- and four-wheelers. Headed west on 249 towards Caledonia and parked like the previous day at the top of a hedge crossing the space between road and river. Jim coached me on how to fish several holes and I was moderately successful catching several small trout on a hare's ear nymph. Worked our way downstream and caught several more at a hole out in the open. A caddis hatch was starting and the trout were feeding on the surface.

Hunting Winnebago Valley

After scouting out John's property in Winnebago Valley the previous night, we decided to head there this morning. Got an early start but overshot the house because of our lack of familiarity with the location. Jim headed for the hill on north of the road whil I headed south, crossing the creek at a forth.


View Turkey Hunting--Winebago Valley (South) in a larger map

Lots of gobbling all around, but none of them seemed interested in making my acquaintance.



Headed back to the car and had a funny experience when crossing the creek: in the soft mud by the water I saw one set of fresh boot tracks not matching my own (as well as the tracks of a turkey). I wondered and puzzled and mused until I remembered that I had worn my waders on the way in (still dark), not wanting to risk wet feet. When I returned I decided to keep my knee-high rubber boots, which, it turned out, afforded ample protection from the creek.

At noon we headed for Crooked Creek to fish. Roles were reversed today and I had the most frustrating time losing fly after fly and not getting any strikes while Jim caught a lot of trout, including a 14-incher.



Scared up several great blue herons (Ardea herodias). Saw what I think to be a northern waterthrush (Seiurus noveboracensis) hopping around by the creek and several muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus), very close and quite unafraid, as well as a sunbathing roadside woodchuck (Marmota monax, of the alive, non-roadkill variety, the latter being present, too).

Hunting Merill's property off Camp Winnebago Rd.

Got there before 5:00 AM. at 42F, it did not seem that cold but the blustery wind went through and through. I did not hear a single tom call all morning long. Went along the valley where I did not see much more.


View Turkey Hunting-Camp Winnebago Rd. in a larger map

After lunch at the Red Barn in Caledonia we headed for Crooked Creek. For me, with about a dozen brown trout (Salmo trutta morpha fario) of various sizes, the afternoon proved productive, while Jim was frustrated with may snags in the thick vegetation surrounding the creek.

Turkey Hunting Time

After not getting a license via the lottery last year, we are in! Can't wait for Thursday when Jim and I will be heading for Caledonia, MN ("Wild Turkey Capital of Minnesota") and to get out in the woods, turkey or no turkey! If the turkeys are not showing up, I am sure there will be a Crooked Creek (see also the excellent MN DNR map, here) trout or two going after my fly.