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Roger Sabota - Northwoods notebook

My hunting party’s turkey licenses were good for the third hunting season that began Wednesday, April 30 and ended on Sunday, May 4.

Each of the six turkey hunting seasons run for five days, separated by two days each week when hunting is not permitted. This two-day break allows the turkeys time to recover from being pursued.

Even though we could begin hunting on Wednesday we were not able to hunt until Thursday morning. As has become our turkey hunting routine, I drove west to the home of my frequent hunting and fishing partner, Tom Twesme, who lives in Osseo. Many years ago I named Tom “The Osseo Jinx,” but that is a story for another day.

We had secured permission to hunt a large farm just west of Osseo, and another farm near Strum. Thursday morning we drove off the highway and onto the farm road and were greeted by water and mud. After several hundred yards in the mud we parked the pick-up and decided that the only way we could get around was to walk.

Tom headed for a brushy fence line that blocked the view of a larger field. Each of the past two years we have shot a turkey from this fence line on the first morning of our hunt. As Tom and I prepared to leave the pick-up in the pre-dawn darkness we laughed at each other loaded down with decoys, a stool, turkey calls and a gun.

We set up about a quarter mile apart, waiting for it to get light and watching our fake turkeys move on their sticks. There was a brisk wind out of the east causing our decoys to continuously move. The skies were heavily overcast delaying full daylight.

It is so interesting to sit in the farm fields and wooded areas as it gets light in the morning. There are so many birds greeting the new day and there are animals we do not regularly see in northern Wisconsin. I was enjoying the sight of two sandhill cranes and listening to their raspy calls when a pheasant crowed about 10 feet behind me. To say the least, my heart rate quickened and I rose a bit on my stool.

The farm fields looked much different than they did in past years. We had hunted deer on this farm for nearly 20 years. In those days the fields were filled with corn or knee high grass. This year the fields were covered with dead, brown grass about two inches high. Tom explained that this farm had been enrolled in the CRP program, but it was withdrawn from the program this year as a result of the high corn prices. The entire farm had been sprayed with round up.

We sat for about 2-1/2 hours and then got together to compare notes. Tom said that perhaps a half hour after daybreak he saw two tom turkeys come out of the woods and head toward his decoy just off the fence line. Just like the past two years, he thought he would get his turkey the first morning wof the hunt.

The difference was that the two toms would not separate and stayed no more than two feet apart. He was worried that if he shot he would hit both birds, so he waited for a clear shot at a single bird. They never separated and got into the fencerow without a shot being fired. We had heard of two individuals who had killed two toms with a single shot.

We left the farm and went for breakfast. Following breakfast Tom went to work and I went turkey hunting again. I spotted several birds but they ignored my calls and did not present a shot.

On Friday morning we were joined by Tom’s son-in-law, Fernando. He had never hunted turkeys before but was interested to take part. Fernando had a tom in front of him but did not shoot, thinking it was out of range.

My spot Friday morning was in a brush pile on the edge of a large wood lot where it met a field. It was again overcast and quite windy. Shortly after daylight a hen turkey walked within 10 feet of me. She would walk over to my decoy and rub the decoy’s neck with her neck. That hen stayed within 30 yards of my blind for over an hour.

I caught movement over my left shoulder and could not believe my eyes. There was a very large wolf walking on a game trail in the field. While watching the wolf I called Tom and he was also able to watch it.

Friday evening our son, Craig, joined us. Saturday we got out of bed at 5 a.m., ready to go hunting. The wind was blowing very hard and it was pouring rain. We went back to bed. It was nearly noon before we got to hunt. Of course the farm road was much worse following the rain.

Sunday morning we had the nicest weather of the hunting period. The wind was still blowing but the skies were clear and the sun was out. After about three hours of hunting we decided it was time for breakfast. Our son-in-law, Shane Arneson, came to breakfast with an ear-to-ear grin. Five jakes came to his decoy and he filled his tag.

Tail Feathers

Saturday was opening day of the 2008 fishing season. Our tradition has been to go trout fishing on Saturday afternoon. We did not get to fish trout since the streams were so high that the water was rushing over the banks.

The walleyes we caught this past week were still full of spawn that was still hard.

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