Turkey Hunt Story with Pictures

Chrud · April 26, 2005

“Sweet as Sugar”

By Matt Chrudimsky

This hunt started long before I even drew a tag for the 2005 Spring Turkey Hunt in Wisconsin. I met Steve Foate, a Pro-Staffer for Realtree, at the Duck’s Unlimited Great Outdoors Festival in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, last August. Scott Hughes mentioned to him that I thought it would be cool if I could get someone to call turkeys for me, since I’ve been hit with bad luck the previous two times I’ve tried to get a spring turkey. Steve sent me an email telling me that if I should draw a tag, let him know and we’ll see if we can hunt together this spring and even get it on video.

Once I received my tag for the second season (April 20 to April 24) for Zone 41, I contacted Steve and we got a plan in action. He and his brother Scott would come up that Friday night and plan to hunt that Saturday.

When we were ready to hit the woods on Friday afternoon, we only had about an hour to hunt, since the legal shooting hours close at 5:00 PM in Wisconsin for the spring turkey season. The temperatures were dropping fast throughout the day and the winds began to pick up. The turkeys haven’t been very visible since the snow melted. We had a tough time finding any sign in the woods and fields behind our house. We decided we’d do some driving around closer to dark and see if we could get some birds spotted.

We drove around for about an hour and a half. The weather went from bad to worse. It started snowing really hard. The ground was still warm enough that it didn’t stick however. But once the snow ended, the birds finally showed up. We spotted a few gobblers. We went for a ride by my cousin’s and good friend’s sap shack and spotted a couple jakes and a gobbler heading off a field into the woods. We stopped in and got permission to hunt my cousin’s land that next day. We even introduced Steve to some real Wisconsin maple syrup. Don’t pick up the freshly bottled stuff! On my way back home, I spotted a big tom behind my uncle’s barn. We decided that would be our starting point for the morning.

I woke up on Saturday morning to some terrible weather. The temperature had dropped to about 30 degrees with steady 15 to 20 MPH winds and gusts up to 30 or 35 MPH. Windchills had dropped to about 10 degrees. Not ideal turkey hunting weather. With the windy conditions, the birds wouldn’t gobble or even come out in the fields.

After a setup and didn’t seem like it would produce, we headed over to the sap shack about 6:30 AM. We went to the southeast corner of my cousin’s property, near a field edge, small clear-cut and big pine trees. After only 15 minutes, Scott (the cameraman), told me that three gobblers were coming in from my left. When I first spotted the three jakes, they were about 35 yards away. The continued to close the distance and huge up behind a brush pile about 15 yards away from me. The continued on towards the south and into an opening. I got the shoot signal and let the hammer down on the last bird in line. It was my first turkey and I was pumped! It wasn’t a big tom, but with the adverse weather conditions, we were all very happy to get him.

Hunt Stats

Hunter – Matt Chrudimsky

Caller – Steve Foate

Cameraman – Scott Foate

Location – Antigo, Wisconsin

Date – April 23, 2005

Weather – Sunny, cold and windy

Weapon – Mossberg 835 in Realtree Hardwoods Green HD Camo

Ammo – Federal Premium Mag Shok, 3” #5 Shells

Bird Stats

Sub-Species – Eastern (Jake)

Beard Length – 5 5/8”

Left Spur – 1/4”

Right Spur – 1/4”

Weight – 15 Pounds

NWTF Score – 31 1/4

redbeard · April 26, 2005