Team Fowl Mouth

The boys finally had a proper trip, enjoying a beautiful morning of freshwater fishing. Started off quick with a good swim bait bite, Adam landed several including a 2lb-8oz largemouth. The bite slowed but they picked away including a solid 2+ that took a popper. Finally they put on some hard baits in an effort to catch some of the pickerel that at been shirt shrinking a tearing up the soft plastics. The next hour turned into an all out blitz on floating minnows and inline spinners. When the dust settled they had taken yellow perch, pumpkinseed, bluegill, chain pickerel to 22”, and largemouth bass including a 3lb-3oz specimens that smoked a rooster tail! It’s nice to know in a wold of glide baits and sea urchins the classics are still producing.

My sidekick and I freshening up some summer mineral sights. The weather has been hotter than the hinges on the gates of hell, but that hasn’t stopped the thoughts of velvet antlers and red summer foes from creeping into our minds. With a little luck whatetail bucks will soon reveal themselves on the trail cams. These are mostly tried and true locations, but as the stock market has reminded us previous successes do not guarantee future returns. If you ever wondered what it’s like to carry a 40+ pound three year-old, 5 gallon bucket of corn, and a bucket of mineral in on a single trip when it’s 93°, well it’s about as much fun as you’d imagine.

Justin and Mike had a chance to hit the water for a few hours the other night. The bite was slow as expected with the bear hundred degree temps, but they picked away boating 5 bass to 2-9 and a bonus pickerel. Quality was decent with 4 of 5 bass going in the two pound class. It’s been several months since the kast outing and it was nice to feel the familiar tug at the end of the line.

Taking things down to the wire coltin.holladay.5 filled his turkey tag on the next to last day of the season. Work obligations weekend rodeo, and a missed opportunity where his shotgun only clicked had an empty hand heading into the final days. Braving the weather paid off as he left the wood soaked to the bone with a spring gobbler in hand. Making the story even more special is the fact that he took the bird with a 20 gauge shotgun that had belonged to his great grandfather. Coltin had the gun redone and she now looks as good as she shoots! What a way to wrap turkey 2026. We had a lot of success, a few failures and a lot of laughs. Only 47 weeks till turkey season!

Off the roost success! Sometimes you get lucky. After a blind set up on a property that had produced nothing this season, Adam was startled by a sudden gobble about 45 minutes after light. The bird was only about 75 yards away, and after 15 minutes he was still 75 yards away, and after 30 minutes well… you get the idea. Suddenly wing beats were heard and then more, with a jake soaring into the decoys. A long bearded Tom landed at about 45 yards but wasn’t showing a lot of interest. After shying away from the set, another jake came in full strut. Feeling confident, he went to work beating his supposed rival, attempting to claim the rubbery prize that was his love interest. This the Tom simply would not put up with. He himself had to see what the fuss was about and came in to challenge both Jake’s, not knowing the imposter was his demise. After strutting and posturing to the pair, he was a mere 17 yards away where the 11 and 1/4 inch bearded gobbler was laid to rest. The end of the most amazing season to date.

“D Week” started as a struggle but Justin Misero punched his final tag on quality gobbler with plenty of chaos to go along with it. While not a true running gun style hunt, he stopped the call at a couple likely locations on the way to his predetermined afternoon set. Despite only moving 50 or 60 yards, he decided to let out one series of yelps before cresting the final rise. Much to his surprise, the yelps were answered by a thunderous gobble in the tall wheat and grass to his immediate right. A mad scramble to the nearest tree ensued. A few clocks and light yelps and then nothing. Just as doubt began to sit in that perhaps he had been spotted the blue grey head of a hen appeared, and then another. Followed by a big red head in tow, all coming with a purpose. Suddenly, hen putted and made a break for it, but too late the Browning had already found it mark. At the shot a redhead and two hens headed for the hills, but a fourth lie motionless in the grass.

Turkey hunting can be like that sometimes. Hours or even days of nothing punctuated by minutes of heart pounding action. These are the moments that fuel the madness and keep us coming back for more. The gobbler had apparently run himself ragged weighing only 18 1/2 pounds despite sporting a 10 7/8” rope and 1” spurs.

On Monday evening Adam hit a wood block after work. A pair of Tom’s had been hanging around the area and late in the season had separated, giving a golden opportunity. Despite it being around 6 pm, this bird was ready to go! Some mouth calling and boxing had him going at around 300 yards, and after a 15 minute stalemate he eventually gobbled at about 150 yards. This bird put on an absolute show, double and triple gobbling sometimes unprovoked! Strutting, walking, gobbling, strutting again, all without even seeing his love interest. Eventually he hopped up onto a fallen tree and lifted his head high, trying to find his late season love opportunity. Here he was anchored, the continuum of a fantastic spring gobbler season. He sported a thick but shorter 8 3/4 beard, with 7/8 spurs.

This past Saturday Foster Hunt punched his E week tag.
With a slow morning providing nothing promising a final move produced.
Standing on the field edge contemplating what to do the decision was made for him. A hen stepped out of the woods just over 100 yards away with a tom full strut right on her heals.
Foster quick dove into the woods. Barely separated by a small hill in the field he snuck out his decoys just feet away. Some careful calling got her attention and pulled her in to 15 yards before she turned and worked back out in the field. After a grueling 45 minutes the tom finally decided to investigate closing the distance with only minutes to spare in the day.
Foster’s tom had an 11 1/2” beard and 1 1/8” spurs.

“C Week” has been good to is in recent years and we continued our good fortune with a text book spring gobbler hunt. The birds were quiet with a single gobble on the roost several hundred yards away. After the better part of an hour the toms started gobbling a couple hundred yards away. Suddenly a hen worked into the decoys yelping from across the street. Calling back and fourth to the real hen must have peaked thier interest because suddenly 3 longbeard appeared cresting the hill at full strut. Inside of thirty yards they split up and shotguns sang out. The boss ran for the hills but his two rivals flopped in the hay. The clock said 6:45. Perfect time for a diner breakfast!