Well……last Friday SOTV Pro Staffer Barry Cooper held up our end of the bargain, and took Justin Demott, the lucky winner, out into the southern Michigan woods after some gobblers.   And, between Barry’s expert turkey calling, and Justin’s shooting ability, they got it done and put this dandy gobbler on the ground.

This was Justin’s first longbeard, which came into their setup – gobbing his head off – at 11:30am, and his first turkey since shooting a jake four years ago (if my information is correct).

Congrats, Justin, on one great bird!

But you couldn’t have wiped the smile off of my face if you tried.

The morning started with Jeff and I hiking through the same property he had shot a bird on a week prior.  I felt like a pack mule, since I was loaded down with a backpack, pop-up blind, my gun, and a folding chair, but the promise associated with this new property was pushing me along, and it didn’t take long before our first birds were gobbling from the roost.  Of course, they became tip-lipped, though, and disappeared into the woods not long after first light.

It was already time to move…….and eat some breakfast.

After breakfast, we followed SOTV staffer Barry Cooper to one of the local properties he could hunt.  And we called……and called….and I was taught some good lessons about how to find morel mushrooms…and we called again, only to find birds by the truck……in the road.

A slow stalk toward them, then a quick set, and then another slow stalk, produced nary a result.  It was time to move again.

It was already approaching noon, so Jeff and I grabbed a quick sandwich as we drove back to the same property we had hunted that morning, hoping to catch a love sick gobbler there in the early afternoon.  We did find one – four, actually – but, unfortunately, they were 200yds off, in a field adjacent to the property we could hunt, and they didn’t want a thing to do with us.

It was time to assume my pack mule role once again, load up, and head onto Jeff’s property for some late afternoon/early evening gobblers.  Our turkey extravaganza, which started around 4:45 that morning, was just hitting its stride at around 2pm.

Jeff’s property always has mid-day birds, but they always seem to lock up on all of the adjacent properties around him, so I had mixed emotions about the hunt.  But even though optimistic Arthur had left about an hour beforehand, I still kept up with my pledged no excuses attitude, and kept on keeping on.

We didn’t make it to the area we wanted to hunt, before we spooked one unseen Jake, and noticed another gobbler on the adjacent property.  Jeff and I sat against a huge oak and started to fire off with the Devastator mouth call.  We had instant results.  Not only did we have the bird in front of us gobbling, but we had other birds gobbling in a woodlot about 400yds away as well.

The birds were getting closer, and then two of them – both longbeards – appeared in the field next to us about 100yds away, gobbling their heads off, but headed away from us, despite continuing to answer our calls.

WTH?

We told ourselves, though, that we would stay put and keep calling, and sure enough it didn’t take long before more birds were heading toward us (seriously, I’m not making this up); they came through the same open field next to us, though, and kept right on going.

I was about to lose my mind!

At this point, Jeff and I feel like our best bet is to take action, so we duck walk down to the other end of the lane on his property, and start calling from there.  They respond instantly, and Jeff belly-crawls to get a better look, while I duck walk to get set up a little closer – and the birds start to head back to where we were originally.

This was getting ridiculous.

We let them slip down into the low area of the field, and high tail it back to the other end.  We sit tight next to a tree and watch all three of them answer Jeff’s call, only to head back into the grass field next to us – which we don’t have permission on – and start to strut their stuff for one lone hen that is now in the field.

To recap: two hours after being on Jeff’s property, he’s managed to call five gobblers to within about 75yds of us, and we cannot close the deal.

I was pretty much done.  I was frustrated.  I was ready to cash in my chips and call it a night.  It had been a long day, and twelve hours into it, with longbeards all around us, it just didn’t feel like it was going to happen anymore.  But, Jeff, always the persistent one, gave me a speech – something about how I “give up too early”, and “where else did I have to go anyway?”

Then, after about an hour of turkey silence, something amazing happened.  Jeff took the Devastator mouth call, flipped it upside down (or maybe he flipped it the way it was meant to be all along), and started to make these deep, raspy clucks.

And the woods came on fire.

The three gobblers with the hen started gobbling, and off in the distance, and about 200yds away, those two longbeards – who had snuck past us earlier – started sounding off in a nearby woodlot.  We had a decision to make.  We were surrounded by turkeys, and we needed to decide which turkeys we wanted to focus on.  And since the birds in the woodlot didn’t have a hen with them, we focused our attention on them, while hiding behind a huge mass of foliage in front of us.

Jeff kept calling, the two toms appeared in the open field in front of us, and miraculously started to head our way.  There was just one problem:  they were taking a different route then I expected them to, and I was facing the wrong way – in order to see them, and possibly take a shot, I needed to do an about-face and stand up on one knee…..with two longbeards present.

I was about to do what I deemed as impossible.

As I moved around, and went to put the gun between two saplings, I lightly bumped the barrel against one of them.  The lead bird didn’t like that at all, and became very spooky.  Since I thought the jig was up anyway, I didn’t figure I had much to lose, so I moved the barrel to the firing position as fast as I could, put the bead on the lead bird, and watched him spook and run away.

Game over!  Or was it?

The second bird was directly behind this bird, and taking the same path, so I kept the gun right where it was, took a deep breath, waited for the bird to put his red head inside the dead ringer sight reticle, and hesitated – it didn’t feel right.  Another deep breath, and a slow pull of the trigger, and my first bird in two years – and only my second longbeard – was on the ground in front of us.

And I still didn’t believe it.  I was sure he had run off as we shot.  Or that I didn’t see him as he fled through the tall grass.  But upon further inspection he was there, right where I shot him; I had made an incredible 55yd shot on a wary longbeard, and dropped him in his tracks.

Hallelujah!

And that’s why, when we got back to Jeff’s garage, despite the hard day’s hunt, the sweat, the crawling, the ups-and-downs, and the fact that I could harly move, you couldn’t have wiped the smile off my face if you tried.  It’s easy to smile when you’re carrying a hard-fought prize over your shoulder, which will soon turn into a nice, tasty grilled treat.

The bird was 18lbs, with a 9 1/2in beard, a 1 1/8in spur, and a 1 inch spur.

It was an awesome day – quite possibly my best day afield ever – and it was an experience that Jeff and I will not soon forget.

And, though many of us Michigan hunters have had some great hunts this year, I’ve neglected to spotlight Brent’s Arkansas gobbler that he shot back in late April.  Brent’s son, Grayson, was with him at the time, and acted more mature than his 4 years when it comes to turkey hunting.

They had many birds around them that morning – and though they were not setting in a ground blind – Grayson still managed to keep still enough to let Brent work this bird to within range.

I’m thinking that Grayson is probably hooked for life now, and hopefully we see him continue to turkey hunt, even after we can actually see parts of his body above the turkey fan.

The bird had an 11.5in beard, and 1 1/4in spurs.

Congrats, Brent.  And it’s awesome that you’re getting Grayson so much experience at such an early age.

On Saturday, Barry headed down to Fort Custer, near Battle Creek, and participated in a NWTF youth weekend.  And his calling expertise came in handy, as he called in a very nice bird, which ten year old Katey put on the ground.  Congrats Katey!!!

Then, on Sunday, in the middle of the swamp, Justin put a very nice gobbler down. This was obviously not Justin’s first bird, but it was still a great one, and to shoot him in the evening, after he scared off another bird, was just icing on the cake.

And, finally, on Monday afternoon, after going 0 for 3 over the weekend – missing the same bird twice, and whiffing on another one that evening – Jeff finally put a nice bird on the ground – his biggest to date.  Oh…and did I mention that he had to use his son’s gun to kill the bird?

It was a great weekend for the SOTV crew, and though I’m covered in poison ivy from my one stint in the woods with Jeff and Nick, I’m still looking forward to my upcoming turkey season, which starts next Monday.

I can only hope that the turkey gods smile down on the rest of us, as well as they have on those who have hunted already.

And though Tyler hasn’t had much success with turkeys in the past, including one gobbler who put a sweet matrix move on him a few years ago, which was captured on film, this morning it was a different story.

At 20yds, he put this big bird on the ground.  And to say that Jeff was pumped, would be an understatement.

Of course, the whole hunt was captured on film as well.

Congrats, Tyler.  It’s about time!

Rather than Morgan having to “come along” and watch us hunt turkeys, this year she can hunt them herself, and she has the tags to prove it.

Later in the year, the deer are not safe when Morgan’s around either.

This is a great new program, and we’re excited that Morgan finally has an opportunity to truly participate in the hunting experience.

And though my daughter is only 3, and not quite ready – in my opinion – to use a weapon yet, I’m excited about the fact – especially after seeing the reaction on Morgan’s face – that I get to choose when she gets to hunt, and that she can hunt with me sooner rather than later.

Good luck, Morgan.

It’s shaping up to be a great turkey season.

Today we had snow flurries.

A few weeks ago, I was afraid that the warm weather would inspire the turkeys to start mating, and that they would be completely done before my May hunt.

Today I’m afraid that they might have to start hibernating like a bear.

Welcome to Michigan, where, if you don’t like the weather, all you have to do is wait a day or so and it will change.

But despite all of that my mind has still been focused on turkeys.  And, to be quite honest, I’m not too worried about what the weather is doing to the turkeys.  I have seen them making their rounds in the local fields – strutting their stuff to the fullest – and I have a feeling, simply because there are so many turkeys in the southern part of the state, that my hunt period will still be productive, and that I’l be able to put a bird on the ground.

SimplyOutdoors will have our first turkey hunters in the woods in just a few weeks, and I can’t wait to get out there – even though I’ll only be behind a camera for the early hunt.  Hunting runs in our blood around here, and to not be chasing after something just feels a little weird.

I can’t wait to try out my new StormKloth II gear, I can’t wait to get out in the woods again, and I can’t wait to hunt, and hopefully share the experience with my oldest daughter as well.

This year has all the makings of a great turkey season, and we’re geared up and ready for it.

In this episode, you’ll get to follow along as the SOTV crew go after some Detroit River walleye.  And after that, you’ll get to tag along as we have an epic day on the Pere Marquette river, while chasing after some Michigan steelhead.

Overall they did pretty good and put five total fish in the boat.  And more importantly, Melissa caught her first walleye ever, which was awesome, since last trip she only managed to land a nasty old carp.

I’ll admit I’m a little jealous that I didn’t get to go, but I’m sure I’ll get my chance eventually.  And even if it’s not after walleye, I know that it won’t be long until I’m chasing after some huge muskie on Lake St. Clair with the guys from Fin and Grins.

The three of them had an awesome day on the water, and I’m sure that, for many years to come, Melissa will wonder exactly how big the fish was that “got away”.

If you missed the previous post, you can read it here.

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After recovering from my minor melt down, and re-rigging, I headed back to the same hole where I had hooked the previous fish.  I wasn’t in that hole long, though, before Jeff was calling for the net and the camera.  I ran for the camera, and headed Jeff and Barry’s way, in order to try and capture a little of Jeff’s first hook-up on film.

And I managed to capture much more than that.

Jeff had hooked a nice male out the hole he was fishing, and this fish felt like putting on a show for the SOTV audience.  He came completely out of the water twice, and was doing some awesome acrobatics, before Barry finally put him in the net.

It was our first steelhead on film, baby!  And I captured the entire event.  It was my first real outdoor contribution to SimplyOutdoors TV, and it made me forget about the fish that got away a little earlier in the day.

And from that moment on, it was all fish, all the time.

I headed back to the hole I was previously fishing, and honestly hooked at least seven more fish (I honestly lost count).  It seemed to be one right after another, but I just couldn’t put one in the net, including another one who put up an awesome fight, and who I managed to get to the net, only to have him elude us once again.  We honestly thought we had him netted about three times, before he seemed to levitate above the net, made a short burst downstream, and busted my line while heading to freedom.

And there was no meltdown this time.  I even smiled for the camera afterwards.  Well…I sort of smiled.

Barry would hook another steelie, who would bust him off before long.  Jeff would land another nice steelie – a beautiful hen – on film.  And all of us would hook fish after fish after fish before the afternoon was over.

And I even made an awesome prediction on film.

I felt very confident about the hole I was fishing, and made a bold prediction that I would hook a steelhead out of it on my second cast.  It took until my seventh cast, but I did hook a nice male out of the hole, who put on one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time.  Right after taking my offering, and learning that he was hooked, he catapulted straight out of the water – a good few feet into the air.  And he didn’t stop there.  He kept launching himself, over and over, as I tried my damndest to keep up with him, reeling like a mad man, and hoping to keep the slack out of my line.

Unfortunately, though, I couldn’t reel fast enough, and he made off with the egg fly still in his mouth, leaving us with one heck of a show, which we were happy to have on film.

Finally, a little before four in the afternoon, and after a solid eleven hours on the water, we finally all decided to call it quits.  Our backs were stiff, and our shoulders and arms were aching from the pure number of fish we had fought during the day.  Plus, only getting two hours of sleep the night before was catching up with us, and it was time to head for home.

It was truly an epic day on the river, and one that we will not soon forget.  It was beautiful, the fish were very cooperative, and all of us made memories, which will stay with us for years to come.

And though it didn’t all go quite as I would have liked it to, it was still a perfect day.  Being on the water, stepping away from the stresses of everyday life, and trying to match whits with a cagey steelhead, was much better than any day at the office.  It was fun.  It was humbling.  It was awe-inspiring.

And when I truly took a step back, and relived all of the events from the day, I came to the realization that we got to experience something which many wait a whole life to experience….or travel across the ocean to experience…or never get to experience at all; that what I got to do was a very unique, and is something that I can use as a measuring stick against other things that have happened in my life.

And though it’s obviously not the best thing I’ve ever done, nor was it the best day of my life, it was right up there.  And, bottom line, it was well worth the time, the disappointment, the laughter, and the experience.

It was truly and awesome day in the outdoors, and a spectacular day on the river.