Hunting with Mike

I know this is Mothers Day weekend coming up, but it is also the traditional mushroom hunting weekend.  My son-in-law Tony picked these, with the help of his son Jacob, a couple days ago.  We also found 5 small ones while turkey hunting earlier this week.  With the sunshine, and warmer weather, the next couple days should be great for finding some tasty morel’s.

If you plan on cooking your wife, or mother, dinner; why not make it a steak smothered in “wild mushrooms?”  I like to bread mine with flour, and a little seasoning, then fry them in butter.  Add them to the top of a juicy steak (deer or beef will work) and you have the perfect meal.

If you get a chance, over the next few days, give mushroom hunting a try.  Look in hedgerows, fence lines, woodlots with sandy soil and dead trees, and you may be rewarded with a delectable delight.

Mike

Sorry about the delay on finishing this “turkey hunt” up.  I have been busier than normal today and just finally have a few minutes to myself.

The alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. and I groggily reach over and shut it off.  Quinn was stirring and excited about the mornings hunt.  We had our backpacks ready to go from the night before, and added some drinks and one snack a piece.   I had a headband lamp and Quinn was caring a small Cabela’s flashlight.  It took us about 40 minutes to negotiate the water and mud, and we arrived at the blind about 1/2 hour before sun-up.  I set three hen decoys on the edge of the woods, and placed two Jake decoys about 15 feet east of them.  They were in a grassy area, where they could be seen by anything coming across last years corn field.

We silently got into my new Primos ground max hunting blind, and waited for daylight.  I was in a small folding chair while Quinn had to sit behind me on the ground.  The plan was for him to film the hunt, but his forgetful grandfather brought the video, minus the battery.  Just once I’d like to remember everything, just once!  Is that asking for too much?

Anyway at daybreak I start calling toward a row of tall planted pines, on a ridge, about 3/8 of a mile away.  We heard a few gobbles, but not as many as we expected.  Around 7:00 o’clock we saw a big Tom courting a hen near the pines, and later saw another Tom hooked up with his sweetheart back toward the road.  A couple raccoons came in for a look at the decoys, and a nice doe walked within 50 yards of our blind, but no turkey.

At 8;30 Quinn was getting cold, and was ready to hang it up.  I wasn’t that impressed either, so I told him to go get the decoys.  As he stepped from the blind I turned and looked out my window at a Tom coming straight into our set-up.  I tried to get Quinn’s attention, but it was too late.  We were “Busted!”  I told Quinn to get back in the blind cause we were going to stay awhile longer.  I knew the busted bird would not be back, but was hoping he had some relatives on the prowl.

About a half hour later I asked Quinn if he wanted to sit in the chair and I would take his place on the ground.  He hopped in the chair, as I instructed him where to look for birds.  He had some kind of electronic game with him, but I paid it little attention, as I fell asleep within 2 minutes of the swap.  About 5 minutes into my snooze Quinn starts shaking me and saying there’s a turkey headed our way.  After I cleared the cobwebs from my mind I told him to trade me places.  Sure enough there was a “strutting Tom” about 85 yards from my decoys.  He had noticed my three girls and was trying to impress them with his whirling moves.  He had not heard a call yet, and as soon as I gave him a yelp, he went crazy.  Not only did he start moving toward us, but so did his two Jake buddies that had been hiding behind a hill.  I put my binoculars on them and could see the first bird was big.  I hit the call again and added a couple soft purrs, and the big boy was hooked.  The Jake’s hung back somewhat, but Mr. Dominant Tom came right into my set-up!  I waited for him to stretch his neck out and “Bam” I popped him!

The Jake’s didn’t know what to think, and if Quinn would of had a license he probably could of shot one of them.   It was a textbook head/neck shot on the big Tom, so I didn’t blow away any scrumptious turkey breast.  I knew he was a good bird, but had no idea he was a really big bird!  When I picked him up he tried to beat me to death with his wings, and actually did cut me with his spurs.  In less than 2 minutes he was still and ready to be photographed.  Quinn and I hugged, shook hands, high fived, low fived and gave each other knuckles as we celebrated our turkey “blessing.  You talk about a wake-up call!  We weren’t tired anymore, as we prepared for our wet muddy walk back with all our hunting gear.

My bird had a 10-1/4 inch beard, 1-1/8 left spur and a 1 inch right spur qualifying it for Michigan’s record book, maintained by Commemorative Bucks of Michigan.  I’ve harvested 12 Michigan birds and a couple out of state, and this one tops em all.  My grandson and I will always remember this adventure, as we look forward to future hunts together.

Whoever said “if you snooze you loose?”  Not me!

Mike

I forgot to mention that I found this awesome piece of property through “southernmichiganhuntinglease.com.”  The owner is a great guy, and an avid hunter himself.  I hope I’m able to enjoy this place for years to come.

Ok I’ve had a good nights sleep, so hear is the rest of the story.  My brother Brett and I arrived at our hunting area Sunday around 6:30 p.m.  We took the muddy walk to the back of the property so we could set my new ground blind up.  We positioned it in the woods adjacent to a cut corn field, so we would be ready for Monday mornings hunt.

Neither one of us had an alarm clock, so we were hoping that between the two of us one would wake up to relieve himself at the proper time.  Not!  We woke up with the sun shining in our eyes, and the birds chirping.  I didn’t want to venture into the area my blind was in, so we stayed up front on the property.  I did call in a hen, but she wasn’t trailed by a Tom.  Brett enjoyed watching me work the hen, and then my phone started ringing.

My daughter Alena wanted to see if I would drive halfway home and pick up my grandson Quinn.  Quinn had been very disappointed that he couldn’t go with us on Sunday, but now had the green light from his parents.  Brett agreed to pack up and go home, with Tony, when I met him to transfer Quinn.  There wasn’t enough room in the blind or the camper for three of us, and Brett had a lot of work to do around his house anyway.  So that’s how this trip started with Brett, and ended up with my grandson.

Monday evening we had received permission to hunt a piece of property across the road, where a couple Tom’s had been seen all last week.   We arrived at an elevated enclosed stand around 5:30, and set my two remaining decoy’s out about 15 yards in front of us.  After we got ride of the wasps inside we settled down for the evening.  About 7:00 p.m. I had a distant gobble answer my yelps.  Up to this time I had not even heard a gobble.  There were actually two birds answering my call every time I yelped.  After about 15 minutes I saw them moving our way through the woods.  I put my binoculars on them, and to my delight saw two very mature long-beards.  We had about a 50 yard wide swamp between us, plus a fence row running north and south.  These birds were coming in from the east, and had to walk through the swamp or fly over the fence, which they did.  My decoys were in plain view, but after landing the birds ignored them, and started walking toward a cut soybean field.  For the life of me I couldn’t believe that they would choose food over fun!

A while later Quinn spotted one working it’s way in from the west.  I started calling and all of a sudden there are three Tom’s in the group,  One was a good mature bird, and the other two were Jake’s.  They to only came within 50 yards, and went under the fence into the soybean field!  I had a fallen tree for cover so I left the stand and low crawled under a fence and to the tree.  The three Tom’s were feeding away from me, and the biggest one was the furthest out.  I had about a 40 yard shot at one of the Jake’s, but declined to take it.  That was the end of day one.

My grandson was watching me crawl toward the turkeys, and said I looked more like a beached whale trying to get back in the water.  Why do I take this abuse from this kid?

Well Ive written enough for one day, so I’ll continue tomorrow with the conclusion to our exciting morning hunt in the swamp.

North view from the blind day one.

This 26 pound 10-1/4 inch bearded Tom turkey fell to my Remington 870 super magnum around 9:15 this morning.  My grandson Quinn and myself got up at 4:30 a.m. and hiked back into the swamp were my set up was at.  My legs are so sore right now I can hardly walk, cause once you hike in you have to hike out.

Not only did we have to bring out a pop-up blind, 5-decoys, folding chair, shotgun, two backpacks, and a big turkey.  It’s a good thing I had Quinn with me, as my stronger than me grandson, carried the bulk of the load.  I am really too pooped to give a lot of details right now.  All I want to do is put my head on my pillow and suck my thumb for awhile!  I want to thank everyone who was pulling for me to get a bird.  The third hunt can be rough, and you always count your blessings when it all falls together.  I’ll write more tomorrow.  Good night.

Mike

Whoever said turkey hunting was easy never hunted with me before!  You would think we were going to hunt “The Swamp Thing!”This is son-in-law Tony and Loren, who owns the land we’ll be hunting.  We are newcomers to this prime piece of Jackson County property.  Loren was giving us the 2-hour tour, and had warned us, ahead of time, that we would need hip boots or waders.  Tony carried my new pop-up blind, and I had the bag of turkey decoys.(5)

This particular portion of the property had much more water than normal, due to Michigans heavy spring rains.  However I didn’t expect to slosh through 100 yards of black stinky swamp muck!  Both of us came close to doing a head first dive into this flora and fauna infested snake haven, but somehow were able to keep our balance.  There were spots that came almost to my waist.  The muck would try to hold each step right were they planted themselves, so it took some effort to move forward as fast as Loren. (Oh did I mention I’m 62 and Loren is probably 38)  He did show us some mercy once we reached dry land.  We took a well deserved break, as Loren showed us his property boundries.

Thankfully we took a longer, but dryer, way back to our vehicles.  We still trudged through 6-10 inches of water, but at least we were’nt stepping in 3ft. holes!  The turkeys roost along a ridge with towering pine trees, and that is where I plan on being come May 4th.  That’s if I don’t drowned first!

I’ll be reporting on my hunt, and also am looking forward to deer hunting this Q.D.M. managed property.  Only 130 Pope and Young deer are allowed to be harvested, and from the sign we saw, there are some monsters in the area.

Mike