Minnesota Spring Turkey hunting has some issues

[birdbrooks]

Hey Everybody,

 

We have tremendous hunting opportunities in MN including for turkeys, but right now, if you live south of the MN border, count your blessings....

 

...my turkey season starts tomorrow with a forecast for snow!

Rainy, windy and low 40's now.

 

I will hunt turkeys in snow, but not in windy rain, unless my season is running out! I guarantee if it's snowing, the birds will not have Love on their pea-brains!

 

By the way my buddy got a bird last week in low 70's temps...lucky timing is half the battle:D

 

Happy spring hunting everybody-

[tucker301]

I took a nice gobbler in the snow back in the early 90's.

It was about 35 degrees and there was a fresh coat of about 1" on the ground for opening day.

Overcast and flurries when he came in.

It didn't seem to bother him a bit.

[birdbrooks]

I do like to pheasant hunt in the snow but I have not taken a spring Tom in snow.

 

The opportunity may present itself in the next few days. Wild turkeys have fared well in MN winters since being reintroduced in the late '60's... As you may know, Tucker, the MN turkeys that were transplanted into SE MN back then were received in a swap with the Missouri DNR for ruffed grouse!

 

The year I got my first Tom in MN ('82) less than 150 birds were taken state wide. By '05 the harvest was up to 7800 birds with a statewide flock of over 60,000... pretty good!

 

As for the northern states, WI is pretty hard to beat- their harvest numbers beat MN hands down but they have more prime turkey habitat.

 

I bet that Tom coming in to your calls with the snow all around was one cool sight to see!