Catholic Hotdish

After hunting hard in Wisconsin for five days, it was time to get out in the woods in Minnesota. The hunting in Wisconsin was tough, and I managed to shoot a young male, called a jake. I took a shot at a mature tom at 30 yards, but missed.

Time after time, birds would hang up and not come all the way in, so frankly, I was expecting more of the same in Minnesota. I was prepared for difficult conditions, but also ready to try some new tactics to go after birds that might hang up.

My friend and expert turkey hunter, Steve Huettl, general manager of Gamehide, has spent a lot of time teaching me effective ways to hunt. He said if you can set up on a gobbler within 75 yards before you start calling, your odds of getting the bird to come within shotgun range (40 yards or less) dramatically increase.

With that in mind, I decided to hike a long ridge and try to find an active bird. I began my walk about 5:30 a.m. and started moving along the ridge, hoping to hear a gobble.

Sounding off

Unfortunately, I started hearing birds gobbling across the road. I had permission to hunt there, but figured I would strike up a bird on this ridge. I was hoping I wouldn’t regret my decision. At this point, it was too late to change. Before long, I heard a gobble in the distance on my side, and quickly began walking toward it. Steve has taught me to stop and listen every time I hear a crow call, and that’s exactly what I did when I heard this familiar sound.

To my surprise, right after the crow called, a tom sounded off very close. In fact, I already was even with the bird. I just slipped through some small trees and grass and got near the edge of the woods.

The turkey continued to gobble, and I eventually did some soft hen calls. He fired right back with an eager gobble, then added a few more. Thinking he was coming in, I got ready to shoot

But, he stayed put. Once again, I was faced with a hung-up bird. I thought about moving closer, than decided against it for fear of spooking the bird.

Good thing I did. Turns out he was still roosted in the tree. About 10 or 15 minutes after I sat down, I heard a ruckus in the trees and saw a black shape drop down to the ground.

Game on!

OK, I thought. Now, it’s show time. He gobbled a few times, then started swinging around to the right and toward me. There was a small clearing straight ahead of me, and I got into a shooting position.

It didn’t take long. In just a few minutes, I saw a head bobbing through the brush. Only a second or two later, I fired.

Things went still, and I briefly wondered if I had hit the bird. Then, I walked over and found him. The shot was only 21 yards. It was a beautiful bird, weighing about 22 pounds with a 9-inch beard. I was absolutely thrilled. It was one of my favorite hunts of all time. Added to my Wisconsin bird, it pushed my career total to 21 birds, with 20 of them coming in the spring and one in the fall.

Back to Wisconsin

With one tag and one day left in my turkey season in Wisconsin, I decided to try one last time for a bird across the border. I visited several properties in my last-ditch effort. I saw a tom in a field, stalked in and called, but no answer. I visited another property and didn’t hear or see a thing. Finally, I went to the last place on my list. I had shot my nicest bird there last year, and hoped it would produce again this year. I saw two hens, and called both in close, but the boyfriend was nowhere in sight.

Finally, at about 5:30 p.m., I went to the far end of the property, where I had heard one gobble on Day 1. At a corner where a mowed path reaches a clover field, I spotted something brown in the grass. Walking up, it appeared to be a mushroom of some sort. But, it wasn’t flat like those I had seen before. Then, it hit me: Could this be a morel?

I called my brother-in-law immediately, and he asked me to take a picture and send it to his phone. I did, but it didn’t work. So, I decided to just pick them anyway, figuring I could discard them later if they weren’t morels.

In only about 20 to 30 minutes, I picked at least 100, filling the back pouch of my turkey vest. They were bigger than I thought morels grew (some were at least 6 inches long), and far more numerous than I imagined. I only searched a very small area.

Paydirt!

When I got home, I called a nearby morel expert, Chris Thompson, academic dean at the St. Paul Seminary. He came over right away and confirmed that they were, indeed, morels. In fact, when he arrived at my doorstep, he looked down, saw my vest and stared into it for five minutes before he rang the doorbell. He was absolutely stunned at my harvest. He said he had been hard at it all spring and only had found one small one.

His look of shock turned to joy when I said I would be happy to share some with him. He took them home to clean them off, then invited me over for fried mushrooms. He pan fried them in butter, then made an omelette with them. Both were delicious. The good news is, there are plenty more left, so there will be more good eating to come.

The day ended at midnight, which was especially long given that I awoke at 3:30 a.m. But, I am not complaining. I started the day with one of my most exciting turkey hunts ever, and ended it with a dinner of fresh morel mushrooms.

I couldn’t ask for more. As my father-in-law likes to say: God surprised me with his blessings! Thanks be to Him.

Sister Joyce Kolbet shot this nice tom April 26.

I got a great email this morning from School Sister of Notre Dame Joyce Kolbet, an avid turkey hunter who went out in the woods for Minnesota’s Season B last week.

She is the vocations director at the Our Lady of Good Counsel Campus in Mankato in the Diocese of New Ulm. I first met her in 2006 when I did a story on her fly-fishing exploits for The Catholic Spirit. We have tried to stay in touch, and I wanted to hear how she did last week, so I sent her an email requesting details of her time in the woods.

She hunted hard all week and finally was rewarded with a nice tom Thursday morning about 8:45 a.m. After spending the first three days near Good Thunder, someone she knew offered her a chance to hunt a different area where birds were hanging out.

She got there the night before and saw a bunch of birds roosted in some trees on the property. A blind already was set up – only 80 yards away.

A perfect setup, except for one thing – the turkeys didn’t cooperate the next morning.

“Nothing came out at sunrise,” she said. “I thought for sure they would come out in my direction and walk out into this alfalfa field where I was set up.”

But, turkeys being the unpredictable birds they are, they threw a curve ball at Sister Joyce and went in another direction. Fortunately, she has learned one of the hardest lessons in this sport – patience. Thus, she stayed put in the blind and waited for another opportunity.

Around 8 a.m., she heard a gobble in the distance. She did some yelps on her slate call and waited. Then, she heard another gobble, closer this time. Once more, she did a soft call on her slate and put it down. She was done calling.

Finally, she caught sight of the tom walking along the edge of the woods toward her blind at about 90 yards. When it reached 46 yards, she fired, ending a hard four days of hunting.

Sister Joyce hunted with three others, and they spent lots of time in the woods near Good Thunder throughout each day last week. But, gobbles and bird sightings were rare. The three others stayed in the area after she left, and one of them shot a year-old gobbler, called a jake. That was it.

“I can’t figure it out,” she said. “We talked to other hunters out in that area and people just had not seen birds, or heard them.”

Good thing she switched areas. Sometimes, that makes all the difference. And, it’s one more way that experienced hunters can get their bird. Too often, inexperienced hunters keep trying the same things over and over again, hoping for different results. But, sadly, those results often don’t come.

For Sister Joyce, who has been turkey hunting since about 1996, she gets a bird about every other year she hunts. That’s a 50 percent success rate, almost double the statewide average of about 25 percent. So, congratulations to Sister Joyce on a well earned bird!

My turn comes Wednesday in Wisconsin. I’ve got some great properties to hunt, and I’m hoping the weather will cooperate. Right now, it looks like some storms are going to come in Tuesday night and possibly last into Wednesday morning. I will set up a blind this afternoon and wait out the rain on Wednesday. Doesn’t sound like it will rain all day, so the birds will move once it quits. But, it is supposed to warm up to 80 degrees or even a little more. Turkeys aren’t fond of extreme heat, yet they should be active at least in the morning.

And, I’ll be waiting for them!

Q: Do you have a turkey hunting story from this spring?

Several months ago, my wife Julie advised me to take a cell phone while on my 3-mile walk. Last night, I had to use it.

I was nearly halfway through when I felt pain in the middle toes of my right foot. Soon, it became very intense and I quickly realized I would not be able to walk on it much longer.

So, I pulled out the cell phone and dialed Julie’s number. Thankfully, she answered and I told her my plight. She said she would come right away.

I decided to hobble on, taking short, labored steps around the perimeter of a golf course. On a wooded portion across the street from the course, four whitetail deer fed silently in the grass.

I walked right past them at close range. They jerked their heads up and looked at me, but resumed feeding as I walked past. These semi-tame animals are nothing like their fully wild counterparts.

I wasn’t even 100 yards past the deer when Julie pulled up. I told her about the deer, and we drove up past them. Then, we continued on, turned around and pulled right up to them. I rolled down the passenger’s side window, and we enjoyed a few moments of watching the deer graze peacefully.

I was glad Julie got to witness the scene. Of course, I was even more grateful that she came to pick me up. The last time I didn’t finish a walk or run was in January of last year, when I severely sprained my left ankle and had to be driven home by a Good Samaritan.

I hope to try walking again tonight or tomorrow. But, I’m not going to push it. With my turkey hunt scheduled for next week, I’ll need to be able to do some walking to go after the birds. And, hopefully, I’ll walk out of the woods with a nice gobbler!

Lilacs like these are blooming right now!

The calendar says April, but the blossoms on the trees say May. Just within the last few days, I have noticed lilacs and crabapple blossoms popping up all over town. So, I stopped for just a few minutes the other day to record them with my camera.

It didn’t take long. In the same block, I shot a beautiful crabapple tree, then simply crossed the street to photograph the lilacs. With beautiful sunlight illuminating them, I couldn’t miss.

I don’t ever recall lilacs blooming in April. In fact, as recently as last year, they didn’t bloom until the second half of May. So, they came a month earlier this year.

I have been nervous that this could mean an incredibly hot summer, but temperatures this week have plunged back down to normal, or even a little below. So, I’m feeling a little more at ease. I don’t like high heat and humidity, and I don’t think it’s certain if we’ll have that this summer.

I also don’t like extreme heat now because it can shut down the activity of the wild turkey, which I will be hunting this spring starting May 2. Still not sure how much the breeding will be ahead of schedule due to the early and warm spring. The males certainly were raring to go early, but biologists say hens don’t necessarily breed and lay eggs earlier. That has more to do with the amount of daylight.

The key for my hunt will be whether or not the hens have finished laying their eggs and spend most of their time sitting on nests. This is the time to hunt because the toms start moving around looking for hens and gobbling more intensely. I hit that time period right last year, and hope to do so again this year.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to enjoy the spring flower and blossom show!

Q: What’s your favorite spring sight?

I took my son, William, out for the Wisconsin youth turkey hunt Saturday morning. A scouting trip to the farm near Ellsworth where we had permission to hunt revealed a good number of birds using the property.

I set up a blind near the center of the property and was confident we would have action on Saturday morning. In fact, it didn’t take long. We crawled into the blind about an hour before sunrise and within about 10 minutes, we heard the first gobble of the day. There were many more to follow.

Often, turkeys will gobble on the roost for 20 to 30 minutes before flying down. Not this time. These eager toms flew down quickly and continued gobbling on the ground. I made some hen yelps and they answered and started coming our way. But, they stopped about 75 yards away. Later, I found out why – there was a gate and barbed wire fence at the far end of the small clearing where we were set up. Sometimes, those obstacles will cause birds to stop and hang up.

That’s what happened here. The toms kept gobbling, then slowly started moving away. There were other birds gobbling, but all of them were on the opposite side of the fence.

A little while later, a bird gobbled up the hill from us and I thought we were in business. He answered my calls right away, but did not come down to us. Instead, he turned and went up the hill and into a field, where he continued to gobble.

Girl talk

Thus, I turned my attention back toward the other birds to the east. Mysteriously, the six or eight birds that had been gobbling all shut up at once. I wondered if a coyote or other predator had moved in and spooked them. But, a few minutes later, I heard a hen start yelping. I yelped back, and we talked to each other for a while, then she shut up, too.

A few minutes later, as I scanned through the brush behind the blind, I saw a turkey walking in the clearing toward us. I couldn’t tell if it was a hen or a tom, then I lost it in the brush.

I figured it might walk around the brush and reappear near our blind. But, I didn’t know if it would swing around to the north of the stand of brush or to the south. So, I kept scanning both ways.

Finally, it appeared to the south, which was to our left. It started clucking, and then walked behind a log. A second hen soon followed and they both walked behind the log, which I had identified with my rangefinder to be 30 yards from the blind.

Show time!

At long last, a tom appeared, walking behind the log in full strut. Then, another appeared, and, eventually, four birds came strutting behind the log. At that point, I did some soft calls to try and bring all of the birds to our set of two decoys, which were placed about 10 yards directly in front of the blind.

The hens did not turn, but these four toms eventually did. I opened a window on the left and had William kneel and poke his gun barrel out the window. While all of this was going on, another tom gobbled up the hill to our right and started moving toward us.

We were in the middle of all the action. But, these four young toms, called jakes, were already in gun range to our left, so I decided to ignore the other tom to the right. The four birds kept coming, and I could see they were well in front of the log, probably about 25 yards or so.

One of them took the lead and separated himself from the other three. Then, he stopped and ran his head up to look our way.

The time is now

This was the moment! I turned to William and told him to shoot. Problem was, he wasn’t ready, but tried to line up the shot quickly because I urged him on. Finally, he took a shot, and all four birds jumped. But, none of them dropped. So, I told him to shoot again, which he did. Again, the birds jumped, but none went down.

Two walked away from us, but two more kept walking from left to right. They veered away from us, but were still in range and still visible, though they now were in some brush. I instructed William to shoot again, after making sure another shell was in the chamber.

But, he did not pull the trigger a third time. The birds were moving and bobbing and they never gave him a clear shot that he felt comfortable taking.

Sad way to end

Thus, the agony began, both for him and for me. I realized I had rushed him to take the shot when he wasn’t ready. Had we just waited, the birds probably would have come closer and he likely would have had an easy shot. Plus, the other tom up the hill may have come in as well.

Sometimes, you have to react quickly when you are hunting because an animal that offers a shot may quickly change its course and move away without presenting another opportunity. That happened to me several times earlier in my hunting career, so I trained myself to react quickly.

But, William hasn’t had that kind of training. He just wasn’t ready to kneel down and shoot through a small window. Thus, I failed him, in much the same way that the Vikings coaches blew it in the NFC championship game two years ago against New Orleans when they sent 12 men on the field and got penalized.

Let me tell you, it’s a bad feeling. The look of disappointment on William’s face was not fun to see. We hunted for a little while longer, then went home. Yesterday was open for hunting, but it was Easter and we had plans for the day. So, we did not get back out.

It’s not over yet

The good news is, William’s tag is also good for Season D, which is May 2-8. I hope to take him out again for another try. I also will be hunting the same season, but my plan is to go out during the week and try to fill my two tags, then bring him out on the weekend.

I’m hoping things will be different next time. William is still trying for his first bird, and he’s learning how tough this sport can be. The truth is, every hunter misses at some point. My brother, Paul, missed a shot at 25 yards last year, and I missed twice in 2009. Fortunately, on one of those misses, I was able to take a second shot and bring down the bird.

Here’s hoping – and praying – William will get another chance at a tom this spring.

This year’s early and warm spring is mostly good. But, there is a downside, which I encountered about two weeks ago.

As I was walking around on a property where I got permission to hunt turkey and deer, I picked off a tick. These little buggers came early this year, and I was not pleased to find one so soon. With the Wisconsin youth turkey hunt coming this weekend, it’s time to find a solution.

Fortunately, that part is easy. I merely will put on my ElimTick clothing and not have a worry in the world. The product was developed by a company called Insect Shield, which owns the patent and manufactures clothing that repels ticks and other insects. Gamehide is a brand partner and incorporates the fabric developed by Insect Shield into its camouflage clothing. That makes it perfect for spring turkey hunting, which is when ticks are the worst.

I became aware of ElimiTick two years ago because my friend, Steve Huettl, is Gamehide’s general manager. The company has been selling it for three years, and Steve has been using it himself for four. The first time he tried it, he went out into the woods with another Gamehide employee who also was wearing ElimiTick, plus several others who weren’t. One was a youth who counted 58 ticks he pulled off that day.

I have used it for two full seasons, and only once did a tick get under the clothing and attach itself to my leg. I have been in the  worst places for ticks at the worst times, so I estimate the success rate is well above 90 percent, and actually pretty close to 100. I’ll take that any time. Steve said he has never had a tick bite him while wearing the clothing.

But, there are a few key points to know:

1. Ticks may crawl onto the surface of the garment at times, but they eventually drop off without biting. Somehow, the tick I discovered last year had crawled underneath the pants and up my leg.
2. The pants, especially the bottom, are critical. Buying them a little long can be helpful, and be careful whenever you sit down, as the pants can ride up your leg and expose your skin. That’s probably what happened to me, and made me vulnerable to ticks.
3. You can wash them as often as you want. They are said to be good through 70 washings, but Steve told me the tick repellent will last the life of the garment. In his words, “the garment will fall apart” before the repellent quits working.
4. It also repels mosquitos.

The good news for turkey hunters is the clothing is easy to find. You can buy it online directing from Gamehide, or check out these local retailers that carry it – Mills Fleet Farm, Joe’s Sporting Goods (St. Paul), Capra’s Sporting Goods (Blaine), Cabin Fever (Victoria) and All Seasons Sports (Delan0).

I just ordered a set for my son, William, who is going out turkey hunting this weekend. I want to know that both of us are protected. Ticks that get attached to your skin are bad enough, but what’s worse is the threat of Lyme Disease. I have talked to a few people recently who have had it, and it’s not something I ever want to get.

That’s why I’ll be wearing ElimiTick on my turkey hunts this spring. Then, instead of being distracted by ticks crawling all over me and trying to pick them off while staying still, I can focus on working a gobbler into shotgun range.

Lord knows, that’s hard enough!

Q: How much of a problem have ticks been for you?

The Big Green Egg on display at the Kitchen Window booth at the Northwest Sportshow.

Got a chance to check out the Northwest Sportshow Friday afternoon. It was about the only time I could make it, and I’m glad I did.

Though I only was able to spend about two hours, it was well worth the trip. Here are some of the highlights:

1. Re-connecting with old friends. Early on in my rounds, I bumped into pro bass fisherman Gary Lake. Years ago, while at Sun Newspapers in the western suburbs, I met Gary and wrote about him in my fishing column. I had the pleasure of fishing with him a few times, and I was able to learn some things from him. I hadn’t seen him in a long time, so it was good to run into him. We both agreed to get out on the water this summer. That will be fun!

I also saw Steve Carney, a fishing guide who also is from my days at the Sun. I have kept in touch with him, and I read his weekly columns in Outdoor News. He’s a straight shooter who tells it like it is. If he does well on the water or in the woods, he says so. If he doesn’t, he says that, too. I have always liked that about him, and respect him a great deal for it. He said he had his best ice fishing season ever this winter, which followed his worst bow hunting season ever in Wisconsin. I told him I might be able to help him with that. I suggested we talk more about it on the water sometime. I sure hope he takes me up on that!

2. Discovering the Big Green Egg. Recently, I had heard about a form of barbecue grill called the Big Green Egg. It has been around for while, but I only have heard of it recently. It’s a charcoal grill, but quite a step up from my Weber. For one thing, you can seal it tight so that the moisture stays inside. That means meat won’t dry out so fast. Second, it has a thermometer mounted in the lid so you always know what the temperature is. And, it’s easily regulated by adjusting the air vent on top. Finally, it uses real charcoal, which gives the meat better flavor.

I learned all of this from a booth run by a store that sells Green Eggs: Kitchen Window in Minneapolis at Calhoun Square. Not only does this store sell the Green Egg, but it also teaches people how to use it. The down side is that these are very spendy grills. There are four sizes, from small all the way to extra large. The large costs $800, which is mighty steep for a grill. I’m not really in a financial position to buy one now, but owning one is now a dream.

Getting a few fishing tips. I’m always on the lookout for tips that will help me put more fish in the boat. I talked with a guy from Pure Fishing and we got on the subject of swimbaits. I first heard about these from In-Fisherman Magazine a few years back. Basically, they are a soft plastic crank bait that you put onto a large jig head and reel in at a steady pace rather than lift and drop it from the bottom. According to editor Doug Stange, all species love these baits, especially walleyes. I have dabbled with them a few times and caught some fish, but always wanted to use them more.

Mike Baumgartner, a Pure Fishing rep, gave me a few tips on how to use them. Like Stange, he said swimbaits can be dynamite at times. He uses them throughout the summer and into the fall. He says once you are set up correctly, they are easy to fish. In fact, he often takes novices out fishing with them, and they catch as many fish as he does.

The key, he said, is to fish them in weeds. That is where they are most effective. And, that is where walleyes spend a surprising amount of their time. And, in many cases, these fish are untouched by other anglers, who frequent  rocks, sand and gravel. So, you’re getting unpressured fish that are in the weeds for one reason – to eat!

That short encounter made me really want to give them a try this summer. Mike has had success on Leech Lake, where there are lots of large cabbage beds. The nice thing about swimbaits is you can cover lots of water. But, there’s one important rigging tip – use a wire leader. Mike says pike love swimbaits, too, and you’ll get bit off many times and lose lots of baits unless you use a  wire leader. Amazingly, that piece of hardware does not scare off walleyes.

No turkey tips

Here’s the surprise of this year’s show – I did not get any turkey hunting tips. I always enjoyed visiting the AmmoCraft & Gobbler Specialties booth owned by Ron Becker, who has a store in Hopkins. But, he stopped coming several years ago. Fortunately, I was able to buy a call from him that is my No. 1 call for turkey hunting. It is made by Quaker Boy and is a very simple push-button call that has proven very effective for me. In fact, I called in two toms with it last spring. It’s called the Pro Push Pin Yelper and sells for about $20. For me, it has been worth every penney. It has brought in several birds to gun range, and it is very easy to use. That is very important when you have a gobbler closing in and are so nervous your hands are shaking.

That’s exactly what happened to me last spring when I called in a nice, double-bearded gobbler in Wisconsin. He responded to a yelp from my box call, then cut the distance in half minutes later and gobbled again. That’s when I pulled out my Pro Push Pin Yelper and hit him with some soft calls, clucks and purrs, which are feeding sounds. He gobbled immediately, then circled to my right and entered a field, where he gobbled again.

Knowing he was likely to keep coming and end up in shotgun range, I grabbed the call to give him one more hen vocalization. When I looked down at my hand, it was shaking. Still, I was able to work the call just fine, and gave him another brief series of clucks and purrs. He gobbled two or three times, and came right in. My shot was only 20 yards.

I shared this story with Ron, who got a kick out of it. With the Wisconsin youth season coming up this weekend, I hope that my son, William, will have a similar experience. He has yet to shoot a bird, but I’m hoping he’ll get his first one on Saturday.

Q: What’s your favorite turkey hunting story?

The annual Northwest Sportshow is going on now at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis. Traditionally, it has been a don’t-miss event for me. I have been going off and on ever since I was in grade school.

I hope to make it again this year. Often, there is still snow on the ground, or it has just melted off. Not this year. The snow was gone by the end of the first week in March. But, that does not diminish my interest in the show. I realize I’ll have to act fast, as the show only goes through Sunday. Up until a few years ago, it used to run for nine days, and I would have plenty of time to go down.

For some reason, they squeezed it down to just five days. I have taken my dad a number of times, but not sure if that will work out this year. We have always enjoyed going together, but there’s so little time left that I have my doubts we can pull it off.

Still, even alone, I know I would enjoy it. I like seeing all of the booths for both fishing and hunting lodges, plus all of the gear. I’m not looking to make any major purchases, but it’s still fun to look. And, I may run into some of the people in the industry whom I have known for decades.

I’ll be curious to see if the early spring helps or hurts show attendance. After all, rather than just come to the show and talk about fishing and hunting, people actually can get out on the water or take a walk in the woods. Just this morning, I saw a big wild turkey tom displaying for a flock of hens. That gets my blood pumping for turkey hunting.

Going to the Sportshow will only make this disease worse!

Q: What do you enjoy most about the Sportshow?

For those interested in hunting wild turkeys in Wisconsin this spring, now’s the time to act. Surplus tags went on sale today and the information on availability is on Wisconsin’s DNR website. Beginning today, permits went on sale. Today is designated for Zone 1, tomorrow Zone 2, Wednesday Zone 3, Thursday Zone 4 and Friday Zones 5, 6 and 7. Then, on Saturday, tags in all seven zones will be available.

I got picked in the lottery for Zone 4, Season D. I bought my license over the weekend, and can buy more tags, which I did last  year. You are allowed one per day. I think I will buy a second license for Zone 4, Season D so I can take more than one bird during my season. Last year, I had two young toms come in together (called jakes), and I was able to take them both. The meat on these juvenile birds is delicious, so it was nice to take home two birds.

It’s a nice deal, as the nonresident bonus tags cost only $15 each. I bought my original tag for $65, so I can have two for $80. That’s a great deal in my book. Other states charge much more. I paid $175 in Missouri (where I got skunked several years ago), and Iowa is even more. I think the hunting is every bit as good in Wisconsin, plus it’s as shorter drive. Not only that, for less money, I can have more tags than either Iowa (limit of one tag) or Missouri (two).

So, for me, the choice is easy – I’ll be turkey in Wisconsin this spring. And, of course, I’ll be getting a tag in Minnesota, too. I will hunt Season E. And, for the first time, I’ll be able to get the tag for this season over the counter rather than through the lottery.

My only concern at this point is the ridiculously early spring, which could potentially move the breeding up on the calendar. This happened two years ago and, by mid May, the toms were fizzling out and much harder to call in. My Wisconsin season begins May 2, and I hope the gobblers will still be plenty active then.

All of the deer shown here were shot illegally and now reside on the Minnesota DNR's Wall of Shame.

For the first time in my life, I attended the Minnesota Deer Classic, which took place over the weekend at the State Fair Coliseum in St. Paul. Thought I could get some tips both for my upcoming wild turkey hunting seasons this spring and for deer hunting in the fall.

It wasn’t easy finding time to go. I spent most of Saturday at the state high school hockey tournament, taking photos at both the Class A and AA championship games. Then, I had two photo shoots on Sunday.

Fortunately, there was a window of about two hours to check out the show. What I noticed most inside the coliseum were antlers and lots of them – and very, very large. Seeing huge rack after huge rack made me ask myself a fundamental question: Why don’t I see any bucks like these when I’m in the woods?

I’m not sure why, but it’s nice to know they’re at least out there. Hopefully, with at least another decade of deer hunting left, I’ll encounter a trophy like these.

In the meantime, I’m looking for ways to improve my hunting skills. One way came via a product I discovered at the show. It’s called FireBUGS trail lights and will help me with a very annoying problem – finding my deer stand in the dark.

I started using trail tacks this year and they did work. However, you need to turn on some kind of light so they will illuminate in the dark as you’re making your way through the woods. That risks being seen by deer and spooking them. FireBUGS are small, battery-powered lights that are advertised to be visible for up to .8 of a mile away. They are dark during the day, then light up at night. They come in both red and green and are said not to spook game.

I got a nice deal at the show – six lights, plus 12 batteries for $15, half the price that they sell for online. They are supposed to last two weeks or more, so you can attach one to your stand and to key spots along the way a week before the season, and you’re good to go.

There is one stand I hunt out of during the gun season that has always been tricky to find in the dark. It’s only about 30 yards in the woods, and I can see it plainly in the daylight. But, darned if it doesn’t become very tough to find in the dark. I can remember two mornings in particular when I ended up wandering around looking for it in the dark. In one case, I thought it had been stolen.

The good news is, on both occasions, I eventually found the stand – and killed a buck from it both times.

This year, I had a little trouble finding it, but not so bad. And, after sitting in it for more than eight hours, I killed a nice 8-point buck on Opening Day of the gun season.

Another interesting booth was the Wall of Shame, put up by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. There were some impressive mounts (see photo above), plus the set of antlers from the now-famous Cannon Falls buck that was poached in the fall of 2009. It is believed by the DNR to be the highest scoring 8-point buck ever taken, with a net score of 185 inches. Most hunters will never even see a buck in their lifetime that would score that high, no matter how many points it has (generally, more points yield a higher score).

I’m glad I got to see the rack, and I’m really glad I bought a set of FireBUGS. I’m always happy to be able to find a good product at a low price.

Q: What is the best hunting product you’ve ever bought for under $20?