The 2016 spring turkey season was pretty good to me. I filled two out of three turkey tags here in Nebraska and destroyed the first tag during archery season.
We started hunting turkeys during the spring turkey archery season. On the first morning we had seven gobblers blowing up a little over 200 yards from us. They hung up so we moved in on them and stalked within 40 yards. We didn’t have a shot so we packed it up and returned six days later. We cruised in from the other side and got in close. As I drew back I had a trigger release that blew out on me. I sent the arrow into the ground. Luckily the gobblers did not spook. I nocked another arrow, drew and released. It hit a little far back. I watched the gobbler sway and then run with a complete pass through. After searching for two hours, I tracked him onto private land. I jumped him at the property line and he flew up. I took out a tag and cancelled it out for the season.
I waited two weeks and ordered three new decoys from Flambeau after taking a look at our local offerings. I got the MAD Shady Baby Feeding Hen, the MAD Shady Baby Breeding Hen and the MAD Shady Baby Upright Hen. I had used the MAD Smoky Baby the year before with a little success and this year I wanted to add some serious hens to our arsenal.
On opening weekend I took my daughter out hunting with me. She took a great jake on her first hunt. The birds rallied right into my decoys with the help of a new Three Little Birds Cholla Cactus Pot Call. This beautiful call, which reminds me of the time years ago when my sister fell into a cholla cactus, is a tribute to my sister who passed away in January. Using this call successfully on my daughter’s first turkey hunt is a treasure.
The second week of the season, I set up in the blind. With just a few yelps I took a great gobbler at 20 yards off the nose of the Shady Baby Feeding Hen. Five days later I set up on the field 75 yards from my blind. I placed the decoys and with just a few yelps I took my last gobbler of the season. On that final set up the gobbler stepped into the field about 75 yards to my south and strutted for about 30 seconds before seeing all three of my decoys. He made a dead run to the decoys and I took him twenty yards before he got to them.
I like the lifelike look of the MAD decoys. They move well in the wind and the stakes are quiet and easy to set up. They are lightweight and strap easily to my pack without adding much weight. Check out the offerings from Flambeau Outdoors. These are good decoys that won’t break the bank and won’t break your back carrying them in to the field.
