hunting

My First Turkey Hunt

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I’ve mentioned before that I did not grow up hunting, so the fact that I started when I was 30 is quite surprising. It started with deer hunting. I did not harvest a deer but I ended up with some grouse which was fantastic. After that experience I knew I could at least hunt birds (I am still unsure about the furry critters), so my guy/guide and I decided to apply for turkeys in  the spring.

We applied as a group for the ‘A’ season for turkeys in an area he knew well and we got pulled! The first step was a success. Now we just had to hope we would see some turkeys and get them close enough to ‘shoot em in the lips’ as my guide says. He set up a ground blind the night before so we could arrive bright and early and wait for the turkeys.

We walked in on the first morning and got situated. We waited a little bit for the woods to quiet back down after we disturbed it and then he started calling.

Can I just say that he is so good to me! He was willing to sit with me and call for the turkeys as I had never done it before and couldn’t work the mouth call for the life of me.

Anyhow, he called out for a turkey and one gobbled right back! It sounded like he was right on top of us. It turned out that he basically was. I looked out the blind and saw a tom sitting in a tree about 30 yards away.

I couldn’t believe it. My first morning out, the first call out, and there is a trophy tom right there. My guy kept calling and he kept gobbling back. He was fluffing out his feathers looking like he was doing some morning stretches.

He evemtually jumped down from the tree and started walking right towards our decoys. I was struck in awe. This was not happening. My heart was pounding and my hands were shaking. I tried to quietly and slowly maneuver myself in the ground blind to take aim. I shot and the turkey just stood there. I kept waiting for him to fall over but he then turned around and ran. I tried to get off another shot but it was awkward leaning out of the blind. I tried to get out of the blind as quickly as I could, but by the time I did the turkey was gone.

I was dumbfounded. I hit him! I knew I did. We tried looking for him and found blood & feathers but no turkey. I felt terrible. Was he nicked or was he dying somewhere. I had no idea. I felt bad for the turkey and bad for me. I was super grumpy. I knew it was all my fault that I had not sealed the deal. He was handed over on a silver platter and I screwed it up. A trophy tom no less.

I knew exactly what I did wrong. I didn’t have a very good angle to take the shot with how I had maneuvered in the blind. I didn’t take enough breaths to calm myself. I’m not sure I took a breath at all. I definitely didn’t breathe with my shot. My inexperience showed when I didn’t try to take another shot immediately when he just stood there. We went back to the blind and tried to call in some more turkeys.

We saw lots of turkeys that day. We saw another trophy tom. We saw some jakes and some hens. It was incredible seeing all of these birds but none were close enough to take aim at.

The next day we tried moving the blind to where they seemed to be walking but they didn’t come near us. After looking at the blind and the woods it was painfully obvious why. Our blind was bright green and the woods were still very brown.

All I could think about was how I had screwed up my turkey hunt. My guide was a bit frustrated with me.

‘This is what hunting is dear. Most of the time you don’t see anything. Then when you do they have to be close enough to shoot. Then you have a chance of missing. You have to take away the good things.”

He was right. I needed to take away the good things. We had seen lots of birds. Even though I messed up and the turkey ran away, how cool was it that we walked right under him and he jumped down right in front of us. The weather was amazing: sunny, 50-70 degrees. You couldn’t have asked for a better hunting season. Plus, there was this squirrel that was running all over the place. He dug in the ground and looked like he discovered the jackpot because he quickly covered the hole back up and patted it in with his paws while looking around to make sure no one was watching him. Too funny.

I had finally come to terms with this experience and had told myself it would be OK if we didn’t get on any more turkeys.

We decided that for the last day we would hunt off of the ground with our backs to the trees, which is how I always envisioned turkey hunting in the first place, since our blind stood out like a sore thumb.

We were covered from head to toe in camo. We walked into the woods. We sat about 20 feet apart so he could call in the turkeys and we waited. We heard some far away so decided to move.

We set up against some different trees and started calling again. We were in a clearing at the top of a hill. I was sitting there & enjoying the great outdoors when a turkey walked up over the hill. My heart jumped into my throat and my stomach turned upside down.

Was I really going to get another shot? The turkey walked towards our decoy. I couldn’t tell if it was a jake or hen. I looked to my hunting guide and he shook his head signifying he couldn’t tell either.

The turkey started chirping at the decoy. I sat still. At the very least this turkey might call in some toms and act as a real live decoy for us. I kept looking for the beard but the angles were terrible as it stayed behind my decoy while walking around.

It looked like it was going to walk away and then it turned around. I saw the beard and I knew I had a jake. I looked to my guide and he was nodding at me.

The turkey puffed up his chest and started walking towards the decoy. Apparently the sweet talking hadn’t worked so now he was going to show her how big & manly he was. I slowly started to raise my gun. I positioned myself so that my gun was resting on my knee. My heart was beating fast & hard. I paused and looked to my guide and he nodded. His expression was telling me I could do this. I took aim. I breathed a couple times. I gripped my gun firmly, pulled the trigger, and he fell down instantly.

My guide yelled out a hunter’s cry of success. He came over to me and I was staring wide-eyed at the turkey who had stopped twitching almost as instantly as it had fallen down. It was a great shot. He asked me how it felt. I don’t even remember what I said. I’m assuming something like, that was crazy, that was amazing. My first big game kill.

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I carried my turkey out of the woods. I registered it. The guy asked if it was my first. I’m sure it was painfully obvious I was a novice hunter by my facial expressions. Once we got back to where we were staying, my guide showed me how to clean up the turkey and we vacuum sealed it up. Now I get to cook with the wild game that I had provided. Bonus…I had barely ruined any of the meat! Hardly any of it had to be cut away so the shot really was as perfect as it could have been.

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This hunting experience was incredible on so many levels. Yes, I could have had a mountable turkey, but I ended up with so much more. Hunting is more than the harvest. It’s about taking away the little things. It’s learning new skills. I gained a lot of valuable hunting experiences. I gained life insight. I left the woods that day with more than a bird.

 

 

Baked Grouse, two ways

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On the last day of My First Deer Hunt I ended up going grouse hunting and managed to come home with 4 grouse which was totally amazing! I had recently made Apricot Glazed Grouse which was delicious but was in the mood for more of a warming fall/winter type dish. I made a casserole the first night which is very easy & comforting. The next night I made an easy breaded grouse & served it with roasted carrots and creamy goat cheese rice. Neither are fancy but both are delicious.

Grouse Casserole (serves 2)

  • 2 grouse, cleaned and cut into bite-sized chunks
  • 1/2 cup rice
  • 1 can cream mushroom soup
  • 10 oz milk
  • 1/2 bag frozen vegetables (I used a broccoli & cauliflower blend)
  • 1/2 dry onion soup packet
  • water, as needed

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Pour into a greased casserole dish. Bake for 75-90 minutes until rice is cooked through stirring every 15 minutes. Add water as necessary.

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Crispy Onion Breaded Grouse (serves 2)

  • 2 grouse, cleaned (keep breasts intact or cut into tender sized strips)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • frenchs onions
  • 3 large carrots, chopped into bite sized pieces
  • olive oil
  • salt & pepper
  • 1/2 cup rice
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • 1oz goat cheese

Line two baking sheets with foil. Lightly grease one with cooking spray and set aside. Drizzle 2-3 tsp olive oil over the other baking sheet and also add pinch or two salt & pepper. Add carrots to olive oil tray and gently toss. Place in 400F oven for 20-25minutes.

Place stock and rice into small pot. Bring to a boil & then cover and simmer for 20 minutes until rice is tender. Stir in goat cheese.

Meanwhile, coat grouse in egg and dip into onions. Bake on lightly greased foil lined sheet for 12-17minutes until cooked through.

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My First Deer Hunt

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“The movie Bambi used to make me cry and even still I get teary eyed when I watch it.”  

“Do you even want to go hunting?” 

 

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I was never exposed to hunting growing up. It was not a right of passage for me. No one in my family was a serious hunter that I knew of or at least knew well. I guess my dad used to go duck hunting all the time but this was before I existed. Somehow I ended up with a hunter. I never thought I would go hunting in my life, but here I am, asking my guy to take me.

Let me state that I have no desire to kill animals. I have no antler obsession or need to fill my walls with mounts of “trophies.” I do have a desire to learn new skills & try new things. I only recently started avidly fishing & ice fishing in the last few years. I love it. I love pulling fish out of the water (mainly through the ice) and cooking with what I or my fishing guide caught. I love knowing where my food came from. Maybe hunting could be similar.

I wanted to learn and experience hunting from an academic and skill set standpoint. I wanted to be able to cook with what I harvested. I didn’t know if I could handle hunting. If I could handle taking a life even if it is to provide food for my household. My hunting guide said he didn’t know if I would like it either, “Maybe you will like sitting quietly in a tree for hours. Who knows?” He does not particularly like deer hunting. He is more of a waterfowl hunter. Regardless, I thought I should try. It could be something we do together. It could be something that I might really enjoy. Or maybe I will hate it but at least I would know. With this mindset I set out for my first deer hunt.

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This was probably the worst year for me to start hunting. The deer population is, let’s just say, bleak. This could be the worst year in about 20 years for harvesting deer. Very few doe tags were given and with no preference points I set out with a buck only tag. Having also recently moved to Northern Minnesota (aka Almost Canada), we do not know this area very well in terms of hunting, so were at a slight disadvantage. We did find some spots but of course they were on public land. Insert sad faced emoticon here. The weather was also not going to be the best. With very high winds and blistering cold temperatures some of the sessions were bound to be downright miserable.

There were lots of negatives stacking up against me. I went with the mindset that I would most likely not get a deer this year, but I should try and learn as much as I could. I was just hoping to see some deer (obviously still hoping to harvest one).

I made it a point to go as often as I could. I mean I live in God’s Country. I can leave work early and go hunting or go in late, which I did a few times. I could go in the mornings on the weekends, go home for a bit, & go out again in the afternoon. I also wanted to make the most of my investments: rifle, scope, ammo, & gear. Another reason to go out as much as I could.

We actually went out 11 times which I think is awesome. My guy says he has never hunted that much during a season. I said that if I didn’t get a deer it wasn’t going to be because I didn’t try. We ended up seeing a lot of deer sign & a lot of deer including a giant buck. Of course none of the deer were close enough for me to shoot &/or were on private land. Apparently that is what the majority of deer hunting is. Sitting quietly and seeing nothing or seeing some deer but not being able to take shot.

I don’t mind sitting quietly for a few hours. When the weather wasn’t terrible it was actually nice. Sitting in nature is quite soothing. Being able to think or not think and just be. That part of hunting I can handle. My guy even said that those were the coldest sits he had ever done and I had done numerous ones without complaining or wanting to go back home.

In addition to the deer, we ended up seeing lots of grouse during the last few times we went out. The last day (there is an extra weekend up here) when we were pulling out stands, I said I wanted to come back in the afternoon and try to hunt the grouse. As he had just gotten a grouse recently I was anxious to get some more to cook with. If I couldn’t get a deer, maybe I could get some grouse. I did just that.

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My first hunting season turned out to be a success depending on how you look at it. Yes, I am disappointed that I didn’t harvest a deer. I still don’t know if I truly like deer hunting. I know that for me there will be a big difference between killing a grouse versus killing a deer. Will I actually like all aspects of deer hunting? It could be another year or two or who knows how many years before I find out. Maybe I will never find out. My guide says, “Oh please dear…, ” in a tone that only couples have with each other. It still doesn’t mean I am any less disappointed with the lack of a deer. At the same time, I know that I am just lucky that I saw so many deer. I know many people who didn’t see anything.

I also know that one really has to be positive, patient, and persistent not only in hunting but anything else in life. I will have as many opportunities for different types of hunts and more deer hunting in the future. As many as I am willing to do or make happen.

For this deer season I hoped for the best but expected the worst. I think I ended up somewhere in between which is just fine with me.