Wisconsin Yahtzee

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muddy
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Wisconsin Yahtzee

Unread postby muddy » Mon May 26, 2014 2:48 pm

I will post the stories as well as more pics and video later tomorrow, my buddies and I went 5 for 5 with mature longbeards in less than 36 hours up in western Wisconsin this weekend. We fanned in 2, had 2 awesome fly down off the roost kills, and one knock down drag out call work out on the last.

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Jackson Marsh
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Re: Wisconsin Yahtzee

Unread postby Jackson Marsh » Mon May 26, 2014 2:52 pm

Outstanding Muddy! :clap:

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Bigdaddy-yoyo
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Re: Wisconsin Yahtzee

Unread postby Bigdaddy-yoyo » Mon May 26, 2014 4:17 pm

8-) :clap:
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Dewey
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Re: Wisconsin Yahtzee

Unread postby Dewey » Mon May 26, 2014 5:23 pm

Well done! :clap:

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Edcyclopedia
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Re: Wisconsin Yahtzee

Unread postby Edcyclopedia » Tue May 27, 2014 12:49 am

8-)
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backstraps
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Re: Wisconsin Yahtzee

Unread postby backstraps » Tue May 27, 2014 12:54 am

:clap: looking forward to the videos, good job
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Re: Wisconsin Yahtzee

Unread postby dan » Tue May 27, 2014 1:08 am

:clap: :clap: :dance: :dance:
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hunter_mike
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Re: Wisconsin Yahtzee

Unread postby hunter_mike » Tue May 27, 2014 1:33 am

Got er done!! Great job.

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BigHunt
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Re: Wisconsin Yahtzee

Unread postby BigHunt » Tue May 27, 2014 2:10 am

:dance:

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Re: Wisconsin Yahtzee

Unread postby HoosierG5 » Tue May 27, 2014 7:37 am

5/5 is pretty sweet! Congrats!!!

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muddy
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Re: Wisconsin Yahtzee

Unread postby muddy » Tue May 27, 2014 9:04 am

The Wisconsin "Jakefest" started 5 years ago when my buddy Moose started going up and hunting with a couple guys. They always managed to knock birds down, but often times "the curse of the short beards" was usually the name of the game! This trip started out as, and always will be, about hanging out with friends and making memories so the filling of tags is secondary and having them on mature longbeards not even a thought. As the years rolled on I finally got an invite to Jakefest but was unable to attend because of family obligations one year, then the death of my dad the last year, and this year I was pretty excited to go.

Last season in 'Sconie is after Iowa closes so it really fits the bill. Extend season one more week while not hurting our Iowa season. We got up there late Thursday because of construction detours and ended up shooting poop way too late into the night... When 0345 rang, we answered but not very happily. Moose and I went to a field that produced a triple harvest last year while his brother Squirrel and buddy Skeener went to another location. As morning dawned we were very disappointed by the amount of gobbling. In fact, we only heard a few birds and none were close. Luckily the closest bird, although on the other side of the highway, was enticed by my beautiful voice and flew across the highway from roost. He made his way up the bluff and charged my Dave Smith jake, climbed up onto its back, and proceeded to have his way with the decoy. Finally the decoy spun and bucked him off. Moose lined up the sights and laid him low, Team Muddy Moose was the first to score for the day.

For whatever stupid reason we forgot to take pics of Mooses bird, but his is the one by the ugly guy in the beautiful Hawkeye shirt in the group pic. However, I do have some stellar video of his kill.

A few miles away Team Squirrel Skeener was working some birds but eventually opted to pack up the blind and head to another location. They got settled in and managed to strike a bird. After a very long calling duel Skeener pulled the bird in close enough that Squirrel was able to belly crawl into position and peek over a brush pile. Squirrel saw the bird as the bird saw Squirrel, but the Squirrel was too quick on the draw and gave the gobbler a dirt nap!! Upon closer inspection the bird was only a 2 year old bird but probably the heaviest bird of the 5 and had a beauty double beard!!

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As we all grouped back at the camper to hear Squirrels story I opted to go on a scouting mission while the guys went to get cheese curds. My hunt ended up getting cut short by a landowner on a tractor pulling a cultivator. As I trudged unhappily back to the camp my phone buzzed and Skeener had fanned a dandy tom. Apparently they were driving back enjoying their curds when they saw the gobbler in a field they had permission for. After a quick scramble, sprint, and stealthy approach Skeener was hunkered behind "Hank" and proceeded to start his reap. The gobbler saw the fan, raised his head, and saw red. Since this was Skeeners first fanning trip he was skeptical... right up until the bird charged! At a full sprint the bird closed from 90 yards to 8 and Skeener dropped the bird as it was still charging him in half strut. I didn't see it but Moose says his facial expression after dropping the bird was something to behold, especially with his jaw dropped to the ground in total shock. It was a great hunt .

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That afternoon Skeener had to head home for a few hours so Team Muddy Squirrel Moose went in search of my bird. Although we didn't get on a bird we did find a great location for the following morning... as well as some ticks. That evening Skeener and his brother Buckwheat showed up and we all hit a local watering hole where I fell in love with their double bacon double cheese double heart attack burger.

Saturday morning Team Muddy Moose went to the spot we scouted that night. As it got grey the air was filled with the sounds of gobblers in all directions. On total I think we had 9 different gobblers holla holla hollaring back at my calls. Unfortunately all of them were either across roads again, or across very big ravines. I'll admit, I was skeptical of the morning when all of a sudden we got a few birds hot, and I mean 2 rats breeding in a wool sock in Guam hot. The birds wanted everything I threw at them and let us know it!! We are pretty sure they flew across the road and all of a sudden they were in the field by us. 3 jakes first, then 2 gobblers after them. They were VERY hesitant to commit but my beautiful voice combined with soft purring on both our parts on slate calls got the jakes to commit after 30 minutes. The gobblers were having NOTHING to do with that and finally marched in. We had a windbreak/fenceline between us all morning and when the birds saw the Dave Smith jake by their girlfriends they went into that "mean walk/trot" and both came up to us strutting. I wasn't waiting very long and at 15 yards laid out the bird with the better spurs. We have video of it but it's on Mooses phone so I'll have to upload it again later.
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It was an awesome morning but since I had my turkey vest (normally don't wear it ever but was now because our blind hunting turns run and gun so fast I needed it) I had to modify how I carried everything out. Looks silly, but was actually surprisingly comfortable as it balanced everything out nicely. I did lose circulation in my hands quickly so fortunately the walk back was quick!!

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Well now it was early Saturday morning and we had 4 of 5 tags filled. We regrouped and I volunteered to head out with Buckwheat and try to help him fill a tag. After 4 hours of walking we never saw or heard a bird. We got back to the truck and were ready for a nap. As we pulled onto the road to camp I suggested heading over by a couple fields. Persistence was rewarded and we located a strutter in the exact same field Skeener fanned his bird in. We woke the other guys up so they could watch from the grain silo stairs (our scouting location) and Team Buckwheat Muddy went on the reap. We got into position and couldn't find the bird so I stood behind a tree with binoculars while Buckwheat started belly crawling behind the fan out through the alfalfa. Suddenly he gave me a thumbs up and hunkered behind my fan like a camoflage puma. Seconds later a hen walked by him at 4 yards, and as he sat frozen she kept moving towards the tree line. Since Buckwheat wasn't moving I could only assume the gobbler was following the hen. Suddenly #5 showed up at 30 yards and Buckwheat completed the reap with a well placed load of HeviShot and the 5 year "curse of the shortbeard" was broken as the 5th longbeard in less than 36 hours lay flopping in the alfalfa.

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Many high fives were exchanged as it was an unbelievable 5 hunts in an area that has been hit very hard by winter kill. We saw plenty of bearded birds, but only saw a handfull of hens. Hopefully there's a good hatch and the brown side of the population rebounds back.

This trip concludes one of the very best turkey springs I've ever had. I killed a bird with my recurve this spring, killed one with my compound with a fan attached to it later in the spring, and finished it up with a very fun hunt with old friends and making new friends on a shotgun extravaganza. Regardless of how a guy hunts it's most important to have fun and enjoy yourself. I named this weekend the "Wisconsin Yahtzee" because as we all know in the game of Yahtzee the hardest thing to roll is all 5 dice and get all the same numbers. I don't know if we'll all have a longbeard extravaganza next year, but we will sure have fun trying!!

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http://www.iowawhitetail.com
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SamPotter
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Re: Wisconsin Yahtzee

Unread postby SamPotter » Tue May 27, 2014 9:11 am

Pretty darned impressive
BassBoysLLP
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Re: Wisconsin Yahtzee

Unread postby BassBoysLLP » Tue May 27, 2014 9:25 am

Nice bag!
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BigHunt
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Re: Wisconsin Yahtzee

Unread postby BigHunt » Tue May 27, 2014 11:47 am

I thought brad lamont said the turkeys were all done for this year in western Wisconsin :think: ..... :? ...... ;) :lol:
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Re: Wisconsin Yahtzee

Unread postby PeteJ » Tue May 27, 2014 11:51 am

Congrats to all! :clap: :clap: :clap:


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