Monday, June 19, 2006

Mitch Heupel scores again! It's always encouraging to read about a young turkey hunter's success, especially one you've hunted with. Here's the account of a successful turkey hunt enjoyed by Mitch Heupel and his dad, Don, of Germantown, Wisconsin. You may recall that Mitch and Don hunted with me last year in the Learn to Hunt program, and Mitch shot his first turkey that year. Don sent me the following message after Mitch scored on turkey No. 2 last month. Mitch sure looks happy, doesn't he? I hate to break it to a successful young hunter like Mitch that his good-luck string will end sooner or later. Meanwhile, congrats, Mitch, on your second turkey! Way to go! And thanks, Don, for sharing the story of Mitch's hunt. Looks like you've got a serious turkey hunter there! Hello Dan, If there is such a thing as an electronic handshake, I would give you one. Mitch sent his second tom to heaven yesterday (May 21) in what I consider a hunter's dream scenario. In one of your recent articles, you described a morning hunt that every hunter dreams of happening. The only thing that didn't match for us was that we didn't hear the flight out of his roost. As we talked afterward, I was amazed at how much of his actions were guided by what he learned last year from you. Due to work and all the other family activities, we only had yesterday to hunt and I decided to hunt in the morning with Mitch and the afternoon with Wes. We ended up picking a spot in the Kettle Moraine Forest near Kewaskum. Mitch was about 10 feet in front of me and the $5 decoy 25 yards further. The tom gobbled from what I thought was a quarter mile out and out of our reach. I scratched on the slate and he called back. I asked Mitch if he thought it was an answer or a coincidence. He said it couldn't have been my call. After going back and forth a couple more times I was beside myself because he was answering back. His last gobble seemed further away and headed in the wrong direction. Twenty minutes later about 80 yards to our left the tom was in full strut and dancing his way to the decoy. He reached the decoy 10 minutes later and paced back and forth just about knocking over the decoy. The sun had just peeked through the trees and this turkey just glowed. After what seemed like an hour of this, Mitch finally started to slowly raise his gun and after it hit his shoulder I cut hard and up went his head..... for the last time. I almost wet myself. I used your line, "gun up, safety on" and I had a knee on him in short order. He showed steel nerves that I never thought he had. Talking afterward, the lessons learned from you showed up, from picking the spot,hiding yourself, the birds behavior, the direction of his eye sight, waiting for the right moment...Once again, my hat is off to you. I went back with Wes and all we could dig up were 5 hens. He was happy with that and so was I. It is going to be another long year waiting for next spring. Until then, Don 10:30:31 AM    comment []

Ecotargets reviewed in Travel World It may seem like an unusual place to find a mention of Joe Schroeder's Ecotargets, but in the current TravelWorldMagazine.com, there's a product review of these innovative substitutes for clay targets. Check it out! BTW, I'm still in Louisiana at the OWAA conference. Coming soon to this blog, an interview with Ray Schoenke, who played for Landry and Lombardi in the 60s and 70s; AND photos of the Million-Dollar Lure, unveiled yesterday at this conference! Stay tuned, but conference details will appear in On the Road ---> (Tease preview: Today I fished with a $10,000 lure!) Later... 12:45:59 AM    comment []