After a long winter with snow and cold, anticipation of spring is a pastime here in the north country. Wanting to return to the woods or prairies, where we love to be, is almost too much to handle for some people. For me, the spring is one of my favorite times of the year. Not only because it gets warm and snow melts off, but I get to be back outside, enjoying a couple of my favorite spring hobbies. For a lot of us, getting back to the woods and the prairies is very exciting. From shed hunting, to snow geese, to turkey hunting, it is our love and passion.

This spring I'm going after turkey with my bow, which is the first time for me. As an avid bow hunter, I have never really pursued turkey with a bow. If I turkey hunted, in the past, I would always revert to the ol’ shotgun. I just felt like it was a better chance to harvest one of these awesome birds. But this year I'm taking the time to try to learn this art that is turkey hunting. I have hunted turkey a hand full of time with a not-so-good success rate. I can also say it was mainly all operator error on my part. From not being in the right spot, to the calling, to just not set up right meaning birds would get hung up in tree rows and fence lines. The main thing is I am not doing my homework, like scouting. Most of the time I would just wing it. I would ask a farmer if he had seen any turkeys and he would tell me where they are, and I would go. So, I haven't put too much time into this part of hunting. I usually have my eye on the sky chasing snow geese this time of year. With that said, this year we are doing things a little different. We are taking the time to do things right. I'm also throwing in a little challenge, by trying to stick a turkey with the bow.

I only know few guys that are what I call true turkey hunters. I was talking with one of these gentlemen and he was informing me on bow hunting turkey. He did what he set out to do and convinced me to go after turkeys this spring. So, I was convinced, that I'm going to get a turkey this spring. One of the things that he said I should do is use a guillotine style of broadhead. Now I was a little hesitant on using that, because you have only a head shot to take. The reason he said I should use it is because the bird will not run away. He’s shot a few turkey with a deer style broad head, and they ran away and were nowhere to be found. He doesn't want me to have the feeling of losing a turkey. He gave me his recommendation on the equipment that he has used to successfully kill turkeys. I looked into the certain broadheads he told me about. Also, he educated me on the type of arrow best used for this kind of hunting with the broadhead. He gave me a lot of knowledge in a short time, information overload. Let’s hope I can retain at least half of the info.

So, I picked up the D-Cap broadhead by the Solid Broadhead Company, one of our Fall Obsession sponsors. It is a mean looking tip. It has 4 inches of cutting radius and 200 grain power. Whatever this hits, it will do its job. I have been shooting at a swing pillow and the D-Cap destroyed the pillow in only a few attempts. I am also using a full-length Victory arrow with four 4-inch fletching, to help the D-Cap find its intended target. I also picked up a new Scott Archery release so I can send that arrow to its target with accuracy, precision, and comfort.

I'm all in and getting pumped about it. All I need is my spot to produce. I have done my homework, and I hopefully found the X, or the right piece of land. This year I am going to make it happen.

My turkey season opens up on the 15th of April, here in Minnesota, and it runs to the 31st of May. We have different "seasons", A, B, C... etc. which last 7 days. In that 7-day period you get a weekend to hunt them. This is for the men and women that can’t take the time off during the week. They have 2 days to try to get it done. This was a big deal in the previous years because the DNR would only allow you to hunt one of the 7-day seasons. With the first 3-4 seasons being lottery only, the rest of the seasons you could buy over the counter and everyone could hunt the last couple weeks of the seasons. Now, this year they switched it up a little bit. The way I understand it is that there is no more lottery for the first few weeks and you can hunt every season. Now the info that I just gave you only applied to gun hunters. Archery hunters have always had the whole season to get it done.

I hope everyone has a safe and successful turkey season this year. For I have accepted my challenge this turkey season and I hope I can get a big ol’ long beard on the ground. Pay attention to the Fall Obsession web site for some awesome content from our Pro and Field Staff this turkey season. We will show you how to get it done and hopefully give you some good pointers or techniques that will help you put a turkey in your bag.

-Andy Meeks, Fall Obsession Field Staff