An Outdoorsman's Journal

    Carsyn's Last Youth Turkey Hunt

Hello friends,

   One of my favorite ways to spend time is taking kids on youth turkey and deer hunts. Wisconsin's youth turkey hunt is always the weekend before the first statewide general turkey season and this past weekend I spent time in Dodge County with a bunch of kids and adults as we tried to help 7 young hunters harvest a turkey and also have a lot of laughs between their hunts.
   My hunter would be Carsyn Thiede who is the 15-year-old daughter of Tyler and Patsy Thiede of Mayville. Carsyn plays soccer and volleyball and in the winter, she is very active on Mayville's high school ice fishing team.
       This would be Carsyn's last youth hunt as she turns 16 in May. I might add that I was with Carsyn when she harvested her first whitetail deer, which was a beautiful 8-point buck harvested at our good friend Rod Bensley's farm. Rod passed away shortly after that and I am guessing that Carsyn harvesting her buck is the best, last memory that he had.

   Saturday, April 11th
   High 61, low 29

   Carsyn and I would be hunting on the Jeff Pausma farm near Fox Lake. Jeff reached out to me a number of years ago. Three years ago, I found myself in a pinch as to where to hunt turkey with Conner Thiede, Carsyn's brother. I called Jeff, Conner harvested a big, fat tom and since that experience Jeff and I have become pretty good friends on a family farm that I have grown to love.
     Yesterday I set our blind up, Carsyn had a soccer game and last night it was a lot of laughs in Burnett. We stayed with Chad Reifsnider and his kids Joey, Bennet and Kensie who are all avid hunters. Joey is aged out of youth hunts but at 16 has his own duck boat which is pretty cool.
   To our west is an oak and hickory forest where the local flock likes to roost and it is on private land. Carsyn and I would be in a pasture with a lot of marsh and a beautiful setting. Carsyn and I play games, spot the turkey, coyote, deer or duck, Carsyn always loses. I also have her take wildlife photos and she rocks at that. Today's award-winning photos would be a young buck and a fox squirrel which are quite numerous around here.
   There were no close calls with birds, but we did observe a flock of about 30 turkey in a harvested corn field and thought perhaps we would move there later. On the other hand, where our blind was placed was a 2 hunts, 2 birds spots in the last 2 years.
   We hunted until 10 and then headed to Justin and Shelby Braun's rural home where there is an entire weekend of festivities surrounding this hunt. Justin is probably the most dedicated turkey hunter that I have ever met and is really into helping people get their bird.
   Jim Klug and his son Jameson drive all the way out here from Colorado for this hunt each year and Jamison has whacked some dandies. All told there were 7 kids and a lot of adults that made Justin and Shelby's place the place to be for good food and a campfire.
   Here is a story, five 13- to 45-year-olds hiding in a fenceline. One gun and 13-year-old Kylar Lindgren who just shot a gun for the first time yesterday is the shooter. His dad Jeff who is an avid whitetail hunter and Lake Erie walleye fishermen would be observing, Kayden Lindgren who is maybe 14 observed as did 13-year-old Conner Thiede. Tanner Weber who is 21ish would be calling, Tanner is Tyler and Patsy's son. A flock came into Tanner’s call and Kylar whacked his first bird which would weigh 29 pounds on Justin's scale.
   For the afternoon hunt, Justin would take Kensie Reifsnider, who is 14 with the hopes of her getting a shot at her first tom. Carsyn and I stayed hunting where we set up with a 100 percent plan of moving at dark to the picked cornfield if we did not harvest a bird.

   Justin got the job done with Kensie and she harvested a 23-pound tom. Carsyn and I had very little going on but I told her the best action starts at about 6:00 for the afternoon hunt. That prediction held true as we heard a gobble, but it was in the woods. Half an hour later we saw a glimpse of some birds in a hayfield. Soon after that we could hear numerous turkey in the woods. With 15 minutes of legal shooting left, two jakes came onto the Pausma farm about 50 yards out of range.
   Before long there were 12. They liked my call and our decoys but were out of range and the sun clock was ticking. Everything went right, Carsyn got her chance and just like that we did not have to move to the cornfield.
   We went to Beaner's place, "Justin and Shelbys" and both girls/cousins were ecstatic. We headed back to Burnett and the kids asked if they could stop at Burnett Junction, which is a very cool tavern with a lot of unique history. Dave Lieber is the owner and all of the kids plus Tyler and Chad have helped out with building and landscaping projects for him. Dave Lieber could not have done a better job of making the girls feel like Queens as he had them bring their turkey inside, take pictures and all the patrons had to hear their stories.
   Some people are kind of against youth deer and turkey hunts, about all I have to say about that is Ba Humbug!

   Sunset