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 Some say one of Minnesota's Best Kept Secrets is a small city tucked away in the corner of the state. A place that was left untouched by the advancing glaciers has created amazing lush hardwood forests, fertile river valleys and limestone bluffs make the perfect setting for any hunting, fishing, hiking or camping adventure. An area that has its own natural beauty and plenty to experience. This year I was not chosen to hunt in my original zone for turkey hunting that I applied for. I was able to get a surplus tag for the last season for Houston Country in the heart of Minnesota's Wild Turkey Capital, Caledonia. My season would run from May 20th to the 25th. After coming home from the Black Hills empty-handed, I still was really looking forward to getting back into the woods for some gobbling action. Within the last 25 years, Minnesota has gone to replenish the amount of wild Turkeys from a few birds to well over 30,000 birds statewide. Trapping and transplanting plans have helped the situation greatly through the efforts of the DNR and funding provided from the NWTF. Currently turkey hunting is catching the interests of many new and old hunters as well.
 We stayed in Beaver Creek Valley State Park, which is only three miles west of Caledonia. A very nice hidden area with over 42 drive-in camp sites, three walk-in sites and group campsites. There is also a rentable camper cabin that was our Turkey home base. The park has many great hiking trails and clear streams filled with native brook and brown trout. Anyone who enjoys watching and identifying birds will be extremely impressed with the variety and uncommon birds that are calling Beaver Creek Valley their home. Whitetail deer are heavily abundant in that area as well.
 I had introduced myself to some local farmers. I met one of the most interesting and kind-hearted people in my life. He spent his entire life farming and hunting. He had just returned after going through some cancer treatments and this was the first year he had missed his turkey season. At one time, he had held the statewide record for the largest Tom taken in Minnesota. He had opened his heart and his arms to us as if we were close family. It is so refreshing to meet people who have such respect and love for the outdoors. As an avid outdoorsman and farmer he has seen through his time the dramatic changes and reasoning for many problems we face with hunting as well as habitat restoration and preservation. He told me some amazing hunting stories and had the mounts and look in his eyes that make every outing worthwhile. We had joked about how a creature with a brain the size of a green pea had the wits and amplified hearing and sight to outsmart a human in an instance is so amazing. One wrong move or sound and it's over but that's what keeps us coming back for more.
 Opener morning I had set up about 4:30 a.m. on top of a flat valley over a ridge. The weather was perfect. Not too hot and not too cold. A light breeze made it easy to listen and hear what was going on in all directions of my set up. About 7:00 a.m. morning gobbles echoed through the valley and made my heart beat fast and my adrenaline rise. I sat quietly and still just listening to the forest awaken around me. Gobbles rang, pheasants cackled and birds chirped their morning songs with the sun coming up-it was pure music to my ears. I heard some soft peeps and moved my eyes to my right. Two Jakes walked right past me to check out my lone hen decoy. At the same time, I had numerous amounts of gobbles in different directions. I thought I would wait and see what would pan out. I have never had this much turkey gobbling in my life. I watched the Jake's move around very skittish and observing the decoy. It was really neat to watch them. You never realize how big they are until they are right in front of you and it is so great to be undetected by them. They went on there marry way and the gobbling continued to proceed. That day nothing came into sight.
 The second and third day it rained all morning and the sun would come out in the afternoon. I would set up in the lower elevations in the mornings and move uphill in the afternoons. Gobbles would ring early and then they would completely shut off by 8:00 a.m. It was getting to be somewhat frustrating from all of the action I had heard on opener day. On my way back down that afternoon, I had come across some trees that turkeys had roosted on before. Fresh poop and wing feathers were my evidence. To my luck, I found a nice patch of morel mushrooms near some elms. I picked them and was looking forward to eating them in some fried butter for supper. That day once I got down the ridge I had heard a gunshot earlier in the morning and three other gentlemen who were hunting in the same area I was had taken a Tom. I had chatted with them for a while and we had all come to the consensus that these birds have been hunted hard and know exactly what is going on. The pressure was on. So my last couple of days for me I dropped the decoys and minimized my calling and moved around a lot more. I had lots of gobbling action and plenty of distant sightings that week.
It was really fun being out there this Spring even though I was empty-handed tag wise. I would not change it for anything. I had some of my best hunting experiences this year with turkey hunting even though I didn't bag a bird. It's the journey that is the pure point of being in the outdoors, not the destination. I hope if you are from Minnesota or get a chance to stop in for a visit you can check out Houston County and perhaps Beaver Creek Valley State Park. It is such a beautiful area and a perfect backdrop for any outdoors outing. So wherever your hunting takes you may you always be safe and enjoy every moment of it.
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