Wyoming Turkeys

[MN_Prairie_Prowler]

My fiancé and I were planning on taking our honeymoon in northern CA. but that kinda fell through. We decided that going turkey hunting "out west" would be way better than California anyway.

We have hunted turkeys in central SD and MN before but never in the mountains. I have researched northeastern Wyoming (area 1) but have gotten mixed advice from their Game and Fish Dept. Some said not much public land and can't get access to private without paying a lot and others said there is lots of public land and birds to go around.

Just wondering if any of you guys have hunted in that area before. I'm not looking for anyone’s hot spot or honey hole but just some general advice on what the conditions are around there.

P.S. We are both shed hunting fanatics and would love to find an elk shed since there aren't any in our part of MN. Are there many elk in that area?

Thanks.

[waynedevore]

Welcome Prairie Prowler. NE WY is good Merriam country. Some Elk. Most of the good turkey hunting will be on the ranches. The turkeys love agriculture. Probably should plan on a hunt for fee.
I think a little time, look around, knock on a few doors will get you turkey hunting at a reasonable rate.

[MN_Prairie_Prowler]

Thanks for the advise. We are both looking forward to heading out in a couple weeks. Even if we dont get anybirds I sure it will be a great trip.

I'll make sure to post some pics and our story, minus some details, about our honeymoon.

[WinMag]

Congrats on the upcoming wedding! Any girl that would go on a hunting trip for their honymoon has to be a good one, consider yourself a lucky guy! Hope you have a great hunt and a long, happy life together.

[Springville Shooter]

You know what they say.....turkey season is the season de amore! Hope the results are way better for you than the turkeys! Best of luck to you and your new wife.-----shooter

[MN_Prairie_Prowler]

Thanks guys. Shes a very special lady. I actualy proposed to her on a antelope hunting trip. I slipped the ring on the horn of her goat when she wasnt looking.I totally surprised her. I've been meaning to post it on the antelope section of this forum but it slips my mind when ever I have time.

[waynedevore]

Yeah for sure congrats! Great place for a honeymoon NE WY. Check out Devils tower.
A nice piece of National Forest to explore. Turkeys in the NF too. Good luck.
Tell us about your adventures. [turkey hunting related]

[MN_Prairie_Prowler]

Well we made it back from our honeymoon. We hunted around the New Castle area in northeastern WY. All public land in the Black Hills National Forest, beautiful country. We only hunted 3.5 days. On the way out my wife (still not used to calling her that) said "Look at the snow on the mountain tops. Isnt that cool."Well yeah didnt you pack some warm clothes, I asked. She only pack some long underware and normal spring hunting clothes, no bibs or warm jackets. It had snowed 11 inches 3 days before we got there and the temp was 52 degrees, not bad but that was the warmest it got when we were out there. I gave her my bibs and I wore three pairs of pants each day. Low temp was 24 and the high was 44 with lots of wind and snow every day. Not the best conditions for hunting turkeys.

We started out driving the forest service roads looking for turkeys and tracks. Saw more elk than turkeys or sign. My wife killed her bird the second afternoon. Fifteen minutes before she shot it, nine elk walked through our decoys including one spike that hadnt lost his antlers yet. That was really awsome. Her bird weighed 18 lbs and had an 8 1/4" beard. The next day and a half we hunted pretty hard without much luck of finding turkeys or sign. On the last morning we set up in the exact same spot where my wife shot hers. An hour after daylight a group turkeys came off of the roost and sat 40 yards behind the blind. I slid the gun out the back and shot what I thought was the only tom. It turns out there were two and I shot the smaller one. My wife noticed a band on the turkeys leg from the SD State University. After taking afew picture I saw something sticking out of its back. It also had a radio transmitter on it. We couldnt believe it. The university said the bird was three years old.

Even though the hunting was hard and the conditions were less than ideal we had a great time. Several times durning the trip we joked about why we didnt go to Hawaii like a lot of other newlyweds.

[waynedevore]

Prairie Prowler, Nice area you two were in. To bad the weather wasn't a bit nicer.
Good job with the turkey hunt though. Did you find Elk antlers?
Most Elk should be dropping antlers in that area after about April 10.

[MN_Prairie_Prowler]

Never found any sheds but we did see 4 spikes that still had both sides. We spent most of the time turkey hunting higher up rather than down where the elk probably wintered. At least we got birds and and had a nice warm cabin all to ourselves. I just wish we could have had more time so we werent so rushed and pressured. The banded bird made the trip. We were both really surprised and excited to learn about their researsh and to see how far the turkey moved and migrated.

Its a trip that will remember forever.