Dodge County turkey hunt

An Outdoorsman’s Journal

Mark Walters sponsored by

Hello friends, I have written about my good friend Rod Bensley of Burnett at least a dozen times over the years. The last 1.5 years it was about his battle with rectal and prostate cancer and his will to live as long as possible and to be active as well. Rod spoke with me on several occasions about making me responsible for getting some kids hunting on his and his wife Wendy Vick’s 212 acres of land after he passed, and I assured him I would do that. Rod passed away on Nov. 29 and the world lost a good man.

Two years ago, I met Tyler Thiede, who was a very good friend of Rod and Wendy’s. I have been hunting with his 11-year-old son Conner and 12-year-old daughter Carsyn. I was with Carsyn last fall when she whacked an 8-pointer and with Conner when he put a hurting on a 2.5-year-old buck that had already lost its antlers last December.

For the youth turkey hunt I would sit with Carsyn, and Conner would sit with Tyler and his life-long buddy Justin Braun on Rod and Wendy’s land near Burnett.

Saturday, April 15 High 83, Low 52

This story is all over the map. We are staying at Tyler’s hunting camp, which is near Burnett and includes a bunch of kids as well as Justin Braun, Chad Reifschneider and his son 13-year-old son Joey, as well as Kyle Zilsdorf. The adults in this camp have been buddies all their lives and their kids love camp very much. Last night we had a cookout and today between hunts the kids shot BB guns.

Carsyn and I were set up long before daylight. It is 60 degrees and we can hear toms gobbling in the trees. Night became day and we had deer, geese and lots of ducks for company. The turkeys quit gobbling by 6 a.m. and I put Carsyn in charge of some wildlife photos. A few years back Rod and Wendy put a pond on the property and it is now loaded with waterfowl. What was really cool is that I taught Carsyn about wood ducks and told her about the two wood duck houses that were within a stone’s throw of us. Both houses would have hens fly on top of them and go inside. This knowledge would have made Rod very happy.

About 7 a.m. we had an experience with five jakes and two hens. They did not come into our setup and Carsyn wanted a tom if she was pulling the trigger this early in the hunt. Meanwhile, Conner, Tyler and Justin had a very cool experience with a red fox that was hunting a squirrel. The fox gave them a great show and when the squirrel treed, Tyler gave it a mouth squeak and it came very close to them.

Story of the day for our three groups of hunters. The birds that we saw had no desire to come to our setups and it was so hot that we were steaming in our blinds.

Sunday, April 16 High 44, Low 33

There was a dramatic change in weather with a 40-degree drop in the high and a very cold rain. For the most part, the turkeys we saw simply had very little desire to come to our set ups and spending a day in an unheated turkey blind was a true test. We hunted hard and, as I have found out with both of these Thiede kids, nothing bothers them, they never get impatient, and they are well aware that you have to put your time in.

We had great news when late in the day we got a text from Chad Reifschneider telling us that his son Joey had harvested his first bird and Chad, who had never hunted turkeys before, called it in.

All’s well that ends well! Sunset