WILD TURKEY SEASONS are into full tilt mode. Among the hunters with shotguns or others with archery gear, the statewide take as of mid week was over 7,300. By the time you read this weekend story, statewide numbers will have accelerated.

There are several counties along the Mississippi River that traditionally produce the most reports from hunters. Using the required reporting system, a hunter fills out an easy to follow set of questions and then gets a confirmation number.

The biological data obtained is very useful to researchers as they plot population trends of these large game birds. Top counties for wild turkey harvests (as of mid week) are Allamakee at 286, Clayton with 268, Jackson has 237, Appanoose at 176, Linn at 178 and Lucas with 168. Marshall County turkey hunters reports have numbered 45. Yours truly has taken several wild turkeys during my hunting adventures. It started in the 1990s with a shotgun in southern Iowa on public lands. I had a guide, a friend who at the time was passionate about seeing, calling and coaxing big toms to come investigate decoys.

His techniques worked most of the time. However, predicting wild turkey behavior is a fickle business at best. The big toms may come running straight in or ignore the set up even when the hunter thinks he or she is making the right choices.

Most of my past wild turkey adventures have been on public lands in Marshall County. I was using my archery equipment so getting close is mandatory.

The scheme involves pre-planning and setting up a portable blind in a likely travel zone, placing a few decoy birds within 10 yards of the blind, settling in for a long wait beginning well before sunrise, and then waiting. I have made turkey calls from slates or an old box call.

My calling is mostly to help tell wild birds where I am. They have a unique knack for pinpointing the caller’s site. If they see the setup, and like it, they may come to investigate.

That tactic has worked sometimes. When all the factors line up just right, I have released an arrow at the big bird. Since I mentioned being close to the turkeys, it was the birds that came close enough as I was hiding inside my blind.

The blind provided a place to make movements of lifting and holding the bow, drawing the arrow and making any sighting adjustments. When it works, the result may be a wild turkey going down for the count. Tagging the bird is next, then photos and lastly packout toward my vehicle.

I must add that even gun hunters may want to use pop up ground blinds if hunting with young boys or girls. The nature of new inexperienced hunters to the stealthy waiting game of wild turkey hunting can be accomplished with improved chances of success by the mentor using a blind.

Movements of the hunters are hidden. Young people need coaching on what to do and when to move. Outside the blind, human movements can easily be what wild turkeys will see. Then the last thing the hunter sees are the birds running or flying away.

Lastly, spring wild turkey hunting takes place during mild weather with warmer days. Green leaves of bushes and trees are emerging. The forest may be alive with bird songs as returning critters make their presence known.

A forest is a magic place to be well before first light, and then from the seclusion of a tree or a pop up blind, see the rising sun send long shadows into the trees. Listening to the forest critters waking up is a fun thing to listen to and a fun thing to watch.

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We have experienced some very timely rain events. Rain plus warming sunshine helps morel mushrooms seemingly pop out of the leaf litter on the forest floor.

Turkey hunters may stumble upon morels as they move about from one hiding spot to another hiding spot. Turkey hunters are in the forest to hunt first, and then if lucky, spot morels in unexpected micro habitats. Other mushroom hunters may have kept mental notes from past years of where those fungi findings have traditionally been found.

Just return to good sites and poke around the leaf litter to spy on the new crop. Properly cooked, the morels will definitely be a delight to eat. I hope you are successful in your mushroom finding endeavors.

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APRIL RAINS bring May flowers. Or mushrooms. Or rising stream flows. The Iowa River has responded a tad bit to rain showers.

Since April 1, my Albion gauge has recorded 2.66 inches as of last Wednesday. Thursday’s rains are unknown as I write this story. In any case, water from the sky is welcome to our dry soils.

Iowa River flow rates and water levels were calmly coasting along before the rains came. Sandbars were exposed near Timmons Grove. Canada geese and even some resting pelicans used sandbars as overnight refuges.

Slowly, the runoff from rains did increase tributary flows and in time the river level itself began to rise. As of mid week, the Iowa River at Marshalltown’s Highway 14 U.S. Geological Survey monitoring gauge indicated a rise in water level by about 2.2 feet.

As the water rises, so does the flow rate which is now at 2,300 cubic feet per second. This is a mild increase for the river which is still well within its banks.

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Higher flow rates in the Iowa River offer another annual happening out of human sight. It is the movement of fish from deep holes or even the winter refuges of Coralville Lake.

Mild rises in river waters sparks the need for some fish to move upstream into spawning areas or just to seek out new territories for the spring and summer. Food sources and spawning areas are the driving forces.

Walleyes are one species that will find their way into the waters of the Iowa River in Marshall County. Longer day length, warming water, higher stream flow rates and emerging food types all play a factor.

During daytime, walleyes may just hang out in quiet backwater holes. Come night time, they will be on the move. Walleyes seek out spawning habitats.

The best sites are large sloping shallow gravel bars with pea gravel sized particles mixed with hand sized rocks. Here dissolved oxygen can pass over any eggs. A hard bottom structure is a preferred site where deep water is close by.

This spring if you are out fishing the river, look for and try for catfish, bluegill, smallmouth bass in rocky bottomed locations, all in addition to the elusive walleye. The hours or days one spends fishing are not counted by God against your lifespan. Therefore, go fishing often.

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Late April bird species arriving from migration can include Eastern Solitary Sandpipers, Common terns, Eastern whip-poor-will, Cliff swallows, catbirds, Black and White warblers, water thrushes, and Pine Siskins. Since May is coming up fast, a whole cadre of neo-tropical birds are due to appear.

Keep watching for all of these and more during spring hikes along bike paths, county park trails, or even backyard feeding stations. Enjoy all these places to gain a fuller perspective of avian life forms.

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“Life is meant for good friends and great adventures.”

— Anonymous

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Garry Brandenburg is the retired director of the Marshall County Conservation Board. He is a graduate of Iowa State University with a BS degree in Fish & Wildlife Biology.

Contact him at:

P.O. Box 96

Albion, IA 50005