minnesota turkey population

[arrowsonly]

I am hunting sw mn this year during the late season, mid May.
Any feedback on this years birds? late, low numbers, quite...

[STEROIDCHICKEN]

i wish i could help you out but i am a long way from minnesota. maybe someone local will reply to your post. good luck

[gimpee]

I can't really speak for SW MN but Central MN has quite a few birds.  I don't hear about a ton of birds in the western and south western parts of MN.

[arrowsonly]

How about zero to one ! Did not see a gobbler from friday afternoon till sunday afternoon util I was on the highway back to WI...
 
Like usual the wind picked up with gusts in the 30 + range, and this is MN/IA border OPEN farm land...
 
Saturday am 300+ gobbles from 4/5 different birds thru out the valley around 600 acers. Then at 7am little to none, the hens had done there job. They were every were & very vocal, I just let them do all the talkin'. Around 9am I am getting ready to leave for breakfast & there are two guys getting out of a Ford Explorer. They are 400 yards away in the parking area at the top of a large grassy field. Next I see guns! what the #$%& this is a Archey only WMA NO GUNS allowed period! They hop the fence and start walking across the field down into a sharp draw that borders private propery. They follow the fence down to shapest part of the draw and dissapear! Once again foiled by other hunters, oh well thats public land. It seems that spot & stalk from the road is the way to go...
 
No feathers that I could see at the spot were the truck was parked, but Sunday there were only 2 birds on the far side of the valley & less that 20 gobbles!
I may go back this weekend and hunt those last few days of the Archery season, can't get em sittin' at home... 
      

[arrowsonly]

I went back last Memorial Day weekend, same story...
2 gobblers across the river valley 500 yards away they would respond to noises; cows, planes, a rooster phesant. Then like clockwork 7 am quittn' time not a gobble all day!  It made for some long boring sit's and sure enough you get out of the blind to stretch, ect & theres the silent bird walking around. The highlight of my trips were the fox kits I saw every morning on my way up a large ridge around 3:30 am. The damm coyotes kill off the red foxes...
 
The winter kill must have been much greater than usual, there were 60/70 % less turkeys in the same area. I am not going back to hunt till the numbers change, I'll miss the area is the most friendly small town in America.