As he steps off the road into some tall grass, two large birds surge into the sky. Nelson briefly admires the birds then moves on. Pheasant hunting doesn't start for another couple hours. Nelson's pace slows and becomes more deliberate as he walks into the woods. The conventional method for hunting turkeys in the fall is for the hunter to disperse the flock, then hide and call them back into shooting range.
Hunters use artificial calls to appeal to the bird's social instinct.
Of course, it's not always that easy. They're not coming. They just won't answer and they won't come in. Minnesota has had a turkey season only since 1977, six years after the State Department of Natural Resources transplanted about two dozen birds from Missouri into Houston County. DNR wild turkey specialist Gary Nelson says severe winter weather in 1976 and 1977 killed a lot of turkeys.