(somber music) (turkeys gobbling) (somber music) - [Bret] Well, we'd located one bird up in a tree, and knew where he was at, so we decided to drive around and look for some more.

After seeing a few far off in a field, we decided the first bird was the best one to go after.

- [Walt] She pointed at this sunflower plant from the year before on it, it looked like there was pipe cleaner after all.

(upbeat music) - [Woman] Funding for this program was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, Live Wide Open, the more people know about West Central Minnesota, the more reasons they have to live here.

More at livewideopen.com.

Western Minnesota Prairie Waters, where peace, relaxation and opportunities await.

(mischievous music) - [Bret] It can be argued that this is the greatest sound of spring.

(turkeys gobbling) But for a while, this sound was absent in Minnesota.

But then in 1971, the Minnesota DNR traded ruffed grouse for eastern wild turkeys with the state of Missouri.

The hardy birds thrived and exploded across the state.

Today, they can be found from the Iowa border, all the way up to Canada.

The big birds are popular for their table fair, their aggressive displays that can happen during a hunt, and the chance to layer up in camel during the spring.

But for die hards, one of their favorite traits of this very species is the wide range of vocalizations to become a part of the chase.

(turkeys gobbling) (leaves rustling) Yelps, clucks, puts and gobbles.

These are maybe the most common sounds you might be familiar with, but these talkative turkeys have over two dozen different vocalizations.

- To poorly explain, what I do for a living, I make animal noises.

(Bret laughs lightly) - [Bret] We joined Cory and Lucas Carlos in a hunt, that featured a wide range of animal sounds.

- Well, it's early.

We're gonna get in the Jeep and we're gonna go for cruise.

We're gonna locate some birds that are hopefully gobbling on the roost.

- [Bret] You ever shot a turkey before?

- Nope.

- Really?

All right.

- We earn an experience.

- [Bret] Just wanna put a game plan together, 'cause we didn't get scouting early enough last night.

So we don't really know where any birds are roosted, but they should be gobbling.

It's nice, clear, high-pressure sunny day.

That should mean they should be gobbling up on the roof pretty good, pretty fired up.

We'll find them, get 'em.

- [Bret] What's for breakfast?

- Granola bars and caffeinated Bubbly.

(somber music) (car door clicks) (Cory imitates gobbling) - [Cory] There's one sitting under right here.

- [Bret] See it?

- [Cory] It's right, look at right there.

You can see it.

Big black spot.

- Yep.

- [Lucas] The right side of that tree.

- [Cory] Probably the worst spot to park guys.

(Cory imitates gobbling) (turkeys imitating) - [Bret] Well, we'd located one bird up in a tree, and knew where he was at.

So we decided to drive around and look for some more.

After seeing a few far off in a field, we decided the first bird was the best one to go after.

And then as we were planning our attack, we spotted one more.

- [Cory] There's one running right there.

- [Bret] Oh yeah.

- So, he was heading to this guy.

(Cory imitates gobbling) - Nothing gobbling.

What's got them so tight lipped?

- [Bret] While this tom was being stubborn, we knew he was in there, so we geared up and headed after him.

(turkeys gobbling) (Cory imitates gobbling) (turkeys gobbling) (Bret sniffing lightly) (cranes chirping lightly) (turkeys gobbling lightly) (Cory imitates gobbling) (cranes chirping lightly) In addition to a couple of noisy sandhill cranes, we had three interested turkeys.

Now it's just a matter of getting Lucas in the decoy, within their eyesight.

- (whispering indistinctly) It's game on.

But we can't let them see us.

(birds chirping) (turkeys gobbling lightly) - [Bret] While cameras can make distances look deceiving, Lucas was waiting for these birds to get in a little bit closer, so they could be within effective range of the 410.

They were starting to go in the opposite direction.

So, Corey tried to coax him in a little closer.

(turkeys gobbling mildly) (Cory imitating gobbling) After a tense 10-minute standoff, they finally decided, something wasn't right and took off.

- How close do you think they got?

- 70 yards, 60 yards.

Little too far for the 410.

- Ah.

I'd have just ran out there and jumped on 'em.

- Maybe next time.

- I think you could catch 'em.

- No.

They're quick.

- They have large talons.

So if you were to planning on jumping on 'em, what you want are leather gloves.

- [Bret] It was off to find some new birds and some new strategies.

- Let's get over around them and come in from that way.

(turkeys gobbling lightly) (Cory imitates gobbling) (leaves rustling) - Those things deserve to live.

(Bret laughing hysterically) - [Bret] Looks like a lot of work.

- Yeah.

That was not ideal.

Could have killed Jake.

- [Bret] Yeah.

- But, no, I got one too many layers on.

- [Bret] I bet.

- Well, it was 22 degrees this morning, so.

(car beeping continuously) Couldn't sweet talk 'em.

Couldn't fight with them.

And when they were out there and they gobbled towards us, the one was looking right at us and he was like hundred-some yards away, gobbled right at us and he could barely hear it.

It was like, he wasn't fired up at all, like you just barely.

- [Lucas] You couldn't see anything half a ground there.

- No.

- Then all of a sudden, you see a couple heads here, it's like- (upbeat music) - [Bret] While day one yielded no fresh Turkey for the flat top.

(meat sizzling) - Smash!

Smash!

- [Bret] It was an exciting experience, nonetheless.

Full of all sorts of wildlife encounters.

But we decided to get a little more serious for day two and split up, that meant I got to carry a gun as well.

(Bret imitating gobbling) - So the woods I'm in, come out to a point, and the clearing kind of goes around both sides of it.

I came out on the north side.

And there's some mallers sitting out there, but no turkeys.

I just heard one gobbled to the south.

So I'm gonna back into the woods and go around.

See if I can locate those birds in the other clearing.

It is getting hot.

I think it's supposed to be in the seventies up here today.

I know back home it's gonna be close to 80 and I'm overdressed.

It was cold yesterday, 22 degrees yesterday, but she gonna be a warm one today, boys.

Well, after chasing those gobbles for a while, I never found that bird and I was sweating so bad, it was time to take a break for lunch.

But we knew there were toms around, so we headed back out there in the afternoon.

It is hot, like 84 degrees.

Check this out ladies.

Oh yeah.

Try to control yourselves.

So we're back where we were this morning and there was toms around here and they were actually starting to work their way into the woods, as the day warmed up.

And now that it's 84 degrees, there's probably at least four toms around here.

We're gonna cut into the woods and see if we can find 'em, getting some shade.

And while Corey and Lucas are somewhere else.

You know, they said it was a competition.

- [Steve] They said it was a competition and they sent you and I out who have no clue where we're going.

- Well, they send us back to a place we hunted this morning.

- Yeah.

- And they're going to a new place, a new secret place.

- Yeah, I already pushed them around once, but you know they'll go to their secret place, but I'm not worried about that.

- Ah, let's go get 'em.

- Yep.

- Here we go.

(upbeat music) - [Bret] It turns out we had nothing to worry about.

While Corey and Lucas were having success somewhere else, it didn't take us long to find that tom I'd heard earlier, and for Steve to call it in close.

It took that tom forever to come across the field to where we were hiding out.

And because I was starting to stiffen up while I was waiting I had to set the camera down to get the job done.

- I'll be honest, I'm shaking a little bit right now.

- Yeah.

(laughs) - And part of it is because I held that pose for so long and I thought I'd, you know, you always misjudge your pose, like I'll have time to rearrange a little bit, before he gets here.

- Oh, I'm comfortable.

Shouldn't be a big deal, right?

- Yeah, well, we sat back there and we spotted that tom.

Actually spotted him first out over there, by that tree.

He crossed the field and then we met up with him, we saw him there.

Steve started calling.

Nice job calling by the way.

- Hey, thank you.

- Brought him right into 35 yards.

Got to shoot the 20 gauge with a boss tom and we got ourselves a Turkey dinner.

Woo.

(upbeat music) - [Bret] What's the thought process here, Mr. Loeffler?

- Well, I want to keep the skin and fat on there, 'cause skin and fat, it's always good.

So we're gonna just pluck the breast on this, pull the breasts off and then we're gonna peel the skin back and get the thighs and the legs and drummies.

There's a bunch of meat on the back and then I'll pull the carpets outta here too.

Make some Turkey stock out of that, 'cause that's delicious.

- [Bret] The people that haven't cut up a Turkey, they might be surprised at, like the first time I killed a Turkey and cut the breast out, I was kind of surprised where the breast was.

- [Steve] Yeah in a honker, it's like you, it's more right here, right at the base of the neck, on a breast.

On a Turkey, it's like in between the legs, almost way down here.

It's crazy how much different anatomy-wise birds that spend more time in the air versus birds that spend a lots of time on the ground!

And we are gonna fry up some turkey wraps tonight.

(upbeat music) - Gravity's gonna take that bacon grease this way, so just kind of basing it with bacon grease, but just seared up that bottom side a little bit, slice 'em up, dice 'em up, redistribute 'em, roll 'em around in that bacon grease, season them up.

We'll be eating some good turkey wraps before too long.

(upbeat music) - [Bret] By the sounds of it, turkeys are a lot of fun to hunt and they're delicious too.

So for everyone that was part of the reintroduction process of turkeys into Minnesota, thank you very much.

- [Walt] Once it's mature, it dies and you you're left with the brown fuzzy wrapper on the stem.

There's a lot of species of dodder in the world.

So there are nine species of dodder, that are known in the state.

Three were documented historically.

You don't see it very often, if you go like to Michigan or Ohio and in those states, it's considered at least threatened, because a lot of their prairies are gone.

(upbeat music) - [Woman] True or false.

The majority of Minnesota's prohibited invasive species originally came from global commercial trading.

True.

Two thirds of Minnesota's invasive species, that are illegal to sell or possess, came here through commercial pathways, such as bait, horticulture, pet and food trades, to prevent the introduction of aquatic invaders in Minnesota waters.

Some species cannot be planted in backyard ponds or kept in a home aquarium.

To make sure the species you are buying or selling are legal, check the Minnesota DNR's webpage, "Trade pathways for invasive species introductions."

We can prevent exotic species from invading our waters.

Do not release non-native plants, fish or animals into the environment.

Donate your unwanted pet fish to a school or pet store, or advertise that you have fish to give away.

Contact a local veterinarian for advice on disposing of unwanted pets.

Never release aquarium fish into ponds, lake, streams or rivers or flush them down the toilet.

Only plant native species in your ponds and do not transport aquatic plants without a permit.

Boaters and water re-creationist can also help prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species.

It's a simple drill.

Clean in.

Clean out.

Funding for this segment was provided by the Aquatic Invasive Species Task Forces of Wright, Meeker, Yellow Medicine, Lac Qui Parle and Big Stone Counties.

(somber music) - [Woman 2] The Lac Qui Parle wildlife management area in Western Minnesota, features 24,000 acres of grasslands.

Home to an abundance of native plant and birds species.

The area became public lands in the 1930s, when eminent domain transferred private property, around Lac Qui Parle lake to the state as part of a flood control project.

Upstream, the Minnesota river was damned, which created Marsh lake.

The state owned conservation lands eventually became a wildlife management area, state park and game refuge.

For decades, DNR crews have conducted prescribed burns on WMA lands to rejuvenate grasslands.

Because native Prairie plants have roots that reach down 10 feet or more, they survive fire.

Shallow rooted invasive plants do not.

Some native species even need fire to germinate, so a controlled burn brings new life to a Prairie.

(somber music) (mischievous music) In 2017, Walt Gessler and his daughter, Thea, were hiking through the Lac Qui Parle WMA after a spring burn, when they discovered an unusual plant.

- My daughter happened to be find it.

We were out hiking and she pointed at this sunflower plant from the year before and it looked like there was pipe cleaner wrapped around it.

Rather large pipe cleaner, I looked at it, "What the heck is this?"

And I wasn't sure and well, she ended up, she took it back to Iowa state and where she goes to college and had it identified.

And did a little more reading on it and thought, "Well, that's kind of an interesting thing to see."

- [Woman 2] It turned out to be a native rope dodder plant, that makes its living on another plant's stem.

- Apparently it's an annual plant that's seems to be, at least the stuff I've seen around here is associated with sunflowers and it seems to be associated with some sort of a disturbance, like prescribed burning.

(mischievous music) I think the seed was there, but I think that probably the burn, you know, exposes the litter and the dough and the soils exposed and the seed starts to grow if the conditions are right.

This spring, we did a prescribed burn on our Osmonson Tract and it was quite common after that prescribed burn.

The main objective for the plant is to find a host.

And then once the growing stem finds a host, then the the root basically ceased to exist and it just draws all of its resources from the host plant.

Initially, when it first growing, it's gonna be like a yellow vine.

It could be quite abundant and it's growing and it's wrapping around the stems of the host plant.

And then as it comes to a stage when it's flowering, it doesn't have leaves.

It's just a single yellow stem.

So it needs the plant to get its chlorophyll.

If it was green, it wouldn't be needing the chlorophyll, because it would be making it own.

(somber music) - [Woman 2] The Rope Dodder gets its common name from the plant's tiny white flowers that form a dense coil around a host plant's stem.

- [Walt] When it flowers, it'll be really a solid, almost a solid stem of just white flowers wrapped around it and those flowers will get pollinated and produce a seed, which will drop to the ground and then once it's mature, it dies and you you're left with the brown fuzzy wrapper on the stem.

There's a lot of species of dodder in the world.

So there's nine species of dodder that are known in the state.

Three were documented historically.

You don't see it very often, if you go like to Michigan or Ohio and in those states, it's considered at least threatened.

Because a lot of their prairies are gone.

So, in that case, it's become a situation where they've lost habitat.

At one time, prairies were represented a large segment of landscape in Minnesota and for remnant prairies in Minnesota were down to our last 1%.

So it's really become very rare and remnant prairie is a very unique and special habitat in this state.

Prescribed burning for prairie species, it stimulates the prairie and the plants that are found in it to actively grow.

They know there's a evolve with fire for centuries and the fire stimulates that growth.

It releases nutrients, which the plants take advantage of.

There's exposed soil, so the plants, I guess over time have evolved to release and produce more seeds after a fire that can take advantage of these situations where seed sites are available.

(somber music) There's an incredible seed bank down there, especially in these remnant prairies and how and when things grow are sometimes even a surprise to us.

(somber music) (upbeat music) - Funding for this program was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund.

Live wide open, the more people know about West Central Minnesota, the more reasons they have to live here.

More at livewideopen.com.

Western Minnesota Prairie Waters, where peace, relaxation and opportunities await.