Horn Hunter
Member
My son Chad and I headed out for Nebraska last Wednesday night. This would be our first trip to turkey hunt in Nebraska so we weren't sure what to expect. I had some information about some public land and we are not afraid to knock on doors if necessary.
On Thursday morning we slept in because we got in late on Wednesday night and we were not sure where we were going to start hunting. I called the local CO to get his advise on where to go and he suggested the two public areas that we were already thinking about. We got to the first place about noon on Thursday and decided to set up and see what happened. Nothing was happening after a few hours so we decided to walk around to check the area out. After some exhausting climbs up and down the hills we decided to head back. We drove around a bit and did see a lot of birds in various fields but it was all leased ground.
Friday morning we decided to head to the other public land to check it out and since we were not exactly sure how to get there we slept in again. When we did get there the area looked really good but it was a very long hard walk to get where we wanted to go.
We got set up in about 30 MPH winds and started to throw out a few calls. After a couple of hours I noticed movement off to our right and saw a turkey walking up the hill. We weren't sure at first what it was but we soon saw it was a tom and a merriams (or hybred) so we were excited. My son had yet to kill a turkey with his bow so I was going to let him shoot first. The tom came around in front of us and strutted right into the DSD upright hen and then moved to the DSD jake. He thumped the jake a couple of times and then Chad saw an opportunity and took the shot. Unfortunately he missed low but the tom was focused on the jake that the shot did not bother him at all. I had a bullhead tipped arrow nocked and asked my son if he cared if I gave it a shot. He said go for it, so as the tom stood on top of the jake I let the shot go and drilled him right in the head.
He did a backflip off the decoy and landed in the grass and layed there looking around. I wasn't sure how good I had hit him but thought for sure he was done as we watched his head sway and go up and down a few times. After about 20 minutes he gets up and walks back toward the decoys. I quickly nocked another arrow, this time tipped with a rage, and blew it through him. That's when one of the craizest things I have ever seen happened.
The tom turns and runs right toward the blind and actually runs into the side of it. Chad and I didn't know what to think as the tom walked a circle around the blind and then layed down right next to the blind. Again we waited for him to die because we didn't really want to chase him around all the hills. We gave him a lot of time but he was still alive, so, after much debate, I decided to try and grab him by the neck, through the blind window.
As he looked away I went for the grab but as soon as I touched him he took off running and the chase was on. I then proceeded to try and go through the front window of the blind. I am not the most graceful person and fairly big so this was no easy task. My son said I was like a bull in a china shop and I did finally get out but not until I had ripped the blind a little and knocked it over.
While I struggled to get out of the blind, the bird had run under a cedar tree and stopped. As I circled down hill to get below him, Chad went out the back on the blind that I had knocked over and stayed above the bird. I told Chad to tackle him and he, not so politely, declined but he did push him toward me. The bird came running toward me and as he went past on my right I grabbed him by the neck , went to the ground, and held on. After some kicking and wing flapping I was finally able to put the bird down for good. I was covered in dust, sweating, and out of breath but very happy to finally have my hands on that bird.
After some pics, we reset the blind and decided to hunt more since we had a lot of daylight left and Chad wanted to redeem his miss. About an hour an half later Chad saw a bird about 260 yards away. I called to him and he slowly worked his way toward the decoys. Chad now had a bullhead and he was ready to give it a try. When the bird was at about 14 yards he gave Chad an opening. He made a perfect shot with the bullhead and took the bird's head totally off, dropping him in his tracks.
We were pumped and happy to be tagged out. In looking at my bird I noticed that I had hit him in the forehead with the first shot and low through the breast on the second shot. I'm sure he would have died eventually but I got worried that he was gunna run off and we wouldn't find him. Chad on the other hand made a great shot and tracking his was much better.
Chad's bird was an eastern but he didn't care and we were done in Nebraska. Overall it was probably one of the best hunts we have ever had and I'm sure we will be going back to Nebraska sooner than later. We also got both hunts on video but we didn't get the "chase" on video.
Sorry for the long post but it was a crazy hunt and I wanted to tell the whole story. Both birds ended up weighing 21 lbs, mine had 1' 1/8' spurs and a 9' beard. Chad's had 5/8' spurs and an 8' beard.
My bird (The one that would not die)
Chad's bird (The headless one)
Both birds
On Thursday morning we slept in because we got in late on Wednesday night and we were not sure where we were going to start hunting. I called the local CO to get his advise on where to go and he suggested the two public areas that we were already thinking about. We got to the first place about noon on Thursday and decided to set up and see what happened. Nothing was happening after a few hours so we decided to walk around to check the area out. After some exhausting climbs up and down the hills we decided to head back. We drove around a bit and did see a lot of birds in various fields but it was all leased ground.
Friday morning we decided to head to the other public land to check it out and since we were not exactly sure how to get there we slept in again. When we did get there the area looked really good but it was a very long hard walk to get where we wanted to go.
We got set up in about 30 MPH winds and started to throw out a few calls. After a couple of hours I noticed movement off to our right and saw a turkey walking up the hill. We weren't sure at first what it was but we soon saw it was a tom and a merriams (or hybred) so we were excited. My son had yet to kill a turkey with his bow so I was going to let him shoot first. The tom came around in front of us and strutted right into the DSD upright hen and then moved to the DSD jake. He thumped the jake a couple of times and then Chad saw an opportunity and took the shot. Unfortunately he missed low but the tom was focused on the jake that the shot did not bother him at all. I had a bullhead tipped arrow nocked and asked my son if he cared if I gave it a shot. He said go for it, so as the tom stood on top of the jake I let the shot go and drilled him right in the head.
He did a backflip off the decoy and landed in the grass and layed there looking around. I wasn't sure how good I had hit him but thought for sure he was done as we watched his head sway and go up and down a few times. After about 20 minutes he gets up and walks back toward the decoys. I quickly nocked another arrow, this time tipped with a rage, and blew it through him. That's when one of the craizest things I have ever seen happened.
The tom turns and runs right toward the blind and actually runs into the side of it. Chad and I didn't know what to think as the tom walked a circle around the blind and then layed down right next to the blind. Again we waited for him to die because we didn't really want to chase him around all the hills. We gave him a lot of time but he was still alive, so, after much debate, I decided to try and grab him by the neck, through the blind window.
As he looked away I went for the grab but as soon as I touched him he took off running and the chase was on. I then proceeded to try and go through the front window of the blind. I am not the most graceful person and fairly big so this was no easy task. My son said I was like a bull in a china shop and I did finally get out but not until I had ripped the blind a little and knocked it over.
While I struggled to get out of the blind, the bird had run under a cedar tree and stopped. As I circled down hill to get below him, Chad went out the back on the blind that I had knocked over and stayed above the bird. I told Chad to tackle him and he, not so politely, declined but he did push him toward me. The bird came running toward me and as he went past on my right I grabbed him by the neck , went to the ground, and held on. After some kicking and wing flapping I was finally able to put the bird down for good. I was covered in dust, sweating, and out of breath but very happy to finally have my hands on that bird.
After some pics, we reset the blind and decided to hunt more since we had a lot of daylight left and Chad wanted to redeem his miss. About an hour an half later Chad saw a bird about 260 yards away. I called to him and he slowly worked his way toward the decoys. Chad now had a bullhead and he was ready to give it a try. When the bird was at about 14 yards he gave Chad an opening. He made a perfect shot with the bullhead and took the bird's head totally off, dropping him in his tracks.
We were pumped and happy to be tagged out. In looking at my bird I noticed that I had hit him in the forehead with the first shot and low through the breast on the second shot. I'm sure he would have died eventually but I got worried that he was gunna run off and we wouldn't find him. Chad on the other hand made a great shot and tracking his was much better.
Chad's bird was an eastern but he didn't care and we were done in Nebraska. Overall it was probably one of the best hunts we have ever had and I'm sure we will be going back to Nebraska sooner than later. We also got both hunts on video but we didn't get the "chase" on video.
Sorry for the long post but it was a crazy hunt and I wanted to tell the whole story. Both birds ended up weighing 21 lbs, mine had 1' 1/8' spurs and a 9' beard. Chad's had 5/8' spurs and an 8' beard.
My bird (The one that would not die)
Chad's bird (The headless one)
Both birds
