THA4
A Few Steps Ahead Of You
This hunt transpired late last summer when a long time friend and turk mentor of mine, Cork Battey suggested we head to Nebraska on a hunt. It was at the Iowa Deer Classic when we actually decided on a place and we began making plans. We ended up in central Nebraska this past Friday afternoon for a 2.4 day hunt and anxiously awaited the following morning.
The first morning was a bust, but we heard a lot of gobbling but nothing showed up. An interesting bit of history, we were hunting right behind the Dunbar Mission Site, which if you remember Dances with Wolves, you will recognize the name Dunbar. Interestingly enough John J. Dunbar was a missionary, not a soldier, but for the most part the story is pretty accurate when compared to the movie from what I was told. There is no structure remaining, but I kinda dig the Civil War history era and it was neat to know we were near a location like that.
Cork ended up killing a nice tom and a jake, and I had more close calls than I ever have without getting it done, in fact this place was just turkey pregnant and hunting them was more difficult that I thought. Having more than 2.5 days would have been nice, but you do what you gotta do.
I won’t give you all the details of every close encounter, as that would take pages..... but the story of how I shot my bird is worth the read. After an unsuccessful morning hunt we decided to hit an area that had not been hunted yet and even better it was less than a mile from camp. We had lunch scheduled with the group at 12 and we had 3 hours to get it done or start boiling up some tag soup.
We walked up to the edge of this coulie that was about 300 yards from the road and began walking 50 yards and calling hoping to get a gobbler to sound off. On the third stop I pulled out my box call and threw out a few yelps and cuts and 4 birds gobbled back, not 100 yards in the woods. All these coulies seem to have cedars lining the top edge which really made running and gunning pretty easy.
We crawled in and set up. They gobbled several times and acted like they were coming, but eventually began moving off so we packed up and moved around in front of them as fast as we could, we got really close as they gobbled at us at 30 yards but they never showed themselves, not to mention we were restricted those cedar trees create quite the barrier.
Again we were on the move to get back in front of them hoping to close the deal…. Time was burning… We made a bigger circle and as I was headed to where I was going to set up when as I crested I a rise I saw three jakes just out of range. They kind of saw me, but were unsure, I noticed a small bush between me and them and since we had only an hour left and I had two unfilled tags, it was Jake: 30. I crouched as low as I could and ran straight at them using the bush to block their view of me. They knew something was up and started getting ready to leave.
I got to what I figured was killing range and pulled up the gun, picked out the closest jake and pulled the trigger…. And missed…. I was instantly irritated, but no longer had the jakes disappeared over the hill when a tom stepped out and looked right at me…. So, I shot again and piled him up! I was elated!!!! I over to the bird and it sure seemed further than I thought so I ranged the bush I shot from and was, well…. Surprised. 59 yards.
We made it back to camp just in time for Lunch, talk about cutting it close, you won't hear me complain! Bring on 4th season!!!
I loved hunting here, the land was just beautiful and to be honest the amount of turkeys surprised me! I will be back there!
I wouldn’t recommend that to anyone, but when time gets short, and you have to make a snap decision, sometimes you surprise yourself! I’ll take it!! It was great to share camp with Cork! Out of 11 hunters in camp, 17 birds were shot. I still have a tag, but I doubt I’ll get back out there this year.
Cork, Me, and Don. Don was my guide/hunting partner for the weekend, and he was a great turkey hunter and even better guy! We had a lot of fun chasing these silly birds all over tarnation.
Me & Cork
Don and I at the Dunbar site
Hahahaha, probably one of the smallest birds I have ever killed, but I'll take it!
16.7 lbs 7.5 inch beard, 3/4 inch spurs
The first morning was a bust, but we heard a lot of gobbling but nothing showed up. An interesting bit of history, we were hunting right behind the Dunbar Mission Site, which if you remember Dances with Wolves, you will recognize the name Dunbar. Interestingly enough John J. Dunbar was a missionary, not a soldier, but for the most part the story is pretty accurate when compared to the movie from what I was told. There is no structure remaining, but I kinda dig the Civil War history era and it was neat to know we were near a location like that.
Cork ended up killing a nice tom and a jake, and I had more close calls than I ever have without getting it done, in fact this place was just turkey pregnant and hunting them was more difficult that I thought. Having more than 2.5 days would have been nice, but you do what you gotta do.
I won’t give you all the details of every close encounter, as that would take pages..... but the story of how I shot my bird is worth the read. After an unsuccessful morning hunt we decided to hit an area that had not been hunted yet and even better it was less than a mile from camp. We had lunch scheduled with the group at 12 and we had 3 hours to get it done or start boiling up some tag soup.
We walked up to the edge of this coulie that was about 300 yards from the road and began walking 50 yards and calling hoping to get a gobbler to sound off. On the third stop I pulled out my box call and threw out a few yelps and cuts and 4 birds gobbled back, not 100 yards in the woods. All these coulies seem to have cedars lining the top edge which really made running and gunning pretty easy.
We crawled in and set up. They gobbled several times and acted like they were coming, but eventually began moving off so we packed up and moved around in front of them as fast as we could, we got really close as they gobbled at us at 30 yards but they never showed themselves, not to mention we were restricted those cedar trees create quite the barrier.
Again we were on the move to get back in front of them hoping to close the deal…. Time was burning… We made a bigger circle and as I was headed to where I was going to set up when as I crested I a rise I saw three jakes just out of range. They kind of saw me, but were unsure, I noticed a small bush between me and them and since we had only an hour left and I had two unfilled tags, it was Jake: 30. I crouched as low as I could and ran straight at them using the bush to block their view of me. They knew something was up and started getting ready to leave.
I got to what I figured was killing range and pulled up the gun, picked out the closest jake and pulled the trigger…. And missed…. I was instantly irritated, but no longer had the jakes disappeared over the hill when a tom stepped out and looked right at me…. So, I shot again and piled him up! I was elated!!!! I over to the bird and it sure seemed further than I thought so I ranged the bush I shot from and was, well…. Surprised. 59 yards.
We made it back to camp just in time for Lunch, talk about cutting it close, you won't hear me complain! Bring on 4th season!!!
I loved hunting here, the land was just beautiful and to be honest the amount of turkeys surprised me! I will be back there!
I wouldn’t recommend that to anyone, but when time gets short, and you have to make a snap decision, sometimes you surprise yourself! I’ll take it!! It was great to share camp with Cork! Out of 11 hunters in camp, 17 birds were shot. I still have a tag, but I doubt I’ll get back out there this year.
Cork, Me, and Don. Don was my guide/hunting partner for the weekend, and he was a great turkey hunter and even better guy! We had a lot of fun chasing these silly birds all over tarnation.
Me & Cork
Don and I at the Dunbar site
Hahahaha, probably one of the smallest birds I have ever killed, but I'll take it!
16.7 lbs 7.5 inch beard, 3/4 inch spurs
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