CurtisWalker
Well-Known Member
This weekend was one for the books. Jed Miller and I took off from Iowa around 1pm on Friday for Southwest Nebraska. We met our first storm near Shelby, Iowa which provided us with heavy rain and hail. We kept driving though. It cleared up and we got back up to 85 degrees while driving through Omaha and Lincoln that changed when we got to Kearney. The temp dropped to 30 and snow started falling. After a quick Walmart stop we continued on in the snow. We finally reached our destination around 9 a little late due to bad road conditions. We parked the truck and bundled up in sleeping bags and slept.
We woke up to more snow and 50 mph winds so we decided to just drive around and glass to see if we could find any birds down in the bottoms. After bajaing down a mud road we found a few but on private ground so we continued around. We met a rancher on the road who told us not to go one direction due to a huge drift so we went the opposite way. Well that ended with getting my truck stuck in a different drift. So after dinking around trying to get it out we had TH look up the rancher we had ran into and we called. His wife answered and got a good chuckle out of the whole ordeal. Thank goodness for nice Nebraskans. He then told us to go back and try the big drift and he’d pull us out if we didn’t make it. So we sent it. Truck covered in snow we couldn’t see where I was driving as we busted through the drift hoping I wasn’t heading for the ditch we made it and went to town.
We waited for the wind to die down a bit beford heading to check a spot we had found when we hunted the archery opener. The place looked like a dang chicken coop with all the turkey crap everywhere. 2+ miles of strenuous walking over hills and down through valleys while snow drifts made it more difficult we reach it and sure enough the turkeys were there. Jed took the scoot and shoot towards the 40 turkeys and managed to shoot a jake. 40 mph winds and snow made his decision easy.
That then turned into me chasing two long beards all over the country side until sunset. We finally get back the truck at 10pm and head to town. Get some caseys pizza and Powerade then head to the city park. We watch a couple episodes of the hunting public. Jed falls asleep first around midnight and I wasnt too far behind.
I woke up at roughly 2am this morning and had no clue where or what we were going to do in the morning. To try to get me a bird I do some google maps scouting and pick a whole new piece of public roughly an hour away from where we were. I tried to get more shut eye but that didn’t work so I took off down the road. We arrived to our destination with 18 degree temps and wind still blowing. We roll the windows down and wait for the gobbles. Boom! Semi hits rumble strips and we get some shock gobbles we’re in business. We get our layers on and head that way. We set up and the gobbling intensifies there had to be around 15 different birds gobbling. Then we can see them fly down unfortunately on the wrong side of a “creek” more like a dang river.
So after a bit I tell Jed let’s be aggressive and drive around to the other side and get back on them. We pick up and head around and they are still gobbling so we make our move. We walk a big “U”
to the timber and where we last heard them. Crap!! We bump a bunch of deer and the gobbling stops. Jed says let’s go about 20 more yards and sit in this clearing. We only have the scoot and shoot so I hand it to him to go set it as our decoy and he trips over a decent 4pt shed antler. So we sit down and Jed yelps and we intstantly get a couple of response gobbles. We’re in luck!! Then we can hear the hen get chatty so Jed keeps her worked up by calling back to her and we can tell they are coming our way. All of a sudden I see something green in my peripheral vision and realize a tom just snuck by my window on the right side and got behind me. I “whisper” at Jed 10 yards away and give him a signal that there’s a tom right there. He yelps and my eyes must have gotten as big ass bowling balls because that gobble was loud. Then I can hear foot steps right behind me. I don’t dare move as I can hear the spitting and drumming and I then see Jed’s eyes light up. I’m assuming it’s a good thing at this point but I have no clue what’s going on behind me. Then I hear putting. And then I hear Jed say spin and shoot. I respond “ spin!?” I have never gun hunted turkeys before so I didn’t know. He replies “spin left and shoot.” I still at this moment have no clue where this turkey is so when I spin and see two toms at roughly 10-15 yards I was surprised. I picked one bird lined it up and let her eat. Dropped him in his tracks. After all the emotion. Jed tells me they were both strutting behind me at 5 yards the whole time until they putted.
Awesome outcome for the weather. I kill my first rio and gun turkey. Jed gets a jake and a shed antler.
Tom had a 9.5” beard, 3/4” spurs, and weighed in at 22lbs 1oz. Score of 56.0625 ... Madison B&C and I are on the board!!
Here are some pics Jed took:
We woke up to more snow and 50 mph winds so we decided to just drive around and glass to see if we could find any birds down in the bottoms. After bajaing down a mud road we found a few but on private ground so we continued around. We met a rancher on the road who told us not to go one direction due to a huge drift so we went the opposite way. Well that ended with getting my truck stuck in a different drift. So after dinking around trying to get it out we had TH look up the rancher we had ran into and we called. His wife answered and got a good chuckle out of the whole ordeal. Thank goodness for nice Nebraskans. He then told us to go back and try the big drift and he’d pull us out if we didn’t make it. So we sent it. Truck covered in snow we couldn’t see where I was driving as we busted through the drift hoping I wasn’t heading for the ditch we made it and went to town.
We waited for the wind to die down a bit beford heading to check a spot we had found when we hunted the archery opener. The place looked like a dang chicken coop with all the turkey crap everywhere. 2+ miles of strenuous walking over hills and down through valleys while snow drifts made it more difficult we reach it and sure enough the turkeys were there. Jed took the scoot and shoot towards the 40 turkeys and managed to shoot a jake. 40 mph winds and snow made his decision easy.
That then turned into me chasing two long beards all over the country side until sunset. We finally get back the truck at 10pm and head to town. Get some caseys pizza and Powerade then head to the city park. We watch a couple episodes of the hunting public. Jed falls asleep first around midnight and I wasnt too far behind.
I woke up at roughly 2am this morning and had no clue where or what we were going to do in the morning. To try to get me a bird I do some google maps scouting and pick a whole new piece of public roughly an hour away from where we were. I tried to get more shut eye but that didn’t work so I took off down the road. We arrived to our destination with 18 degree temps and wind still blowing. We roll the windows down and wait for the gobbles. Boom! Semi hits rumble strips and we get some shock gobbles we’re in business. We get our layers on and head that way. We set up and the gobbling intensifies there had to be around 15 different birds gobbling. Then we can see them fly down unfortunately on the wrong side of a “creek” more like a dang river.
So after a bit I tell Jed let’s be aggressive and drive around to the other side and get back on them. We pick up and head around and they are still gobbling so we make our move. We walk a big “U”
to the timber and where we last heard them. Crap!! We bump a bunch of deer and the gobbling stops. Jed says let’s go about 20 more yards and sit in this clearing. We only have the scoot and shoot so I hand it to him to go set it as our decoy and he trips over a decent 4pt shed antler. So we sit down and Jed yelps and we intstantly get a couple of response gobbles. We’re in luck!! Then we can hear the hen get chatty so Jed keeps her worked up by calling back to her and we can tell they are coming our way. All of a sudden I see something green in my peripheral vision and realize a tom just snuck by my window on the right side and got behind me. I “whisper” at Jed 10 yards away and give him a signal that there’s a tom right there. He yelps and my eyes must have gotten as big ass bowling balls because that gobble was loud. Then I can hear foot steps right behind me. I don’t dare move as I can hear the spitting and drumming and I then see Jed’s eyes light up. I’m assuming it’s a good thing at this point but I have no clue what’s going on behind me. Then I hear putting. And then I hear Jed say spin and shoot. I respond “ spin!?” I have never gun hunted turkeys before so I didn’t know. He replies “spin left and shoot.” I still at this moment have no clue where this turkey is so when I spin and see two toms at roughly 10-15 yards I was surprised. I picked one bird lined it up and let her eat. Dropped him in his tracks. After all the emotion. Jed tells me they were both strutting behind me at 5 yards the whole time until they putted.
Awesome outcome for the weather. I kill my first rio and gun turkey. Jed gets a jake and a shed antler.
Tom had a 9.5” beard, 3/4” spurs, and weighed in at 22lbs 1oz. Score of 56.0625 ... Madison B&C and I are on the board!!
Here are some pics Jed took:
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