THA4
A Few Steps Ahead Of You
Things turned out pretty well, but we had some road bumps along the way
Jeremy Adams (Bukslayr), Patrick Mckinney (Publisher of TIS) and my self all headed to Nebraska this past friday in hopes of filling 4 tags. 2 For Jeremy and 2 for me....Patrick was along to film the hunts....
Day 1, Friday, April 13th
We didnt roost a bird that was huntable, however we did find some hens and decided to set up on them with hopes of killing a nearby gobbler, first thing in the morning.
We did get to experience an incredible sunset which i thought was worth sharing.
Day 2, Saturday, April 14th
We got lost in the woods......
or i was just plotting some uncharted territory
but we made it to where i wanted to be with plenty of time to set up and wait. there was plenty of gobbling and even a few birds responded fairly well, but nothing got shot, but we did enjoy another beautify Midwestern sunrise. check this photo i took at the bottom of one of the very steep ravines...
after we worked a few other birds and failed we decided to head back to camp and eat some lunch......
side note......
the night before, when we were scouting, we were on a side of the property that not many folks hunt or know about. while we were there, we saw a struttin bird in an open field on some private property.
we stopped in and asked the land owner if we could go try it and he gladly obliged.....
we set a T-5 and a Matrix. Jeremy and i sat in his Matrix and Patrick ran the camera from the other.....
here is how it looked......
we sat there for maybe 25 minutes when we heard some hens cackling behind us, across the road. i called back, trying to out do the boss hen, she got very up set and called back at every thing i gave her. then gobblers began to sound off and they were getting closer. we knew we were in the hot seat.
suddenly a a gobbler appeared in the field behind us to our left (to the right in the pic above)
and he worked his way up to our set up. quickly realizing we had forgotten to decide who got to shoot the first bird, Jeremy and i did paper,rock, and scissors.....best out of three.....i lost. so when the bird was in view of the camera Jeremy would shoot. however, we then heard two other birds gobble......as the first one got to the decoys, two more stepped out....
we decided to pass the first and try to double on the two. several hens were already in our decoys, then the two strutters passed our blinds at 6 yards and into the cameras view. "one, two, three"
BANG, CLICK......
I was shooting the TK 2000 and forgot to unscrew my saftey on the rear of the gun. Jeremy's bird hit the ground and mine jumped up and ran 6 yards and stopped....he gave me just enough time to make things right and give him a dirt nap. Patrick caught the whole event on tape.....
here is our double.....
since it was still early we put the birds behind the blind and kept hunting.....
an hour later or so, we heard some more hen talk.....we called at them for a while and two birds showed up behind us shortly thereafter.....as the moved up by the blind Jeremy noticed one was a bearded hen (legal quary in NE) and he decided to take her......
unfortunately he missed.......which started a chain of misses that sucked....ill elaborate later......
but after that we noticed somthing....
the shoot through screens on the Double Bull are for arrows......
live and learn i guess
its fixable, and we had two dead birds...
no worries.....
later the same two hens re-appeared and headed up the hill to roost....we packed up early to get out with plans to be back first thing in the morning...
Day 2, Sunday, April 15th....Collection Day...
We were a little late, as i was putting Pretty Boy up and the rest of the decoys i noticed about 6 or 7 birds roosted up the hill.....we managed to get set up without spooking them....thankfully!!
once in the blinds we enjoyed the Breakfast of Champions.....Sunflower Seeds.....
here is the morning spread....
All the hens mistook our decoys as a landing strip and all landed right in our decoys......TEXTBOOK!!!!!
it was incredible.....
both of us were watching for Jeremy's Nemesis....."The Bearded Lady"
suddenly, there she was, the last one down.....
as these hens were talkiing on the roost, they got the attention of a gobbler.....he gobbled his way in and appeared forty yards out,
we thought we were in for another double, Jeremy aimed at his hen
and i aimed at the gobbler
BOOM!!!!
both shots went off together, his bird flopped over dead and mine ran for the trees.......
i was mad to say the least........
here is Jeremy and Patrick with his bearded hen, she was carrying a 7 inch beard....
Jeremy got even!!!!
the whole hunt was again captured on film....
the rest of the day was very uneventful....so we hit the hay with intentions of hunting the same spot again the next day.....
Day 3, April, 16th
We heard some gobbling but nothing came in, yes we probably burned that spot up, but we had to try....
we decided to get up early and go after the still gobbling birds.....
we got across the road and began slowly heading up the hill to where we last heard them....
Jeremy suddenly told us to get down becaues he saw a hen in the switch grass. i belly crawled up the hill and noticed there was a big strutter about 70 yards out.....we called and tried to work him close, he got to what i thought was 40 yard and i took a shot, and missed!!!!!!
AGAIN.....
i fired again as the bird retreated....
missed again....
Like the frustrated crybaby i was, i threw Jeremy's shotgun down, threw my hat half a dozen times and cussed up a storm......
I was very upset.....
but what do you do????
10 minutes of pouting made me hungry so we started back when Jeremy told us again to hit the deck....
two jakes were out in the middle of the field, probably responding to our calling just 10 minutes before.....
i again crawled up to the fence with Patrick at my side, and began calling the young gobblers in.....
they gobbled their heads off and came running
at less then 8 yards i put the smack down and filled my last tag!!!!
incredible hunt.....i went from a emotional valley to a huge high in ten minutes......
and loved every minute of it.....we didnt get the whole hunt on film, but what we did get was great....tons of fun
We had a great time! all three of us are headed to the field this weekend here at home and hope to fill a few more tags.......
its on!!!!!
here is my Jake and the end of trip group photos.......
oh yeah
bird stats....
Jeremy's Tom-
21 lbs. 10 inch beard and 3/4" spurs
Jeremy's bearded he,
15 lbs. 7" beard
Thomas' Tom-
24 lbs. 9" beard and 1/2" spurs
Thomas' Jake
18 lbs. 5.5" beard and small spurs....
Jeremy Adams (Bukslayr), Patrick Mckinney (Publisher of TIS) and my self all headed to Nebraska this past friday in hopes of filling 4 tags. 2 For Jeremy and 2 for me....Patrick was along to film the hunts....
Day 1, Friday, April 13th
We didnt roost a bird that was huntable, however we did find some hens and decided to set up on them with hopes of killing a nearby gobbler, first thing in the morning.
We did get to experience an incredible sunset which i thought was worth sharing.
Day 2, Saturday, April 14th
We got lost in the woods......
or i was just plotting some uncharted territory
but we made it to where i wanted to be with plenty of time to set up and wait. there was plenty of gobbling and even a few birds responded fairly well, but nothing got shot, but we did enjoy another beautify Midwestern sunrise. check this photo i took at the bottom of one of the very steep ravines...
after we worked a few other birds and failed we decided to head back to camp and eat some lunch......
side note......
the night before, when we were scouting, we were on a side of the property that not many folks hunt or know about. while we were there, we saw a struttin bird in an open field on some private property.
we stopped in and asked the land owner if we could go try it and he gladly obliged.....
we set a T-5 and a Matrix. Jeremy and i sat in his Matrix and Patrick ran the camera from the other.....
here is how it looked......
we sat there for maybe 25 minutes when we heard some hens cackling behind us, across the road. i called back, trying to out do the boss hen, she got very up set and called back at every thing i gave her. then gobblers began to sound off and they were getting closer. we knew we were in the hot seat.
suddenly a a gobbler appeared in the field behind us to our left (to the right in the pic above)
and he worked his way up to our set up. quickly realizing we had forgotten to decide who got to shoot the first bird, Jeremy and i did paper,rock, and scissors.....best out of three.....i lost. so when the bird was in view of the camera Jeremy would shoot. however, we then heard two other birds gobble......as the first one got to the decoys, two more stepped out....
we decided to pass the first and try to double on the two. several hens were already in our decoys, then the two strutters passed our blinds at 6 yards and into the cameras view. "one, two, three"
BANG, CLICK......
I was shooting the TK 2000 and forgot to unscrew my saftey on the rear of the gun. Jeremy's bird hit the ground and mine jumped up and ran 6 yards and stopped....he gave me just enough time to make things right and give him a dirt nap. Patrick caught the whole event on tape.....
here is our double.....
since it was still early we put the birds behind the blind and kept hunting.....
an hour later or so, we heard some more hen talk.....we called at them for a while and two birds showed up behind us shortly thereafter.....as the moved up by the blind Jeremy noticed one was a bearded hen (legal quary in NE) and he decided to take her......
unfortunately he missed.......which started a chain of misses that sucked....ill elaborate later......
but after that we noticed somthing....
the shoot through screens on the Double Bull are for arrows......
live and learn i guess
its fixable, and we had two dead birds...
no worries.....
later the same two hens re-appeared and headed up the hill to roost....we packed up early to get out with plans to be back first thing in the morning...
Day 2, Sunday, April 15th....Collection Day...
We were a little late, as i was putting Pretty Boy up and the rest of the decoys i noticed about 6 or 7 birds roosted up the hill.....we managed to get set up without spooking them....thankfully!!
once in the blinds we enjoyed the Breakfast of Champions.....Sunflower Seeds.....
here is the morning spread....
All the hens mistook our decoys as a landing strip and all landed right in our decoys......TEXTBOOK!!!!!
it was incredible.....
both of us were watching for Jeremy's Nemesis....."The Bearded Lady"
suddenly, there she was, the last one down.....
as these hens were talkiing on the roost, they got the attention of a gobbler.....he gobbled his way in and appeared forty yards out,
we thought we were in for another double, Jeremy aimed at his hen
and i aimed at the gobbler
BOOM!!!!
both shots went off together, his bird flopped over dead and mine ran for the trees.......
i was mad to say the least........
here is Jeremy and Patrick with his bearded hen, she was carrying a 7 inch beard....
Jeremy got even!!!!
the whole hunt was again captured on film....
the rest of the day was very uneventful....so we hit the hay with intentions of hunting the same spot again the next day.....
Day 3, April, 16th
We heard some gobbling but nothing came in, yes we probably burned that spot up, but we had to try....
we decided to get up early and go after the still gobbling birds.....
we got across the road and began slowly heading up the hill to where we last heard them....
Jeremy suddenly told us to get down becaues he saw a hen in the switch grass. i belly crawled up the hill and noticed there was a big strutter about 70 yards out.....we called and tried to work him close, he got to what i thought was 40 yard and i took a shot, and missed!!!!!!
AGAIN.....
i fired again as the bird retreated....
missed again....
Like the frustrated crybaby i was, i threw Jeremy's shotgun down, threw my hat half a dozen times and cussed up a storm......
I was very upset.....
but what do you do????
10 minutes of pouting made me hungry so we started back when Jeremy told us again to hit the deck....
two jakes were out in the middle of the field, probably responding to our calling just 10 minutes before.....
i again crawled up to the fence with Patrick at my side, and began calling the young gobblers in.....
they gobbled their heads off and came running
at less then 8 yards i put the smack down and filled my last tag!!!!
incredible hunt.....i went from a emotional valley to a huge high in ten minutes......
and loved every minute of it.....we didnt get the whole hunt on film, but what we did get was great....tons of fun
We had a great time! all three of us are headed to the field this weekend here at home and hope to fill a few more tags.......
its on!!!!!
here is my Jake and the end of trip group photos.......
oh yeah
bird stats....
Jeremy's Tom-
21 lbs. 10 inch beard and 3/4" spurs
Jeremy's bearded he,
15 lbs. 7" beard
Thomas' Tom-
24 lbs. 9" beard and 1/2" spurs
Thomas' Jake
18 lbs. 5.5" beard and small spurs....
