blake
Life Member
NEWS:
Long shot leads to national wild turkey record
WORLD-HERALD
Brandon Nash wanted nothing more from his long shot at a tom turkey than to test the accuracy of his new bow.
Now he has the U.S. and Nebraska archery records for taking a wild turkey. Nash's kill ranks No. 1 nationally in the bowhunting category, according to the National Wild Turkey Federation.
Wild turkeys are scored by weighing the birds and measuring the length of their spurs and beards. The figures are added. The score is the sum of the weight and the points for spurs and beards.
Nash's bird scored 139.2400 points.
But Nash, a 24-year-old quarry worker from Weeping Water, Neb., had no idea he bagged a national championship when he let the arrow fly March 27 at an Eastern atypical tom turkey.
He took the turkey to a friend, hunting buddy Trapper Cave, in Weeping Water for help in cutting off the bird's fan feathers. Cave encouraged Nash to measure the turkey.
"Dude, you might have a good bird in hand," Cave told Nash.
Two of Nash's uncles — Chuck Switzer and Vern Diltz of Weeping Water — came by and scored the bird as a Nebraska record. Nash then sent photographs and documentation to the National Wild Turkey Federation. Nash's national record was posted on the federation's Web site Tuesday.
Nash started bowhunting last year and bagged a young turkey, known as a jake. He bought a Mathews Rezeen compound bow for this season and practiced almost daily in his backyard since mid-February.
"I felt confident for the shot," Nash said Wednesday. "I practiced a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot — but I wanted to see if I could get that far out with a bow."
Nash took the turkey while hunting alone from a blind on the edge of woods on private land along Weeping Water Creek, a half-mile southeast of Weeping Water in Cass County. He set up at 6 a.m. in an area near where turkeys are known to roost in trees overnight.
"They pitched down off the roost about 100 yards in front of me," Nash said. "I called a few times and they started coming in."
The turkeys flew across the creek, crossed a patch of grass and came up a road toward Nash's decoys of a tom and hen turkey. Nash called with a Primos Freak slate from inside a Double Bull Matrix ground blind.
Four birds walked toward the front of Nash's blind. He picked out the closest one. It was about 30 yards away.
"I practice shooting targets from 10 yards to 50 yards," Nash said.
Nash said he put an Easton Axis arrow tipped with a Muzzy 100-gram broadhead point into the bow, pulled back and took aim.
He released and the arrow hit the turkey broadside at the point where the wing meets the body. It's a good spot to hit a turkey because vital organs are inside that area of the body.
The mortally wounded bird ran about 20 yards and fell.
The turkey weighed 25.24 pounds and had six beards. The longest beard was 9.5 inches. Its six beards measured 43.875 inches total. Its longest spur was 1.375 inches. The other spur was 1.25 inches.
The only Nebraska-shot turkeys on the national "best overall" list were birds shot by firearms. One was taken by Robert Mann in Washington County in May 2006. It scored 155.5 points. The other was a turkey scoring 145.375 points shot by Scott Vogt in Pawnee County in April 2008.
Nash's bird is now at a taxidermist.
"I'm an avid hunter and angler," Nash said. "Bow hunting is the best and the most fun."
