Nebraska success (pics & story)

[huntn4bucks]

As an attempt to extend our Alabama turkey season, which ended on April 30th, a hunting buddy and I headed to Northern Nebraska to hunt Merriams. We flew into Omaha, NE and drove about four hours Northwest to our hunting location. After unpacking, we had time to do some evening scouting. The outlook was good because we saw turkeys literally everywhere. Later that night we decided to hunt a river bottom area where several gobblers had gone to roost.

The next morning my buddy setup first and I went a couple hundred yards further down the river. Just before I got to the tree I wanted to sit against, a gobbler fired off from up the ridge. I eased along the river bank and slipped into position completely undetected by the gobbler. It was still very dark but I had gotten so close that I didn’t want to set up any decoys or even call for that matter. As it turned out, the gobbler was roosted with several hens and jakes approximately 70-80 yards above me. I could here my buddy calling, with one of my calls none-the-less, and the gobbler cut him off every time. I bet he gobbled 60-80 times on the roost before he flew down. I had a 50-50 chance at this bird. He would either pitch down in the open area in front of me or he would fly down to my right in the timber. I saw two hens pitch down in the timber and the gobbler soon followed. Since the turkeys were heading in my buddy’s direction and after they had moved out of my area, I decided to move further down the river. The time was now 6:30am and I eased slowing down the river. I walked and glassed frequently as I eased down the river’s edge. After walking about an hour, I decided to setup in a spot that looked very promising. From all the sign that was present, it was definitely a strut zone. I setup two decoys and eased back to a very nice cottonwood tree. I was in no hurry because I was really expecting to hear my buddy shoot any minute now. As I was setting up the decoys, I thought I heard a hen cut but I couldn’t be sure because the wind was blowing 30-40 miles per hour. I sat down and took out my box call. I was going to let everything settle down for a few minutes before I called. I no more than set my call down on the ground and a gobbler fired off 100-150 yards away. Again, I couldn’t tell how far away he was because of the wind. I turned in the direction that I thought he was gobbling and let out a series of yelps from my diaphragm call. The gobbler immediately responded and this time I pinpointed his direction which was across the river. I let out another series of yelps and he gobbled once again. The next thing I heard was flapping wings coming across the river. This gobbler was hot Finally I saw the gobbler’s head coming through the cedars in my direction. From the direction he came, I’m pretty sure he never saw the decoys. It was perfect. He stepped into an opening and stretched his neck up in an attempt to find the hen. The squeeze of the trigger released a wrath of 3 ½ #5s that turned his feet to the sky. He flapped 2 or 3 times and it was over. It was less than 5 minutes from the time I sat down to the time I took the gobbler. Success My first Merriams turkey!!! Stats: 19 lbs 1 oz, 10" beard, and 1 1/16" razor sharp spurs.

Since it was only 7:30am, I eased back up the river to give my buddy plenty of time to hunt. As it turned out, the turkeys earlier that morning had gotten by him. We hunted several different spots that morning until he connected on his first Merriams turkey at approximately 10:30am.

It was a great ending to a spring turkey season that had taken me from the swamps of southern Florida all the way to the plains of northern Nebraska. I was very fortunate to hunt 3 of the 4 subspecies of turkeys in the U.S. and was blessed to have taken 2 of the 3 that I hunted.

Here are a few pics:

[Turkeystalker]

Great bird and story , I would love to hunt Merriams.

[tennswamper]

Where were you hunting?

We were near Springview two weeks ago. We drove from Florence, AL though. 18 hours. LOL

[hookedonhunting]

Great bird bud! Congrats on your Merriams!!!

[arrow32]

Great bird!

Congrats!

[Rhino]

That's a great Merriam gobbler Tracy. Glad to see you ended your season with a fine bird there. Congrats and great pics too.

[huntn4bucks]

[ QUOTE ]
Where were you hunting?

We were near Springview two weeks ago. We drove from Florence, AL though. 18 hours. LOL

[/ QUOTE ]
I was hunting near O'neill and Spencer, NE.

[huntinguide]

great pics and great bird

[boomer]

Congrats!

[tennswamper]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


[/ QUOTE ]
I was hunting near O'neill and Spencer, NE.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, I was told in November that the nearest real hospital was in O'niell. LOL I think that is about 50 miles from where we were.

[Covehnter]

A big congrats on the awesome bird and what a great capper to a season that seemed to past way too quickly!

[Tom2008]

Congrats on an awsome bird and a great story!

[borch]

Way to go on a fine Merriam!

[elnor]

Beautiful bird! I love the feather tips on Merriams!

This and similar posts has me dreaming of hunting Osceolas next March, home turf (OK) for Easterns and Rios in April-May, and somewhere north and west (NE, WY, or MT?) for Merriams late next spring.

You know you have it bad when your season just ended and you're already daydreaming about next year...

[Gus]

Congrats