Well, me and my buddy Alan left for NE on the morning of 4/02/09. Arrived in Lexington and met up with tradganger Dan Ferguson and headed north to a ranch near Broken Bow. After a couple of stops at neighboring ranches we hit camp and got unpacked and tried to get our gear ready for the next morning's hunt. Interesting country out there......giant sands hills, deep gorges or canyons and mostly cedar trees. On the drive up I couldn't help but wonder where a turkey would be in this kind of country. Alan and I elected to set up together on the first morning and Dan set us up near a deep canyon on the edge of some corn stubble. Between 7:00 and 11:30 we saw about 2 dozen birds, most of them gobblers and jakes and I blew a shot at a nice Tom that suddenly "appeared" in front of the blind. Dan picked us up and after a bit of driving around to some other potential set-up spots we headed back to camp for a quick lunch and to fling a few arrows. After a calm morning, the wind really started to pick up, so we figured we'd better shoot a bit to what effect the wind would have on us for the afternoon hunt. Dan had mentioned that he was suprised the birds hadn't moved into the canyon right next to camp, what with the high winds and all. I went back to the tent for a few minutes and when I came back out, Dan and Alan were not in sight. I walked toward where we had been shooting and even with the high winds howling, I heard a gobble! Now I knew where Dan and Alan were! A couple of stalks were made and Alan missed a shot (due to the wind no doubt!). I had 17 birds within 8-10 yards but due to the terrain I couldn't pull off a shot. We jumped in Dan's truck and headed out for a quick evening hunt. I saw no birds, but Alan had "a bunch" pass buy him out of range. Dan picked us up and told us that on his way to his potential set up he'd spotted some birds in another area and we had plenty of prospects for the next few days.
Counting the birds we had seen in fields and the birds we watched fly up on a neighboring property, we saw somewhere in the area of 250-300 birds on our first day. We dropped by the ranch owners place on the way to camp as he had shot a bird. What we found out was that there was a severe winter storm coming in on Saturday afternoon with 50+ mph winds and blowing and drifting snow.....over a foot in some areas. The wall tent we were staying in wouldn't stand up to this kind of weather and as it was the rancher's tent (one heck of a fine gentleman!!) we elected to get camp taken down early the next morning. It rained throughout the night with the tent walls whipping and popping like a bullwhip! It got quite a bit colder and the tent was cold as we had to let the woodstove cool down for transport in the morning. The rain stopped sometime before daylight and the high winds had pretty well dried the tent and camp was down and packed in pretty short order. Alan and I followed Dan back to the ranch and helped pack the gear away.
Decision time-we could head south, wait out the storm and depending on the outcome, MAYBE get a hunt in on late Sunday afternoon or Monday morning. Or we could find out that we couldn't hunt at all, depending on how much snow hit. We would be in a totally different place as after a storm like this, the roads around the ranch don't get plowed and the canyons would be pretty much drifted over. We had now snowshoes and even though Dan offered to lodge us, Alan and I didn't want to impose of his already more than generous hospitality. We made the tough decision to head the GMC east toward Indiana. The going home early part sucked, but the trip, albeit a one dayer, was a success! Dan is a fine bowhunter and a fine individual! Dean Coleman, the gentleman that owns the ranch we hunted and furnished us with the tent, well I can't thank him enough! Picture a rancher in your mind and what you see is Dean Coleman. These folks took in a couple of "easterners" and treated them as family. We saw more turkeys in a single day than I would ee in 5 seasons here at home. We saw in excess of 200 mule deer, a first for us. Bobcat, badger, porcupine. 12 hours driving each way for a one day hunt, but it was a success in the amount of game seen, but more importantly, a success by the new friends we made!
I didn't get many pictures as I was planning of taking a bunch once we got familiar with the area. When I get a chance, I will post what I have. Thanks again Dan! Mike
Topic: Nebraska turkey hunt recap..... (Read 167 times)
